ACT Preparation / Unit 5 ACT 0416 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Should the Sentence Be Added?
The idea
To decide whether a proposed sentence should be added, work in three steps. First, state the paragraph's main point and the passage's focus. Second, ask what the sentence would do there: support the point with evidence, explain it, or turn to something else. Third, choose yes only if it serves the point at that position, with the reason that describes what the sentence actually does; choose no if it turns aside, with the reason that says why.
In practice
Worked example: a paragraph argues that the town's library is busiest on weekday evenings. Proposed addition: "The library was built in 1931 with funds from a local mill." The sentence may be accurate and interesting, but it concerns the building's history, not when people visit. Answer: no, because it shifts from the library's use to its origins. The choice "Yes, because it shows the library is popular" fails: the sentence says nothing about popularity.
Where people slip
A sentence can be relevant to the passage and still be wrong for the paragraph. Position matters: the same fact might belong in the passage's opening and not here.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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