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ACT English Test - 9

DIRECTIONS: In the passage that follows, certain words and phrases are underlined and numbered. In the right-hand column, you will find alternatives for the underlined part. In most cases, you are to choose the one that best expresses the idea, makes the statement appropriate for standard written English, or is worded most consistently with the style and tone of the passage as a whole. If you think the original version is best, choose "NO CHANGE." In some cases, you will find in the right-hand column a question about the underlined part. You are to choose the best answer to the question.

You will also find questions about a section of the passage, or about the passage as a whole. These questions do not refer to an underlined portion of the passage, but rather are identified by a number or numbers in a box.

For each question, choose the alternative you consider best. Read the passage through once before you begin to answer the questions that accompany it. For many of the questions, you must read several sentences beyond the question to determine the answer. Be sure that you have read far enough ahead each time you choose an alternative.

A Summer Lesson

In 1974, I worked as a bull cook in a summer drilling camp in Canada's Northwest Territories. I had some trouble and learned a few lessons. [1]

At the beginning of that summer, I followed the cook's directions, but not enough to avoid [2] trouble. One day early on, I had returned to my tent after breakfast to settle down and read a novel. The cook came in, yelled at me, and demanded that I return to the kitchen tent immediately. He wanted me to sweep the floor, something he had not asked me to do. I said that he hadn't, and [3] that made him even angrier! My hands shook as I swept the room that morning. I didn't go back [4] to my tent until I was sure I had followed all his directions.

At first, I was angry with him and felt that he had done me wrong. It was clear to me that he [5] hadn't even asked me to do the sweeping. Of course I would have done it had he only asked in the first place. I felt very alone and far away from home. The cook, in my opinion, had mistreated me and I thought then that it would be a very long summer indeed working for such a mean man. In all my previous jobs, no one had ever treated me like that, so I was sure I had been wronged. [6]

In the end, however, I learned a valuable lesson, one that I've carried to this day. It became clear to me over the summer that I had a job to do-I was the cook's helper after all. He was cooking three meals a day for 23 fussy men, many of them lonely for their wives and families. Complaints to both him and me [7] were frequent and often unfounded. What he and I needed to do, I figured out at the time [8], was work as a team to do the job, together. If something needed to be done, I should be smart enough to see it, too. Finally, I understood what my own mother had been trying to get me to see around my own home through my teenage years! [9]

I was never bull cook again, and never worked [10] so far away from home, but I have never forgotten that valuable lesson I learned in my 18th year
1. Which would be the best sentence to add after the first sentence?
A) NONE
B) The job didn't involve bulls, thankfully, but instead I served as the camp handyman and the cook's helper.
C) I didn't have to cook for bulls, however, but for the men in the camp.
D) Although I tried to work hard, I didn't really know what to do


2.
A) No change.
B) cook's directions; but not enough to avoid
C) cooks directions, but, not enough to avoid
D) cook's directions but not enough to avoid


3.
A) No change.
B) I said that he hadn't and
C) I said that he hadn't asked me to sweep the floor, and
D) I said that he hadn't asked me to do that, and


4.
A) No change.
B) room that morning, but I didn't go back
C) room that morning. However, I didn't go back
D) room that morning; I didn't go back


5. What's the best way to edit the first three sentences of this paragraph?
A) No change.
B) Delete sentences 2 and 3.
C) Delete sentence 2
D) Delete sentence 3


6. If the author deleted this sentence, the result would...
A) make no change.
B) improve the paragraph
C) leave out necessary supporting details
D) confuse the reader


7.
A) No change.
B) both me and him
C) both him and I
D) both of us


8.
A) No change
B) I figured out, at the time
C) I finally figured out,
D) at the time I figured it out,


9. Which would be the best sentence to add at the end of this paragraph?
A) None
B) Things run more smoothly if you just do something that needs to be done without being told.
C) Oh, Mom, I'm so sorry I never understood it before
D) It takes teamwork to get a job done well.


10.
A) No Change
B) never bull cook again; and never worked
C) never a bull cook again and never worked
D) never a bull cook again, and never worked




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