Test Prep ACT Test Exam
American College Testing: English, Math, Reading, Science, Writing (Page 30 )

Updated On: 1-Feb-2026

DIRECTIONS: In the passage below, certain phrases are underlined and numbered <x>. The question will present 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 the best, choose "NO CHANGE".

Wilma Rudolph

[§1] Wilma Rudolph was born a premature child in 1940, in Clarksville, Tennessee. Weighing <1> only four- and-a-half pounds. Wilma's mother did her best to care for her daughter, but the Rudolphs were very poor, and the local hospital would not care for Wilma. During her childhood, Wilma contracted measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox, pneumonia, and later, polio, a crippling disease which at that time had no cure. At the age of four, she was told she would never walk again.

[§2] But Wilma's mother refused to give up. She found an African American medical college fifty miles away that would give Wilma the care she needs. <2> Although it was difficult to make the trip, Mrs. Rudolph took Wilma to the college twice a week. After two years of treatment, Wilma could walk with a brace. With her family's help, Wilma was able to walk normally without the aid of a crutch or brace by age twelve.

[§3] But simply walking wasn't enough for Wilma, who wanted to be <3> an athlete. She decided to play basketball, and for three years, she practiced with the team but didn't play in a single game. Then, in her sophomore year of high school, Wilma became a starting guard. For scoring she broke the state records <4> and led her team to the state championship. At the age of sixteen, she traveled to Melbourne, Australia, to run track events in the 1956 Olympics. She earned a bronze medal as part of a relay team.

[§4] After the high school from which she graduated, <5>Wilma was awarded a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, and her track career went into high gear. Before she earned her degree in education, she took a year off from her studies to compete all over the world. In 1960, Wilma's career as a runner reached its apex. She set a world record in the 200-meter race at the Olympic trials, <6> at the Olympics in Rome, she won the 100-meters, the 200-meters, and ran the anchor leg on the winning 4×100-meter relay team.

[§5] Wilma was proudest of a different kind of victory, in conclusion. <7> When she returned from her triumphs in Rome, and she insisted that the homecoming parade held in her honor not be a segregated event. This parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in Clarksville. Wilma continued to participate in protests until Clarksville's segregation laws were finally changed. <8>

<5>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. After graduating from high school,
  3. Since high school graduation,
  4. OMIT the underlined portion.

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

This is the most correct and concise version. The transition here should not be omitted as it makes the passage of time easier to follow.



DIRECTIONS: In the passage below, certain phrases are underlined and numbered <x>. The question will present 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 the best, choose "NO CHANGE".

Wilma Rudolph

[§1] Wilma Rudolph was born a premature child in 1940, in Clarksville, Tennessee. Weighing <1> only four- and-a-half pounds. Wilma's mother did her best to care for her daughter, but the Rudolphs were very poor, and the local hospital would not care for Wilma. During her childhood, Wilma contracted measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox, pneumonia, and later, polio, a crippling disease which at that time had no cure. At the age of four, she was told she would never walk again.

[§2] But Wilma's mother refused to give up. She found an African American medical college fifty miles away that would give Wilma the care she needs. <2> Although it was difficult to make the trip, Mrs. Rudolph took Wilma to the college twice a week. After two years of treatment, Wilma could walk with a brace. With her family's help, Wilma was able to walk normally without the aid of a crutch or brace by age twelve.

[§3] But simply walking wasn't enough for Wilma, who wanted to be <3> an athlete. She decided to play basketball, and for three years, she practiced with the team but didn't play in a single game. Then, in her sophomore year of high school, Wilma became a starting guard. For scoring she broke the state records <4> and led her team to the state championship. At the age of sixteen, she traveled to Melbourne, Australia, to run track events in the 1956 Olympics. She earned a bronze medal as part of a relay team.

[§4] After the high school from which she graduated, <5>Wilma was awarded a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, and her track career went into high gear. Before she earned her degree in education, she took a year off from her studies to compete all over the world. In 1960, Wilma's career as a runner reached its apex. She set a world record in the 200-meter race at the Olympic trials, <6> at the Olympics in Rome, she won the 100-meters, the 200-meters, and ran the anchor leg on the winning 4×100-meter relay team.

[§5] Wilma was proudest of a different kind of victory, in conclusion. <7> When she returned from her triumphs in Rome, and she insisted that the homecoming parade held in her honor not be a segregated event. This parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in Clarksville. Wilma continued to participate in protests until Clarksville's segregation laws were finally changed. <8>

<6>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. trials. Then;
  3. trials ­ then ­
  4. trials; then,

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

Choice A is a run-on; choice B incorrectly uses a semi-colon; and choice C incorrectly uses the dash.



DIRECTIONS: In the passage below, certain phrases are underlined and numbered <x>. The question will present 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 the best, choose "NO CHANGE".

Wilma Rudolph

[§1] Wilma Rudolph was born a premature child in 1940, in Clarksville, Tennessee. Weighing <1> only four- and-a-half pounds. Wilma's mother did her best to care for her daughter, but the Rudolphs were very poor, and the local hospital would not care for Wilma. During her childhood, Wilma contracted measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox, pneumonia, and later, polio, a crippling disease which at that time had no cure. At the age of four, she was told she would never walk again.

[§2] But Wilma's mother refused to give up. She found an African American medical college fifty miles away that would give Wilma the care she needs. <2> Although it was difficult to make the trip, Mrs. Rudolph took Wilma to the college twice a week. After two years of treatment, Wilma could walk with a brace. With her family's help, Wilma was able to walk normally without the aid of a crutch or brace by age twelve.

[§3] But simply walking wasn't enough for Wilma, who wanted to be <3> an athlete. She decided to play basketball, and for three years, she practiced with the team but didn't play in a single game. Then, in her sophomore year of high school, Wilma became a starting guard. For scoring she broke the state records <4> and led her team to the state championship. At the age of sixteen, she traveled to Melbourne, Australia, to run track events in the 1956 Olympics. She earned a bronze medal as part of a relay team.

[§4] After the high school from which she graduated, <5>Wilma was awarded a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, and her track career went into high gear. Before she earned her degree in education, she took a year off from her studies to compete all over the world. In 1960, Wilma's career as a runner reached its apex. She set a world record in the 200-meter race at the Olympic trials, <6> at the Olympics in Rome, she won the 100-meters, the 200-meters, and ran the anchor leg on the winning 4×100-meter relay team.

[§5] Wilma was proudest of a different kind of victory, in conclusion. <7> When she returned from her triumphs in Rome, and she insisted that the homecoming parade held in her honor not be a segregated event. This parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in Clarksville. Wilma continued to participate in protests until Clarksville's segregation laws were finally changed. <8>

<7>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. however
  3. as a result
  4. therefore

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

However is the most appropriate transition here.



DIRECTIONS: In the passage below, certain phrases are underlined and numbered <x>. The question will present 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 the best, choose "NO CHANGE".

The Gateway Arch

[§1] The skyline of St. Louis, Missouri, is fairly unremarkable, with one huge exception, the <1> Gateway Arch that stands on the banks of the Mississippi. Part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the Arch is a really cool monument <2> built to honor St. Louis' role as the gateway to the West.

[§2] Construction on the 630-foot high structure began, in 1961, <3> and was completed four years later in 1965. The monument includes an underground visitor center that explores westward expansion through galleries and a theater. Two passenger trams take visitors to the Observation Room and the Museum of Westward Expansion at the top.

[§3] In 1947, a group of interested citizens known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association held a nationwide competition to select a design for a new monument that would celebrate <4> the growth of the United States. Other U.S. monuments are spires, statues, or imposed buildings, <5> but the winner of this contest was a plan for a completely unique structure. The man that <6> submitted the winning design, Eero Saarinen, later became a famous architect. In designing the Arch, Saarinen wanted to "create a monument which would have lasting significance and would be a landmark of our time."

[§4] The Gateway Arch is a masterpiece of engineering, a monument even taller than the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and on its own way, <7> at least as majestic. The Gateway is an inverted catenary curve, the same shape that a heavy chain will form if suspended between two points. Covered from top to bottom with sleek stainless steel coating, <8> the Arch often reflects dazzling bursts of sunlight. In a beautiful display of symmetry, the height of the arch is the same as the distance between the legs at ground level.

<4>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. should celebrate
  3. did celebrate
  4. would have celebrated

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

This is the correct helping verb and tense.



DIRECTIONS: In the passage below, certain phrases are underlined and numbered <x>. The question will present 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 the best, choose "NO CHANGE".

Wilma Rudolph

[§1] Wilma Rudolph was born a premature child in 1940, in Clarksville, Tennessee. Weighing <1> only four- and-a-half pounds. Wilma's mother did her best to care for her daughter, but the Rudolphs were very poor, and the local hospital would not care for Wilma. During her childhood, Wilma contracted measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox, pneumonia, and later, polio, a crippling disease which at that time had no cure. At the age of four, she was told she would never walk again.

[§2] But Wilma's mother refused to give up. She found an African American medical college fifty miles away that would give Wilma the care she needs. <2> Although it was difficult to make the trip, Mrs. Rudolph took Wilma to the college twice a week. After two years of treatment, Wilma could walk with a brace. With her family's help, Wilma was able to walk normally without the aid of a crutch or brace by age twelve.

[§3] But simply walking wasn't enough for Wilma, who wanted to be <3> an athlete. She decided to play
basketball, and for three years, she practiced with the team but didn't play in a single game. Then, in her sophomore year of high school, Wilma became a starting guard. For scoring she broke the state records <4> and led her team to the state championship. At the age of sixteen, she traveled to Melbourne, Australia, to run track events in the 1956 Olympics. She earned a bronze medal as part of a relay team.

[§4] After the high school from which she graduated, <5>Wilma was awarded a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, and her track career went into high gear. Before she earned her degree in education, she took a year off from her studies to compete all over the world. In 1960, Wilma's career as a runner reached its apex. She set a world record in the 200-meter race at the Olympic trials, <6> at the Olympics in Rome, she won the 100-meters, the 200-meters, and ran the anchor leg on the winning 4×100-meter relay team.

[§5] Wilma was proudest of a different kind of victory, in conclusion. <7> When she returned from her triumphs in Rome, and she insisted that the homecoming parade held in her honor not be a segregated event. This parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in Clarksville. Wilma continued to participate in protests until Clarksville's segregation laws were finally changed. <8>

<8>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. made illegal
  3. struck down
  4. removed

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

This choice offers the most precise and vivid word choice.



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