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Test Prep ACT Test Exam
American College Testing: English, Math, Reading, Science, Writing (Page 40 )

Updated On: 1-Feb-2026
Page 40 of 209
PDF with 1039 Questions

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".

Annie Smith Peck

[§1] Since a hundred years, <1> the highest mountains in South America have lured climbers from all over the world. But until 1908, Peru's Mt. Huascaran resisted the efforts of all those who attempted to reach its summit. One mountaineer, Annie Smith Peck, vowed to overcome the obstacles and be the first to the top of Mt. Huascaran. In order to succeed, she would have to organize expeditions ­ deal with reluctant companions ­ survive bad weather, and <2> climb steep cliffs of ice and rock.

[§2] Peck was born in the United States in 1850. Although she didn't start mountain climbing until she was in her thirties, it <3> soon became clear that she had found her life's work. A natural mountaineer, Peck was soon setting records on expeditions in North America and Europe. She traveled to Bolivia in 1903 and found Mount Huascaran, which had yet to be surmounted, a challenge she simply could not resist. <4>

[§3] (1) Peck mounted four expeditions and made five attempts before she finally conquered Mt. Huascaran. (2) Between those expeditions, Peck returned to the United States to raise money. (3) She received help from many scientific organizations, including the Museum of Natural History. (4) The Museum had also supported Admiral Peary on his trip to the North Pole. (5) Still, Peck struggled at least as much to raise money as she did climbing <5> her beloved mountains.

[§4] In 1908, Peck scraped together the funds for yet another expedition to Mt. Huascaran. This time, she hired two Swiss guides to assist <6> her with the climb. On their first trip up the mountain's slopes, one of the guides became ill, and the entire team was forced to turn back even though they were very close to the top. Being so close to success was very frustrating for Peck, who could not even prove how close they had come because she had accidentally brought the wrong kind of film and was unable to photograph the climb.

[§5] The team rested for a few days, the guide recovered, and on August 28th, they set off again. The climb was extremely difficult. Steps had to be cut <7>one by one into the steep ice; snow bridges and crevasses had to be carefully crossed. The weather was so cold that everyone suffered from frostbite. When Peck and her two guides were just a short distance from the top, they stopped to determine the exact height of the mountain.

[§6] At that moment, one of the guides took advantage of Peck's distraction and climbed the few remaining feet to the summit so that he was the first to reach the peak. What a jerk! <8>Although Peck was understandably angry, she <9> focused on the triumph of achieving her goal: standing at last on the top of Mt. Huascaran.

In revising paragraph 3, the writer would be wise to:

  1. switch sentences (2) and (3)
  2. eliminate sentence (4)
  3. combine sentences (3) and (4)
  4. explain why Peck's previous attempts to climb Mt. Huarascan had failed

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

Sentence (4) is off topic and should be eliminated to maintain the focus of the paragraph.



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".

Sigmund Freud

[§1] The father and originator of <1> psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (1856­1939) is largely responsible for the way we understand ourselves, as creatures, with <2> conflicting "selves" and desires. Freud posited the notion that the mind is teeming with "psychic energy," and that our personality is shaped largely by the interactions of the levels of the mind. Among Freud's most important contributions to modern psychology and the contemporary understanding of the self is his theory of the unconscious.

[§2] (1) According to Freud, the mind is much like an iceberg. (2) Most of our mind's activities, then, occur
beneath the surface, in the unconscious and beyond our knowing. (3) The conscious is the part of the mind of which we are aware; it is the tip of the iceberg that is visible above the water. (4) The unconscious, on the other hand, <3> is all that is below the surface ­ the thoughts, feelings, and desires that we are not aware of but that nonetheless affect our behavior.

[§3] Freud believed that the unconscious is deterministic. That is, our behaviors are caused (determined) by thoughts and impulses deep in our unconscious ­ of which thoughts and impulses we are not aware. <4> This is related to the phenomenon called "Freudian slip". <5> Unless we psychoanalyze ourselves, we may never be aware of the hidden reasons for our actions. This suggests that the notion of free will might have been <6>an illusion and that our choices are governed by hidden mental processes over which we have no control.

[§4] Repression is the act of pushing our conflicts to the unconscious. So that <7> we are no longer aware of them. It is our chief defense mechanism (a way to avoid conflict between our true desires and our sense of right and wrong). Freud believed that too much repression can lead to neurosis, a mental disorder resulting in depression or abnormal behavior, sometimes with physical symptoms but with no evidence of disease.

<3>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. likewise
  3. unfortunately
  4. thereby

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

This is the most appropriate transitional phrase for this sentence.



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".

Beloved and The Oprah Effect

[§1] In 1998, the movie adaptation of author Toni Morrison's novel Beloved was released, directed by Jonathan Demme and co-produced by Oprah Winfrey, whom had spent 10 years bringing it to the screen. <1> Winfrey also stars as the main character, Sethe, alongside Danny Glover as Sethe's lover, Paul D, and Thandie Newton as Beloved. <2>

[§2] The movie flopped at the box office. <3> A review in the Economist suggested that "most audiences are not eager to endure nearly three hours of a cerebral film with an original storyline featuring supernatural themes, murder, rape and slavery." Film critic Janet Maslin, however, in her review, "No Peace from a Brutal Legacy," <4> called it a "transfixing, deeply felt adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel. ...Its linchpin is of course Oprah Winfrey, who had the clout and foresight to bring `Beloved' to the screen and has the dramatic presence to hold it together.

[§3] In 1996, television talk show host <5> Winfrey had selected Song of Solomon for her newly launched Book Club, which became a popular feature on her Oprah Winfrey Show. An average of 13 million viewers watched the show's Book Club segments. As a result, <6> when Winfrey selected Morrison's earliest novel, The Bluest Eye in 2000, <7> it sold another 800,000 paperback copies. John Young wrote in the African American Review in 2001 that Morrison's career experienced the boost of the "Oprah Effect, ...enabling Morrison to reach a broad, popular audience." Winfrey selected a total of four of Morrison's novels over six years, giving Morrison's novels a bigger sales boost than they got from her Nobel Prize win in 1993. <8> The novelist also appeared three times on Winfrey's show. Winfrey said, "For all those who asked the question `Toni Morrison again?'...I say with certainty there would have been no Oprah's Book Club if this woman had not chosen to share her love of words with the world." <9> Morrison called the Book Club "a reading revolution." <10>

<2>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. Winfrey also stars as the main character, Sethe, alongside Danny Glover as Sethe's lover, Paul D.
    Thandie Newton stars as Beloved.
  3. Winfrey also stars as the main character Sethe alongside Danny Glover as Sethe's lover Paul D, and Thandie Newton as Beloved.
  4. Winfrey also stars as the main character, Sethe, alongside Danny Glover as Sethe's lover, Paul D, but Thandie Newton as Beloved.

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

B is correct. It simplifies an unnecessarily complex and awkward sentence. C misuses appositives. D awkwardly uses "but" to set off Thandie Newton's role in the film.



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".

Sigmund Freud

[§1] The father and originator of <1> psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (1856­1939) is largely responsible for the way we understand ourselves, as creatures, with <2> conflicting "selves" and desires. Freud posited the notion that the mind is teeming with "psychic energy," and that our personality is shaped largely by the interactions of the levels of the mind. Among Freud's most important contributions to modern psychology and the contemporary understanding of the self is his theory of the unconscious.

[§2] (1) According to Freud, the mind is much like an iceberg. (2) Most of our mind's activities, then, occur beneath the surface, in the unconscious and beyond our knowing. (3) The conscious is the part of the mind of which we are aware; it is the tip of the iceberg that is visible above the water. (4) The unconscious, on the other hand, <3> is all that is below the surface ­ the thoughts, feelings, and desires that we are not aware of but that nonetheless affect our behavior.

[§3] Freud believed that the unconscious is deterministic. That is, our behaviors are caused (determined) by thoughts and impulses deep in our unconscious ­ of which thoughts and impulses we are not aware. <4> This is related to the phenomenon called "Freudian slip". <5> Unless we psychoanalyze ourselves, we may never be aware of the hidden reasons for our actions. This suggests that the notion of free will might have been <6>an illusion and that our choices are governed by hidden mental processes over which we have no control.

[§4] Repression is the act of pushing our conflicts to the unconscious. So that <7> we are no longer aware of them. It is our chief defense mechanism (a way to avoid conflict between our true desires and our sense of right and wrong). Freud believed that too much repression can lead to neurosis, a mental disorder resulting in depression or abnormal behavior, sometimes with physical symptoms but with no evidence of disease.

<4>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. we are not aware of which thoughts and impulses.
  3. thoughts and impulses of which we are not aware.
  4. which we are not aware of, these thoughts and impulses.

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

This is the most correct word order.



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".

Sigmund Freud

[§1] The father and originator of <1> psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (1856­1939) is largely responsible for the way we understand ourselves, as creatures, with <2> conflicting "selves" and desires. Freud posited the notion that the mind is teeming with "psychic energy," and that our personality is shaped largely by the interactions of the levels of the mind. Among Freud's most important contributions to modern psychology and the contemporary understanding of the self is his theory of the unconscious.

[§2] (1) According to Freud, the mind is much like an iceberg. (2) Most of our mind's activities, then, occur beneath the surface, in the unconscious and beyond our knowing. (3) The conscious is the part of the mind of which we are aware; it is the tip of the iceberg that is visible above the water. (4) The unconscious, on the other hand, <3> is all that is below the surface ­ the thoughts, feelings, and desires that we are not aware of but that nonetheless affect our behavior.

[§3] Freud believed that the unconscious is deterministic. That is, our behaviors are caused (determined) by thoughts and impulses deep in our unconscious ­ of which thoughts and impulses we are not aware. <4> This is related to the phenomenon called "Freudian slip". <5> Unless we psychoanalyze ourselves, we may never be aware of the hidden reasons for our actions. This suggests that the notion of free will might have been <6>an illusion and that our choices are governed by hidden mental processes over which we have no control.

[§4] Repression is the act of pushing our conflicts to the unconscious. So that <7> we are no longer aware of them. It is our chief defense mechanism (a way to avoid conflict between our true desires and our sense of right and wrong). Freud believed that too much repression can lead to neurosis, a mental disorder resulting in depression or abnormal behavior, sometimes with physical symptoms but with no evidence of disease.

<6>:

  1. NO CHANGE
  2. would be
  3. has been
  4. is

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

The simple present tense is correct here.



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