Question

day two: review rules for sentence fragments, run - ons, redundancy

• fragments
• sentences must contain a subject, verb, and express a complete thought.
• example sentence: my sister loves to play basketball.
• example fragment: the man driving in the car next to me.
• run - ons
• a run - on sentence occurs when two complete sentences are punctuated incorrectly.
• there are only two acceptable ways to fix a run - on on the act: a period or a semicolon.
• redundancy
• all else being equal shorter is better on the act english section!!!!!
• keep the answers as simple and clearly stated as possible.

day two: exercise a
directions: choose the sentence that doesnt include wordiness or redundancy
____1
a. the movie has to do with the life of vincent van gogh.
b. the movie portrays the life of vincent van gogh
____2
a. the president vetoed the agricultural programs bill.
b. the agricultural programs bill was vetoed by the president.
____3
a. ron cannot attend because he is sick.
b. ron cannot attend due to the fact that he is sick.
directions: read each paragraph. cross out any words or phrases that are wordy or redundant.

1. globally, millions of people around the world suffer from and endure allergies. allergies can have internal or external causes. many allergies are minor and insignificant. however, some allergies have a tendency to be life - threatening and potentially deadly.
2. sam was perplexed and puzzled by tyras actions. he had given her a bracelet, but she had returned it back to him without an explanation. he knew from past experience that tyra could be moody, but he kind of wished he knew his mistake or what he had done wrong.

Explanation:

1. In question 1, option B is more concise as "portrays" is a more direct way to say what the movie does compared to "has to do with".
2. In question 2, option A is better as it has a more straightforward subject - verb - object structure compared to the passive construction in option B.
3. In question 3, option A is more concise as "due to the fact that" in option B is wordy; "because" is sufficient.
4. "Globally" and "around the world" are redundant, so "around the world" can be crossed out. "Suffer from" and "endure" are somewhat redundant, so "endure" can be crossed out. "Minor" and "insignificant" are redundant, so "insignificant" can be crossed out. "Have a tendency to be" is wordy, so it can be replaced with "can be".
5. "Perplexed" and "puzzled" are redundant, so "and puzzled" can be crossed out. "Returned it back" is redundant, so "back" can be crossed out. "Kind of" is wordy, so it can be removed.

Answer:

1. B. The movie portrays the life of Vincent van Gogh
2. A. The president vetoed the agricultural programs bill
3. A. Ron cannot attend because he is sick
4. Globally, millions of people around the world suffer from allergies. Allergies can have internal or external causes. Many allergies are minor. However, some allergies can be life - threatening and potentially deadly.
5. Sam was perplexed by Tyra's actions. He had given her a bracelet, but she had returned it to him without an explanation. He knew from past experience that Tyra could be moody, but he wished he knew his mistake or what he had done wrong.