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ACT English 1.15 Passage Drill 217 Views


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ACT English: Passage Drill Drill 1, Problem 15. What's the correct verb tense?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by fruit walls. We wouldn't recommend building

00:07

your house out of them, unless you're a fan of fruit flies.

00:41

How would you correct the following selection from the passage? Does it need correcting?

00:53

Sometimes it can be tough to pin down the right verb tense in a sentence--especially

00:56

when it seems at first glance that the correct tense doesn't match the other verbs. Here,

01:00

for example, the right tense for the verb is the present tense, even though the rest

01:04

of the verbs in the sentence are in the past. A little confusing, we know, but if we keep

01:08

our cool, we can sort out the reasoning behind it.

01:11

The culprit is the relative adverb "when." We know that "when" is a relative adverb

01:16

because the relative phrase it introduces modifies the verb "released" by describing

01:21

the way in which the coconut's seed-release happens. This particular relative adverb phrase

01:26

makes the present tense appropriate by speaking in a general sense about the fruit wall's

01:30

decay. (We hate it when our fruit walls decay--just sayin'.)

01:33

Since we know we're in need of a present tense verb, we can cross out choice (A) because

01:37

"decayed" is in the past.

01:39

We might as well go ahead and take (D) out of the running too. "Decaying" is in the

01:42

present progressive tense, and all we need is the simple present. (Though when a fruit

01:47

wall decays, nothing seems simple.) Choices (B) and (C) are both in the present

01:51

tense, so we'll have to find another way to choose between them.

01:54

Ah, it looks like (B), "decay," is plural, while (C) "decays," is singular. Since

02:01

"wall" is singular, the verb that follows needs to be singular too. Therefore, choice

02:05

(C) is the correct answer.

02:07

It's always a sad occasion when a coconut decays, but that's when we mosey over to the

02:11

tree and get a new one.

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