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ACT English 2.2 Passage Drill 210 Views


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ACT English: Passage Drill 2, Problem 2. What punctuation should be used for a non-essential clause?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here’s your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by hygiene. The good, the bad, and the smelly.

00:09

Check out the following passage and answer the question below.

00:23

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

00:35

"When it comes to the cat, anyway" is a clause that modifies "anti-bath;"

00:42

it lets the reader know that the writer appreciates good hygiene, even though he or she avoids washing the cat.

00:49

This is probably an important thing for the author to clarify on a personal level--

00:52

especially if he or she is on the dating scene.

00:56

Even if it’s an important side-note for the author, the clause is what’s known as

01:01

“nonessential,” meaning that it doesn’t affect the core meaning of the sentence.

01:05

The main point is to let the reader know the reason why the author avoids bathing the cat,

01:11

not to inform the reader about the writer’s bathing routines.

01:14

If we’re ever unsure about whether a clause is essential or nonessential,

01:17

we like to omit the clause and read the sentence out loud.

01:20

Check it: “But the most important reason why our household is strictly anti-bath

01:26

is because he hates taking one.” Totally works, right? Nothing super important has been lost.

01:32

Knowing that the clause is nonessential helps us to do some eliminating.

01:36

For example, we can get rid of choice (A) because it doesn’t separate the clause from the earlier part

01:42

of the sentence with any sort of punctuation. Marking nonessential elements this way helps

01:46

the reader to understand what’s most important in a sentence. Sorry, nonessential elements,

01:51

we know it’s not nice to single people out, but in this case it’s necessary.

01:55

Choice (C) is easy to cross out because it breaks up our clause all weirdly.

02:01

“Anyway” is essential to this nonessential clause.

02:04

So completely separating it with a period makes zero sense and is probably traumatic for everyone involved.

02:11

Choice (B) isn’t...you know...wrong wrong. It correctly separates the clause from the

02:15

rest of the sentence with commas, which is the most typical method of punctuating nonessential elements.

02:21

It also correctly places a comma before “anyway.”

02:24

The trouble is that the sentence now looks majorly overcrowded with commas.

02:30

Let’s hope there’s a better option on the table.

02:33

Yeah, choice (D) is the best answer.

02:34

It’s also OK to separate nonessential elements with parentheses.

02:38

This works great here because it gets the job done without turning the sentence

02:41

into Comma-thon 2014.

02:44

We went to Comma-thon 2013, and believe us, it’s way over-rated.

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