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ACT English 4.2 Sentence Structure 242 Views


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Description:

ACT English: Sentence Structure Drill 4, Problem 2. Which choice contains the proper use of tenses in this sentence?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by bad students. So, our apologies: it was

00:08

turned in late with no spell check run on it.

00:10

How should you change the underlined portion below, if at all?

00:14

The teacher said that he was a poor student because he waited until the last minute to

00:18

study for the exam, completed his lab problems in a careless manner,

00:23

and his motivation was low.

00:33

Our quest for parallel construction continues with this question, where we're confronted

00:38

with a monstrous list that's not parallel in the least.

00:41

The first item on this list begins with "waited,"

00:44

a verb that we know is in the past tense because of its "E-D" ending.

00:49

The next item on the list maintains the status quo by beginning with the past tense verb "completed."

00:55

The final item, however, messes up the flow by starting with the adjective-noun combo

00:59

"his motivation."

01:01

Since the construction here is decidedly not parallel, we can go ahead and nix choice (A).

01:06

Choice (C) gets crazy with its tenses.

01:08

Though the list starts with the past tense verb "waited," choice (C) inexplicably shifts

01:13

into present tense with the verbs "is" and "has."

01:16

Shifting tense is a cardinal sin in the church of parallel construction, so we can kick choice

01:20

(C) to the curb.

01:21

(B) gets needlessly fancy by throwing a participle into the mix. A participle is a word derived

01:26

from a verb, which functions as an adjective.

01:29

Here, "having" functions as an adjective by describing the pronoun "him," which stands

01:34

in for our slack student.

01:36

Neither of the other items in the list are participle phrases, though. So all of this

01:40

effort is for naught.

01:42

Choice (D) is the right answer because it begins each item on the list with a past tense

01:45

verb.

01:46

"Completed," "lacked," and "waited" go together like peas and carrots.

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