ACT English 5.3 Sentence Structure
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In this ACT English drill question, figure out if the underlined segment requires a correction or not.
| ACT English | Sentence Structure |
| Language | English Language |
| Product Type | ACT English |
| Sentence Structure | Consistency and Tense |
Transcript
a crime for which the verb police have stiff penalties.
The auxiliary verb “has” is forbidden to hang out with the verb “came”
on pain of...well...being incomprehensible.
“Has” is meant to be used when creating the present perfect tense.
The correct combination here would be “has come” not “came,” thus (C) is incorrect.
Choice (D) gives us “had come,” which is in the past perfect tense.
This is incorrect because the past perfect is used to compare two things that have happened
in the past.
If it were trying to tell us that a caveman had invented rock and roll right before he’d
invented the art of painting, then all would be good, but… that’s not what’s going on here.
So we're left with (A) and (B). No doubt, these two are a little tough to choose between.
The only other verb in the sentence is “played,” which is in the past tense.
This might lead us to choose choice (B). “Came” is in the past tense like “played,” right?
Hmm, something still seems fishy…
Choice (A) uses “comes,” which is in the present tense. This is actually the right
answer since the evidence here doesn't refer to a specific discovery or idea.
When this is the case it’s best to use the present tense to convey the idea that evidence
in general comes from this source.
Quick tip: Evidence found in ancient wall paintings is usually not admissible in court.
This loophole helped Grog the Caveman dodge an “assault by clubbing” rap…