The ACT: The Language of the Test: List 4

An example is something used to prove a point. When making arguments, authors typically use examples to support their claims.

Some questions on the ACT may ask you about how two different things relate to or interact with each other. For example, a question could ask: "Which statement best describes the relationship between the passages?"

A phrase is a bit of text that is made up of more than one word. A phrase can be as short as two words or it can be much longer. On the ACT, the word phrase is usually used to refer to the text that the question will be asking about. For example, a question could begin, "The author most likely uses the phrase 'X Y Z' in order to..." You will most likely see this word in questions that quote the phrase you are being asked to analyze.

A description uses language to illustrate the characteristics of a person or thing. Descriptions in literary texts can paint a picture in a reader's mind of what something looks or feels like. Descriptions usually include adjectives or adverbs.

To foreshadow is to hint at something beforehand. For example, an author might foreshadow a tragedy in a work of fiction by describing dark storm clouds gathering before the event.

A hypothesis is a theory or idea that you test through an experiment. You might read about an experiment and draw conclusions about how the results either supported or refuted the scientist's hypothesis.

Difference has many meanings, but they all describe things that are not the same. When comparing two ideas or passages, you might be asked to identify similarities and differences. On the ACT Math Test, the number that is the result of a subtraction problem is called "the difference" because it is the difference between two values.

This is another word that will come up when you are comparing things. Two things are similar when they are almost the same. When you notice that two things are similar, you are identifying similarities.

When you reveal something, you make known something that was hidden, unknown, or secret. On the ACT, reveal can be used as a synonym for show. If you are asked what a particular action reveals about a character or what part of a graph reveals about a set of data, you need to identify what the action or graph shows.

To carry out an in-depth discussion of something is to examine it in detail. Other words related to examine include study, investigate and analyze.

When you see the word counter as a verb on the ACT, don't think about the place in your kitchen where you cut a sandwich in two! To counter someone is to disagree with someone, to make an opposing point. One author may make a statement to counter (or disagree with) another point of view on an issue.

This isn't about asking someone to marry you. To propose is to suggest an idea. Propose isn't as strong as assert or contend. You propose something when you have an idea you're not sure of and you are testing it out. For example, a scientist may propose a hypothesis and then test that hypothesis through experimentation.

An author is a writer, and you will spend some of your time on the Reading section of the ACT trying to figure out what messages different authors are trying to express through their writing. Be careful not to confuse an author with a narrator, the fictional person relating a story.

A narrator is the one telling a story. Jane Eyre is the fictional narrator of the novel Jane Eyre, but she didn't write it. Charlotte Brontë was the author of Jane Eyre; she is the one who put pen to paper. Beware: don't confuse a narrator with an author on the ACT.

A narrative is the story being told. All the elements of a story (e.g., setting, plot, characters) make up a narrative. On the ACT, you might encounter different kinds of narratives: a reading passage itself may be a literary narrative, or an author could include a short illustrative narrative within an argument.

Graphics, including charts and graphs, are images that convey data or other kinds of information. On the ACT, you will see charts and graphs on the Math Test and you also may see graphics paired with passages on the Science Test.

To do well on the ACT Reading Test, you will need to determine what various authors are trying to "say." However, question writers will not use the verb say; instead, they will use lots of other verbs like claim, assert, and contend. When you contend, you are not hinting at something. You are more aggressively claiming something to be true.

Tend is a word involved in discussions of what a person or some thing is most likely to do. Just like most likely, tend is used by question writers because they know that you may not know something definitively, but they still expect you to infer what an author or character would likely think or do.

To evaluate something is to give a subjective assessment of that thing. On the ACT Reading Test, you might need to evaluate the claims in a reading passage. If you choose to take the Writing Test, you will need to evaluate several passages that discuss an issue and offer your own perspective.

A concept is a general idea, apart from specific examples. Your particular sandwich may have peanut butter and jelly on it, but the concept of "a sandwich" is food between pieces of bread. Examples are important, but when you are talking concepts, you are talking about what those examples have in common.

To determine something is to figure it out. Determine usually implies something objective, not subjective. In other words, you don't "determine your feelings" about something. It's usually a fact you would determine. For example, you can use a thermometer to determine your temperature, or you can use data to determine which course of action will most effectively achieve a goal.

To imply something is to hint at it, without directly stating it. On the ACT, you will be asked to figure out what a passage implies. In order to answer such a question, you will have to make inferences based on the clues the writer has provided you. Think of yourself as a textual detective!

Don't confuse infer and imply. When you are asked to infer, you are interpreting what a writer has implied or hinted at. The idea, conclusion, or meaning that you infer is called an inference.

When you draw a conclusion based on evidence, you are making an inference. If you see your little brother with chocolate all over his mouth and hands, you might make an inference that he polished off the brownies.

A discussion can be a conversation between two people, or it can be an author's treatment of a topic in a book, article, or reading passage. If you see references to "the discussion of" a particular topic in a passage, just find the part of the passage where the author writes about that topic.