ACT: The Language of the Test: The Language of the Test, List 7

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.