ACT: The Language of the Test: The Language of the Test, List 8

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.