ACT English Consistency

ACT English Consistency and Parallelism

Verb Tense Consistency

• Verb tense consistency refers to keeping the same tense throughout a clause. 

  
  

• We don’t want to have one time period being described in two different tenses. If you have two or more time periods, start a new clause or a new sentence.

  
  

Multiple Choice

Identify the problem with consistency in the following sentence:

Mark finished his essay, tidies his room, and went out for supper.

• finished his essay

• tidies his room

• went out for supper

Finished and went are in the past tense, but tidies is in the present tense. 

Mark’s actions shift from the past to the present and back again, which is not logical unless you are Dr. Who. 

Let's try a couple more...

Multiple Choice

She caught the ball and then ____________ it to the catcher for the out.

• throws

• threw

• thorough

• is throwing

Multiple Choice

The crowd ______________ cheering as Melina approached the finish line.

• starts

• started

Parallel Structure Definition

Parallel structure (also called parallelism) is the repetition of a chosen grammatical form within a sentence.

By making each compared item or idea in your sentence follow the same grammatical pattern, you create a parallel construction.

For example, using the same preposition, pronouns, verbs within the sentence. 

Multiple Choice

Identify the problem phrase:

Olympic athletes usually like practicing, competing, and to eat ice cream sandwiches.

• practicing

• competing

• to eat ice cream

Multiple Choice

Select the sentence that illustrates the use of proper parallel construction.

• We found the film repulsive, offensive, and we thought it was embarrassing.

• We found the film repulsive, offensive, and embarrassing

Multiple Choice

Fill in the correct phrasing:

Public transit such as buses or ____________ can help reduce air pollution.

• a train

• trains

Multiple Choice

Replace the underlined portion of the sentence with a choice that creates a parallel structure.

Learning a new language as an adult is more difficult than to learn one as a child.

• NO CHANGE

• learning

• to learn

• learned

Multiple Choice

Read this sentence.

The customer service representative was asked to deal with customers kindly, professionally, and in a helpful manner.

In this sentence, how is kindly, professionally, and in a helpful correctly written?

• as it is

• kindly, to be professional, and helpful.

• kindly, professionally, and helpfully.

• customers kindly, to be professional, and to be helpful.