ACT Bell Ringer 7

You might think that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the

writer who invented Sherlock Holmes, the most logical

of detectives, would have harbored strictly logical beliefs

himself. But the author entertained a variety of fanciful

ideas, including a belief in the mythical beings known as

fairies. Since that belief, he was fooled in 1920 by two

schoolgirl cousins.

• NO CHANGE

• Because of

• Concerning

• For

You might think that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the

writer who invented Sherlock Holmes, the most logical

of detectives, would have harbored strictly logical beliefs

himself. But the author entertained a variety of fanciful

ideas, including a belief in the mythical beings known as

fairies. Since that belief, he was fooled in 1920 by two

schoolgirl cousins. 2

If the writer were to delete the opening sentence of this

paragraph (beginning the essay with “Sir Arthur Conan

Doyle entertained a variety of fanciful…”), the essay

would primarily lose:

• information that sets up a contrast that follows.

• an irrelevant but humorous digression.

• information that explains Doyle’s motivations.

• an important description of the setting.

One day, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths returned

from a walk in the English countryside with news that they

had seen fairies. They had even taken photographs that

showed several of the tiny sprites, some dancing in a ring

in the grass, some fluttering in front of the girl’s faces.

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• girls’ faces.

• girls faces.

• girls face’s.

Many people were excited when they heard about

this seemingly true and factual proof of the existence of

fairies, but Conan Doyle was more excited than most.

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• this seemingly evident but apparent

• what seemed to be an apparent

• this apparent

To make sure that he wasn’t being deceived,

Conan Doyle had the original photographic plates

examined by experts, however, they found no evidence of

double exposures.

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• who

• which

• they

He then wrote an enthusiastic article

for Strand magazine, being the place in which most of his

Sherlock Holmes stories had first appeared, and later wrote

a book on the subject titled The Coming of the Fairies.

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• in which the magazine where

• in which

• being where

Conan Doyle sent a copy of one of the photographs

to his friend Harry Houdini, the famous magician and

escape artist. Houdini, who devoted considerable effort

to exposing hoaxes involving spiritualism and was

skeptical about the existence of supernatural beings.

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• spiritualism, being

• spiritualism, was

• spiritualism and

Conan Doyle sent a copy of one of the photographs

to his friend Harry Houdini, the famous magician and

escape artist. Houdini, who devoted considerable effort

to exposing hoaxes involving spiritualism and was

skeptical about the existence of supernatural beings. 8

If the writer were to delete the preceding sentence, the

paragraph would primarily lose:

• details that provide an explanation for the friendship

  between Conan Doyle and Houdini.

• information that helps set the stage for what happens

  next in the essay.

• a description of the reasons behind Houdini’s

  skepticism about the supernatural.

• nothing at all, since this sentence provides irrelevant

  information.

When Houdini remained unconvinced by the evidence,

Conan Doyle became angry. Though the two

remained cordial, but their friendship was damaged

due to the fact that they had the disagreement.

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• cordial and

• cordial that

• cordial,

Though the two remained cordial, but their friendship was damaged due to the fact that they had the disagreement.

• NO CHANGE

• because of the fact that they had a

• due to the fact of their

• by the