AP Language and Composition “It’s a marvelous Monday!” September 24, 2007 Mr. Houghteling

ACT Bellringer Monday, September 24, 2007

Ever since Bessie Coleman saw her first airplane—the wobbly, biplane kind—when she was a little girl, she had known that someday, somehow, she would fly. A. NO CHANGE B. her first airplane when she was a little girl, she C. her first airplane when she was a little girl of small stature, she D. The first flying object she—at age seven or eight—would ever see, an airplane, she

Now that the Navajo code is no longer used, the code talkers, whose secret work saved American lives, can finally receive public recognition for their actions. A. NO CHANGE B. hush-hush actions C. concealed, hidden efforts D. doings, secretly kept under wraps,

Go Short! ACT generally loves concise, clear writing. Review answer choices from shortest to longest. Go Short! helps us understand and delete answer choices that are wordy, redundant, or irrelevant.

Read the passage that includes the underlined text. What do we do? Read the passage that includes the underlined text. Go to the answer choice. shortest

What do we do? If that choice doesn’t work, go to the next shortest choice, and so on.

What do we do? This is called redundancy. Watch for synonyms in the answer choices that repeat what is said in the passage. This is called redundancy. It makes the answer longer  It is very often wrong... 

Now go to the examples…

Ever since Bessie Coleman saw her first airplane—the wobbly, biplane kind—when she was a little girl, she had known that someday, somehow, she would fly. A. NO CHANGE B. her first airplane when she was a little girl, she C. her first airplane when she was a little girl of small stature, she D. The first flying object she—at age seven or eight—would ever see, an airplane, she

What to do now? Eliminate at least two answer choices C and D Where are we now?

The happy place!

Ever since Bessie Coleman saw her first airplane—the wobbly, biplane kind—when she was a little girl, she had known that someday, somehow, she would fly. A. NO CHANGE B. her first airplane when she was a little girl, she C. her first airplane when she was a little girl of small stature, she D. The first flying object she—at age seven or eight—would ever see, an airplane, she

Then Go Short! B is correct. but then you probably knew that already if you used Go Short!

Do the next one… This one also has some diction aspects to the question, so be careful.

Now that the Navajo code is no longer used, the code talkers, whose secret work saved American lives, can finally receive public recognition for their actions. A. NO CHANGE B. hush-hush actions C. concealed, hidden efforts D. doings, secretly kept under wraps,

This is short, so this might be good… B. hush-hush actions Now that the Navajo code is no longer used, the code talkers, whose secret work saved American lives, can finally receive public recognition for their actions. A. NO CHANGE This is short, so this might be good… B. hush-hush actions The ACT doesn’t do baby talk, so I don’t think so… C. concealed, hidden efforts “Concealed” and “hidden” mean the same thing! Don’t try to fool me! D. doings, secretly kept under wraps, “under wraps?” That’s being “secret” isn’t it? And who talks like that anyway?

It’s got to be… NO CHANGE Now that the Navajo code is no longer used, the code talkers, whose secret work saved American lives, can finally receive public recognition for their actions.

Brilliant!

Homework: NOTE TAKING-QUOTES Para. NOTE MAKING— COMMENTS QUESTIONS Create a dialectal journal for the excerpt from “Los Angeles Notebook” on pages 38-40. Put things of interest on the left side and your questions, comments or reflections on the right side