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Style Tips for the ACT and SAT Essays

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Today we’re going to offer some tips for crafting effective sentences on the ACT and SAT essays. ACT and SAT essay graders are required to grade essays very quickly. Your essay should immediately grab their attention and keep it for the few minutes that they do spend reading your essay. To help accomplish this you need to write sentences that are concise, dynamic, effective, and specific.

Write the Way You Talk

One easy way to engage with essay graders is to write in a natural-sounding, conversation style.

Practice writing sentences that sound relaxed and free-flowing but that don’t commit any of the grammar errors that the ACT/SAT quizzes you on in the multiple choice sections.

Be Specific, Definite, and Concrete

Avoid vagueness and hypothetical situations in your sentences and your essay as a whole. Never use a generic verb or example when there is a specific, definite, and concrete alternative.

Emphasize Main Ideas

The most emphatic position for an idea is at the end of a sentence. Let’s say the main point of a sentence is that politicians prefer to recite canned talking points. Your first impulse might be to write something like this:

Most politicians prefer reciting a series of talking points to having a nuanced discussion on the issues facing Americans.

This sentence more effectively emphasizes the “talking points” if you flip the clauses around:

Instead of a having a nuanced discussion on the issues facing Americans, most politicians prefer to recite a series of talking points.

 

Avoid Wandering Sentences

All parts of a sentence should contribute to one clear idea or impression. Break long sentences into shorter ones, or put subordinate thoughts into a subordinate form. Consider the following example:

The teacher, an assertive young woman who had been a gymnast, raised in the American Southeast, who seemed to tower over everyone else but was barely five feet tall, easily intimidated even the most macho male student.

The main idea here is that the teacher “easily intimidated even the most macho male student.” Her being a former gymnast and the place where she grew up don’t contribute toward that end:

The teacher, an assertive young woman who seemed to tower over everyone else despite being barely five feet tall, easily intimidated even the most macho male student.

Avoid Ambiguous Statements

Don’t leave any room for ACT/SAT graders to misinterpret what you have written. “After the policeman gave the motorist a ticket, he drove away,” might be perfectly clear to you, but it will mean nothing to an essay grader. Make sure you specify who drove away: the policeman, the motorist, or both.

Watch out for Misplaced Modifiers

Native English speakers consistently use misplaced modifiers when speaking. A person might say, “While sleeping, the woman took her cat to the vet.” In a casual conversation your brain would most likely “auto-correct” this sentence to what the speaker actually meant: “While the cat was sleeping, the woman took her to the vet.” On the ACT and ACT you don’t have the luxury of assuming that an essay grader will be able to work out what you meant to say. You need to assume that he or she will take will take what you write literally (and possibly deduct points as a result).

Use Action Verbs and Active Voice

Use strong verbs that clearly express actions. Make sure that it’s clear that the subject is actively engaging in those actions. Consider the following statement:

That assignment was completed by me in less than two hours.

 

You can express the same idea much more effectively if you use a more specific verb and shift the sentence into the active voice:

I wrote that paper in less than two hours!

Be Direct

Avoid indirect phrasing in your sentences. Don’t start a sentence with something like “the subject I’m going to talk about is…” Just start talking about it. You and the graders all know why you’re writing the essay, so just get to the point already!

Make Every Would Advance Your Thought

This one goes hand in hand with being direct. Rewrite sentences to remove words that don’t contribute directly to the point that you are trying to make:

The reason that unemployment rose was that the number of graduating seniors was increasing at the same time that the number of new job opportunities was decreasing.

You can say the same thing with far fewer words:

Unemployment rose because the number of graduating seniors increased while the number of new job opportunities decreased.

Break Up Long Sentences

Rewrite a long sentence into two or more shorter ones. A sentence that can’t be read aloud without taking a breath is just as mentally exhausting to read in your head.

Consolidate Ideas

Try to pack as much meaning into a sentence as possible without making the meaning of the sentence too complicated. Ask yourself if an idea really needs its own clause/sentence or if it can be integrated somewhere else:

When we drove by Dobbins ARB, I remember watching two aircraft. They were F-22 Raptors. They were flying very low. I felt sure they were going to crash into the hillside. The F-22 is new to me. I hadn’t seen one before.

This anecdote can easily be condensed:

When we drove by Dobbins ARB, I remember watching two F-22 Raptors, a type of aircraft I had never seen before. They were flying so low that I felt sure they were going to crash into the hillside.

Vary Sentence Length and Construction

While you don’t want your sentences to be too long or complicated, an essay consisting of only short simple sentences risks inducing a kind of “essay hypnosis” in graders. Use a combination of short, long, simple, compound, and complex sentences to help keep those who are grading your essay engaged.

 

 

 

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