Redundancy Questions in ACT English

Unfortunately for students taking the ACT English test, just because a question's answer choice is correct in what we may call its grammar (punctuation is used properly, the sentence is structured properly, verb tense is sound, there is subject/verb agreement, there are no errors in the use of pronouns, modifying clauses, adverbs, vocabulary, idioms, etc.), that doesn't mean it is the correct answer.

The ACT English test LOVES questions that require students to find the best answer (yes, just like that annoying teacher you once had who would mark a question incorrect when you chose an answer that was technically correct, though not the best).

The answer option that eliminates redundancy and communicates ideas clearly is most likely correct.

One very common way (as in multiple times per test) this occurs is in the subject of redundancy (which, if you rather, I break down on YouTube with examples here). If a sentence or phrase is redundant, that means it is "saying the same thing twice." Most often, this isn't going to be a literal word or phrase that is repeated. That may be true sometimes (another reason not to skip over sentences that have no questions; you don't want to repeat something that has already been said), but often this is true of ideas.

For example, look at the following sentence:

Eventually, I will clean my room at some point.

At first glance, it may seem that this sentence is perfectly fine. And truly, if a high school student wrote a sentence like this in an essay in English class, it's doubtful that a teacher would spot any errors in it either. However, the ACT would want the student to notice that is has this problem: it is redundant.

How? Well, there are two elements to the sentence that communicate that cleaning my room is something that will happen in the future: first, the word "Eventually," and second, the idiom "at some point."

The ACT would want students to recognize that one of these two elements would have to go, and those students that prepare for this well through guided practice (as in my book The ACT English System) are sure to spot these questions more often than not.

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