ACT Bellringer Passage 5 Section 2

My entire experience was joyous and exhilarating until I received some shocking news from my program coordinator: there had been a death in my host parents extended family. Which option correctly completes the sentence?

• F. NO CHANGE

• G. host parent’s

• H. host parents’

• J. host’s parents

Answer explanation

The best answer is H. This question asks you to place the apostrophe correctly in the underlined portion of the sentence. Answer choice H is best because the extended family is that of both parents together. This is made even clearer by the subject they in the following sentence.

They had to travel outside France for several weeks, so tending to all the business that arises from an unforeseen death. Which option correctly completes the sentence?

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. weeks to tend

• C. weeks, tended

• D. weeks

Answer explanation

The best answer is B. Answer choice B correctly uses the infinitive form to tend to explain why the host couple must travel. Choice C is incorrect because inflected forms like tended require an expressed subject. Choice D is incorrect because the to that follows is realized as a preposition linked

to travel. The couple is not physically traveling to the business.

That afternoon, I had to move out of one family’s house and into another so I’d have to repack my suitcases.

Which option correctly completes the sentence?

• F. NO CHANGE

• G. which would probably be about the same size.

• H. which I hope would be closer to the supermarket.

• J. OMIT the underlined portion and end the sentence with a period.

Answer explanation

The best answer is J. This question tests your ability to spot relevance. Neither the underlined portion nor the information is answer choice G and H add anything relevant to the sentence. Therefore, it would be best to omit the underlined portion and simply end the sentence with “another.”

The exchange coordinator told me I'd have a roommate this time and asked whether I could share a bedroom with an English speaker or someone who didn't speak English.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. English speaker and one who was not.

• C. English speaker or a person, not an English speaker.

• D. English speaker.

Answer explanation

The best answer is D. Logically, the question is asking whether the speaker would like to live with someone who speaks English or someone who does not speak English. The term whether only requires one side of a two-sided situation (e.g. “I don’t know whether she has a roommate,” not “I don’t know whether she has a roommate or lives by herself.”)

I asked not to be placed with an English-speaking roommate. When I got to my new room, I introduced myself to my new roommate Paolo, a Brazilian the same age as I, whom I was surprised to find playing one of my favorite CDs on the stereo!

• F. NO CHANGE

• G. which

• H. that

• J. he who

Answer explanation

The best answer is F. The word whom is an object pronoun, meaning it will occur in object, not subject, position. In this case, it is the object of find. Remember, whom refers to Paolo, the logical direct object. This becomes clear if you reorder the clause: “I was surprised to find Paolo playing one of my favorite CDs on the stereo!”