Free ACT Word Choice, Style, and Tone practice questionsEnhanced ACT, 2026 format
Choose the clearest, most precise, least redundant wording for an underlined portion, and keep the essay's tone consistent from sentence to sentence.
Answer each question, then read why the right answer is right and why the tempting one is wrong.
Question 1
English
[2] A river, he explained, is never the same width all the way down. Where it narrows, the current accelerates and speeds up, scouring a deep channel. Where it widens, the water slows and drops the sand it was carrying, building bars that can strand a boat in water no deeper than a bathtub. The trick was to see the bars before you hit them.
Which choice is clearest and most precise in context?
Question 2
English
[3] A weaver working alone can produce roughly 50 meters of tweed a week. Because the pace is slow, and the work is physical, the number of weavers has fallen steadily; there were about 700 in the 1960s and fewer than 150 today. Most of them are over fifty. Yet demand for the cloth has grown, driven by fashion houses in Tokyo, Milan, and New York that prize its irregularities as evidence of the hand.
The writer wants to convey that the fashion houses regard the cloth's irregularities favorably. Which choice best accomplishes that goal?
Question 3
English
The House on the Bascule
[1] The bridge over the Menomonee is a bascule, which means it lifts like a drawbridge on a counterweight rather than swinging or sliding. Its operator works from a small house set on the pier, twelve feet above the roadway, the house has four windows, a control desk, a marine radio, and a kettle.
Which choice is least redundant in context?
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