Writing a Custom Annotation

Writing a Custom AnnotationWriting a custom annotation is a great way to make your Java code easy to reuse and extend in your own projects. Custom annotations enable you to specify the behavior of a method by supplying parameters to the method's getter and setter methods. This is commonly used in the Java source code to provide dynamic data that can be accessed from a component within your Java application. It is also used in validation and type inference.To write a custom annotation, you use the @NonNull annotation in Java. This means that if the non-nullable annotation on a method is present, the method is presumed to have a null reference. The return value of the method is assumed to be the value returned by the method in case the non-nullable annotation is absent. This declaration tells the compiler to check the return value of the method for null references.To write a custom annotation for use with Java, you will need a source code example. Then you must identify the annotations you are going to annotate. The annotations can be placed inside the method bodies or they can be placed between the method name and the method parameter list.You may have already decided on using annotations for describing types but you may find it useful to annotate both types and instances. In this case, you must specify both the types and the instances are annotated by separating the annotation using a comma. Do not forget to indicate the right names for the types and the instances. If you do not follow this convention, the classes and interfaces will be identified by their package instead of their class names.When you are using multiple types and multiple instances of the same type, you must make sure that the type does not contain a null reference. Java provides several ways to make this determination for you. One way is to check the Javadoc for the type. Another way is to use the equals method of the type to check for nulls.In the java.lang.Object type, you can use the instan ce method to check if an object is of the same type as the object that is being specified. If an object of the same type is found, the custom annotation must be checked for a null reference. For a custom annotation that checks if a method has been overridden, use the super keyword in the custom annotation. This is because the overridable type might be implemented by two different types.To write a custom annotation for the class java.lang.Object, you must use the static modifier to indicate that the check is performed statically. Also, you should use the equals method to specify which type is being compared. The boolean must be either true or false. You may be wondering what would happen if you do not specify a type when using the equals method. The fact is that the boolean should always be one of those two values.To write a custom annotation for instance of the class java.lang.Object, you must use the static modifier to indicate that the check is performed statically. You can use th e instance method to test whether the object is of the same type as the object that is being specified. In either case, the boolean must be one of those two values.

Analysis Of My Zombie, Myself By Chuck Klosterman

Zombies aren’t supposed to exist. But what if they do, and we interact with them every day? Chuck Klosterman’s essay, â€Å"My Zombie, Myself†, compares everyday life to the task of killing zombies. Through elaborate metaphors, quotes from zombie experts, and a strong call to action, he successfully appeals to pathos, ethos and logos to convince his readers. Klosterman argues that even though modern life is monotonous, it is possible to escape the monotony. Klosterman uses elaborate metaphors and similes to seamlessly compare modern-day life to the prevalence of zombies in society’s media and entertainment, as well as using words with a negative connotation to influence his readers’ view of modern-day life. Through the comparison of the daily†¦show more content†¦Through doing this, he firmly establishes the fact that monotonous tasks are the new zombies, as well as further setting up the readers’ view of these tasks as negative, by using words such as uncreative and stupid. By using words with a negative connotation, Klosterman sets his readers up to be dissatisfied with the monotony of their life. Through the use of metaphors and similes that compare the completion of daily tasks to killing zombies, and the use of words with a negative connotation, Klosterman sets the reader up to show them that life can be better. Klosterman appeals to ethos, as well as pathos, with a quote from Max Brooks, a zombie expert, and continues with appeals to logos in his discussion of the quote. Max Brooks is the author of several zombie books, as well as a zombie survival guide, which lends him, and in the process, Klosterman, expertise on the subject. Since Brooks is a zombie expert, the fact that Klosterman is quoting him shows that his essay is supported by experts, and gives validity to it, and that Klosterman knows what he is talking about. This all serves to cultivate Klosterman’s ethos and to make what he says more believable to his readers. In addition, the quote from Brooks he uses further establishes the monotony of daily tasks that are repeated by comparing them to a zombie brain with the fact that they â€Å"will perform that one function†¦until its power source eventually shuts down,†(848). This appeals to

College Term Paper Outline

College Term Paper OutlineWhether you are working on a college term paper, or a college essay, your first step should be to lay out a college term paper outline. This will take the pressure of writing from the student's hands and put it onto yours, leaving you free to focus on outlining, making the points, and actually writing the paper.The college term paper outline is a kind of blueprint for your writing, much like a novel or movie screenplay, where the outline serves as the guide to follow, and the story is the one you can only get to if you actually write the story. It can't happen unless you first outline the story. It may seem trite, but an outline is as much an organizing tool as a screenplay or novel.You need a college term paper outline to give yourself a chance to organize your thoughts, to take your time and really consider all the options you have in front of you. If you're a good writer, you'll find that you keep your mind open and help yourself with good planning and or ganization. There are no absolutes in writing, and no fixed rules to follow. However, there are guidelines that can help you come up with an outline that will ultimately help you be successful.Since writing is an art, you'll want to look at the structure of your college term paper outline, and identify the sections that need to be worked out first. Your first section, naturally, is the title. Since this is your introduction to the paper, make sure you choose a title that shows readers what they are about to read, and a title that focuses on a single idea or concept. Try to find a title that relates to the paper topic in a non-pornographic way. Your choice of title should not be too broad, since your reader will likely skip your introduction and move straight to the paper topic.Thenext section of your college term paper outline is the introduction, which tell the reader what the paper will cover, and gives an overview of what the paper will discuss. This section is your introduction, and you will want to place a number of topics here, rather than just one. You can also include information on other papers, the paper will compare to to show the connection between the two.The rest of your college term paper outline should be pretty self-explanatory. This is your discussion or summary, which can be given in one paragraph. This section does not need to be long, and is usually a paragraph to introduce yourself, and give a brief account of your position at the college or university. Then, the paper topic can be entered, and you will be asked to discuss the topic. Following your article topic, will be the conclusion, which summarizes your paper.Getting an outline for your college term paper is just the first step. You'll want to stay focused and organized, and plan out every aspect of your paper. Even when your paper is done, you still need to revise it and work through all the loose ends. Once you've had a chance to sit down and really map out your writing, you will f ind that the writing process is so much easier.

My Body Free Essays

My Body When I face in front of the mirror, I can see a woman with short hair, round eyes, pale lips, and with an average height, â€Å"that† is my body. When I do things like brushing my teeth, eating dinner, walking, writing homework, sitting, and etc, â€Å"which† is what I am, I am a human because of what my body can do. But who or what am l? As simply as it sounds, it’ll take time to internalize and answer this question. We will write a custom essay sample on My Body or any similar topic only for you Order Now People would start to think from the simplest to complex things and varying answers would omen and go. Without looking in front of the mirror, without thinking the things that I can do, without thinking of what others might answer, but with my perception, experiences, and surroundings to answer the question – Who or what am l? Well, I have answers. With my body as a basis, I know that I am Marjorie Valiance Hamlin, 19 years of age, residing at Sat. Maria, Gambling City since 1995, the seventh child, fourth daughter of my mother and father, studying at Western Mindanao State University, taking up Bachelor of Science in Biology. With my answer above, it seems like there is something lacking like a missing puzzle piece. With my intimate relation of myself to my body, I have also a spirit, which gives me the ability to control and claim my body in which Gabriel Marcel stated in his Second Reflection. With this body, I am able to interact with other people like having new friends and sharing experiences together. I am also able to participate in the events that have been happening like family gatherings, celebrating holidays, and even supporting organizations. I am also able to e and appreciate God’s creation with my own two naked eyes. With this body, I am able to express myself to the other people. I can say what I feel inside of me. I may also show it along with my gestures. With all the experiences of my body and my soul, it formed me to become the ‘me’ of today. To answer who am l? I am ‘me’. A creation of God, a soul embodied, a steward of His creation. I am in this body to serve others and the world. I am a unique independent member of human race like everyone else with an essential purpose living on earth. How to cite My Body, Papers

Relationship between Mood and Opinion

Abstract A person’s immediate mood may affect their opinion of a movie soon after watching it. A person can be in various moods. This translates into a myriad of opinions of a movie if many people are considered.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Relationship between Mood and Opinion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In this proposed study, 200 employees of a particular organization will take place in a study in which the researcher will try to determine a person’s mood prior to watching a movie and the opinion they form about the movie later. It is expected that persons with negative moods will have a negative opinion of the movie and persons with positively skewed moods will have positive opinions. Statistically significant results of this study will lead to better post premiership reviews of movies, may be a step closer towards better future reviews, and will foster further research in th is field. Participants This study will target at least 200 employees of a large organization. The participants will be picked through an email that will be sent to all employees in the company. The email will establish availability of a certain individual, gender, and ethnicity to ensure all demographics are captured in the study. The email will also state that the participants will go for a premier movie, whose ticket will be provided, as long as they participate in this study slightly before and after the movie. The study will take approximately 30 minutes in the two sessions. The employees who participate will also get a bonus ticket for yet another movie at the end of the movie under study. This will be a token of appreciation for participating in the study and will ensure that the participants take part in the study until the end.Advertising Looking for critical writing on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Desig n The study will correlate a person’s mood prior to watching a movie and the opinion they form of the movie after watching. The predictor variable is a person’s mood before the movie and the criterion variable is the opinion they form after watching it. The mood of participants will be measured by listing a number of moods ranging from sad and unpleasant to cheerful and excited. The moods will be categorized broadly into pleasant and unpleasant. The participants will rank themselves in either category by choosing the most appropriate mood to describe them at that point (Zeally and Aitken, 2012). Opinions will be measured by a 5 point Likert Scale ranging from ‘1’ to indicate the participant did not like the movie at all to ‘5’ indicating a high regard for the movie (Unuth, 2012). Correlation analysis tools such as Excel and SPSS will be used for analysis to come up with meaningful information. However, careful data cleaning will be required to ensure that all questionnaires are filled well. Procedure The management of the organization, whose employees this study will sample, will watch out for an upcoming movie with estimated mass viewership. The management will then send an email informing employees of the upcoming study to establish if there is a relationship between a person’s mood prior to watching a movie and the opinion they form of the movie afterwards.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Relationship between Mood and Opinion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The email will categorically state the number of participants (200 employees) and the amount of time the study may take. Additionally, the company will pay for the tickets for the movie. It will encourage women and people from different ethnicities to participate. The researcher will have to be careful at this stage because of the high stakes at logistics. On the selected day of the movie, participants will arrive about 45 minutes before the movie starts. This will give them ample time to fill the first questionnaire (which will require them to select the most appropriate mood they think they are in) and allow for other logistical deadlines such as settling in their seats and handing out tickets. The researcher will have organized for a room where participants will fill the questionnaires. Everyone will have to be there before anyone fills his or her questionnaire. The researcher will state explicitly that the study is voluntary and no one is compelled to fill all questions. However, it would be important to fill both parts of the study to make it relevant to the researcher. After filling the first questionnaire, the researcher will allocate numbers to respondents and ask them to write it on the questionnaire. They will write the same number on the second questionnaire upon filling it. The researcher will hand the second questionnaire to the participant s after they leave the movie hall. This will have to be done at the exit of the hall because some participants may leave in a hurry and forget the second part.Advertising Looking for critical writing on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The second questionnaire will determine the opinion that the participant has formed of the movie. The opinions will be measured in a 5 point Likert Scale with ‘1’ indicating an extremely negative opinion and ‘5’ indicating a highly positive opinion of the movie. The questionnaire will not require to be filled at a particular place since it will have very few questions. Hence, it will take less than 5 minutes for a participant to fill. After the movie, the researcher will hand another bonus ticket as a token of appreciation for participating in the study. This movie ticket will also act an incentive to participate in the study to the last minute. Measures Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) This schedule consist of 60 moods that a person can have at a particular time (Zeally and Aitken, 2012). The moods are offered in a Likert scale format. ‘1’ indicates ‘not at all in the mood’ and ‘5’ represents ‘extre mely in the mood’. The moods range from pleasant ones such as ‘cheerful’, moderate ones such as ‘anxious’ to unpleasant ones such as ‘disgusted’. The participants will answer as truthfully as possible (Zeally and Aitken, 2012). Circumplex Model of Affect To categorize the moods into pleasant and unpleasant meaningfully, the researcher will use Circumplex Model of Affect. The Mean Opinion Score (MOS) The Mean Opinion Score (MOS) by Unuth (2012) will be used to measure opinions of participants regarding the movie. It categorizes opinion from 1 to 5. This includes ‘impossible to communicate’, ‘very annoying’, ‘annoying’, ‘fair with some imperfections’ and ‘perfect’ respectively. The above categorization will form a basis for easy analysis by use of software (Unuth, 2012). Discussion A person’s mood before watching a movie is expected to affect a person’s opinion of the movie after watching. A good mood is likely to result in a favorable opinion while a foul mood is likely to result in a negative opinion of the movie. The study supports this hypothesis as it results in a correlation coefficient of 0.72. This indicates a statistically positive relationship between the two variables. Hence, it shows that a person’s mood has a large impact on the opinion they form about a movie. If the hypothesis had not been statistically supported, then we would conclude that a person’s mood has no any relationship with the opinion they form about a movie. Hence, it is paramount not to make decisions such as movie reviews based upon the opinions of individuals. This is because such a review may be skewed one way or the other depending upon who participates in it. The three most likely causal relationships that could have altered a variable in this study includes a busy day at home at work or in traffic, the happening of an event during the day o r expectation of such an event in future (e.g. wedding, burial), and nature of the prevailing weather. The movie that is shown will be highly advertised. It is expected that an employee who regularly goes to the movies will have heard about it. However, there is a possibility that this particular movie is not a person’s ‘type of movie’. In this case, favorable opinion is less likely despite the person been in a good mood. Additionally, an unfavorable opinion is highly likely if a person is in a foul mood. However, this may change in the course of the movie and result in a favorable opinion. These limitations may skew the outcome of the study. They are likely to happen. In carrying out similar researches in future, researchers can focus on giving respondents their ‘type of movie’ to overcome this limitation. Additionally, this study can be done spontaneously to find the respondents in their most natural state of mind. This is likely to result in a mor e representative study. Inversely, it may not be logistically possible to carry out. References Unuth, N. (2012). Mean Opinion Score (MOS). Web. Zeally, A.K. Aitken, R.C. (2012). Measuring of Mood. Web. This critical writing on Relationship between Mood and Opinion was written and submitted by user Harvey Cole to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Lifespan Development Essays

Lifespan Development Essays Lifespan Development Paper Lifespan Development Paper The paper analyzes the influence of various external factors on the cognitive and physical development of children. The results of an interview with an old relative are used to analyze the real-life implications of such influences and interactions. The paper includes the discussion of Piaget’s development theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and touches upon the questions of food insecurity, maternal personality, and their influence on the developmental and socioemotional outcomes in children. The goal of the paper is to analyze how multiple factors influence children’s development in real-life conditions. The paper can be used in the analysis of the parent-child interactions and the role in the cognitive and physical development of children. Lifespan Development That physical and cognitive development of children is influenced by a multitude of factors is difficult to deny. The availability of the basic resources like food, family environment, social conditions of living and relationships with peers altogether produce a marked impact on how children grow, how they interpret the reality and what they learn about themselves and their lives. A wealth of theories was created, to explain how different factors influence children’s physical maturation and cognition. However, only real-life cases and the analysis of real-life personalities can provide researchers with the detailed information about how children develop and learn. For the purpose of this paper, an interview was conducted with one of the distant relatives: a 85-year-old woman, she has numerous stories to tell about her childhood. Born in extreme poverty, she learned the difficulties of the infant life in a poor family at the early age. Her father died when she was 4 years old, and her mother was left with two older children, no job, and no desire to continue her life. The woman was growing and getting mature in the atmosphere of the continuous family stress. She remembers her mother, living in a constant state of depression, because she could not provide for her children. It was not before she was 9 that her mother married for the second time, and they gradually returned to a normal pace of living, with abundant food, clothes, and even additional resources to travel around the country. Before that time, all the woman could remember was hunger. Neither during her infancy nor during the first school years could she create close attachment bonds with her mother. Her mother was never interested in her school successes. She never asked about her problems and was never willing to share her concerns with the other children. There was a continuous sense of separation between them and their mother. As a child, the woman experienced serious problems at school. She failed to catch up with the learning successes of her peers and was one of the worst pupils in her class. She did not have any opportunity to learn at home because of the stressful atmosphere and the feeling of hunger. She could not devote herself to studies and learning, especially after the lunch time which she usually spent away from her classroom room. Surprisingly, but she was able to form numerous friendly relations with the peers from her neighborhood – now she deems these friendships as the only way to escape the stressful atmosphere of her family and house and to have someone to answer her questions about life. Those were the questions her mother could never answer. Another problem was in that she was the smallest in her class, and her classmates used to mock her because of this. Often, she would run away from school and miss lessons because she could no longer tolerate the pressure of her better-off classmates and felt absolutely unprotected in the face of social inequality. The woman believes that it was due to her family difficulties and her mother’s negligence toward her problems and personality that she could not learn to read until the age of 9 and that she lagged behind her peers in the basic disciplines. Based on this information and the results of the recent studies, it is clear that the lack of food and constant hunger did influence the woman’s physiological and cognitive maturation. The lack of maternal attachments/ bonds and family stress added to the complex family atmosphere and made it difficult for the woman to become a successful learner at school. The woman says that school years were the years of discovery and the time when she finally learned the reasons of her failures. This is logical given that, according to Piaget, at the age of 7 the child enters the stage of concrete operations (Anonymous, 2009). At this stage of development, the child learns to conceptualize the surrounding reality and to create logical structures that explain his or her physical experiences (Anonymous, 2009). School experiences led the woman to link her school failures to her hunger, her socially disadvantaged position compared with other classmates, and the lack of maternal support (the woman says that she felt absolutely unprotected in the face of the social inequality). Her failure to close the knowledge gap is easy to explain through the prism of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow, physiological needs are the first and the most important. â€Å"These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature† (Simons, Irwin Drinnien, 1987). The lack of appropriate food and the constant feeling of hunger created conditions, in which a young girl could not think about anything but the physiological desire to eat. Whether the lack of food explains why the woman was the smallest in her class is difficult to define, but it is clear that she could not successfully meet her learning needs and goals until she could meet her physiological needs. Because of hunger, she could not concentrate on her studies, and felt weak and unprepared to grasp the new knowledge in the classroom. Abraham Maslow states that higher levels of needs are impossible to achieve and satisfy, until the first levels have been satisfied (Simons, Irwin Drinnien, 1987). Surprisingly or not, the sense of hunger in the small girl was constantly accompanied by the lack of maternal support. The feeling that she was not attached to her mother was a part of her daily reality. Those feelings and the pressure of the stressful family atmosphere on the physical and cognitive development of the young girl are easy to explain: Zaslow et al. (2009) discuss the implications of food insecurity for attachment and mental proficiency during infancy and toddlerhood. According to Zaslow et al. Food insecurity is â€Å"limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire food in socially acceptable ways† (p. 66). Zaslow et al. (2009) are confident that food insecurity does produce a marked impact on the cognitive and physiological development of children and results in behavioral and cognitive problems. Food insecurity raises the probability of grade repetition at school and leads to increased maternal stress and, consequentially, the lack of parental attachment (Zaslow et al. , 2009).

Full Analysis of ACT Grammar Rules Which Are Most Important

Full Analysis of ACT Grammar Rules Which Are Most Important SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips When you are planning your study approach for ACT English, it’s important to know where your time is best spent. Which grammar rules are really the most important to learn? What can help you make the greatest improvement to your score? What kind of questions are on ACT English? ACT English is a passage based test. There are 5 multi-paragraph passages and 75 questions to go with them. The makers of the ACT break the test down into two main sections: Usage and Mechanics questions and Rhetorical Skills. Usage and Mechanics covers questions about punctuation (including internal and end of sentence punctuation and avoiding ambiguity), grammar and usage (including subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, verb formation, pronoun case, comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and idiomatic use), and sentence structure (including modifier placement and relationships between clauses). In the past, these questions have made up about 53% of the questions on the test. The second main category is Rhetorical Skills. These questions will ask about strategy (including understanding when to add or delete information and how to best revise writing for a certain audience), organization (including choosing effective openings, transitions, and conclusions), and style (including choosing correct words, tone, style, and avoiding wordiness). Also grouped with Rhetorical Skills are questions that ask about the author’s goal. These questions test your ability to recognize main ideas and understand what the passage is about, and understanding the scope of the passage. These questions usually compose about 47% of the questions on the test. Since the most recent updates to theACT, the test makers are not sticking as strictly to these percentages, butthey are still good guidelines. What concepts are tested? And why should you care? Almost as predictable as the question types are the grammar and style rules that ACT English will test you on. ACT English heavily favors a few main grammar and style rules, and lightly touches on a multitude of others. Why should this matter to you? This means that especially if you are aiming for a mid-range score, you should focus your studying on the main grammar and style rules that are covered. But if you are aiming for a high score, you should make sure you know all the concepts listed here. Since ACT English has so many questions, even concepts that appear a low percentage of the time will almost definitely be featuredand could affect your score. How did I find this out? I analyzed over 500 ACT English questions from seven official ACT tests that have been given in the past and wrote down the grammar and style concepts tested in each. Usually, it was easy to find the answer to a question just by knowing one style or grammar rule. But a couple of questions required knowledge of more than one rule. For these questions, I counted them for both concepts. And the winners are†¦ Usage and Mechanics For usage and mechanics questions, the overwhelming winner of the frequency test is correctly forming and joining sentences at 20.5% of the grammar questions. This covers all the concepts involved in understanding what a correct sentence is, including bothfragments and run-ons. This topic also covers correct use of semicolons in joining sentences. Not far behind in second place are questions dealing with correct uses of commas, dashes, and colons. These questions make up 17.7% of the grammar questions. Following in third and fourth places are correctly used non-essential clauses and relative pronouns with 10.2% of the questions, and correct verb tense and form, with 9.6% of the grammar questions. This topic involves, among other things, knowing what tense is necessary, and forming the tenses correctly. So, if you master these four concepts, you will have all the information you need to answer almost 60% of the grammar questions on ACT English. Here is the full breakdown This is my analysis of the most commonly-tested grammar concepts on ACT English, along with brief explanations of what each grammar rule means. #1: Correct Sentence Formation: 20.5% Recognizing fragments Recognizing run-ons, including comma splices Joining sentences correctly Incorrectly used semicolons #2: Use of commas, dashes, and colons: 17.7% No comma between subject and verb No comma before or after preposition When to use commas to separate adjectives No comma between adjective and noun Commas used after introductory words No commas between compound subjects or compound objects No commas around emphatic pronouns Colons used for a list or explanation Dashes used with non-essential clauses, as intro for a list, and with a deliberate pause #3: Correctly formed non-essential clauses andrelative pronouns: 10.2% Non-essential clause must be surrounded by commas Correct use of which vs. that; who vs. which; who vs. whom #4: Verb tense and form: 9.6% Correct and consistent tense usage When to use past tense instead of past participle Past participle needs a helping verb Incorrectly formed past participle Will vs. would When to use gerund and when to use infinitive #5: Misplaced and dangling modifiers and word placement: 9.2% Descriptive phrases must be next to the word they describe. Would a word make more sense elsewhere in the sentence? #6: Apostrophe use: 7.5% Correct formation of plural nouns Correct formation of possessive form of nouns Common contractions and their meanings (such as â€Å"it’s†) #6: Pronoun Use: 7.5% Consistent use of pronouns Pronoun-antecedent agreement (including singular or plural pronouns) Pronoun case Present and clear antecedents #8. Idioms: 5.1% Idiomatic use of prepositions #9: Parallel Structure and Word Pairs: 4.1% Use of matching prepositions Items in a list match Such as neither†¦nor, either†¦or, not only†¦but also, from†¦to, as†¦as #10: Subject-Verb Agreement: 3.8% Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs Subject – non-essential clause – verb construction Subject – prepositional phrase – verb construction Verb before subject #: Adjectives vs. Adverbs: 2.4% Adjectives are used to describe nouns Adverbs are used to describe adjectives, adverbs, and verbs Correct use of the comparative and superlative forms #: Comparison words: 2.4% Correct use of comparison words such as more/less than, less vs. fewer, much vs. many, and that of/those of Rhetorical Strategy These questions are based on making the passages more smooth and logical to read. As in the grammar section, the ACT heavily favors some rules over others. The big winners for Rhetorical Strategy are†¦ Logical transitions. Unsurprisingly, in a section all about making passages more logical, transitions reign supreme. Over 18% of the questions will test your ability to create logical bridges within and between sentences and paragraphs. In second place is adding information with 16.7%. These questions test your ability to see if new information is relevant to the paragraph in question, and also ask students to explain how the paragraphs are changed by the addition of new information. And tied in third with 15.5% each are conciseness and replacing and re-wording information. Similar to the concepts above, replacing information questions ask student to tell if information is relevant to the paragraph in question, and if not, to replace it with different information. Conciseness questions test students’ abilities to see when the author has been unnecessarily wordy. Repetitive words, circular talking, and the passive voice are all put to the test in these questions! Let’s break it down completely #1. Logical Transitions: 18.4% Includes transitions within sentences, between sentences, and between paragraphs Transition words make logical sense for context #2. Adding Information: 16.7% Determining if new information is relevant to paragraph Understanding why new information is relevant #3. Re-wording or Replacing Information: 15.5% Replacing a word or phrase to add a certain emphasis to the passage Replacing irrelevant information with relevant information #3. Conciseness: 15.5% No using repetitive words to describe something General wordiness No passive voice when active voice is also correct and shorter #5. Deleting Information: .7% Is information irrelevant? If so, delete it. What information would be lost if sentence were deleted? #6. Diction: 8.4% Commonly confused words, such as then/than, have/of #7. Sentence Order/Placement and Paragraph Organization: 6.7% Does the placement of a sentence make sense in context? Does one sentence/paragraph logically follow from the last? Does a new paragraph start with a shift in topic? #8. Writer’s Goal: 5.4% Recognizing main ideas in the passage Recognizing specific and general passages #9. Formality: 1.5% Is the phrasing of an answer too casual or formal to match the rest of the sentence? So What Would a Perfect Test Look Like? If you took the ACT English and it broke down exactly according to these statistics, here is what you would expect to see: 8 questions on Forming Correct Sentences 7 questions on Commas, Dashes, and Colons 7 questions on Logical Transitions 6 questions on Adding Information 5 questions on Replacing or Re-wording Information 5 questions on Conciseness 4 questions on Verb Tense and Form 4 questions on Deleting Information 4 questions on Non-essential Clauses and Relative Pronouns 4 questions on Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers and Word Placement 3 questions on Diction 3 questions on Apostrophe Use 3 questions on Pronouns 2 questions on Idioms 2 questions on Parallel Structure and Word Pairs 2 questions on Sentence Order/Paragraph Organization 2 questions on Author Goal/Intent 1 question on Subject-Verb Agreement 1 question on Adjectives vs. Adverbs 1 question on Comparison Words 1 question on Formality †¦.for a total of 75 questions. Of course, it’s unlikely that any test will exactly follow these statistics, so don’t be surprised if you see a few extra (or fewer) questions of a certain type! How Should You Use This Information? Now that you know exactly what you can expect to find on ACT English, use this information to guide your studying. Here’s a study plan that will help you make the most of your study time to give you the best chance of improving your score. Take a diagnostic test. To do this, you should take a real ACT English test, because it’s best to work with realistic questions. You can find official ACT tests online, or you can get them from The Real ACT Prep Guide. After taking the test, score it to see how you've done. For every question that you either got incorrect or had to guess on, make a note of why you got it wrong, and what grammar concept it is testing. Compare your list of grammar mistakes with the â€Å"Perfect Test† list above. Which of your mistakes appears highest on the list? Focus your studying on the concept that is highest on the list. You’re likely to see that kind of question the most, and so mastering that grammar concept will give you the chance to improve your score by a few points. When you feel confident that you have mastered the highest concept on the list, move on to the next one. Keep working your way down the list. As you’re taking these steps, you should also consider what your target ACT score is. For example, if you're just looking to boost a mid-range score (around a 20) a bit higher (a 24), you’ll want to focus on the first 10 – 12 grammar concepts. If you can get these concepts down, you’ll have a great chance of hitting your target score, and you won’t need to worry about many of the less-frequently-tested concepts. On the other hand, if you're aiming for a high or perfect score, you should pay attention to every grammar and rhetorical point on the list. Missing even a few points could hurt your chances of getting the score you want. What’s Next? Now you know exactly what is on ACT English. Use the above links to master each topic. Know the concepts, but unsure of how to attack the questions? Read the best way to approach ACT English passages. Before you get studying, read our top 5 secrets to mastering the ACT English. Not sure if ACT English is for you? Read our comparison of ACT English and SAT Writing to see which is the best fit! Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. 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