Best Placement for a Sentence
Question
Which is the best placement for the sentence "The renovation took six months from start to finish"? (1) The library reopened to the public last Saturday. (2) The new layout features expanded study rooms and a children's wing. (3) Donations from local families covered most of the cost.
Answer choices
- Between sentences 1 and 2
- After sentence 3
- Before sentence 1
- Between sentences 2 and 3
A Correct answer: A) Between sentences 1 and 2
Sentence 1 announces the reopening. The duration of the renovation is direct context for that announcement, so it belongs immediately after. Placing it later would interrupt the flow from layout features to funding.
The other options either introduce a grammatical error or change the intended meaning. The ACT consistently rewards the most concise, grammatically correct option.
Read the sentence with each option substituted in. The version that preserves meaning while obeying the underlying rule is the correct answer; on the ACT, that is almost always the shortest option that still works.
The underlying rule
A sentence describing the duration of a project belongs near the sentence that announces the project's completion. The ACT rewards logical flow: setup, then duration or context, then features, then funding.
Why each wrong answer is wrong
- B) After sentence 3: This placement disrupts the logical flow from completion announcement to descriptive detail.
- C) Before sentence 1: This placement disrupts the logical flow from completion announcement to descriptive detail.
- D) Between sentences 2 and 3: This placement disrupts the logical flow from completion announcement to descriptive detail.
Study tip
On placement questions, look for the sentence whose topic most directly connects to the new sentence. The new sentence almost always belongs adjacent to that one.
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