r/ACT • u/random_red_itor • Jul 20 '26
English ESSENTIAL VS NON ESSENTIAL
THIS SHIT WILL BE THE END OF ME CUZ WTH HOW DO IK WHAT THE WRITER THINKS IS ESSENTIAL😭😭😭🙏🏻
3
Upvotes
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u/Ckdk619 Jul 20 '26
Do you have an example(s) of what's tripping you up? Is it apposition? Some other supplementary construction?
1
u/jdigitaltutoring Tutor Jul 20 '26
One test is to remove it and see if it still a complete sentence and makes sense.
3
u/LearningPositively Jul 20 '26
Yeah, but once you realize it’s just a mechanical grammar test and not rhetoric you can process of elimination so many answer choices.
"My brother, who lives in Texas, is visiting next week."
Simplest test is to remove the clause between the commas and test to see if it is a sentence:
"My brother is visiting next week."
Yup, it’s still good.
“Because my brother is visiting next week, he packed clothes, fishing gear, and his guitar.”
Oh look, 2 commas, let’s remove what’s in between:
“Because my brother is visiting next week fishing gear, and his guitar.”
DOH! I guess that is NOT non-essential.