<p>I work so hard :( , yet does my writing score fluctuate so much..?? </p>
<p>Anyways, here are my questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>Last week some fellow passengers and I watched an elderly man with a portable chessboard [playing] chess against himself. </li>
</ol>
<p>Which is not an acceptable alternative?</p>
<p>A. who played
B. as he played
C. played
D. who was playing</p>
<p>I put B but the answer is C. Honestly, all the answer choices look the same to me, but I know there's a reason behind C.</p>
<ol>
<li>Smith realized the extent of her gift when her friend Alex Haley, who had gathered essential material for his best selling novel "Roots" from a griot in Gambia, began to refer to her as "my American [griot," this] was a revelation to Smith.</li>
</ol>
<p>A. no change
B. griot" that
C. griot." This
D. griot,"</p>
<p>It's C but shouldn't B be acceptable also? (concise)</p>
<p>1st question
The correct choice is C because if you put A,B and D instead of (playing), they all make sense and do not add any unnecessary extra verb.
When you say played, it is an extra verb, and there is no place for it.
Read the choices again. It’ll make sense.
2nd question
C is correct because it is shorter and more concise.
B also makes sense in terms of grammar but it requires the addition of another sentence. Keep in mind that ACT always tries to keep it shorter.
Good luck</p>
<p>Question 1
You can only say “watch someone do/doing something” so in this case either watched he play or watched he playing</p>
<p>^ Above are both incorrect.</p>
<p>For #1, the action (playing) is used in the present tense, which can be confusing given that the sentence as a whole is in past tense. However, it means that all suitable replacements must also allow the act to be referred to in the present tense in that sentence. B (as he played) refers to the action of playing in present tense, while C refers to it in past tense. </p>
<p>For #2, first you need to recognize that you’re always going to end a quoted phrase like that with punctuation of some kind, either a period or a comma, eliminating B right off the bat. Then you need to see that there are two separate thoughts in the second sentence, and they are unconnected by any coordinating conjunctions. Thus the only options are splitting it into two sentences (answer C) or having it slightly rewritten with a semicolon (no answers offer this, but know your semicolon use rules–it seems like the ACT loves semicolons). Thus, the only answer choice that fits these requirements is C. </p>
<p>That’s funny @1d51jklad1, while you think my answer is “incorrect”, I see that you don’t understand the problem here at all. The first question can be solved easily if you know the grammar rule. No one should spend so much time trying to explain it.</p>
<p>@asianstudent96 Your explanation gets the correct answer, but for the wrong reason. </p>
<p>The issue with the first one is the tense agreement. I apologize for explaining that in a paragraph intended to elucidate what I meant rather than just writing “tense agreement” and ending it there.</p>
<p>Your explanation of, "you can only say ‘watch someone do/doing something’,"is correct, but the reason why it’s correct is tense agreement, which you completely ignore. This is the reasoning behind “you can only say watch x do/doing y,” something you don’t mention at all. The “grammar rule” that you mention is literally nothing but proper tense agreement. </p>
<p>I always like to simplify the sentences to see why they are right or wrong.</p>
<ol>
<li>I watched an elderly man played chess.</li>
<li>Alex Haley began to refer to her as “my American [griot,” this] was a revelation to Smith.</li>
</ol>
<p>Do those make it obvious why #1 is wrong and #2 needs a period?</p>