WR11 Standards

From Brush Schools Wiki

Go back to main Writing page.

ACT Continuum: English Level 11

Topic Development in Terms of Purpose and Focus*

• Identify the focus of a simple essay, applying that knowledge to add a sentence that sharpens that focus or to determine if an essay has met a specified goalES
• Delete material primarily because it disturbs the flow and development of the paragraph
• Add a sentence to introduce or summarize the essay and to accomplish a fairly straightforward purpose such as illustrating a given statement

Organization, Unity, and Coherence

• Use conjunctive adverbs or phrases to create subtle logical connections between sentences, such as cause-effect
• Rearrange the sentences in a fairly uncomplicated paragraph for the sake of logic
• Provide a transition between paragraphs when the essay is fairly straightforward ES

Word Choice in Terms of Style, Tone, Clarity, and Economy

• Revise a phrase that is redundant in terms of the meaning and logic of the entire sentence ES
• Identify and correct vague pronoun references
• Use the word or phrase most appropriate in terms of the content of the sentence and tone of the essay

Sentence Structure and Formation

• Ensure that a pronoun agrees with its antecedent when the two occur in separate clauses or sentences ES
• Identify the correct past and past participle forms of irregular and infrequently used verbs and form present-perfect verbs by using have rather than of

Conventions of Punctuation

• Use punctuation to set off complex parenthetical phrases
• Recognize and delete unnecessary commas based on a careful reading of the entire sentence (e.g., between the elements of a compound subject or a compound verb) ES
• Use apostrophes to indicate simple possessive nouns
• Recognize inappropriate uses of colons in sentences

ACT Continuum: Writing Level 11

Expressing Judgments

• Show clear understanding of the persuasive purpose of the task by taking a position on the specific issue in the prompt and offering a critical context discussion.
• Show understanding of the complexity of the issue in the prompt by
  • examining different perspectives, and/or
  • evaluating implications of complications of the issue, and/or
  • posing and fully discussing counterarguments to the writer's position

Focusing on the Topic

• Maintain a clear focus on discussion of the specific topic and issue in the prompt throughout the essay
• Present a critical thesis that clearly establishes the focus on the writer's position on the issue

Developing a Position

• Develop several ideas fully, using specific and relevant reasons, details, and examples
• Show effective movement between general and specific ideas and examples

Organizing Ideas

• Provide unity and coherence throughout the essay, often with a logical progression of ideas
• Use relevant transitional words, phrases, and sentences to convey logical relationships between ideas

Using Language

• Show effective use of language to clearly communicate ideas by
  • correctly employing most conventions of standard English grammar, usage, and mechanics, with just a few, if any, errors
  • using precise and varied vocabulary
  • using a variety of kinds of sentence structures to vary pace and to support meaning