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You can use the ACT Reading Question of the Day to get into the habit of thinking about ACT Reading content on a daily basis when studying for the ACT. Varsity Tutors' ACT Reading Questions of the Day are drawn from each topic and question type covered on the Reading section of the ACT.
Question of the Day: ACT Reading
Adapted from "Mr. Wordsworth" in The Spirit of the Age: or Contemporary Portraits by William Hazlitt (1825)
Mr. Wordsworth’s genius is a pure emanation of the Spirit of the Age. Had he lived in any other period of the world, he would never have been heard of. As it is, he has some difficulty to contend with the lethargy of his intellect, and the meanness of his subject. With him “lowliness is young ambition’s ladder;” but he finds it a toil to climb in this way the steep of Fame. His homely Muse can hardly raise her wing from the ground, nor spread her hidden glories to the sun. He has “no figures nor no fantasies, which busy passion draws in the brains of men:” neither the gorgeous machinery of mythological lore, nor the splendid colors of poetic diction. His style is vernacular: he delivers household truths. He sees nothing loftier than human hopes; nothing deeper than the human heart. This he probes, this he tampers with, this he poises, with all its incalculable weight of thought and feeling, in his hands, and at the same time calms the throbbing pulses of his own heart, by keeping his eye ever fixed on the face of nature. If he can make the life-blood flow from the wounded breast, this is the living coloring with which he paints his verse: if he can assuage the pain or close up the wound with the balm of solitary musing, or the healing power of plants and herbs and “skyey influences,” this is the sole triumph of his art. He takes the simplest elements of nature and of the human mind, the mere abstract conditions inseparable from our being, and tries to compound a new system of poetry from them; and has perhaps succeeded as well as anyone could. “Nihil humani a me alienum puto” (I consider nothing that is human alien to me)—is the motto of his works. He thinks nothing low or indifferent of which this can be affirmed: everything that professes to be more than this, that is not an absolute essence of truth and feeling, he holds to be vitiated, false, and spurious. In a word, his poetry is founded on setting up an opposition (and pushing it to the utmost length) between the natural and the artificial: between the spirit of humanity, and the spirit of fashion and of the world!
It is one of the innovations of the time. It partakes of, and is carried along with, the revolutionary movement of our age: the political changes of the day were the model on which he formed and conducted his poetical experiments. His Muse (it cannot be denied, and without this we cannot explain its character at all) is a leveling one. It proceeds on a principle of equality, and strives to reduce all things to the same standard. It is distinguished by a proud humility. It relies upon its own resources, and disdains external show and relief. It takes the commonest events and objects, as a test to prove that nature is always interesting from its inherent truth and beauty, without any of the ornaments of dress or pomp of circumstances to set it off. Hence the unaccountable mixture of seeming simplicity and real abstruseness in the Lyrical Ballads. Fools have laughed at, and wise men scarcely understand, them. He takes a subject or a story merely as pegs or loops to hang thought and feeling on; the incidents are trifling, in proportion to his contempt for imposing appearances; the reflections are profound, according to the gravity and aspiring pretensions of his mind.
Which of the following statements about the author’s attitude toward Wordsworth is supported by the first five lines of the passage?
He is consistently ahead of his time in his work.
He would not be famous had he been born at any other time.
His work appears to emulate the great works of the past.
He has climbed to fame with ease.
He does not work for the world around him.
Studying for different subjects on the ACT can sometimes require different methods. Preparing for the ACT Reading portion, for example, requires different skills than many of the other parts of the test. One way to help prepare you for the reading portion of the ACT is to use Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools Reading Question of the Day. By using the Question of the Day, you will receive a daily question to help you not only prepare for specific concepts that you will encounter on the ACT, but also prepare you for the method of the reading portion of the test, which to some is quite different from any other part of the test. Whether you need ACT Reading tutoring in New York, ACT Reading tutoring in Chicago, or ACT Reading tutoring in Los Angeles, working one-on-one with an expert may be just the boost your studies need.
The Learning Tools Reading Question of the Day will provide you with a different passage to read each day. Each passage will vary in length as well as difficulty. At the end of the passage, you will be asked a question based on the text that you have just read, as well as given a number of different possible answers. Based on the reading that you have just done, you will select your answer. At this point, you will be told whether or not you were correct, as well as several statistics. The statistics include the time it took for you to read the passage and answer your question, the percentage of those that answered the question correctly, as well as the percentile that you fall into based on the statistics. The statistics will accumulate each day, allowing you to compare yourself to others that are also preparing for the test and give you an idea of how you rank. Varsity Tutors also offers resources like a free ACT prep book to help with your self-paced study, or you may want to consider an ACT Reading tutor.
One of the most important statistics for many is the amount of time it took for you to read the passage and answer the question. Given that the ACT is a timed test, the amount of time it takes for you to answer a question can be a very important aspect. With the help of the Learning Tools Question of the Day, you can keep track of the time of each question on a daily basis, continually working to both read the passages and answer the questions more quickly.
Along with the statistics provided in the Learning Tools Question of the Day, you will also be provided with a full explanation of why the answer you have given is right or wrong, as well as an area where you can read more on the general concept associated with each day’s question. Often times, you will be provided with many other examples of each general concept, which will allow you to spend as much time as you like on concepts that may be more difficult to you than others, better preparing you for the ACT Reading portion. In addition to the ACT Reading Question of the Day and ACT Reading tutoring, you may also want to consider taking some of our ACT Reading practice tests.
The reading portion of the ACT can be challenging for many, since it takes a different skill set to properly answer the questions. Along with reading comprehension, the reading section will require speed, English comprehension, and deductive reasoning. With the help of the Learning Tools ACT Reading Question of the Day, you will get a daily opportunity to improve these skills, as well as learn the reasoning behind the concepts that will be tested by the ACT.
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