Conciseness / Redundancy questions in the SAT and the ACT
What is wrong with this sentence?
I annually invest a large sum of money in insurance each year.
Here, the words used in the sentence are redundant: "annually" and "each year."
This is an example of redundancy / conciseness questions, which are frequently tested in the SAT and the ACT.
“pick the shortest answer choice when you are unsure”
This famous advice was formulated precisely because of redundancy / conciseness questions.
As a general rule, remember these ideas when approaching conciseness / redundancy questions.
1. As long as the meaning doesn’t change, one sentence is better than two sentences, and one verb is better than two verbs.
2. The SAT and the ACT hates repeating the same words.
I annually invest a large sum of money in insurance each year.
3. BEING
The word "being" has many usages (one common usage is the phrase "In addition to being..."). However, in standardized grammar tests like the SAT and the ACT, "being" is almost always considered wordy.
For example, while the sentence below is grammatically correct, we can make this sentence more concise by simply deleting the word "being."
Being weak and tired, the man went to sleep.
4. Passive Voice
Conciseness questions often involve active and passive voice.
As a general rule, active sentences are considered more concise than passive sentences.
active voice: I ate rice (recommended)
passive voice: The rice was eaten by me.
One Final Tip
Sometimes, the shortest answer choice is not the answer. Read carefully and see that the original meaning has not changed.