Authorial Claims on the ACT® Reading Test
Read time: 2 minutes Last updated: September 23rd, 2024
Questions about authorial claims on the ACT® Reading test can be tricky, but they always rely on evidence from the passage. The ACT® might ask you to recognize when an author is making a claim rather than stating a fact. Once you spot these claims, you'll need to figure out why the author made them.
Example Question Phrasings
Here are some ways the ACT® might ask about authorial claims:
"The author says X. Why does the author do this?"
- They might ask if it's a lamentation, illustration, critique, or something else.
"Is the author's statement a fact, theory, or opinion?"
- The ACT® won't directly tell you it's not a fact, but the question implies you need to think about it.
"The author's claim about Y is supported by which evidence?"
- When you see the word "claim," it's a clear sign that you need to consider why the author made this statement and what evidence backs it up.
"What is the main purpose of the author's statement in lines 45-48?"
- This type of question asks you to think about the author's intentions behind a specific claim.
"How does the author's claim in paragraph 2 relate to the overall argument of the passage?"
- Here, you'll need to connect a specific claim to the broader context of the passage.
Optimal Technique to Solve
When tackling authorial claim questions on the ACT® Reading, follow these steps:
Locate the claim: Find the exact spot in the passage where the author makes the statement in question.
Read in context: Don't just focus on the claim itself. Read a sentence or two before and after to understand the full context. The ACT® often hides clear answers nearby.
Form your own conclusion: Before looking at the answer choices, try to come up with your own idea about why the author made this claim or what evidence supports it.
Use Process of Elimination: If the answer isn't obvious from the context, look at the choices and cross out any that clearly don't fit based on what you've read.
Find supporting details: For each remaining answer choice, scan the passage for specific details that either prove or disprove that option.
Choose the best answer: Select the option that's most strongly supported by the passage, even if it's not perfect.