Rhetorical Strategy

• Use a four-step routine on goal, add, delete, and revise questions: find the goal in the question, reread the paragraph and what comes next, reject each choice with a stated reason (off topic, too narrow, does not lead into what follows, repeats, wrong tone), and on Yes/No items test each reason clause by itself
• Evaluate whether the essay or a detail meets a stated goal, including why the author included a detail and whom the writing is for
• Choose the best introduction, transition between paragraphs, or conclusion, rejecting choices that are true but too specific
• Finish on one ACT-hard question and say what made it hard

Rhetorical strategy questions are 'big picture' questions that often come at the end of an English passage. They may ask: 'Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to describe X. Would this essay accomplish that purpose?' or 'Which choice would most effectively introduce the main topic of this paragraph?' To answer, you need to understand the passage's overall theme and purpose. Not just grammar rules. Rhetorical and organization skills are a substantial share of the modern English section, so treat them as core, not a footnote. A closely related and very common type is the add / DELETE / relevance question, which asks whether a sentence or phrase should be added or kept. The rule is simple: keep it only if it is both on topic and supports the specific point of that paragraph, and delete it if it is off topic, redundant, or merely interesting but irrelevant. These questions almost always come as 'Yes, because...' or 'No, because...' pairs (or 'Kept, because...' and 'Deleted, because...' when the stem asks 'Should the sentence be kept or deleted?'), so the trap is choosing the right yes/no but the wrong reason: verify that the justification itself is accurate before selecting. Today builds on the Add, Delete, or Keep lesson, and The Writer's Goal lesson gives goal and whole-essay purpose items more practice. The key is to read the entire passage, not just the underlined portions, to grasp the bigger picture. Goal questions ('Which choice best accomplishes this goal?' or 'Given that all the choices are accurate, which one...') state the writer's goal in the question itself. Every choice is true, so truth is not the test: underline the goal words and pick the choice that does exactly that job. For 'If the writer deleted this sentence, the paragraph would primarily lose...' questions, name the sentence's function first, such as an example, a definition that a later sentence depends on, or a transition between ideas. Routine for goal, add, delete, and revise questions: (1) find the goal stated in the question and underline its key words; (2) reread what the paragraph is about and what comes right after it; (3) reject each choice with a reason you can say out loud: off topic, too narrow for the whole paragraph, does not lead into what follows, repeats something already said, or wrong tone; (4) on 'Yes, because' and 'No, because' choices, decide yes or no, then test each reason clause by itself against the passage, since two choices often share the right yes or no and only one gives a true reason. Work outward in scope: a sentence, then the paragraph, then introductions, transitions between paragraphs, and conclusions, then the whole essay; give introductions and transitions between paragraphs the most practice. The ACT-hard version: two choices share the right yes or no and differ only in the reason, or the most vivid choice is an example when the goal asks for a sentence that sets up the paragraph.

• For 'does this accomplish the goal?' questions, the answer is often 'yes, because...' if the essay matches the stated purpose, or 'no, because...' if it doesn't. Focus on the reasoning.
• When asked for the best introduction to a paragraph, read the rest of the paragraph first to understand its topic.
• Eliminate answer choices that are true but irrelevant to the specific question being asked.
• Say a reason for every choice you reject: off topic, too narrow, does not lead into what follows, repeats, or wrong tone.