Exactly this! I see this psychological sleight of hand all the time. Check out the June 2015 ACT (73C) Q14: the end of the passage uses the verb ‘promised,’ and the one of the answer choices includes the adjective ‘promising.’ Also the May 2018 Writing section Q41: the text has the adjective ‘competitive’ while the answer choice has the noun ‘competition.’ Obviously, they are different words in both cases, but students process them as the same and get tricked so frequently.
Exactly this! I see this psychological sleight of hand all the time. Check out the June 2015 ACT (73C) Q14: the end of the passage uses the verb ‘promised,’ and the one of the answer choices includes the adjective ‘promising.’ Also the May 2018 Writing section Q41: the text has the adjective ‘competitive’ while the answer choice has the noun ‘competition.’ Obviously, they are different words in both cases, but students process them as the same and get tricked so frequently.
Great article!
Thanks! Yup, you definitely see this very frequently, across all the tests I've ever helped students with.