Pronoun case, agreement, and clear reference — ACT practice questions

[1]

Most archives preserve letters or photographs. The Grayfield Dust Archive preserves what cleaning usually removes. Each sealed envelope contains dust swept from an indoor room located inside a building¹: a bakery loft, repair shop, or attic. Curators treat the material not as dirt but as a record of how air, fabric, wood, and people move through enclosed spaces.

[2]

To make samples comparable, volunteer collectors use identical brushes and paper trays. On each envelope, they record the room’s dimensions the sample’s color and texture and the collection date². Collectors keep there³ brushes inside sleeves until arriving at a marked sampling square. They sweep the same measured area for one minute, fold the tray, and seal the dust before leaving.

[3]

When samples from many rooms are compared, patterns emerge that no single envelope could show. Dust beside warm-air vents contains more textile fibers than dust near closed cupboards. Repeated samples from a workshop may also trace a gradual change from hand sanding to machine cutting, since the newer process produces finer, more evenly distributed wood particles.

[4]

Back at the archive, technicians first log each unopened envelope and photograph its label. They check the seal and assign a code linking the envelope to the collector’s notes. The physical examination begins only after this intake record is complete. A technician sifts each sample through stacked screens. Fine particles fall more slow⁶ than coarse grains when air passes through a testing column. Staff then use low-powered lenses to identify fibers, compare fragments, and mapping the proportion of each material⁷. Once these measurements are entered, samples from different sites can be compared.

[5]

Before approving a record, the chief archivist consults whoever prepared the slide and whomever entered the room data⁸. The envelope and catalog card remain traceable only if it retains matching identification codes⁹. Finally, staff place each sample in a container which lid¹⁰ closes tightly without crushing the contents. Preserved together, thousands of ordinary specks become a patient map of work, weather, and daily life.