Download ACT Workshop

ACT Workshop
ENGLISH
NOW
You know it—answer it!
LATER
Not sure—circle
question and move on.
NEVER
No clue—Guess!
Triage
TWO PASSES
 First pass: Answer all questions you KNOW.
 Second pass: Answer the tough ones you circled.
POE
 Use the Process of Elimination
 Read through all answer choices!
 Try to eliminate wrong answers.
 If you can eliminate at least 2, guessing becomes much easier.
 Get plenty of sleep.
Words of
Advice
 Eat a healthy breakfast.
 Write in your test booklet
 Bring your
 Watch
 ID
 Admission ticket
 Calculator
 Water
 Snack
5. Don’t fix what’s not broken.
4. Trust your ear, but verify.
3. Use Context.
2. Use POE
1. Identify the TOPIC
by noticing changes.
Practice Drill
VERBS
 Singular verbs end with S.
 Plural verbs do not.
 Examples:
 The kids love chocolate.
 The kid loves chocolate.
 The dogs eat a lot of food.
 The dog eats a lot of food.
Verb Tips
Identify the subject
Check the tense
Be concise
Passive Voice
Uses “to be” and preposition by
Usually too wordy- not concise
Irregular verbs
Pronouns
1st Person 2nd Person
3rd Person
Subject
I, we
You
She, he, it, they
Object
Me, us
You
Her, him, it,
they
Possessive
My, mine,
our, ours
Your
Her, hers, his,
its, their, theirs
Pronoun-Antecedent Problems
Every student must have their pencils.
I never go to that place because they have
stale bread.
Politics is my favorite subject. They are such
fascinating people.
He ought to speak French well. He lived
there for twenty years.
Pronoun Pairing Problems
Him and her are dating.
The doctor gave some medicine
to my mom and I.
Me and my friend are studying
for the ACT.
Please give they and I more
homework.
Tricky Pronouns

Singular: anybody,
anyone, each, either,
everybody, everyone, nobody,
somebody, someone
Pronoun Tips
 Find the original
 Check the case
 Who versus Whom
-Who- subject
-Whom- object
Modifiers
 Adjectives- modify nouns
 Adverbs- modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs
 Comparison- er
 Superlative- est

Stop Punctuation
 Used between complete ideas

Period

Semi-colon

Question mark

Exclamation mark

Commas
to connect 2 complete ideas—
combine with FANBOYS
 Vertical Line Test - Used to determine if the ideas before or
after are complete thoughts.
Go Punctuation
 Used to slow down
 Commas:
 to connect an incomplete idea and a complete idea
 to create lists
 to set apart unnecessary Information
 Colons
 Single Dashes
 Use vertical line test
Conjunctions
 although, as, because, if, since,
that, until, what, which, while,
when, where, who, whom
 Add a conjunction to make an idea incomplete, or take it
away to make an idea complete.
Prepositional Phrases
 Prepositional phrases modify
(describe) a noun.
 Look to the left of the PP to find the
subject.
Apostrophes







-Possession
-single: add ‘s
-plural nouns: add just an apostrophe
-Contractions
-It’s versus its
-who’s versus whose
-they’re versus their
Transitions
 Contrast:
although, but, despite, even though, however,
nonetheless, nevertheless, or, yet
 “Keep going”:
and, because, finally, furthermore, moreover, since, so,
thus, therefore
Be concise!
If you don’t need
it, don’t use it.
EXCEPT/LEAST/NOT Questions

Use POE

NO CHANGE is almost never the answer
STRATEGY Questions


All revolve around the purpose
of the text.
Look at the reasons in the
answer choices.
ORDER Questions
 Work best with POE
 Sentences:






-Don’t try to re-order all the sentences yourself
-Look for transition words
-Use POE
Paragraphs:
-There will be a warning at the start of the
passage
-Placement of new info
Grading the Passage
 Identify the purpose in the question
 Look at the reasons in the answer
choices