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ACING THE ACT
ENGLISH SECTION
Important Facts
 75 questions
 45 minutes (about 2 minutes per
question)
 Tested on punctuation, grammar &
usage, sentence construction, writing
strategies, organization & style
General ACT English Tips
 Skim the passage
 Answer the questions in the ORDER that
they appear
 Use POE – Process of elimination
 When all else fails, GUESS & MOVE ON
The English questions are
broken into 3 categories
 Punctuation (10 questions): punctuation
questions ask you to identify and correct any
misplaced, misused, or missing punctuation
marks. The punctuation marks most commonly
tested on the ACT are:




Commas (most questions)
Apostrophes
Colons
Semi-colons
The English questions are
broken into 3 categories
 Basic Grammar & Usage (12 Questions):
Usually targets a single incorrect word
that violates the conventional rules of
grammar. These are usually subject/verb
agreement & pronoun and verb forms.
The English questions are
broken into 3 categories
 Sentence Structure (18 questions):
These tend to deal with the sentence as
a whole. They test you on clause
relationships, parallelism and placement
of modifiers.
TIPS
 Avoid the “Sounds Good Method” These
tend to be trick questions.
 Cut the fat! Eliminate PREPOSITIONAL
PHRASES – this will put the subject and
verb closer together, making it easier for
you to identify the correct answer.
COMMAS
 Commas are used in 4 ways on the ACT




Around unnecessary information
Between items in a list
Between a complete and incomplete clause
Before FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet,
so)
SEMICOLONS & DASHES
 Semicolons are used to relate
independent clauses that are not joined
by a conjunction.
 Dashes are used to indicate an abrupt
break in thought, or to introduce an
explanation.
APOSTROPHES & COLONS
 Apostrophes are used to indicate
possession or to mark the missing letters
in a word
 Colons are used after a complete
statement to introduce a list of related
details.
SUBJECT-VERB
AGREEMENT
 Subject verb agreement is a simple idea,
but ACT writers will make it tricky. Often,
the ACT will put the subject at one end of
the sentence and the verb at the other
end.
Subject/Verb Example
The few times that I’ve helped a friend with yard
work has given me the joy of touching the
soil with an open palm, to get the earth under
my fingernails, of patting down the berm
around a newly transplanted sapling.
A. No change
B. Have given
C. Has gave
D. Have gave
PROUNOUN ANTECEDENT
An antecedent is a word to which a later
pronoun refers to. When the pronoun
does not agree in gender or number with
its antecedent, there’s an agreement
error.
Pronoun Antecedent
Example
Whether its bright and jaunty or haunting
and melancholic, the music of the
Andes highlands has a mellow sound
unique in the musical world.
A. No change
B. They’re
C. It’s
D. Its’
MODIFIER AGREEMENT
 Modifiers come in two forms, and must
agree with the word that they are
describing.
 Comparative – compares one thing to
another
 Superlative – tells you how one thing
compares to everything else.
Modifier Example
The Andean panpipe has its origins in the
Incan civilization, once the more richer
and more powerful empire in South
America.
A. No change
B. One of the richest and most
C. The richest and most
D. The richer and more
SENTENCE
CONSTRUCTION
 These questions test your knowledge of
how sentences and ideas should be
joined, separated, or put together. These
errors will typically be tested through
clauses.
 INDEPENDENT CLAUSES
 DEPENDENT CLAUSES
TIP
 THREE OF THE MOST
FREQUENTLY TESTED
QUESTIONS ARE ABOUT
FRAGMENTS AND RUN-ONS,
MISPLACED MODIFIERS, AND
PARALLELLISM!!!!!!!
FRAGMENTS & RUN-ONS
Run-on sentences are usually pretty easy
to spot because it will be immediately
clear that the sentence is long and
confusing! The run-on sentence occurs
when independent clauses are joined
without any punctuation.
Fragments are incomplete sentences.
Fragments & Run-Ons
Examples
At the very low tides of the full moon, when
almost all the water was sucked away,
we found the hideaways where crabs,
snails, starfish, and sea urchins hid.
A. No change
B. away. Then we
C. away. We
D. away; we
Example
Due to the limited number of notes that can be
played on an antara early musicians’ most
likely worked in groups, coordinating the
timing and pitch of their instruments to extend
the range of sounds produced.
A. No change
B. antara, early musicians
C. antara, early musicians’
D. antara early musician’s
MISPLACED MODIFIERS
Modifiers are descriptive words or phrases
that are used to add depth or dimension
to the phrase that they modify. Modifiers
are misplaced if they do not actually refer
to what they are modifying. Modifiers are
dangling if you are unsure of what they
modify.
EXAMPLE
Because he was tall, Carmelo was a great
basketball player. “Because he was tall”
is the modifying phrase in the sentence.
It tells you why he was a great ball
player. MODIFYING PHRASES
GENERALLY MUST BE PLACED
DIRECTLY NEXT TO THE PHRASE IT
IS MODIFYING.
EXAMPLE
Many years later, living in an upstairs apartment, I
am more often sorry I didn’t follow my father out
to the garden.
The best placement for the underlined portion would
be:
A. Where it is now
B. After the word sorry
C. After the word follow
D. After the word garden (ending the sentence with
a period).
PARALLELISM
In a parallel sentence, ALL VERBS must be in the
same form
TIP: When you see a list
underlined on the test, look
for a parallelism error!!!!!!
Example:
My father was an avid gardener, - he still is – and
every Saturday morning he would put on his
work clothes, pick up his hoe and trowel, and
would head out the back door.
A. No change
B. Picked up his hoe and trowel, and headed
C. Pick up his hoe and trowel, and head
D. Picking up his hoe and trowel, and headed
Example
The few times that I’ve helped a friend with yard work
have given me the joy of touching the soil with an
open palm, to get the earth under my fingernails,
of patting down the berm around a newly
transplanted sapling.
A. No change
B. With getting
C. Of getting
D. Got
RHETORICAL SKILLS
The rhetorical skills comprise 35 of the 75
questions in the English section. They
are divided into 3 categories:
A. Writing strategies (12 questions)
B. Organization (11 questions)
C. Style (12 questions)
WRITING STRATEGY
This involves improving the effectiveness of
a passage through revision and editing.
These questions will test your ability to
identify effective topic sentences, to flesh
out the paragraph through adding
evidence, and to determine the
passage’s overall purpose.
Example
As a ten-year-old, I was supremely unenthusiastic
about swinging a hoe in the garden when I could
be out playing with my friends. Having tried and
failed, my father was unable to make a gardener
out of me.
Which of the choices best emphasizes how much
the father wanted his son to share his avid
interest in gardening?
a. No change
b. Because of my indifference to his hobby,
c. Contrary to his thinking,
d. Despite his repeated attempts,
ORGANIZATION
These questions deal with the logical
structuring of the passage on the level of
the sentence, the paragraph, and the
passage as a whole. These questions
ask you to organize section to maximize
their coherence, order and unity.
(1) Often, my brother and I joined our mother on her
adventures into tidal lands. (2) At the very low tides of
the full moon, when almost all the water was sucked
away, we found the hideaways where crabs, snails,
starfish, and sea urchins hid in order not to be seen. (3)
Sometimes we would dig with shovels in the mud, where
yellow worms lived in their leathery tunnels.
Which of the following sequences of sentences makes this
paragraph most logical?
A. No change
B. 2, 1, 3
C. 2, 3, 1
D. 3, 1, 2
STYLE
Style questions generally concern the use
of effective word choice in terms of tone
and clarity. These questions test your
ability to choose the most appropriate
word for a sentence in terms of its tone
and clarity or redundancy.
TIP
The ACT English loves short, newspaper
type writing. When it comes to editing
sentences, THE SHORTEST ANSWER
IS USUALLY RIGHT – as long as it
makes sense!!!!
Example
Having studied, my mother is a marine
biologist.
A. No change
B. As my mother’s interest is science, she
is
C. My mother’s occupation is that of
D. My mother is
POE (process of elimination). When you have
a question with multiple errors, try to spot
one error and use POE:
Cathys’ friends left they’re bags in the room.
Cathy’s friends left there bags in the room.
Cathys friends left their bags in the room.
Cathy’s friends left their bags in the room.
 • Don’t be afraid to choose “NO
CHANGE.” This should be the correct
answer approximately 20% of the time.
 • The answer choice “OMIT” means what
is underlined should be removed. Use it
when you know that the passage reads
better with a redundant or irrelevant
statement eliminated.
 NO CHANGE is the correct answer about one-fourth of
the time that it appears.
 • Choose a letter of the day. If a question is too hard or
time-consuming, use your letter of the day and move
on.
 • Always read to the end of the sentence before
working the question. Otherwise, you cannot correctly
judge whether the ideas are complete or incomplete.
 • Think of punctuation as traffic signals: stop and go.
 If you cannot cite a reason to use a comma, don’t use
it.
 • An idiom is a figure of speech that follows no rules.
Most idioms on the ACT involve a preposition.
 • If you can count something (like dollars), use fewer,
number, and many. If you can’t count something (like
cash) use less, amount, and much. More works with
both.
 • . OMIT is correct half the time it appears. If the underlined
portion isn’t necessary to make the sentence Complete,
Consistent, or Clear, get rid of it.
 ACT plays favorites with verbs, pronouns,
apostrophes, and transitions
Singulars and Plurals
 MOST common error in this area? The use of
THEY
When a friend borrows my car, I usually ask
them to fill it with gas before they return it.
 When friends borrow my car, I usually ask
them to fill it with gas before they return it.
It’s or Its?
Who’s?
Whose or
The apostrophe takes the place of a letter.
It’s = It is
Who’s = Who is
STRATEGY:
 Slow down when you come to these.
 Read the sentence as “It is” or “Who
is” to be SURE you’ve chosen the
correct answer.
There, their, and they’re
There = Location
There contains the word here.
Their = Possession.
They’re = They are
Substitute “They are” in the
sentence and see if it makes sense.
Punctuation – Sample
Problem
On the day of the test, his over-protective mother
packed him an ACT survival kit. Ten sharpened
pencils, a pencil sharpener, a calculator, a pack of
batteries, three different-weight sweaters, four
pieces of fruit, a liter of spring water and a box
of tissues.
A. NO CHANGE
B. kit, ten
C. kit; ten
D. kit: ten
D.
OMIT the Material When…
• It is unnecessary
• It is repetitious, or
• It is wordy
Correct more than half of the time.
When in doubt, take it out!
Example of Wordiness
As I previously mentioned to you when
explaining at last week’s meeting the incredible
and undisputed advantages of combining our two
clubs, The Poetry Society and the Poets Outside, I
have written up here for your further study my
thoughts on the matter, detailing the many
benefits that will accrue to both organizations.
At last week’s meeting, I said there
were benefits to combining our two clubs.
Here’s a note repeating why.
The remarkable growth in increased attendance
currently being enjoyed by such formerly
moribund sports franchises as baseball’s
Cleveland Indians shows that building a new
stadium can have a powerful effect on the
popularity of a team.
C.
A. NO CHANGE
B. The growth in attendance remarkably being enjoyed currently
C. The remarkable growth in attendance currently enjoyed
D. The remarkable attendance boom currently enjoyed
Later, Pike fell while valiantly defending
America in the War of 1812. It goes without
saying that this took place after he discovered
Pike’s Peak. He actually died near York (now
called Toronto)…
F. NO CHANGE
I.
G. Clearly, this must have occurred
subsequent to his discovering Pike’s Peak.
H. This was after he found Pike’s Peak.
I. OMIT the underlined portion.
[1] The immigration laws led, ultimately, to a quota system based
on the number of individuals of each national origin reported in the
1890 census. [2] The United States, which was founded mainly by
people who had emigrated from northern Europe, had an essentially
open-door immigration policy for the first 100 years of existence.
[3] But starting in the 1880s and continuing through the 1920s,
Congress passed a series of restrictive immigration laws. [4] The
door to freedom hadn’t been slammed shut, exactly, but was now
open only to the “right” sort of people.
SEQUENCING
Which of the following sequences of sentences
will make this paragraph most logical?
A. 4,3,1,2
B. 2,3,1,4
C. 1,3,2,4
D. 2,3,4,1
The first reason why the Denville school district should
not be combined with the Jackson school district is the
fact that the schools have been sports rivals for too
long. Trying to unite the schools after so many years of
competition would inevitably lead to friction. [2]
2. Is the author’s introductory paragraph effective?
A. Yes, because it gets immediately to the problem
B.
B. No, because an introduction should outline the whole
subject.
C. No, because it doesn’t say how many other reasons there
will be.
D. Yes, because sports is the number one interest of most
students.
Important Points
• 1/3 of English items concern
redundancy, verbosity, and relevance.
• NEVER let the passage repeat itself.
• Stay true to the author’s tone.
• Don’t try to “correct” EVERY sentence.
• Trust your ear.
CAUTION!
• Don’t Add a New Mistake
• Avoid Changing the Meaning
When Editing
Grammar Review
Among those who played a crucial role in the
Northern victory at Gettysburg were Joshua
Chamberlain, a Union colonel from Maine
who later enjoyed a distinguished career as an
educator and politician.
Among those who played a crucial role in the
Northern victory at Gettysburg was Joshua
Chamberlain, a Union colonel from Maine
who later enjoyed a distinguished career as
an educator and politician.
Dismayed by the news that a top executive
had suddenly accepted a job with a
competitor, the price of the company’s
stock fell sharply the next day.
Problem: Dangling Modifier
Possible correction:
Stockholders were dismayed…,and the
price…
A fabled center of monastic life during the
Middle Ages, each summer thousands of
visitors travel to the island of Iona near the
coast of Ireland.
Problem: Misplaced Modifier
Suggestion:
Move “A fabled center of monastic life
during the Middle Ages” after the
phrase “the island of Iona”.
Although the hospital administrators interviewed
many staff members about the repeated cases of
staph infections they had no explanation for the
puzzling pattern of outbreaks.
WHO had no explanation?
The administrators?
The staff?
Possible Correction: Although the hospital
administrators interviewed many staff members
about the repeated cases of staph infections the
staff had no explanation for the puzzling pattern
of outbreaks.
Each member of the tour group should
have their tickets by the end of the week.
Problem: pronoun usage
Each member of the tour group should have
his or her tickets by the end of the week.
OR
All members of the tour group should
have their tickets by the end of the week.
Representatives to the student senate were
asked to pursue often contradictory goals:
boosting student acceptance of more
homework, developing explanations for
adding two hours to the length of each
school day, and the reduction of rampant
poor morale.
Problem: Parallelism
Representatives to the student senate were
asked to pursue often contradictory goals:
boosting student acceptance of more
homework, developing explanations for
adding two hours to the length of each
school day, and the reduction of rampant
poor morale.
“…reducing rampant poor morale.”
In the Olympics the first place
winner gets a gold medal, second
place, a silver medal, and third
place, a bronze medal.
In the Olympics the first place
winner gets a gold medal; second
place, a silver medal; and third
place, a bronze medal.
Princess Diana, for who the
song Candle in the Wind was
written died tragically in an
automobile accident.
Princess Diana, for whom the song
Candle in the Wind was written, died
tragically in an automobile accident.