ACT English Test

Strategies and Skills

ACT English Test75 questions, 45 minutes

Usage/Mechanics53% of the test

Punctuation, Grammar & UsageSentence Structure

ACT Sentence Structure and Punctuation

The ACT English Test contains a number of questions that test sentence structure and punctuation.

Learning ALL the rules of grammar and usage is a daunting task and not necessary.

We can review the ones most frequently tested.

*** BONUS *** Understanding these basic rules will also help your writing!

Complete and Incomplete Ideas

Correct structure and punctuation all depend on whether the ideas being expressed are complete or incomplete.

A complete idea can stand on its own, whether it’s the entire sentence or just one part.

1.Amanda throws strikes.

2.Go Wolves!

3.Who won the game?

4.The team celebrated after they won the game.

Complete and Incomplete Ideas cont’d

To be a complete idea there must be a subject and verb.

Subject Verb

1 Amanda throws

2 You (understood)

Go

3 Who won

4 team and they celebrated and won

Complete and Incomplete Ideas continuedAn incomplete idea can’t stand on its own. Look at the following examples:

1.The batter who hit second

2.Since you bought the hotdogs

3.To get a batter out

4.The team grabbed

An incomplete idea is always missing something, whether a subject and verb (#3), the main idea (example #2), or the rest of an idea (examples #1 and #4). Each of these would need to link up with another idea to make a sentence.

ACT tests heavily how to link ideas with punctuation and conjuctions.

STOP PUNCTUATION

Period (.)

Semicolon (;)

Question mark (?)

Exclamation mark (!)

Can ONLY come between to complete ideas.

Let’s Practice

After the thumping music started. The bird began to dance.

A.NO CHANGE

B.started, the bird began,

C.started; the bird began

D.started, the bird began

Commas

Use commas to slow ideas down, but not stop ideas. If you don’t need to stop or slow down, don’t use any punctuation.

On the ACT, there are only four reasons to use a comma.

A comma alone can’t come between complete ideas, but it can when it’s paired with what we call FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. A comma plus any of these is the equivalent of STOP punctuation

Let’s Practice Again

I wondered how Snowball had learned to dance, and asked his trainer.

F. No Change

G. to dance and asked his trainer.

H. to dance; and asked his trainer.

J. to dance. And asked his trainer.

Comma Fun Continued

A comma can link an incomplete idea to a complete idea, in either order.

After Snowball stopped dancing, the trainer gave the bird another treat.

incomplete idea complete idea

Snowball rocked out to Lady Gaga, oblivious to the growing crowd of fans.

complete idea incomplete idea

Commas - The Final Frontier

Use commas to separate items on a list.

Snowball prefers songs with a regular, funky beat.

Snowball seems to like best the music of The Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga, and Queen.

Whenever you have three or more items on a list, always use a comma before the “and” preceding the final item. This rule can be controversial, but on the ACT the universally like the comma before the “and.”

Commas - Almost done

Use a pair of commas around unnecessary information.

Further research has shown that parrots, including cockatoos, can dance in perfect sync to music.

If information is necessary in either means or structure, don’t use the commas. If the meaning would be exactly the same but the additional information make the sentence more interesting, use a pair of commas - or a pair of dashes - around the information.

Lets try it, class!

Many people point to dog dancing competitions to argue that birds are not the only animals that can dance.

A.NO CHANGE

B.argue, that birds are not the only animals,

C.argue, that birds are not the only animals

D.argue that birds are not the only animals,

Another practice

Scientists now believe that the ability to mimic, which requires complex circuitry, for vocal learning, is necessary for an animal to keep a synchronized beat.

F. NO CHANGE

G. mimic, which requires complex circuitry

H. mimic, which, requires complex circuitry

J. mimic which requires complex circuitry

Colons and Single Dashes

Colons and single dashes are very specific pieces of punctuation, and they are very flexible. They can link a complete idea to either an incomplete idea or another complete idea. The complete idea must come first, and the second idea will be a definition, explanation, or list.

Parrots don’t respond well to genres with at least noticeable upbeat; waltzes and salsa.

A.NO CHANGE

B.upbeat, waltzes, and salsa.

C.upbeat: waltzes, and salsa.

D.upbeat: waltzes and salsa.

Conjunctions

Punctuation isn’t the only way to link ideas. On some of the more difficult questions on sentence structure, you have to change the ideas by adding or deleting the conjunction.

Here are some of the more common conjunctions you may see.

although, as, because, if, since, that, until,

what, which, when, where, who, whom

(so these aren’t technically conjuctions, but it doesn’t matter because on the ACT when you use these words, they act just like a conjunction.)

Let’s see how that works

The African grey parrot, which also mimics human speech and therefore can dance.

A.NO CHANGE

B.parrot which

C.parrot that

D.parrot

Let’s try another...

The videos of Snowball dancing have sparked a serious area of study, researchers admit they appreciate the sheer entertainment value.

F. NO CHANGE

G. Although the videos of Snowball

H. The videos appearing all over the Internet of Snowball

J. Since the videos of Snowball