ENGLISH

ACT Workshop

Triage

Click icon to add pictureNOWYou know it—answer it!

LATERNot sure—circle question and move on.

NEVERNo clue—Guess!

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.

Words of Advice

Get plenty of sleep.Eat a healthy breakfast.Write in your test bookletBring your

Watch ID Admission ticket Calculator Water Snack

1. Identify the TOPIC

2. Use POE

3. Use Context.

4. Trust your ear, but verify.

5. Don’t fix what’s not broken.

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 subjectCheck the tenseBe 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 originalCheck the case

Who versus Whom-Who- subject-Whom- object

Modifiers

Adjectives- modify nounsAdverbs- modify verbs, adjectives, and other

adverbsComparison- erSuperlative- 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 POESentences: -Don’t try to re-order all the sentences

yourself -Look for transition words -Use POEParagraphs: -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