ACT English: Foundations of Grammar and Usage

TL;DR

You'll need a solid grasp of basic grammar rules to ace the ACT English section, focusing on sentence structure, punctuation, and common usage errors. The test often checks for conciseness and clarity, so less is usually more. Practice identifying and correcting errors in context to improve your score.

1. The Mental Model

Think of the ACT English section as a finely tuned editing task. You're not just finding mistakes; you're making sentences as clear, concise, and grammatically perfect as possible. It's about knowing the rules and applying them efficiently.

2. The Core Material

The ACT English section primarily tests your knowledge of standard written English. This involves understanding how words, phrases, and clauses fit together correctly.

a. Sentence Structure: Independent & Dependent Clauses

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A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb.
* An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence.
* Example: "She studied hard."
* A dependent clause cannot stand alone; it needs an independent clause to make sense. It often starts with a subordinating conjunction (like because, although, since, while, when, if, that) or a relative pronoun (like who, which, that).
* Example: "Because she studied hard." (Needs more info!)

Sentences can combine these clauses:
* Simple sentence: One independent clause. "The dog barked."
* Compound sentence: Two or more independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So) or a semicolon. "The dog barked, and the cat hissed."
* Complex sentence: One independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. "Because the dog barked, the cat ran away."
* Compound-complex sentence: Two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. "Because the dog barked, the cat ran away, and the birds flew off."

b. Punctuation: Commas, Semicolons, and Apostrophes

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• Commas (,):
  • Separate items in a list: "apples, bananas, and oranges."
  • Separate introductory phrases/clauses: "After the rain stopped, we went outside."
  • Set off non-essential information (appositives, parenthetical phrases): "My brother, a talented artist, won the award."
  • Join independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction: "I like pizza, but I prefer pasta."
• Semicolons (;):
  • Join two closely related independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction: "He was tired; he had worked all day."
  • Separate items in a complex list that already contain commas: "We invited John, the manager; Sarah, the assistant; and Mike, the intern."
• Apostrophes ('):
  • Show possession: "the dog's bone" (singular possessive), "the dogs' bowls" (plural possessive).
  • Form contractions: "it's" (it is), "they're" (they are). Never use "its'"—it's not a word.

c. Common Usage Errors

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• Subject-Verb Agreement: The verb must agree in number with its subject.
  • Correct: "The cat runs." (singular subject, singular verb)
  • Correct: "The cats run." (plural subject, plural verb)
  • Watch out for phrases between the subject and verb: "The box of chocolates is on the table." (Box is the subject, not chocolates.)
• Pronoun Agreement: Pronouns must agree in number and gender with the noun they refer to (their antecedent).
  • Correct: "Sarah brought her book."
  • Correct: "Students should bring their laptops."
  • Watch for ambiguous pronouns: "When John told Paul he had won, he was happy." (Who is "he"?)
• Parallelism: Items in a list or comparison should be in the same grammatical form.
  • Incorrect: "She likes to run, swimming, and biking."
  • Correct: "She likes to run, swim, and bike."
  • Correct: "She likes running, swimming, and biking."
• Misplaced Modifiers: A modifier should be placed as close as possible to the word it describes.
  • Incorrect: "I saw a dog walking down the street with a red collar." (Was the street wearing a red collar?)
  • Correct: "Walking down the street, I saw a dog with a red collar."
• Redundancy/Wordiness: The ACT favors concise language. Avoid unnecessary words or phrases.
  • Incorrect: "The reason why he left is because he was sick."
  • Correct: "He left because he was sick." or "The reason he left is that he was sick."

Here's a flowchart of how to approach a sentence correction question:

graph TD
    A["Read the underlined portion in context"] --> B{Is it a complete sentence?};
    B -- Yes --> C{Does it make sense logically and grammatically?};
    B -- No --> D["Look for independent/dependent clauses missing"];
    C -- Yes --> E{Are there any obvious errors: S-V agreement, pronoun, parallelism, punctuation?};
    C -- No --> F["Consider alternative options for clarity/conciseness"];
    E -- No --> G["Check for redundancy/wordiness"];
    E -- Yes --> H["Identify the specific error type"];
    G -- No --> I["Choose NO CHANGE if perfect"];
    G -- Yes --> J["Look for shorter, clearer options"];
    H --> K["Find the option that corrects the error"];
    D --> K;
    F --> K;
    J --> K;
    K --> L["Reread the corrected sentence to ensure it flows"];

3. Worked Example

Let's look at this sentence:

"Despite having studied diligently for weeks, the difficult exam caused a feeling of apprehension among the students, they felt nervous."

The underlined portion, "they felt nervous," is an independent clause. However, it's connected to the previous independent clause ("the difficult exam caused a feeling of apprehension among the students") only by a comma. This creates a comma splice, which is a common error on the ACT.

Here are potential options you might see:

A. NO CHANGE
B. students; they felt nervous.
C. students, and they felt nervous.
D. students, feeling nervous.

• A. NO CHANGE: This retains the comma splice, so it's incorrect.
• B. students; they felt nervous. This uses a semicolon to correctly join two closely related independent clauses. This is a good option.
• C. students, and they felt nervous. This uses a comma and a coordinating conjunction ("and") to correctly join two independent clauses. This is also a good option.
• D. students, feeling nervous. This makes "feeling nervous" a participial phrase modifying "students," which works well and makes the sentence more concise. This is often the preferred ACT answer as it reduces word count.

In many cases, the ACT favors conciseness. Option D is the most concise and grammatically correct way to convey the idea. Option C is also correct, but less concise. Option B is grammatically correct. If only one of B, C, or D were an option, you'd pick it. If all were options, D would likely be best due to conciseness.

Let's choose D. students, feeling nervous. for conciseness and grammatical correctness.

Corrected sentence: "Despite having studied diligently for weeks, the difficult exam caused a feeling of apprehension among the students, feeling nervous."

4. Key Takeaways

• Always read the entire sentence, and sometimes the surrounding sentences, to understand the context.
• The ACT favors conciseness: shorter, clearer answers are often correct if grammatically sound.
• Master subject-verb and pronoun agreement; they're very common error types.
• Understand comma rules, especially for lists, introductory elements, and joining independent clauses.
• Watch out for misplaced modifiers and issues with parallel structure.

• A semicolon connects two independent clauses; never use a comma alone to do this (comma splice).

• Don't choose an answer just because it "sounds good"; identify the grammatical rule being tested.

• Don't automatically pick "NO CHANGE" without carefully checking for errors.
• Avoid introducing new errors in an attempt to fix an existing one.
• Don't get hung up on tricky sentences; move on if stuck and come back if you have time.

5. Now Try It

Take a practice ACT English section (aim for 10-15 questions). For each question, instead of just picking an answer, identify why the incorrect options are wrong and why the correct option is best, referencing specific grammar rules like subject-verb agreement, pronoun antecedent agreement, punctuation, or conciseness.

Success looks like: You can articulate the grammatical principle behind at least 80% of your chosen answers and understand why the other options fail that principle.