ACT English

Things to remember for the english section of the ACT exam

Semi-colon ;

Independent clause joins a Independent clause.

Semi-colon ;

IC + IC

Colon :

Independent clause joins a dependent clause.

Colon :

IC + DC

Colon :

Sentence + list/explanation/example

Parentheses = Dashes = Commas

Sentence joins Extra Info joins Sentence

Comma ,

Before a conjunction to separate sentences

Singular possession

It’s

Plural possession

The dogs’ food

Contraction

You’re

Conjunction

for, and, but, or, yet, so

Who

(Subject)

Whom

(Object)

Independent clause

a complete sentence

Dependent clause

a incomplete sentence, based on contextual info

Subject/Verb Agreement

The subject of the sentence can never be after the word of or within punctuated extra information

Singular S/V

is, was, has, stops, makes, rewards

Plural S/V

are, were, have, stop, make, reward

KISS

“Less is best”

Keep It Short & Sweet

Pronoun agreement

food → it, its

foods → they, them, their

Comma splice

IC, IC

Verb tense

Base choice on the surrounding paragraphs

Past: was, were, had

Present: is, are, stops

Deletion

Do not remove → is, are, was, were, was, have & had