Mastering ACT English: Conventions of Standard English

Complete Sentence

A sentence that contains a subject, predicate, and expresses a complete thought.

Subject

The person, place, thing, or idea that performs the action in a sentence.

Predicate (Verb)

The part of the sentence that tells what the subject does or what happens to the subject.

Dependent Clause

A clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence because it begins with a subordinating conjunction.

Run-On Sentence

A sentence that connects two independent clauses without proper punctuation.

Comma Splice

A grammatical error where two independent clauses are joined only by a comma.

FANBOYS

A mnemonic that stands for the coordinating conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

Subordination

A grammatical construction that connects an independent clause with a dependent clause.

Parallel Structure

The use of the same grammatical form in lists or compound structures.

Comma Usage

Commas are used in lists, before coordinating conjunctions, and after introductory phrases.

Semicolon

A punctuation mark used to connect closely related independent clauses.

Colon

A punctuation mark used to introduce a list, explanation, or quotation.

Dashes

Punctuation marks used for emphasis or to indicate an abrupt change in thought.

Parentheses

Punctuation marks used to enclose additional information that is not essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Apostrophe

A punctuation mark used to indicate possession or the omission of letters in a contraction.

Subject-Verb Agreement

The rule that singular subjects must have singular verbs, and plural subjects must have plural verbs.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

The requirement that pronouns must agree in number and gender with the nouns they replace.

Adjective

A word that modifies a noun, providing more information about it.

Adverb

A word that modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb, often ending in -ly.

Dangling Modifier

A descriptive phrase that is positioned in such a way that it does not clearly refer to a noun.

Idiomatic Expressions

Phrases where the meaning is not deducible from the individual words, often requiring specific prepositions.

Redundancy

The unnecessary repetition of words or ideas in a sentence.

Misidentifying Subjects

A common error where the subject of a sentence is incorrectly identified, especially in inverted sentences.

Collective Nouns

Words that represent a group of individuals or things, typically treated as singular.

Non-Essential Information (Appositives)

Information that can be removed from a sentence without changing its core meaning, typically set off by commas.

Perfect Tenses

Verb tenses that indicate completed actions in relation to other actions.

Common Pitfall

Frequent mistakes made in grammar or punctuation that one should be wary of.