LA Skills & Strategies Vocabulary

These flashcards define each Language Arts skill and strategy from the lecture, helping you review grammar rules, punctuation, comparison, transitions, redundancy, and ACT-style conceptual questions.

Subject/Verb Agreement

Ensure the verb matches the true subject in number and tense; linking verbs such as is/are, has/have, was/were count as verbs too.

Pronoun Clarity

Select pronouns that clearly replace the correct noun and case (I vs me, who vs whom, whose for possession, which for things).

Transition Identification

Categorize answer choices (contrast, cause-effect, continuation, example), summarize surrounding sentences, then pick the transition that matches the relationship.

Pattern in a Listing (Parallelism)

In lists of three or more, keep the grammatical pattern and verb tense identical for every item.

Faulty Comparison

When words like "than" or "similar to" appear, compare items in the same category (people to people, skills to skills, etc.).

Eight Comma Rules

A set of eight memorized guidelines for correct comma placement in compound sentences, introductions, lists, non-essentials, etc.

Possession vs Contraction

Its / their / whose show ownership; it’s / they’re are contractions; note that there refers to a place.

Preposition

One of 68 position, direction, or time words (e.g., on, into) chosen by matching the specific place or movement being described.

I vs Me

Use I in the subject position and me in the object position (e.g., “Rob and I are going,” not “Rob and me are going”).

Semicolon Rule

Join two related independent clauses or separate items in a complex list—only two permissible uses.

Colon Rule

After a complete clause, use a colon to introduce a list, quotation, or explanation—two main uses.

Dash Rule

Use one or two dashes to set off an abrupt break or appositive—exactly two accepted situations.

Redundancy

Choose the shortest answer that avoids repeating the same idea; in patterns of three long and one short, the short option wins.

Misplaced Phrase

Modifiers must sit next to the word they describe; otherwise they create confusion or change meaning.

Context Vocabulary

Derive meaning from surrounding text and distinguish tricky pairs such as than/then and affect/effect.

Short-Wording Strategy

Start with the shortest grammatically correct answer; if it works, select it to eliminate wordiness.

Combining Sentences

Begin with the core subject, maintain clarity, and reorder phrases logically when merging ideas.

Sentence Placement Question

Summarize the sentence and locate where it connects to lead-in cues (e.g., depth, location) in the surrounding text.

Add/Delete Question

Summarize the sentence, compare it with the paragraph’s main idea, then decide if it belongs—answer YES or NO with reason.

Ordering Answer Choices

When answers invert phrases, mentally place sentences in logical order, then match them to surrounding context.

Conceptual Questions (29-35)

Question-before-choices format that asks for introductions, conclusions, or reordering; rely on summaries to find the single matching answer.

“Being” Rule

The appearance of the word “being” in an answer choice almost always signals an incorrect option.