ACT English

Complete Sentence

Must have a subject, a verb, and expressive a complete thought.

Independent Clause

Expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.

Dependent clause

Cannot stand alone as a sentence.

What are the three ways to correct a run-on sentence.

Use a semicolon WITHOUT a F.A.N.B.O.Y.S. word. Use a relationship world to make one clause dependent. Use a comma and a FANBOYS conjunction.

Fragment

A group of words that is missing one of the elements needed for a sentence.

Dependent Clause.

A group of words that does contains a subject and predicate verb, but still does not express a complete thought.

Parallelism

To keep the forms of items [in a list, a compound (words joined by AND or OR), an idiomatic phrase like BOTH … AND, and NOT ONLY …. BUT ALSO, a comparison, and related nouns] the same.

Modifier

A word or group of words that describes, clarifies, or provides more information about a sentence.

Adjectives

Single-word modifiers that describe nouns and pronouns.

Adverbs

Single-word modifiers that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Modifying Phrase

They must be properly placed for what it is intended to modify. In many cases, an introductory phrase or clause will modify the first noun that follows.

Tips for spotting modifying phrases on the ACT.

They often appear at the beginning of a sentence, often start with or include words that end in -ing or -ed, and a commas appear between an introductory modifying phrase and the rest of the sentence.

Puntuation question will deal with:

Commas, Semicolons, Colons, Dashes, and Apostrophes

Comma

To set off three or more items in a list or series, to separate independent clauses from other independent clause by a FANBOYS conjunction, to see rate an introductory phrase, and separate non-essential info.

FANBOYS

For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.

Semicolon.

To join independent clauses, and to separate items in a list when there are items in a list;

Colons

To introduce lists, explanations, and quotations.