Grammer
PUNCTUATION
Commas:
Used to separate words and word groups in a simple series of three or more items.
Ex: We had coffee, cheese, crackers, and grapes.
Use a comma to separate two adjectives when the adjectives are interchangeable.
Ex: It was a vibrant, massive painting.
Ex: It was a short, skinny kid.
When starting a sentence with a dependent clause, use a comma after it.
Ex: When Jim studied in the library for his chemistry quiz, it was very quiet.
Use commas to set off nonessential parts of the sentence.
Ex: The woman, knowing it was late, hurried home.
Apostrophes: Apostrophes are used in two ways on the ACT: to show possession and to create contradictions.
To form possessives of nouns:
Ex: Laura’s hat. Singular possessives have the apostrophe before the s.
Ex: The kids’ toys. Plural possessives have the apostrophe after the s.
Ex: The tree’s leaves.
To create contractions:
Ex: There’s a clown.
Ex: You’d love it.
Ex: Who’s there?
Colons: Used after an independent clause when it’s followed by a list, question, appositive, or other idea directly related to the independent clause.
Ex: The vote was unanimous: the older candidate had won.
Semicolons:
Used to join 2 independent clauses when the second clause restates the first clause or when the two clauses are of equal emphasis.
Ex: I’m not sure how to get there; let’s get directions.
Use a semicolon to join 2 independent clauses when the second clause begins with a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, etc.) or a transition (in fact, for example, etc.).
Ex: The basement is scary; thus, I do not want to go down there alone.
Dashes: Used to set off or emphasize the content enclosed or the content that follows. Dashes place more emphasis on this content than parenthesis.
Ex: Upon discovering the errors–all 124 of them–the publisher immediately recalled the books.
End Punctuation:
Use punctuation at the end of a sentence that makes a statement.
Ex: He will try again.
Use a question mark after a direct question.
Ex: Where are we?
RARELY use an exclamation point to express strong emotion.
Ex: Stop it!
PRONOUNS
Subject vs. Object Pronouns: Subjects “do” verbs and objects have verbs “done” to them.
Ex: The phrase “She likes him.” The woman is the subject, so the subject pronoun is she; the man is the object, so the object pronoun is him.
Ex: “Me and my parents ate dinner” is wrong, while “My parents and I ate dinner” is correct. This is because the narrator is the subject.
Ex: “The tourists asked my friends and I for directions.” The correct form is “The tourists asked my friends and me for directions” since the narrator is the object.
Ex: “The Girl Scouts sold cookies to my sister and I.” The correct form is “The Girl Scouts sold cookies to my sister and me.” This is because the narrator is the object.
That vs. Who: VERY simple. “Who” is the pronoun for the person and “that” is the pronoun for everything else.
Ex: “The coach is the person that is in charge of the team’s schedule.” “That” should be replaced with “who” since it’s referring to the coach.
Pronoun Agreement: When we use pronouns more than once in a sentence, we have to use the same perspective throughout.
Ex: “If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, you have to know the rules of the game.” “If a person” and “you” don’t maintain the same perspective throughout, so “you” should be replaced with he/she/they.
Ambiguous Reference: Wherever there is a pronoun, it should be obvious what the pronoun is “standing in” for.
Verb Forms: Tense and Agreement:
Verb Tense: There are six basic verb tense, two for each time period:
Simple present: They sing.
Present perfect: They have sung.
Simple past: They sang.
Past perfect: They had sung.
Future: They will sing.
Future perfect: They will have sung.
Subject/Verb Agreement: Nouns and verbs are both parts of speech with numbers: they are written differently if they refer to just one thing or multiple things. Subject/verb agreement just means that the noun and the verb have the same number (singular/plural).
Word Choice:
Its vs. It’s: “It’s” is short for it is or it has. “Its” shows possession.
“Might have” vs. “Might of”: “Might have” is correct. “Might of” is not.
Idioms: Idioms are expressions that mean something different than the actual words they use, such as “rain cats and dogs” or “kick the bucket.” But in English we also have short phrases made of words that always go together, and this is what’s tested on the ACT.
Verbal Phrase: Verbal phrases are verb+preposition pairs.
Run-on Sentences: A run-on sentence is made of multiple independent clauses joined by only a comma or no punctuation at all. It can be fixed with a comma and conjunction, a joining word like and or because, or a semicolon.
Faulty Modifiers:
Dangling Modifier: A dangling modifier begins a sentence, has a comma after it, and has the noun is NOT placed after the comma.
Ex: “Coating the sidewalk, we trudged through the heavy snow.” “Coating the sidewalk” is followed by “we” which isn’t the correct noun. This can be corrected by switching the order of the sentence to “we trudged through the heavy snow coating the sidewalk”
Misplaced Modifier: A misplaced modifier is a modifier that’s not close enough to the thing it describes, so it looks like it’s describing the wrong thing.
Description on Names: if it’s specific to one person we need a comma after. If it isn’t then we do not need a comma
Ex. My friend jake or My best friend, Jake
My best friend jake is ther answer because it’s only talking about 1 person