ACT practice study

The Conditional

Another thorny tense issue arises with something called the conditional. The conditional is the verb form we use to describe something uncertain, something that's conditional upon something else. You can memorize the conditional formula; it goes "If . . . were . . . would." Look at this sentence: WRONG: If I were running for president, my slogan will be "I'll Fight for Your Right to Party." The use of "will be" in this sentence is wrong because you're not certain you're going to run for president (as suggested by "If I were"); consequently, the word "will" is too strong. "Will" implies you're definitely going to campaign for president. You should use "would" instead—the conditional form of "will"—to indicate that running is still only a possibility. RIGHT: If I were running for president, my slogan would be "I'll Fight for Your Right to Party." Notice also that the correct form is "If I were" not "If I was." You'll often hear people use "was" incorrectly in "If . . ." phrases like this, but now you'll know better. Sentences beginning with "If . . ." call for the subjunctive form of the verb. In English, the subjunctive is often the same as the regular past tense verb, but in certain cases, notably to be, the forms are irregular: If I were, you were, s/he were, we were, they were, who were, it were.

Collective Nouns

Collective nouns (such as committee, family, group, number, and team) can be either singular or plural. The verb depends on whether the collective noun is being treated as a single unit or as divided individuals. For example: SINGULAR: The number of people living in Florida varies from year to year. PLURAL: A number of people living in Florida wish they had voted for Gore. SINGULAR: The committee decides on the annual program. PLURAL: The committee have disagreed on the annual program. You can often determine whether a collective noun is singular or plural by examining the article ("the" or "a") that precedes it. As in the first example, "The number" is generally singular, while "A number" is generally plural. This difference is demonstrated in the first example above. "The number" of people in Florida is a single entity—even though it comprises multiple individuals—so it takes a singular verb, "varies." "A number" of people, on the other hand, behave as multiple individuals—even though they wish for the same thing, they act independently of each other—so these people require a plural verb, "wish." Looking to the article preceding a noun is a useful trick when deciding whether the noun is singular or plural, but it doesn't always work. In the second example, "The committee" can be both singular and plural. How the committee behaves decides whether the verb is singular or plural. If the committee does something as a unified whole ("decides on the annual program"), then the verb is singular. If the committee are divided in their actions ("have disagreed on the annual program"), then the verb is plural.

The Colon and Expectation

Colons are used after complete sentences to introduce related information that usually comes in the form of a list, an explanation, or a quotation. When you see a colon, you should know to expect elaborating information. For example, The wedding had all the elements to make it a classic: the elegant bride, the weeping mother, and the fainting bridesmaids. In this example, the colon is used to introduce a list of classic wedding elements. Without the list following the colon, the sentence can stand alone ("The wedding had all the elements to make it a classic"). By naming the classic elements of a wedding, the list serves mainly to explain and expand upon the independent sentence that precedes it. For example, The wedding had all the elements to make it a classic: the elegant bride beamed as her mother wept and as the bridesmaids fainted. Here, the clause following the colon also has an explanatory function. In this case, the colon joins two independent clauses, but the clause following the colon is used to explain and expand the first. Colons can also be used to introduce quotations. For example, The mother's exclamation best summed up the wedding: "If only the bridesmaids hadn't fainted!" Here, the colon is used to introduce the mother's exclamation. Make sure the quotation following the colon is related to the sentence.

Comparative and Superlative Modifiers

Comparative modifiers compare one thing to another, while superlative modifiers tell you how one thing compares to everything else. For example: COMPARATIVE: My boyfriend is hotter than yours. That purple-and-orange spotted dog is weirder than the blue cat. Dan paints better than the other students. SUPERLATIVE: My boyfriend is the hottest boy in the world. That purple-and-orange spotted dog is the weirdest pet on the block. Of all the students, Dan paints best. You will probably see only one or two comparative and superlative modifier questions on the English Test, and they will likely ask you to distinguish between the two types of modifiers. Remember that comparative modifiers are used in relative statements; in other words, they compare one thing to another. Just because my boyfriend is hotter than yours, it doesn't mean that my boyfriend is hotter than Sue's. However, if I used the superlative and told you that my boyfriend is the hottest boy in the world, then there's no way that Sue's boyfriend is hotter than mine, unless, as is probably the case, I'm exaggerating. Comparative statements always require a comparison with something else. Simply saying "my boyfriend is hotter" may get your meaning across in a heated dispute with your friends, but in proper English you need to finish that sentence with a "than" phrase: "my boyfriend is hotter than Jude Law" or "my boyfriend is hotter than your dog."

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet) connect words, phrases, and independent clauses of equal importance in a sentence. WORDS: You can hand the bottle to Seamus or Bea. Liz and Amanda got down on the dance floor. PHRASES: To get there, you must drive over a bridge and through a farm. We walked by the park but not by the river. CLAUSE: Tim can go to the store, or Jen can go instead. It's only ten o'clock, yet I feel really sleepy. When joining two words or phrases, you should not use a comma, but if you have a list of more than two words or phrases, commas should separate them and precede the conjunction. A comma also needs to precede the coordinating conjunction when it joins two independent clauses, as in the sentence "Tim can go to the store, or Jen can go instead," above.

Misplaced Modifiers

Does the following sentence sound odd to you? Having eaten six corn dogs, nausea overwhelmed Jane. Nausea didn't eat six corn dogs. Gluttonous Jane did. However, the sentence above says that nausea was the one "having eaten six corn dogs." This is a case of a misplaced modifier. When you have a modifier like "having eaten six corn dogs," it must come either directly before or directly after the word that it is modifying. Having eaten six corn dogs, Jane was overwhelmed by nausea. Jane, having eaten six corn dogs, was overwhelmed by nausea. These two sentences make it clear that Jane was the one wolfing down the corn dogs. Modifiers are not necessarily phrases like the one above. They can be adverbial phrases, adverbial clauses, or single-word adverb modifiers. You've already seen how adverbial-phrase modifiers work in the example above. The simple rule for phrase modifiers is to make sure phrase modifiers are next to the word(s) they modify. The same rule applies to clause modifiers. Misplaced clause modifiers look like this: Bill packed his favorite clothes in his suitcase, which he planned to wear on vacation. Now do you really think this guy is planning to wear his suitcase on vacation? Well, that's what the sentence says. If Bill decides to wear his clothes instead of his suitcase, you should say: Bill packed his favorite clothes, which he planned to wear on vacation, in his suitcase. Of course, he'll be a slightly more conventional dresser, but the clothes will probably fit better than the suitcase. The placement of single-word adverbs is slightly trickier than that of clause and phrase modifiers. You need to make sure that adverb modifiers (such as just, almost, barely, even, and nearly) are modifying the word you intend them to modify. If they aren't, the sentence will probably still make sense, but it will have a different meaning than you intended. Take the sentence "Jay walked a half hour to the grocery store." Now add to that sentence the adverbial modifier "only." The placement of "only" within the sentence will alter the meaning of the sentence: Only Jay walked a half hour to the grocery store. The sentence above means that no one but Jay made the walk. Jay only walked a half hour to the grocery store. Here, "only" modifies the verb "walked," and the sentence means that Jay did nothing but walk—he didn't run, and he didn't swim—to the store. Jay walked only a half hour to the grocery store. Hey, the walk to the grocery store isn't too bad. According to the sentence above, it took Jay only a half hour to get there. Jay walked a half hour to only the grocery store. Now we find out that Jay's single destination was the grocery store.

Commas Set Off Nonessential Phrases and Clauses

Nonessential phrases are like nonessential adjectives in that they embellish nouns without specifying them. For example, Everyone voted Carrie, who is the most popular girl in our class, prom queen. The decrepit street sign, which had stood in our town since 1799, finally fell down. When you use nonessential phrases like the two above, you assume that "Carrie" and "the decrepit street sign" do not need any further identification. If you remove the nonessential phrases, you should still be able to understand the sentences. Restrictive phrases, on the other hand, are not set off by commas because they are necessary to understand the modified noun and the sentence as a whole. For example, The girl who is sick missed three days of school. The dog that ate the rotten steak fell down and died. If you removed the restrictive phrases ("who is sick" and "that ate the rotten steak") from these sentences, you would be left wondering "which girl?" and "which dog?" These restrictive phrases are used to identify exactly which girl missed school and exactly which dog died. For Example, The girl missed three days of school. The dog fell down and died. It doesn't work.

Different Verb Tenses in One Sentence

Nowhere is it written that you must use the same tense throughout a sentence. For example, you can say, "I used to eat chocolate bars exclusively, but after going through a conversion experience last year, I have broadened my range and now eat gummy candy too." That sentence has tense switches galore, but they are logical: the sentence uses past tense when it talks about the past, and present tense when it talks about the present, and the progression from past to present makes sense. Another acceptable example: They are the best team in baseball, and I think they will triumph over what could have been devastating injuries. But you can't throw in different tenses willy-nilly. They have to make sense. You can't say: Next year, I was on an ocean voyage. "Next year" refers to the future, and "was" refers to the past. The sentence doesn't make any sense unless you're doing some time travel. Your most powerful weapon against tense switch questions is logic. We could prattle on for paragraph after paragraph about present tense, simple past, general present, and present perfect, but remembering the millions of different tense forms, and when to use which, is both difficult and unnecessary. For the English Test, if you don't hear an error the first time you read a sentence, and you don't see a pronoun problem, check out the tenses and figure out whether they're OK.

The Semicolon and Two Independent Clauses

Semicolons are commonly used to separate two related but independent clauses. For example, Julie ate five brownies; Eileen ate seven. Josh needed to buy peas; he ran to the market. In these cases, the semicolon functions as a "weak period." It suggests a short pause before moving on to a related thought. Generally, a period between these independent clauses would work just as well as a semicolon, so the ACT won't offer you a choice between period or semicolon on the English Test. But you may see the semicolon employed as a weak period in an answer choice; in that case, you should know that it is being used correctly. Frequently, you will see two independent clauses joined by a semicolon and a transitional adverb (such as consequently, however and furthermore). For example, Julie ate five brownies; however, Eileen ate seven. Josh needed to buy peas; thus he ran to the market. These sentences function similarly to those joined by a comma and a conjunction. Here, the semicolon replaces the comma, and the transitional adverb replaces the conjunction. Most transitional adverbs should be followed by a comma, but for short adverbs such as "thus," the comma should be omitted.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Singular verbs must accompany singular subjects, and plural verbs must accompany plural subjects. SINGULAR: The man wears four ties. His favorite college is in Nebraska. Matt, along with his friends, goes to Coney Island. PLURAL: The men wear four ties each. His favorite colleges are in Nebraska. Matt and his friends go to Coney Island. In the first example with Matt, the subject is singular because the phrase "along with his friends" is isolated in commas. But in the second example with Matt, his friends join the action; the subject becomes "Matt and his friends," calling for the change to a plural verb. Subject-verb agreement is a simple idea, but ACT writers will make it tricky. Often, they'll put the subject at one end of the sentence and the verb a mile away. As long as you can isolate the subject and verb, handling subject-verb agreement is relatively simple. But certain cases of subject-verb agreement can be tricky.

Comma Splices

The ACT writers may test your ability to weed out illegal comma splices. A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined together by a comma with no intervening conjunction. For example, Bowen walked to the park, Leah followed behind. The comma between "park" and "Leah" forms a comma splice. Although the sentence may sound correct because the comma demands a short pause between the two related clauses, the structure is wrong in written English. Instead, two sentences are necessary: Bowen walked to the park. Leah followed behind. Or, if you explicitly want to show the relationship between the clauses, you can write: Bowen walked to the park, while Leah followed behind. OR Bowen walked to the park, and Leah followed behind. Inserting "while" subordinates the "Leah" clause to the "Bowen" clause. In the second sentence, the "and" joins the two clauses on equal footing. Think about the comma splice in construction terms: the comma is too weak a punctuation mark to join together two independent clauses. In order to join them, you have to add a conjunction to the comma or use a period instead.

Adverbs and Adjectives

The ACT writers will test you once or twice on your ability to use adjectives and adverbs correctly in sentences. To describe a noun, you use an adjective. To describe a verb, adjective, or adverb, you use an adverb. Look at the following example: WRONG: My mom made a well dinner. RIGHT: My mom made a good dinner. Since "dinner" is a noun, the descriptive word modifying it should be an adjective. Now look at this example: WRONG: My mom made dinner good. RIGHT: My mom made dinner well. Here, the word modified is "made," a verb, so the descriptive word modifying it should be an adverb. Don't let the placement of the adverb fool you: just because it's next to the noun "dinner" doesn't mean that "dinner" is the word modified. Often, though, you will find the modifier next to the modified word: WRONG: I didn't do good in the game last night. RIGHT: I didn't do well in the game last night. In the example above, how the athlete did (a verb) is being described, so you need an adverb ("well") rather than an adjective ("good"). Adverb/adjective errors are pretty common in everyday speech, so don't rely entirely on your ear. WRONG: She shut him up quick. RIGHT: She shut him up quickly. WRONG: I got an A easy. RIGHT: I got an A easily. The wrong examples above may sound familiar to you from everyday speech, but they are incorrect in written English.

PRONOUN COMPARISONS

The nominative also follows comparative clauses that usually begin with "as" or "than." When a pronoun is involved in a comparison, it must match the case of the other pronoun involved. For example, WRONG: I'm fatter than her, so I'll probably win this sumo wrestling match. RIGHT: I'm fatter than she, so I'll probably win this sumo wrestling match. In this sentence, "I" is being compared to "her." Obviously, these two pronouns are in different cases, so one of them must be wrong. Since only "her" is in question, it must be wrong, and therefore "she" is the correct answer. Another way to approach comparisons is to realize that comparisons usually omit words. For example, it's grammatically correct to say, "Alexis is stronger than Bill," but that's an abbreviated version of what you're really saying. The long version is, "Alexis is stronger than Bill is." That last "is" is invisible in the abbreviated version, but you must remember that it's there. Now let's go back to the sumo sentence. As in our Alexis and Bill example, we don't see the word "is" in the comparison, but it's implied. If you see a comparison using a pronoun and you're not sure if the pronoun is correct, add the implied "is." In this case, adding "is" leaves us with "I'm fatter than her is." That sounds wrong, so we know that "she" is the correct pronoun in this case.

Parallelism

When you see a list underlined on the English Test, look for a parallelism error. Parallelism errors occur when items in a list are mismatched. For example, if you have a list of verbs, then all items in the list must be verbs of the same tense. For example, WRONG: In the pool area, there is no spitting, no running, and don't throw your cigarette butts in the water. The first two forbidden activities end in "ing", and because of that, the third activity must also end in "ing". RIGHT: In the pool area, there is no spitting, no running, and no throwing your cigarette butts in the water. By simply converting the final verb to gerund form, you have parallel structure. Parallelism is also important when you have expressions linked by the verb to be. Because you should think of to be as an equal sign, the words on either side of the sign must be parallel. For example: WRONG: To grow tired of London is growing tired of life. RIGHT: To grow tired of London is to grow tired of life. WRONG: Growing tired of London is to grow tired of life. RIGHT: Growing tired of London is growing tired of life. The examples above are not parallel when the verb forms are different on either side of "is." You can make them parallel by simply changing the form of one verb to the form of the other. If you have a list of nouns, you must also maintain parallel construction. For example, The personal ad said that she likes "books, good food, and to take long walks on the beach." She apparently doesn't like parallelism. "Books" and "food" are nouns, but "to take" is a verb infinitive. If she's hoping to get a call from the grammarian of her dreams, she should rewrite her ad to look like this: The personal ad said that she likes "books, good food, and long walks on the beach." Now that's one grammatically correct lady.

Subordinate or Dependent Clauses

When you're tested on subordinate conjunctions, you'll need to select the most appropriate conjunction and place it correctly within the sentence. When you're tested on subordinate and dependent clauses, you'll need to decide how to form the whole sentence correctly. Not all clauses deserve the same emphasis in a sentence. Equality is a good thing, but in the writing world you've got to give preference to some clauses over others. You can run into problems if you're too liberal with your coordinating conjunctions and transitional adverbs. These adverbs assume that the clauses being connected deserve equal weight in a sentence. Take a look at this sentence: Everyone regards Ginger as the most promising student in the class, and she gets the highest grades; also, she is the president of the student council. This sentence doesn't read very well. Subordinating some of the clauses will improve the flow of the sentence: Everyone regards Ginger as the most promising student in the class because she gets the highest grades and is the president of the student council. This new sentence explains why Ginger is "the most promising student" by subordinating the clauses that cite her high grades and student council presidency.

Commas Delineate a Series of Items

A series contains three or more items separated by commas. The items in a series can be either nouns or verb phrases. Commas are essentially the structural backbone of a series. For example, The hungry girl devoured a chicken, two pounds of pasta, and a chocolate cake. When he learned his girlfriend was coming over, Nathaniel took a shower, brushed his teeth, and cleaned his room. The comma follows all but the last item in the series. When using a conjunction, such as "and" or "or," at the end of the series, remember to precede it with a comma

Commas Separate Independent Clauses Joined by a Conjunction

An independent clause contains a subject and a verb, and it can function as a sentence on its own. When you see a conjunction joining independent clauses, a comma should precede the conjunction. For example, Lesley wanted to sit outside, but it was raining. Henry could tie the shoe himself, or he could ask Amanda to tie his shoe. In each example, the clauses on both sides of the comma could stand as sentences on their own. With the addition of the comma and conjunction, the two independent clauses become one sentence.

Apostrophes

Apostrophes are the second most commonly tested punctuation mark on the English Test. Apostrophes primarily indicate possession, but they also take the place of omitted letters in contractions (for example, "was not" becomes "wasn't" and "it is" becomes "it's"). You will be tested chiefly on your knowledge of the apostrophe's possessive function.

Commas Set Off Appositives

Appositives are similar to nonessential phrases. An appositive is a phrase that renames or restates the modified noun, usually enhancing it with additional information. For example, Everyone voted Carrie, the most popular girl in school, prom queen. The dog, a Yorkshire Terrier, barked at all the neighbors. In these two examples, "the most popular girl in school" and "a Yorkshire Terrier" are appositives used to explain the nouns they modify. You should be able to draw an imaginary equal sign between the noun and the appositive modifying it: Carrie = the most popular girl in school, the dog = a Yorkshire Terrier. Because they are equal, you should be able to swap them and retain the meaning of the sentence: "Everyone voted the most popular girl in school, Carrie, prom queen."

The Objective Case

As may be obvious from its name, the objective case should be used when the pronoun is the object of another part of speech, usually a preposition or a transitive verb (a verb that takes a direct object): PREPOSITION: She handed the presents to them. Olivia made a cake for Emily, Sarah, and me. Between whom did you sit? TRANSITIVE VERB: Harry gave me the tickets. Call me! Did you take him to the movies? In the second preposition example, two names appear between "for" and "me." If this confuses you, eliminate "Emily, Sarah, and" to get "Olivia made a cake for me." Then you'll see that "me" is the correct pronoun case, not "I". This strategy of crossing out intervening words also works in spotting the correct case for an object of a transitive verb. In informal, spoken English, you will not hear "whom" used frequently, but in written English, you must remember the all important "m." As in the third preposition example, "between whom" is correct; "between who" is not. A good way to figure out if you should use "who" or "whom" in a sentence is to see whether the sentence would use "he" or "him" (or "they" or "them") if it were rearranged a little. If the sentence takes "he" or "they," you should use "who"; if it takes "him" or "them," you should use "whom." If you rearrange "Between whom did you sit?" you get: Did you sit between them? Now you can see that you need to use "whom" in the original sentence.

"Or" and "Nor"

If you have singular subjects joined by an "or" or "nor," the sentence always takes a singular verb. For example, Either Susanna or Caitlin is going to be in trouble. If one of the subjects is plural and the other is singular, the verb agrees with the subject closer to it. For example, Neither the van nor the buses were operating today. Either the dogs or the cat is responsible for the mess. Both of these examples contain a singular and a plural subject. The main verb of the sentence is determined by the subject nearest it: in the first example, "buses" is closer to the verb, so the verb is plural, and in the second example, "cat" is closer to the verb, so the verb is singular.

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to persons or things that have not been specified. Matching indefinite pronouns with the correct verb form can be tricky because some indefinite pronouns that seem to be plural are in fact singular. Questions dealing with singular indefinite pronouns are popular with ACT writers, so you'd be wise to memorize a few of these pronouns now. The following indefinite pronouns are always singular, and they tend to appear on the English Test. If you're used to thinking these pronouns take plural verbs, these sentences probably sound weird to you. Your best bet is to remember that those pronouns take singular verbs. You should also be aware that not all indefinite pronouns are singular. Some (for example, all, any, none, and some) can be either singular or plural depending on the context of the sentence. Other indefinite pronouns (for example, both, few, many, and several) are always plural. The differences among these indefinite pronouns can be very confusing; determining what's right often requires an astute sense of proper English (or good memorization). If you're struggling to remember the different indefinite pronouns, take comfort in these two things: The most commonly tested indefinite pronouns are the singular ones in the list we gave you. You probably won't come across more than a couple of indefinite pronouns on the English Test you take.

Transitional Adverbs

Like coordinating conjunctions, these adverbs (however, also, consequently, etc.) can join independent clauses. When they do, they should be preceded by a semicolon and followed, most of the time, by a comma. Short adverbs, such as "thus," do not need a comma. Here are some examples of transitional adverbs in action: Joe always raves about soccer; however, he always refuses to watch a match. If you can't go to the prom with me, let me know as soon as possible; otherwise, I'll resent you and your inability to communicate for the rest of my life. You need to remember that transitional adverbs must be accompanied by semicolons. If you see a transitional adverb on its own or preceded by a comma on the English Test, you should immediately know there's an error.

Commas

Misplaced, misused, and missing commas are the most frequent punctuation offenders on the English Test. Commas can serve several functions within sentences.

Compound Subjects

Most compound subjects should be plural: Kerry and Vanessa live in Nantucket. The blue bike and the red wagon need repairs. The reasoning behind this rule is fairly simple: you have multiple subjects, so you need a plural noun. Thus "Kerry and Vanessa live" and the "bike and wagon need."

Verb Tenses

Most verb tense errors on the English Test will be pretty easy to spot, since we don't often make tense errors in everyday speech. When you read a tense error on the test, it will most likely sound wrong to you. Your ear is your most reliable way of spotting tense errors.

Parentheses and Dashes

Parentheses usually surround words or phrases that break a sentence's train of thought but provide explanatory information for it. For example, Their road trip (which they made in a convertible) lasted three weeks and spanned fourteen states. Similarly, parenthetical sentences can be inserted between other sentences, adding additional information to them without diverting their flow. For example, Their road trip lasted three weeks and spanned fourteen states. (The one they took two years ago lasted two weeks and covered ten states.) When they got home, they were exhausted. In this example, the parenthetical information about the previous road trip is interesting but not completely relevant to the other sentences. Note that when an entire sentence is enclosed within parentheses, the period should be inside them as well. Dashes function similarly to parentheses. Dashes indicate either an abrupt break in thought or an insertion of additional, explanatory information. He walked so slowly—with his lame leg he couldn't go much faster—that even his neighbor's toddler eventually overtook him. I don't have the heart to refuse a friend's request for help—do you?

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are incomplete sentences that tend to look like this on the English Test: We didn't go outside. Even though the rain had stopped. Tommy could not pay for his lunch. Having spent his last dollars on sunglasses. Always a bit shy. She found herself unable to talk to the other kids. The sentence fragments above are not sentences on their own. They can be attached to the independent clauses next to them to form complete sentences: We didn't go outside, even though the rain had stopped. Having spent his last dollars on sunglasses, Tommy could not pay for his lunch. Always a bit shy, she found herself unable to talk to the other kids. Most sentence fragments on the English Test will be subordinate or dependent clauses trying to be complete sentences. By studying your subordinate and dependent clauses and learning what they look like, you'll be able to catch them committing sentence fragment crime.

The Possessive and Multiple Nouns

Sometimes you'll want to indicate the possessive of more than one noun. The placement of the apostrophe depends on whether the possessors share the possession. For example, Nick and Nora's dog solves crimes. Dan's and Johann's socks are dirty. In the example of Nick and Nora, the dog belongs to both of them, so you treat "Nick and Nora" as a single unit, followed by a single apostrophe and "s." In the second example, both Dan and Johann have dirty socks, but they don't share the same dirty socks, so you treat Dan and Johann as separate units, giving each an apostrophe and "s."

ITS/IT'S, THEIR/THEY'RE

The ACT will test you on your ability to distinguish between "its" and "it's." "Its" is the possessive form of "it." "It's" is the contraction of "it is." This can be tricky to remember, since you are normally trained to associate apostrophes with possession. But when you're dealing with "its" versus "it's," the apostrophe signals a contraction. The same is true for "their/they're/there," "your/you're," and "whose/who's." Make sure you are aware of these exceptions to the apostrophe rule of possession.

Tricky Verbs You're Likely to See on the ACT

The ACT writers are going to get a little sneaky and use the tenses we do get wrong when we talk. One notoriously annoying trick is the difference between "lie" and "lay" and all their variations. Here are the rules: LIE: to recline or to disguise the truth RIGHT: We lie down on the hammocks when we want to relax. I lie to my mother about eating the cookies. LAY: to place RIGHT: Just lay down that air hockey table over there. I lay the book on the table. The tricky part is that the past tense of "lie" is "lay." She lay down yesterday, and today she'll lie down again. The past tense of "lay" is "laid." She laid down the law with an iron fist. You LIE down for a nap. You LAY something down on the table. You LAY down yesterday.

Pronoun Cases

The ACT writers will definitely include some questions on pronoun cases. Pronoun case refers to the role of the pronoun in a sentence. There are three cases: nominative, objective, and possessive. You don't need to know the names of these cases, but you do need to know the differences between them. Here, we'll briefly describe each case.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

The ACT writers usually include several pronoun-antecedent agreement errors on the English Test. An antecedent is a word to which a later pronoun refers back. For example, in the sentence "Richard put on his shoes," "Richard" is the antecedent to which "his" refers. When the pronoun does not agree in gender or number with its antecedent, there's an agreement error. For example: WRONG: Already late for the show, Mary couldn't find their keys. RIGHT: Already late for the show, Mary couldn't find her keys. Unless another sentence states that the keys belong to other people, the possessive pronoun should agree in gender and number with "Mary." As far as we can tell, Mary is a singular, feminine noun, so the pronoun should be too. The example of Mary contained a fairly obvious example of incorrect agreement, but sometimes the agreement error isn't as obvious on the ACT. In everyday speech, we tend to say "someone lost their shoe" (wrong) rather than "someone lost his shoe" (correct) or "someone lost her shoe" (also correct) because "someone lost his or her shoe" sounds cumbersome. The common solution? We attempt gender neutrality and brevity by using "their" instead of "his" or "her." In informal speech, such a slip is okay. But if you see it on the test, it's an error. You will also run into agreement errors where the antecedent is unclear. In these cases, the pronoun is ambiguous. We use ambiguous pronouns all the time in everyday speech, but on the test (you guessed it) they're wrong. WRONG: Trot told Ted that he should get the mauve pants from the sale rack. This sentence is wrong because we don't know to whom "he" refers. Should Ted get the pants, or should Trot? Or should neither, because mauve pants are never a good idea? You should restate the original sentence so all the pertinent information is relayed without confusion or multiple meanings, such as "Trot told Ted that Ted should get the pants...."

The Nominative Case

The nominative case should be used when a pronoun is the subject of a sentence—for example, "I went to the store" and "They walked to the park." You should also use a nominative pronoun after any form of to be: WRONG: It was me on the phone. RIGHT: It was I on the phone. The right sentence may sound awkward to you, but it's the correct use of the nominative. The people who laid down the rules of grammar considered to be a grammatical equal sign, so when you have a sentence like "It was I on the phone," you should be able to do this: "It" = "I." If that equation holds true, "I" should be able to take the place of "It" in the sentence: "I was on the phone."

The Semicolon and the Series: When the Comma's Already Taken

The semicolon replaces the comma as the structural backbone of a series if the items already contain commas. For example, The tennis tournament featured the surprise comeback player, Koch, who dropped out last year due to injuries; the up-and-coming star Popp, who dominated the junior tour; and the current favorite, Farrington, who won five of the last six tournaments. If you used commas rather than semicolons in the above sentence, anyone reading the sentence would feel pretty confused. The semicolons in this example function exactly as commas do in a series, but they allow you to avoid overpopulating the sentence with commas.

Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation Points

These are the least common forms of punctuation tested by the ACT. The ACT writers probably realized that these sentence enders are easier to grasp than other forms of punctuation because they basically each have only one function: The sentence ends here. Does the sentence end here? Hooray, the sentence ends here! The period in the first example indicates that the sentence has ended. In the second example, the question mark indicates that a question is being asked. The third example is an exclamatory statement marked by an exclamation point. Exclamation points should be used sparingly to indicate statements made with great emotion.

Commas Set Off Dependent Phrases and Clauses from the Main Clause of a Sentence

Unlike independent clauses, dependent phrases and clauses are not sentences in themselves; rather, they serve to explain the main clause of a sentence. When they appear at the beginning of a sentence, they should be set off from the main clause by a comma. For example, Scared of monsters, Tina always checked under her bed before going to sleep. After preparing an elaborate meal for herself, Anne was too tired to eat. The first example shows a dependent clause "Scared of monsters" acting as an adjective modifying "Tina." The second example shows a dependent clause acting as an adverb. Since the adverbial clause is at the beginning of the sentence, it needs to be set off from the main clause by a comma. Adverbial clauses should also be set off by commas if they appear in the middle of a sentence. For example, Anne was too tired to eat after preparing an elaborate meal for herself. However, if an adverbial clause appears at the end of a sentence, you do not need to use a comma.

The Possessive and Pronouns

Unlike nouns and proper nouns, the possessive case of pronouns does not use an apostrophe. The following chart gives you nominative pronouns (the ones you use as subjects) and the corresponding possessive pronouns For example, The dog chewed on its tail. You should give him your wallet.

THERE SHOULD NEVER BE MORE THAN ONE COLON IN A SENTENCE.

WRONG: He brought many items on the camping trip: a tent, a sleeping bag, a full cooking set, warm clothes, and several pairs of shoes: sneakers, boots, and sandals. RIGHT: He brought many items on the camping trip: a tent, a sleeping bag, a full cooking set, warm clothes, sneakers, boots, and sandals. If you see a sentence that contains more than one colon, the sentence needs to be rephrased. Lists within lists or explanations within explanations do not work in standard written English.

A COLON SHOULD ALWAYS BE PRECEDED BY AN INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

WRONG: The ingredients I need to make a cake: flour, butter, sugar, and icing. RIGHT: I need several ingredients to make a cake: flour, butter, sugar, and icing. In the "WRONG" example, a sentence fragment precedes the list of items. The sentence should be reworked to create an independent clause before the colon.

Connecting and Transitional Words

We've already mentioned coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, etc.) and transitional adverbs (however, nevertheless, moreover, etc.) in "Punctuation." Here you'll learn more about these and other transitional words.

"There Is" or "There Are"?

Whether to use "there is" or "there are" depends on the singularity or plurality of the noun that the phrase is pointing out. If you have five grapes, you should say: "There are five grapes." If you have a cat, you should say: "There is a cat." The "is" and the "are" in these sentences are the main verbs, so they must agree with the noun.

Commas Separate Multiple Nonessential Adjectives Modifying a Noun

When two or more nonessential adjectives modify a noun, they should be separated by a comma. Of course, the key to figuring out whether there should be a comma separating two adjectives is being able to determine whether the adjectives are essential or nonessential. Luckily, there's a simple rule that can help you: the order of nonessential adjectives is interchangeable. For example, Rebecca's new dog has long, silky hair. These two sentences would make equal sense if you switched the order of the adjectives: "Rebecca's new dog has silky, long hair". The case is different if you have an essential adjective modifying the noun. Essential adjectives specify the nouns they modify; they are bound to the noun, so that the noun loses meaning if separated from its adjective. If you come across two adjectives modifying a noun, and one is essential, you should not use a comma between them. For example, My mother hates noisy electronic music. "Electronic music" functions as an indivisible noun; "electronic" specifies the type of music the mother hates. "Noisy" is a nonessential adjective modifying the noun "electronic music." Changing the order of "noisy" and "electronic" ("My mother hates electronic noisy music") would not make sense. If you can't change the order of two adjectives preceding a noun, you know the adjective nearest the noun is essential, so you should not use a comma.

Subordinating Conjunctions

When you have two independent clauses, but you feel that one is more important than the other, you can use a subordinating conjunction to connect them. In other words, you use a subordinating conjunction (because, when, since, after, until, although, before, etc.) to make one clause dependent on the other. By subordinating one clause, you show the reader the relationship between the two clauses. For example, take the following two sentences: I ate a rotten egg. I became violently ill. It seems likely that eating the rotten egg caused the violent illness. To make that relationship grammatically clear, you can rephrase the sentences as: Because I ate a rotten egg, I became violently ill. Let's try another example: I found out my dog was really a rat. I called the exterminator. Put them through the subordinating conjunction transformation machine: After I found out my dog was really a rat, I called the exterminator. I called the exterminator after I found out my dog was really a rat. In these examples, "I found out my dog was really a rat" becomes subordinate to "I called the exterminator." You can base your decision on which clause to subordinate by determining the relationship between the clauses. In the example above, the discovery about the "dog" leads to the call; in other words, the discovery is the cause and calling the exterminator the result. Subordinating the cause to the result often makes the most sense when forming these sentences.

The Possessive Case

You already know to use the possessive case when indicating possession of an object: My car Her dress Its tail Whose wheelbarrow You should also use the possessive case before a gerund, a verb form that usually ends with "ing" and is used as a noun. For example, When it comes to my studying for the ACT, "concentration" is my middle name. Despite hours of practice, her playing is really terrible. You can think of gerunds as turncoat verbs that are now nouns, so they need to be preceded by the same possessive pronouns that precede noun objects.

Idioms

You should trust your ear when you're being tested on idioms. Idioms are expressions and phrasings that are peculiar to a certain language—in the ACT's case, the English language. They include odd expressions like "through the grapevine" and "rain check" as well as simple ones like "bring up" (meaning "raise"). Idiom questions on the English Test will often ask you to identify the correct prepositions used in certain expressions. This task is difficult because there are no laws governing idioms. You have to be able to read a sentence and think, "That sounds plain old wrong." Fortunately, you probably won't encounter more than a few idiom errors on the English Test you take. Take a look at this idiom error: WRONG: We spent days wading into the thousands of pages of reports. "Wading into" sounds wrong. Instead, we say: RIGHT: We spent days wading through the thousands of pages of reports.

Colons

You'll probably be tested on your knowledge of colons a couple of times on the English Test. The ACT writers want to be sure that you know how colons introduce lists, explanations, and quotations.

Semicolons

You'll usually find several questions dealing with semicolons on the English Test. The main functions of a semicolon that you should know for the English Test are its ability to join related independent clauses and its use in a series.