ACT English “Cheat Sheet”

Punctuation

Sentence Patterns (Look at the punctuation in each ACT choice as well as the words to choose the correct answer.)

Commas

          Don’t separate your subject from your verb with a comma.

          Wrong (unnecessary comma): Bill Gates, was the richest man in the world.

          Correct (no comma): Bill Gates was the richest man in the world.

Don’t separate your verb from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

Wrong (unnecessary comma): Chocolate may be, the world’s perfect food.

Correct (no comma): Chocolate may be the world’s perfect food.

Don’t separate your preposition from the rest of the sentence with a comma.

Wrong (unnecessary comma): Chocolates as well as, other flavors of candy have been enjoyed for years.

Correct (no comma): Chocolate as well as other flavors of candy have been enjoyed for years.

Do use a comma before (NOT AFTER) a FANBOYS word (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) if it is followed by a complete sentence.

Wrong (missing comma): Bill went to school and Tom went home all by himself.

Wrong (misplaced comma): Bill went to school and, Tom went home all by himself.

Correct (comma correctly used): Bill went to school, and Tom went home all by himself.

Do use a comma to separate three or more items in a list.

Wrong (missing commas): Bill bought apples pears oranges and grapes.

Correct (commas correctly used): Bill bought apples, pears, oranges, and grapes.

Do use a comma to separate three or more phrases in a list.

Wrong (missing commas): Bill looked for his wallet under the chair cushion in his nightstand drawer and in his car.

Correct (commas correctly used): Bill looked for his wallet under the chair cushion, in his nightstand drawer, and in his car.

Do use a comma to separate three or more clauses in a list.

Wrong (missing commas): Bill looked everywhere for his wallet: he peered under the chair cushion he went through his nightstand drawer and he searched in his car.

Correct (commas correctly used): Bill looked everywhere for his wallet: he peered under the chair cushion, he went through his nightstand drawer, and he searched in his car.

Do use a comma or commas to separate introductory or parenthetical phrases.

Wrong (missing comma or commas):

After eating Bill watched television.

Bill tired after eating watched television.

Bill a lonely man wished he had some friends.

Correct (commas correctly used):

After eating, Bill watched television.

Bill, tired after eating, watched television.

Bill, a lonely man, wished he had some friends.

Apostrophes

1. Use an apostrophe to show ownership or to combine a subject and its verb. Do NOT use an apostrophe to make a noun plural. (Tom’s book, he’s, toys—NOT  toy’s)
2. The word its only uses an apostrophe if the term means it is (its tail; it’s too late).
3. For a singular noun, add and apostrophe and the letter s (Bill’s book, monkey’s paw, Chris’s backpack).
4. For a plural noun ending in s, just add an apostrophe (the Sperrys’ house, the monkeys’ bananas).
5. For a plural noun that does not end in the letter s, add an apostrophe and the letter s (men’s jackets, geese’s droppings).

Semicolons

Use a semicolon to join together sentences when they are closely related (use in place of a comma and its accompanying FANBOYS word.)

Bill went to school, but Tom stayed home.

Bill went to school; Tom stayed home.

Use a semicolon to separate items in a list when the comma already has another job in the sentence.

          I visited Denver, Colorado; Provo, Utah; and Chicago, Illinois.

Use a semicolon to separate two sentences which are joined together by conjunctive adverbs (words like however, therefore, consequently, meanwhile, nevertheless, etc.). A semicolon must go before the conjunctive adverb, and a comma must follow it.

I graduated from college; therefore, I am more successful than my neighbor who did not graduate.

Dashes, Comma Pairs, Parentheses

          All of these punctuation marks set off information which is not needed in a sentence to make a complete, understandable sentence.

          Examples:

Bill Gates loved computers—he still does—and he uses the money he made from working with them to help others.

          Dashes set off abrupt breaks in thoughts and can be a complete sentence inside another sentence.

Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, uses his money to help others.

Comma pairs set off information that refers back to or renames the subject.

Bill Gates (one of the richest men in the world) uses his money to help others.

Parentheses enclose informative information or an explanation inside another sentence. Parentheses can enclose one sentence inside another sentence.

Grammar

Adjective or Adverb?

Adjectives add information to nouns; adverbs add to verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. The most common error that people make is to not use an adverb when answering the question how, but they also make errors when choosing between good and well, and when choosing whether to use an adjective or adverb after sensory verbs. The following examples come from Grammarbook.com.

Rule 1.     Generally, if a word answers the question how, it is an adverb. If it can have an -ly added to it, place it there.

           Examples:       

She thinks slow/slowly.
She thinks how? slowly.

                           She is a slow/slowly thinker.
Slow does not answer how, so no -ly is attached. Slow is an adjective here.

                           She thinks fast/fastly.
Fast answers the question how, so it is an adverb. But fast never has an -ly attached to it.

                           We performed bad/badly.
Badly describes how we performed.

Rule 2.     A special -ly rule applies when four of the senses - taste, smell, look, feel - are the verbs. Do NOT ask if these senses answer the question how to determine if -ly should be attached. Instead, ask if the sense verb is being used actively. If so, use the -ly.

          Examples:        

Roses smell sweet/sweetly.

                   Do the roses actively smell with noses? No, so no -ly.

The woman looked angry/angrily.

                   Did the woman actively look with eyes or are we describing her appearance? We are only describing appearance, so no -ly.

The woman looked angry/angrily at the paint splotches.
Here the woman did actively look with eyes, so the -ly is added.

          She feels bad/badly about the news.

                           She is NOT feeling with fingers, so no -ly.

            You smell good today.

          Describes your odor, not how you smell with your nose, so follow with the adjective.

            You smell well for someone with a cold.

You are actively smelling with a nose here, so follow with the adverb.

Rule 3. Good vs. Well          The word good is an adjective, while well is an adverb.

           Examples:

                             You did a good job.

                   Good describes the job.

                   You did the job well.

                                     Well answers how.

Rule 4.     When referring to health, use well rather than good.

            Examples:       I do not feel well.

                                     You do not look well today.

              NOTE:  Use good with feel when you are not referring to health.

            Example:         I feel good about my decision to learn Spanish.

Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

When making comparisons, writers must use the correct form of adjectives. Comparative adjectives compare two things. Superlative adjectives compare three or more things. Writers use the suffixes -er and -est to form most comparatives and superlatives, although -ier and -iest is used when a two-syllable adjective ends in y (happier and happiest); otherwise writers use more and most when an adjective has more than one syllable.

            Examples:

            He bought more food than his brother did. (Notice that the word than (not then) is used to make comparisons.)

            Sam bought the most food in the neighborhood.

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

A pronoun is a word that substitutes for another word. An antecedent is the word that the pronoun refers back to.

Sometimes people think everyone and everybody feel plural, but these words are always singular — and take a singular verb.  Remember that if a word has one or body in it, then it uses the same verb as the word he would use.

Subject-Verb Agreement

Sometimes people think everyone and everybody feel plural, but these words are always singular — and take a singular verb.  Remember that if a word has one or body in it, then it uses the same verb as the word he would use.

Example: Everyone is here. (You would say, He is here, so you know NOT to use are.)

Either and neither are also singular—if they are not accompanied by the FANBOYS words or or nor.

Each is also singular.

Here and There are NEVER subjects, so writers must look for the real subject of the sentence by turning it around. Then they can make the subject and verb match.

Example:

Wrong: Here’s Tom and Joe now!

Correct: Here are Tom and Joe now! (Turn the sentence around to easily choose the right verb: Tom and Joe now are here.)

You must find the subject and verb of each sentence that you must evaluate to determine if it agrees in number with the subject.

Example:

Wrong: The few times that I have yelled at my sister has made me feel ashamed of myself.

Correct: The few times that I have yelled at my sister have made me feel ashamed of myself.

Explanation: Although the word sister is singular, it is not the subject. To make subject and verb agree, we must say times have, NOT has.

Sentence Structure

Complete or Incomplete Sentence?

Choosing correct punctuation requires writers to know when sentences are complete. An example is when a writer needs to choose between a comma and a semicolon. Words which end in –ing create phrases, not complete sentences:

Examples:

Wrong: Being angry; she left the room. (A semicolon must have a complete sentence on each side.)

Correct: She was angry; she left the room. (The semicolon has a complete sentence on each side.)

Correct: Since she was angry, she left the room. (A subordinate clause which begins a sentence is separated from the independent clause with a comma.)

Run-ons   

Writers create run-ons by leaving out periods or by using a comma when a period is needed.

          Examples:

Wrong: Sally was angry she left the room. (There are two sentences. There should be a period.)

Wrong: Sally was angry, she left the room. (There are two sentences. The comma should be a period.)

Parallel Structure

Many questions on the ACT check your understanding of parallel structure. Parallel structure occurs when writers properly create sentences so that each part of the sentence has the same grammatical structure.

          Examples:

Wrong: I like to eat chili and drinking soft drinks.

Correct: I like to eat chili and to drink soft drinks.

The first example is wrong because the verbs are not in the same form.

Wrong: I would eat chili, drink soft drinks, and would talk to my friends.

Correct: I would eat chili, drink soft drinks, and talk to my friends.

Again, the first example is wrong because the verbs are not in the same form.

Style

Redundancy

Redundancies occur when repetitious expressions are used.

Examples:

free gift (A gift is free. The word free is not needed.)

advance warning (A warning is given in advance. The word advance is not needed.)

Wordiness

Wordiness occurs when writers use more words than necessary to make their point. The ACT checks your ability to recognize clear, concise sentence structure. Short is good!

          Example:

Wordy: The student is a pupil who is unhappy because of the fact that the lesson bores her. (17 words)

Correctly revised: The student is unhappy because she is bored. (8 words)

Word Choice (Malapropisms)

A malapropism occurs when a writer uses the wrong word in a sentence and therefore the sentence makes no sense. This can be humorous, but NOT when the writer is trying to pass a test or get a job.

Examples:

Wrong: I pledge a lettuce to the flag.

Correct: I pledge allegiance to the flag.

Wrong: I will dissolve the problem.

Correct: I will solve the problem.

Wrong: His point that it would be better to go to England than Spain was mute because he had no passport, so he couldn’t go anywhere.

Correct: His point that it would be better to go to England than Spain was moot because he had no passport, so he couldn’t go anywhere.

Sources: Worksheets, textbooks, Internet sites (information collected over a period of twenty years and the result of studying numerous practice tests)