ACT - English
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1. Reading Comprehension Generally focus on some aspect of comprehension and are an-
Questions swered with a literal approach; one that was stated or demon-
strated in the passage
2. 'Best Accomplishes X' Some questions will ask which answer choice best accomplishes a
goal and the answer is almost always plainly and directly demon-
strates the idea required by the prompt
3. Most Relavant Information Answers what the question asks without any sort of extra informa-
tion
4. Best Conclusions The best conclusion will be on that focuses on the main topic of
their passage
5. Most Effective Introduction A sentence that discusses the same topics that are discussed in
the other sentences in that paragraph
6. Most Specific Information The choice that provides the type of information required by the
question
7. Most Effective Transition You just need to find the choice that refers to something from the
passage before the transition
8. Sentence or Paragraph The sentences should appear in a sequence that makes them refer
Placement to each other in a logical order
9. Precision Vocab The word with a specific definition relating to the paragraph at
hand
10. Deleting Phrase or Sentence Pick the answer that plainly describes the relationship between
the deleted phrase and the rest of the text
11. Including or Excluding a Ignore yes no phrase, select answer that has the proper reasoning
Phrase behind it
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12. "Would this essay fulfill the The right answer will meet the criteria of
writer's goal?" 1. Logically restated or demonstrated by the passage
2. It's logically connected to the goal mentioned by the prompt
13. Grammar/Style/Punctua- You can identify these questions through
tion Questions - No prompt
- Frist answer choice is normally no change
14. Nouns Words that describe objects, ideas, or abstract concepts (ideal-
ism),
15. Common Noun Suffixes Ness, ism, ion, ology, hood
16. Pronouns A type of noun that refers to a noun we have already mentioned
(he, she, they, them)
17. 2 Pronoun Rules 1. There must be a noun phrase in the same surrounding text that
the pronoun has to follow two rules
2. The pronoun must have the same grammatical number as the
noun it is referring to
18. Subjects and Objects Subject - Thing that performs the action
Object - Thing that receives the action
19. Subject pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they
20. Object pronouns me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them
21. Personal Pronouns Pronouns that can be used too replace noun that describes a
person
22. Verbs Words that show action or a state of being. One of these is
required in a sentence
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23. Verb Examples run, breath, swim, see, cry, answer, call, write, grow, do.
is, am, was, are, will be, were.
24. Singular Verbs End in s
25. Plural Verbs Do not end in s
26. Verb Tenses The action of the verb can take place in the past present, or future
and the tense of the verb changes according to the time frame
when the verb's action takes place
27. Helping Verbs Helps the main verb express an action or a state of being. Exam-
ples: have (laughed), been (doing), were (lost)
28. How to answer verb tense We must pick a choice that would cause the verb phrases in a
questions sentence to describe events happening in an impossible order
29. Conjugating Irregular Verbs Verbs whose past-tense ends in a form other than -ed
30. Verb-Forms uses as Nouns Two verb forms that can be used as nouns: The "ing" form of the
verb, and the "to" form of the verb
31. Adjectives word used to modify or describe a noun or pronoun, such as
"happy," "sad," or "pretty."
32. Adverb A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb
33. What do adverbs almost al- -ly
ways end in
34. Possessive Pronouns Pronouns that attribute ownership. i.e. mine, yours, his, hers, its,
ours, theirs
35. Plural Possessives Add an ' to the s at the end to form it
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36. Conjunctions Words that we use to link ideas to each other
37. Conjunction Examples for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
38. Correlative Conjunctions Sets of words that typically appear in the same sentence together
39. Correlative Conjunction Ex- both/and, either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, whether/or
amples
40. Phrases and Clauses A group of words that serves a particular function in a sentence
41. Noun Phrase a word or group of words that functions in a sentence as subject,
object, or prepositional object.
42. Verb Phrase the part of a sentence containing the verb and any direct or
indirect object, but not the subject.
43. Prepositional Phrase A group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a
noun or pronoun.
44. Independent Clause A clause that can stand alone as a sentence
45. Dependent Clause A phrase that can't stand alone as a complete sentence.
46. Sentence Fragments Phrases or incomplete sentences missing either a subject, predi-
cate, or a complete thought.
47. Run-on sentences (Comma Sentences that either have no comma, or a weirdly misplaced
Splices) comma
48. Who versus Whom Who is a subjective pronoun (subject of the clause), and whom is
an objective pronoun (object of the clause)
Who picked up my check?
to whom did you give my check?
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49. Comparisons The comparison made needs to be between two very similar
things
50. Comparative Words that end in 'er'
51. Superlative Words that end in 'est'
52. Colons a punctuation mark (:) used to precede a list of items, a quotation,
or an expansion or explanation.
53. Semicolons a punctuation mark (;) indicating a pause, typically between two
main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a
comma.
54. Semicolon Situations 1. Separate two sets of words that could each stand on their own
as a sentence
2. Separate listed items that are in a "super series"
55. Commas 1. Commas used to divide items in a list of three or more things
2. Commas between dependent clauses and independent claus-
es
3. Comma Sandwiches: these show that the sandwiched phrase
could be removed from a sentence without creating any gram-
matical issues or changing the meaning of the rest of the sentence
56. Commas in a list of three or A comma is placed after each item except the last item, and the
more things word "and" appear before the last item in the list
57. Lists of two things No comma should appear immediately before or after the word
"and" in a list of two things
58. Commas between depen- When a dependent clauses appears right before an independent
dent and independent claus- clauses in a sentence, a comma is placed after the dependent
es clause
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No comma is necessary between an independent clause and a
dependent clause when the independent clause comes immedi-
ately before the dependent clause, unless the dependent clause
begins with a form of "which" or "who"
59. Comma Sandwiches When a comma sandwich occurs, the entire phrase can be re-
moved, leaving behind a complete sentence, without changing
the rest of the meaning of the sentence
60. Comma Sandwich with a Do not use a comma sandwich if the profession is mentioned
profession immediately before the name
61. Other punctuation sandwich Other punctuation sandwiches with parenthesis or dashes work
just like comma sandwiches
62. No commas after conjunc- Do not place commas after a conjunction
tion expression (unless a
comma sandwich is involved
63. Commas between two adjec- 1. When both adjectives describe the noun interchange, and
tives could appear in either order, a comma should be placed between
them
2. When the adjectives aren't interchangeable, and must appear
in a set order, no comma should be placed between them
64. Dashes This is a punctuation mark that looks like an elongated hyphen
(----)
65. What do dashes create? 1. Punctuation sandwiches
2. Function as a colon
66. Dangling Participles Ends in en, ed, or -ing
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67. Participial Phrases Phrase that consists of a past or present participle and its modi-
fiers (whole phrase functions as an adjective)
68. What do participle phrases The first noun phrase in the independent clause in the sentence
refer to
69. Proximity When a phrase describes or refers to another phrase, the ACT
wants those two phrases to be as close to each other as possible
70. Proximity Ex. Tomorrow I'll get that report domne, which is when its due*
I'll get that report done tomorrow, which is when its due
71. Confused homophones A homophone is a group of words or phrases that have the same
pronunciation, but different meaning and spellings
72. Redundancy Avoid answer choices with a word or a phrase that restates some-
thing that's already clearly stated somewhere else in the prompt
73. Read Comprehension and 1. If considering the reading comprehension aspect of the answer
Grammar choices still doesn't make it clear which one is right, then you
should consider the possibility that you have misread the question
or choices
2. The kind of hybrid questions only comes up a handful of time
per ACT english section at most, so if you find yourself considering
both grammar and reading comprehension to answer a large
number of ACT english question, then you need to reconsider your
approach because you are misdiagnosing some questions
74. The Intervening Phrase A phrase that separates the subject and verb
75. Pattern #1: On grammar/style/punctuation: shorter is much better
76. Pattern #2: Wrong answers intimate right answers
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77. Pattern #3: Functionally equivalent answer choices
78. Pattern #4: No special consideration for no change
79. How to answer ACT English 1. Read the passage until you come to a question
questions 2. Carefully read the prompt and the answer choices and deter-
mine what kind of question it is
3. Find the right answer, or eliminate wrong answers
4. Take a second glance
6. Make choice and move on
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