Grammar and usage rules most frequently tested on the ACT English section, beyond rhetorical skills. Front: the rule or example sentence. Back: the rule explanation or corrected version.
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- Which verb form is correct: 'The team are playing well' or 'The team is playing well'?
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The team is playing well. Collective nouns take a singular verb in American English.- Correct the error: 'Each of the students were asked to submit their homework.'
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Each of the students was asked to submit his or her homework. Each is always singular.- When should 'who' be used instead of 'whom'?
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Use 'who' when it is the subject of a clause or sentence. It is a nominative case pronoun.- Choose the correct form: 'She is taller than me' or 'She is taller than I'?
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She is taller than I am. Use the nominative case (I) because it is part of a clause.- Correct: 'The manager gave the task to John and I.'
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The manager gave the task to John and me. Use objective case (me) as the object of a preposition.- What is wrong with this sentence: 'The book lost its pages, and it was damaged.'?
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The sentence is correct. 'Its' is the possessive pronoun and is spelled correctly here.- Correct the error: 'It's cover was blue.'
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Its cover was blue. Use the possessive pronoun 'its' (not the contraction 'it's', which means 'it is').- Identify the error: 'There going to the store, and they took there bags.'
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They're going to the store, and they took their bags. 'There' is a place, 'they're' means 'they are', 'their' is possessive.- Which sentence uses correct parallel structure: (A) 'She likes running, swimming, and to hike.' (B) 'She likes running, swimming, and hiking.'
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(B) is correct. Use the same grammatical form for all items in a series (gerunds here: running, swimming, hiking).- Correct: 'The committee decided to raise taxes and cutting spending.'
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The committee decided to raise taxes and cut spending. Use parallel structure with infinitives or base verbs.- Identify the run-on sentence: (A) 'The storm passed quickly, and the sky cleared.' (B) 'The storm passed quickly the sky cleared.'
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(B) is a run-on sentence. It needs a conjunction or punctuation: 'The storm passed quickly; the sky cleared.'- What is a sentence fragment?
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A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence that lacks either a subject or a predicate, or expresses an incomplete thought.- Correct the dangling modifier: 'Walking to school, the rain began to fall.'
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Walking to school, I felt the rain begin to fall. The modifier must logically describe the subject that follows.- Identify the misplaced modifier: 'I saw a bird in the tree watching the sunset.'
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Misplaced: it is unclear whether I or the bird was watching the sunset. Corrected: 'Watching the sunset, I saw a bird in the tree.'- When should a comma be placed before a coordinating conjunction?
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Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so) only when it joins two independent clauses.
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