ACT Grammar
Flash Tips/Tricks/Rules CRASH COURSE
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What do the questions look like?
Flash tips:
1) You have 45 minutes to answer 75 questions
a) Spend 1 ½ minutes reading the passage…
b) You’ll have about 30 seconds per question.
2) Give the passage a quick skim read.
a) Understand its purpose
b) Make little notes for yourself when something seems off from a basic read (I used to put a little star
in places that didn’t sound right)
c) Read for correctness/punctuation only when you’re asked to.
3) Pay attention to the structure/organization
a) If you read about the items in a shopping cart 4 sentences ago, and suddenly there’s a random
sentence explaining why one of the items was in the shopping cart, there’s definitely going to be a
question about whether that’s placed correctly. Draw a little arrow for yourself where you think it
should go.
4) THERE IS NO PENALTY FOR GUESSING. JUST GUESS AND MOVE ON WHEN YOU’RE STUCK!!!
Before we begin, resources and links to use to study:
English grammar 101: Make an account and practice/read there. There’s a ton,
because it basically contains ALL grammar rules, but I would focus on the
capitalization/punctuation section and the clause section (if you have no idea
what clauses are...start here in section #10)
Quizlet sets: Click here for commonly confused words; here for things to look for
and remember going in; and here for colon, semicolon and comma practice.
The 8 most common mistakes you make on ACT English: For example, the title of
this article actually has one. Any numbers between one and ten need to be spelled
out. Once you get to 11, you can write the numeral.
Literature/rhetoric
List of mechanics you can expect to see: sections
● Punctuation ● Verb tense
○ Commas, ○ Conjugation
apostrophes, dash, (was/were) ● Tone/mood
colon, semicolon ● Run-on and
● Subject-verb fragments ● Author’s intent
agreement
● Commonly misused ● Appositives and ● Word choice/diction
words Nonrestrictive Clauses
○ Affect vs effect
○ There/their/they’re
● Simile/metaphor
● Numbers interpretation
● Parallel structure
● Sentence organization ● **Transitions**
Parallel Structure: The Rules
1. Sentences with multiple verbs must keep those verbs consistent.
2. Sentences with a “conjunction + verb” must be consistent.
Remember F.A.N.B.O.Y.S
(For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
but these are just coordinating conjunctions
After, although, as, as long as, provided that,
where, when, until, than, while…
Conjunctions are just words that connect ideas together.
Let’s start off easy: What’s wrong?
Timmy likes jumping, singing, and run.
Let’s start off easy: What’s wrong?
Timmy likes jumping, singing, and run.
running
Let’s start off easy: What’s wrong?
Megan likes to sing, skip, and to dance.
Let’s start off easy: What’s wrong?
Megan likes to sing, skip, and to dance.
Let’s Crank it up a Notch:
Ellen likes hiking, the rodeo, and to take
afternoon naps.
Let’s Crank it up a Notch:
Ellen likes hiking, attending the rodeo, and taking
afternoon naps.
Let’s Crank it up a Notch:
My best friend took me dancing and to a show.
Let’s Crank it up a Notch:
My best friend took me to a dance and a show.
SO YOU THINK THIS IS EASY, DO YA?
In an effort to avoid prosecution and evading
capture, Henrietta not only flees the country,but
also is untruthful with border officials
attempting to determine her travel history.
SO YOU THINK THIS IS EASY, DO YA?
In an effort to avoid prosecution and to evade
capture, Henrietta not only flees the country, but
also is untruthful with lies to border officials
attempting to determine her travel history.
NOT SO EASY NOW, HUH?
Cecily’s motivations to marry Hans are born not
of admiration and love,
but of seeking success and power.
NOT SO EASY NOW, HUH?
We already have our verb right here,
we don’t need another one as we’re
still addressing the same point as
before.
Cecily’s motivations to marry Hans are born not
of admiration and love,
but of seeking success and power.
Sample ACT Questions: Type the letter choice for your answer
As a young woman, she wrote of pining for a valentine and of visiting
the Chinese museum in Boston.
a) NO CHANGE
b) visiting to
c) of her visiting to
d) of her visiting at
Sample ACT Questions: Type the letter choice for your answer
As a young woman, she wrote of pining for a valentine and of visiting
the Chinese museum in Boston.
a) NO CHANGE
b) visiting to
c) of her visiting to
d) of her visiting at
Sample ACT Questions: Type the letter choice for your answer
Others, salt-encrusted, “sleep” in ancient caverns, waking after
centuries to feed and to be breed.
a) NO CHANGE
b) for breeding
c) to breed
d) breed
Sample ACT Questions: Type the letter choice for your answer
Others, salt-encrusted, “sleep” in ancient caverns, waking after
centuries to feed and to be breed.
a) NO CHANGE
b) for breeding
c) to breed
d) breed
General tips and strategies
1) If a word or phrase in a list is underlined, it’s going to be
a parallel structure, comma, colon or semicolon question.
2) Make sure phrases that appear before and after
conjunctions match.
Punctuation: Commas
Segmenting appositives
Notice which part of the sentence we don’t actually need.
“Mr. Rother the best English teacher in the world is currently standing in front of the room.”
“That black Corvette which purrs like a kitten sped down my street again.”
Punctuation: Commas
Segmenting appositives
Notice which part of the sentence we don’t actually need.
“Mr. Rother the best English teacher in the world is currently standing in front of the room.”
“That black Corvette which purrs like a kitten sped down my street again.”
Punctuation: Commas
Segmenting appositives
Notice which part of the sentence we don’t actually need.
, ,
“Mr. Rother the best English teacher in the world is currently standing in front of the room.”
, ,
“That black Corvette which purrs like a kitten sped down my street again.”
There are three types of transition words: Let’s sort them!
Addition Contrast Causation
Also Moreover In fact However Thus
As such Therefore On the other hand Nonetheless Nevertheless
In fact Furthermore Still Despite this As a result
Consequently Meanwhile Instead Likewise For example
Finally In other words Similarly For example Indeed
There are three types of transition words: Let’s sort them!
Addition Contrast Causation
Also, moreover, in fact, However, on the other Thus, as such,
furthermore, in hand, nonetheless, therefore,
addition, similarly, nevertheless, still, consequently, as a
indeed, in conclusion, instead, despite this, result.
in other words, finally, meanwhile
next, likewise, then, for
example.
Are these transitions correct? If not, fix them.
1. Sally likes to go ice skating, indeed, she hates the cold.
2. The baker was exhausted after selling freshly baked bread all day; that being
said, it was all worth the effort when he counted his money at the end of the day.
3. Snowflakes form from tiny water droplets following a specific process of
chemical bonding as they freeze, which results in a six-sided figure. The rare
“triangular” snowflake, similarly, confounded scientists for years because it
apparently defied the basic laws of chemistry.
Are these transitions correct? If not, fix them.
1. Sally likes to go ice skating even though she hates the cold.
2. The baker was exhausted after selling freshly baked bread all day; that being
said, it was all worth the effort when he counted his money at the end of the day.
3. Snowflakes form from tiny water droplets following a specific process of
chemical bonding as they freeze, which results in a six-sided figure. The rare
“triangular” snowflake, however, confounded scientists for years because it
apparently defied the basic laws of chemistry.
Super helpful links for further reading and studying:
The 14 Most Common ACT Grammar Rules that you Must Know
The Complete Guide to ACT Grammar Rules
A Better/easier Complete Guide to Punctuation Rules
*** Practice ACT Tests Electronically ***
