Title: Cracking the English Test
1Cracking the English Test
2Details
- 75 questions to answer in 45 minutes
- 5 passages, which are presented differently from
the Reading Test. - Tests grammar, punctuation, sentence structure,
rhetorical skills
3Details Questions
- Punctuation (13 9 or 10 questions
misleading stat) - Grammar and usage (16 - 12 questions)
- Sentence structure (24 - 18 questions)
- Rhetorical strategy (16 - 12 questions)
- Rhetorical organization (15 - 11 or 12
questions) - Rhetorical style (16 - 12 questions)
4General Hints
- Answer the questions in order (different strategy
from Reading Test) - Leave the tougher rhetorical questions for the
end. Skip troublesome questions until the end. A
later question may help you with an earlier one. - Use POE (Process of Elimination) to search the
answer choices for clues to determine the
error(s) being tested.
5General Hints, contd
- HINT Dont assume that something is wrong if
its underlined. NO CHANGE is correct a little
less than 25 of the time. If you cant find
anything wrong with the underlined portion, it
may be correct as written.
6Sentence StructureTests your knowledge of how
sentences are put together correctly.
- Fragment e.g. Walking to the store. (Most of
these are just dependent clauses.) - Run-on Two sentences fused together without
punctuation (Need either a period, semi-colon, or
comma conjunction.) e.g. Aunt Sally swept up
the shards of glass she was furious. How to fix? - Comma Splice Two sentences joined by a comma.
e.g. Aunt Sally swept up the shards of glass, she
was furious. How to fix? - HINT Sentence structure questions can be spotted
by looking at the variations in the answer
choices.
7Sentence Structure Modifier Problems
- Misplaced Modifiers Word, phrase, or clause
that seems to modify the wrong word or phrase.
e.g. Walking to the pawnshop, Bobs watch dropped
into the sewer. How to fix? - Construction Shifts Similar to above with
awkward placement of modifier. e.g. Stepping to
avoid the puddle, I carefully tripped and fell.
How to fix?
8Sentence Structure Parallelism
- Non-parallel construction (aka Parallelism)
- 1) Look for a series of words, phrases, or
clauses. 2) Look for changes in verb tense. - Verbs e.g. Annie kissed him, hugged him, and
gives him his favorite dinner. How to ix? - Nouns e.g. 1) Fans praised the quarterbacks
speed, skill, and how agile he was. 2) Seeing the
beauty of a sunset in Venice is to experience
perfection. How to fix these?
9Grammar and Usage
- If a pronoun is underlined, check for
noun-pronoun agreement (everybody with he/she),
pronoun-verb agreement (neitheris), and pronoun
case (subject or object). - If a verb is underlined, check for subject-verb
agreement (neitheris), verb tense errors (past,
present, future, etc mixed in a paragraph), and
verb parallelism (past mixed with present in a
series.)
10Grammar and Usage Pronoun Agreement
- Pronoun Agreement A pronoun must agree with its
antecedent (the noun or pronoun it renames).
Pronoun/Pronoun Agreement e.g. 1) Neither of the
two young girls expressed their feelings. 2)
Anyone going on the field trip needs to bring
their lunch. 3) Everybody stayed late at the
dance because they were enjoying themselves. How
to fix these? - HINTS 1) If you see a pronoun underlined, check
to see if it agrees with the noun to which it
refers. 2) Words such as each, either, somebody,
anyone, everyone, either, neither are singular.
11Grammar and Usage Pronoun Case
- Pronoun Case Decide whether the pronoun is used
as a subject or object, e.g. 1) The students,
whom had been studying the space program, were
thrilled to witness the lunar landing. 2) Before
the moon landing, the TV announcer gave some
additional background on the astronauts, about
who we were all quite interested. How to fix? - HINTS 1) Remember the he/who, him/whom rule. 2)
Also note differences in punctuation in all
questions in case you see two answers with the
same pronouns.
12Grammar and UsageSubject-Verb Agreement /
Pronoun-Verb Agreement
- Subject-Verb Agreement Singular subject
singular verb and plural subject plural verb.
e.g. Emily Dickensons structure and verse has
been analyzed and praised by many critics. How to
fil? - Pronoun-Verb Agreement Same as above with S S
and Pl Pl. e.g. 1) Neither of my parents have
trouble using the metric system. 2) Everyone
visiting Bob and Lynn notice how well their
children behave. 3) Each of these moments have
played in my mind again and again. How to fix?
13Grammar and UsageVerb Tense Agreement / Verb
Tense Construction
- Verb Tense Agreement Past, present, future,
etc., e.g. Sam was walking down the street when
he finds a large suitcase. How to fix? - Verb Tense Construction The verbs need to work
with each other, e.g. Sam has ate all the cookies
in the cookie jar. How to fix?
14Grammar and UsageAdjectives and Adverbs
- Adjectives and Adverbs Be careful to use the
correct type of modifier for what is being
modified. e.g. 1) Sid behaves more polite than
Tom. 2) Between Jenny and Jane, Jenny is the
tallest. 3) He behaves intelligent. How to fix?
15Grammar and Usage - Idioms
- Idioms are expressions that require the use of a
specific preposition. e.g. My sculpture is based
after Rodins Thinker. How to fix? - If you know the correct idiom, great. If not,
just guess. - Check answer choices.
16Punctuation
- More than half of the punctuation questions
concern commas. - Punctuation errors are often found along with
grammatical errors. Notice differences in answer
choices. - Other punctuation marks to consider on the test
include semi-colons, colons, dashes, and
apostrophes. ACT has avoided quotation marks in
the past, butwho knows.
17Punctuation Clauses and Phrases
- Commas Separating Clauses and Phrases
- Two Independent Clauses Mary wondered why there
was a bird in the classroom and she decided to
ask the teacher about it. How to fix? - Independent Clause and Dependent Clause e.g.
Before Mary could reach the teacher she saw the
woman offer the bird part of the bagel. How to
fix? - Independent Clause and Phrase e.g. Hungry and
excited the bird snapped up the bagel. - HINT If some of the answer choices insert a
comma and others dont, that is reason enough to
check whether the sentence has two clauses or a
clause and a phrase.
18Punctuation Serial Commas
- Serial commas Used to separate words, phrases,
or clauses in a series - e.g. When Mary walked
into the classroom, she saw a teacher, a doctor,
a woman eating a bagel and a bird. How to fix? - (HINT ACT likes the last comma, even though some
folks say its not needed.)
19PunctuationComma Splice or Run-on
- Comma splice Two sentences combined, or
spliced, with a comma, e.g. Lightning speeds to
our eyes at 186,000miles per second, thunder
creeps to our ears at 1,087 feet per second. How
to fix? - Run-On Two sentences fused with no punctuation,
e.g. Lightning speeds to our eyes at 186,000miles
per second thunder creeps to our ears at 1,087
feet per second. How to fix?
20Punctuation Essential Clause
- Essential Clause or Phrase (aka Restrictive)
Correct e.g. People who snore are advised to
sleep on their sides. (Who snore is essential
for us to know who is being discussed so NO
COMMAS.) - Another correct e.g. Only a person who is a
little peculiar would feed a bagel to a bird. (NO
COMMAS.) - HINT Remember I DONT NEED commas when I DO
NEED the clause.
21Punctuation - Non-essential Clause
- Non-essential (Nonrestrictive) Clause Correct
e.g. My father, who snores loudly, always sleeps
in his long johns. (We know specifically who is
being discussed, and who snores loudly and just
adds something akin to a parenthetical thought.
(NEED COMMAS.) - Another correct e.g. Mary, who by now was very
confused, stopped in front of the woman. (NEED
COMMAS.) - HINT 1) Remember I NEED commas when I DONT
NEED the clause. 2) Check answers for
differences in punctuation.
22Punctuation Semi-colons
- Semicolons connect two related yet independent
clauses. e.g. Sentence sentence. - HINTS 1) Although there are other uses for
semi-colons, ACT only applies them for run-ons or
comma splices. They are only used if you have
independent clauses (sentences) on either side of
it. 2) If a semi-colon is correct, you will not
see period or comma with conjunction options. 3)
If you see both a semi-colon and a period, you
will know neither answer is correct.
23Punctuation - Colons
- Colons On the ACT, colons typically introduce a
list that follows an independent clause. e.g.
Sentence list of some kind. - ACT will try to trick you by having an incomplete
thought to introduce the list e.g. I bought the
supplies, including pencils, pens, and paper.
Including turns the independent clause into a
dependent clause. How to fix? - Colons may also separate two independent clauses
if they follow this format A sentence that is a
general thought Sentence that explains or
expands the first thought, Correct e.g. I
didnt know what to do I could either go camping
or stay home.
24Punctuation - Dashes
- Dashes indicate a break in thought. Correct e.g.
I tried to thank him not that words are
adequate but he just nodded and walked away. - Dashes may be used to introduce an explanation.
Correct e.g. We heard the howling of wolves a
sound that made our hair stand on end. - Dashes usually come in pairs unless the isolated
group of words is at the end of the sentence. - A dash cannot be combined with a comma. However,
commas do the same thing as dashes, so you wont
see both as answer choices.
25Punctuation - Apostrophes
- Apostrophes can either indicate possession or
contractions. - Singular Possession e.g. The bosss limo the
girls room. - Plural Possession e.g. The bosses limos the
girls room. (NOTE Add es to words ending in
s to make plural, then add apostrophe.) - Contractions Its can be used only to replace it
is or it has. Its is the possessive form of the
word it. Its is not a word. (NOTE Act will
have at least one of these on test.) - Check answer choices for variations.
26Rhetorical Skills
- Strategy, transitions, organization, style
- Reorder sentences or paragraphs
- Reword something
- Summarize the passage
- Evaluate whether the writer of a passage has
satisfied a particular assignment - These questions vary more widely than grammar or
punctuation questions.
27Rhetorical Skills, contd
- The official ACT book suggests you skim the
entire passage for content, but the Princeton
Review folks say its a waste of time because
most of the questions can be answered as you
read, including some of the rhetorical ones. - Answer the questions in order. However, if youre
having trouble with a particular question or if
it seems to be taking too much time, circle the
question number, leave it, and come back on your
second pass. Often a later question will help you
with an early one.
28Rhetorical Skills, contd
- Utilize POE to search the answer choices for
clues. Focus on the differences between the
answer choices, and use that information to
determine the error(s) being tested. - HINT Look for one error at a time. Eliminate all
answers that do not correct the first error you
spotted. Compare the remaining answers and choose
the most concise answer choice free of any
additional errors.
29Rhetorical Skills, contd
- Remember that NO CHANGE is correct a little less
than a quarter of the time. If you cant find
anything wrong with the underlined portion, it
may be correct as written. - Also remember to look very carefully at any
question with OMIT as an answer. If you can OMIT
and the passage/sentence is still correct, then
do so.
30Rhetorical Skills - Strategy
- Transitions
- Show contradiction BUT WORDS however, quite
the contrary, despite, rather, notwithstanding,
contrarily, on the other hand, although,
nevertheless - Show cause and effect THEREFORE WORDS hence,
and so, thus, consequently, because of, for
example, finally, in conclusion - Show in addition ALSO WORDS in addition,
for example, furthermore, and, another, first,
second, moreover, by the same token, besides,
similarly, so too - Choose the most appropriate connector.
- HINT If you see two of the same type of
transition, neither answer will be correct.
31Rhetorical Skills - Strategy
- Improving Rather than Fixing
- The wording in the question will provide clues.
- Be sure to look at what the question is
specifically asking. - Choose answer based on the purpose of the passage
or the effect on the reader. - The question might read something like this
Which of the following sentences provides new,
specific information about that would enhance
the passage?
32Rhetorical Skills - Organization
- Three Kinds of Organization Questions
- Asks you to check the placement of an underlined
word or phrase and possibly relocate it,
according to what it should logically modify - Asks you to reorder sentences within a paragraph
- Asks you to reorder paragraphs within the passage
as a whole. - NOTE These will take time, so you might want to
skip them and come back to them later. If you
run out of time, use the letter of the day.
33Rhetorical Skills - Organization
- HINTS to Organizing Paragraphs
- Trick to reordering sentences in a paragraph
Find what should be the first sentence and look
at answers to see which have it listed as first.
This will eliminate some choices. - If you cant figure out which sentence comes
first, try to pair two sentences together and
check answers to see which have them listed
together. Again, eliminates choices. - If that doesnt work, look for a concluding
sentence. - When all else fails, pick your letter of the day.
34Rhetorical Questions - Organization
- Hints to Organize Whole Paragraphs
- This will be the last question and it is
challenging. - Do not reread the whole passage. Skim it and
scribble a mini-summary by each paragraph. - Try to find the first paragraph and look for that
choice in the answers. Do POE. - If you cant find the first paragraph, try to
find two paragraphs that have a close
relationship and look for that choice. - If that doesnt work, try to find a concluding
paragraph. - If you are spending too much time, pick your
letter of the day and move on.
35Rhetorical Skills - Style
- Redundancy - Saying the same thing twice. Most
ACT style questions are about redundancy. - e.g. 1) Cheap and inexpensive gifts can be
found here. 2) After birth, the newborn babies
are weighed. 3) The Vietnam vets were recently
memorialized by a memorial in Washington. How to
fix?
36Rhetorical Skills Style, contd
- Other style possibilities
- Tone
- Mood
- Purpose
- Misuse of figurative language, such as metaphors
- Awkward wording (in answer choice)
- Words that dont exist (in answer choice)
- Wordiness (in answer choice)
- Just do your best with these