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Act Test

The ACT English test evaluates students' ability to edit texts by identifying and correcting errors in grammar, punctuation, organization, and style across five passages. It includes questions that require fixing errors, adding or removing text, and reordering sentences. The document provides tips for students, including using the "4 C's" of complete sentences, consistency, clarity, and conciseness to eliminate answer choices. It advises students to understand what each question is asking and to only select answers that correctly fix identified errors.

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159 views6 pages

Act Test

The ACT English test evaluates students' ability to edit texts by identifying and correcting errors in grammar, punctuation, organization, and style across five passages. It includes questions that require fixing errors, adding or removing text, and reordering sentences. The document provides tips for students, including using the "4 C's" of complete sentences, consistency, clarity, and conciseness to eliminate answer choices. It advises students to understand what each question is asking and to only select answers that correctly fix identified errors.

Uploaded by

morad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ACT TEST

The ACT English Test is not a grammar test or a test of how well
you write. Instead, the ACT tests your editing skills—your ability to
fix errors in grammar and punctuation and to improve the
organization and style of five different passages. Sound scary? We
can help! Learn what to expect on test day and the expert ACT
English strategies you need to score higher.

Sample ACT English Practice Question


On the ACT English Test, you’ll face five passages on topics ranging
from historical essays to personal narratives. Portions of each
passage are underlined, and you must decide if these are correct as
written or if one of the other answers would fix or improve the
selection. Other questions will ask you to add, cut, or reorder text,
and ask you to evaluate the passage as a whole.

1. Remember the 4 C’s


 Good writing should be in complete sentences.
 Everything should be consistent.
 The meaning should be clear .
 The best answer, free of any errors, will be the most concise.
Even when you can’t figure out what type of error a question is
really testing, apply the 4 C’s, and you’ll be able to eliminate answer
choices.

3. Let the Answers Help You


The answer choices are your clues to identifying what the question
is really asking. Do any of the words or punctuation change? Pay
attention to what changes versus what stays the same in the
answers to figure out what the potential error is.

4. Trust Your Ear (But Double-Check)


Your ear is pretty reliable at raising the alarm for outright errors
and clunky, awkward phrasing. Always verify what your ear is
telling you by checking the answers to identify the topic and
confirm there is no error. If something sounds off, investigate
further, but remember to be careful for errors your
ear won’t catch.

5. Cross Off Answers That Don’t Fix the Error


To go from good to great on the English test, you can’t just fix a
question in your head and then find an answer that matches.
Instead, after you’ve identified what’s wrong, eliminate all the
choices that do not fix the error.

6. Don’t Change What Isn’t Broken


NO CHANGE is a legitimate answer choice. Don’t make the mistake
of assuming that all questions have an error that you just can’t
spot.

1. Don’t overuse commas (bonus: pause after commas to see if it would sound
natural to have one there)

2. Prompt questions don’t test grammar

3. Pay close attention to what the question is asking for


4. Keep it short and simple- avoid redundancy (long answers are usually
redundant)

5. Semicolons act as periods (kinda)

6. “What would the essay lose” asks what is the underlined portion saying

7. Choose the relevant option

8. Colons must follow independent clauses (complete sentences)

9. Clarity and conciseness are key (no wordiness)

10.Read the whole sentence so you don’t jump to conclusions

11.Don’t get hung up on one questions

 the comma ,
 the full stop .
 the exclamation mark !
 the question mark ?
 the semi-colon ;
 the colon :
 the apostrophe '
 quotation marks “ ”
 the hyphen -
The Comma (,)
The comma is useful in a sentence when the writer wishes to:

pause before proceeding


add a phrase that does not contain any new subject
separate items on a list
use more than one adjective (a describing word, like beautiful)

For example, in the following sentence the phrase or clause between the commas gives us
more information behind the actions of the boy, the subject of the sentence:
The boy, who knew that his mother was about to arrive, ran quickly towards the opening
door.

Note that if the phrase or clause were to be removed, the sentence would still make sense
although there would be a loss of information. Alternatively, two sentences could be
used:

The boy ran quickly towards the opening door. He knew that his mother was about to
arrive.

Commas are also used to separate items in a list.


For example:

The shopping trolley was loaded high with bottles of beer, fruit, vegetables, toilet rolls,
cereals and cartons of milk.

Full Stop (.)


A full stop should always be used to end a sentence. The full stop indicates that a
point has been made and that you are about to move on to further explanations or a
related point.
Less frequently, a series of three full stops (an ellipsis) can be used to indicate where a
section of a quotation has been omitted when it is not relevant to the text, for example:
“The boy was happy… at the start of his summer holiday.”
A single full stop may also be used to indicate the abbreviation of commonly used words
as in the following examples:
 Telephone Number = Tel. No.
 September = Sept.
 Pages = pp.

Exclamation Mark (!)

An exclamation mark indicates a strong feeling within a sentence, such as fear,


anger, or love. It is also used to accentuate feeling within the written spoken word.
For example:
“Help! I love you!”
In this way, it can also be used to indicate a sharp instruction
 “Stop! Police!”
or to indicate humor
 “Ha! Ha! Ha!”
The exclamation mark at the end of a sentence means that you do not need a full stop.
Exclamation marks are a poor way of emphasizing what you think are important points in
your written assignments; the importance of the point will emphasize itself without a
sequence of !!! in the text. An exclamation mark should only be used when absolutely
essential, or when taken from a direct quote.
The exclamation mark should be used sparingly in formal and semi-formal writing.
Question Mark (?)

The question mark simply indicates that a sentence is asking a question. It always
comes at the end of a sentence:
For example:
Are we at the end?
Note that the question mark also serves as a full stop.

Semi-colon (;)

The semi-colon is perhaps the most difficult sign of punctuation to use


accurately. Avoid using it and convert the added material into a new sentence if in
doubt.
As a general rule, the semi-colon is used in the following ways:
When joining two connected sentences.
For example:
We set out at dawn; the weather looked promising.
or
Assertive behavior concerns being able to express feelings, wants and desires
appropriately; passive behavior means complying with the wishes of others.

The semi-colon can also be used to assemble detailed lists.


For example:
The conference was attended by delegates from Paris, France; Paris, Texas; London,
UK; Stockholm, Sweden; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Mumbai, India.

Colon (:)

The colon within a sentence makes a very pointed pause between two phrases. There
are two main uses of the colon:
It is most commonly used when listing.
For example:
She placed the following items into the trolley: beer, fruit, vegetables, toilet rolls, cereals,
and cartons of milk.
Or it can be used within a heading or descriptive title.
For example:
Human Resource Management: Guidelines for Telephone Advisers

Apostrophe (’)

The apostrophe, sometimes called an inverted comma has two main uses.
The apostrophe indicates possession or ownership.
For example:
The girl's hat was green, (girl is in the singular).
This shows the reader that the hat belongs to the girl.
The girls' hats were green, (girls in this instance are plural, i.e. more than one girl, more
than one hat).
This indicates that the hats belong to the girls.
Another use of the apostrophe is to indicate where a letter is omitted:
For example:
We're going to do this course. (We are going to do this course.)
Isn’t this a fine example of punctuation? (Is not this a fine example of punctuation?)
The time is now 7 o’clock. (The time is now 7 of the clock)
Note that a common mistake is to confuse its with it’s.
It’s indicates to the reader that a letter has been omitted.
For example:
It’s a lovely day is an abbreviated way of saying: It is a lovely day.

Quotation or Speech Marks (“….”)


Quotation or speech marks are used to:
1. To mark out speech
2. When quoting someone else's speech
For example:
My grandpa said, "Share your chocolates with your friends."
"George, don't do that!"
"Will you get your books out please?” said Mrs Jones, the teacher, “and quieten down!"
It is worth noting that reporting an event back does not require speech or quotation marks.
For example:
Mrs. Jones told the pupils to take out their books and to quieten down.

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