Reviewing the proper placement of commas, semicolons, colons, and other punctuation marks
The ACT English Test tests Standard written English. In the real world, you can use slang and casual English and still communicate perfectly well with your buddies, but on the ACT, you have to use the formal English that you learned in school. When you knock on a friend’s door, for example, you call out, “It’s me!” Right? Well, on the ACT, you have to say, “It is I.” The ACT English Test focuses on two types of questions: those that test grammar and usage and those that require you to make decisions about the best way to construct sentences. Chapter 6 gives you the skinny on how to recognize and efficiently answer both types of questions.
This chapter gives you a basic grammar review that brings back those thrilling days of yesteryear when you learned the various uses for commas or perhaps fills in the gaps for English stuff you never actually covered in class. The review starts off with the really easy stuff, but don’t get too bored and drop out. The harder, picky stuff comes later, and chances are that’s the stuff you really need to review.
Only teachers care about the technical names for all this grammar stuff. All you need to know is how to use the right rules, so don’t worry about what to call things. We’re very careful to use technical terms sparingly throughout this material.
The rules of grammar are really pretty logical. After you understand the basic rules regarding the parts of speech and the elements of a sentence, you have the hang of it. The following sections cover what you need to know to do well on grammar and usage questions (and in some cases the rhetorical questions). Bear with us as we run through the grammar basics. We promise to get through them as quickly as possible and highlight the concepts that are most important to acing the ACT English Test.
If you’re a grammar guru, you may be able to skim or skip this chapter and focus on Chapter 6. If you encounter any confusing concepts or terms when you get there, come back to this chapter for some explanation.
Reviewing the Parts of Speech
Most of the English Test questions ask you to evaluate sentences. Every word in a sentence has a purpose, known as its part of speech. The parts of speech you should know for the ACT are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions. We’re here to help you as we explain them in these chapters.
Getting in the action with verbs
A sentence must have a verb to be complete. For the ACT, make sure you know these concepts about verbs:
The difference between an action verb and a linking verb:Action verbs state what’s going on in a sentence. Linking verbs, such as the verb to be, link one part of the sentence to the other, sort of like the equals sign in an equation.
The distinction between a verb’s infinite form, conjugated form, and participle form.
The infinitive is the basic form — to + the verb: To run or to be.
The conjugated verb is the form that alters depending on its subject: He runs; they run; he is; they are; I am.
A participle is the form a verb takes when it helps out other verbs as part of a verb phrase: He is running; they have ran; he has been.
A verb in its participle form, such as being or given, can’t work as verb by itself. It must be paired with a helper, such as a conjugated form of “to be” or “to have” to function as verb.
The types of verb tenses: The most important verb tenses to know for the test are present, past, future, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. Table 5-1 gives you a quick overview of these tenses and shows you an example of how to use them.
Shows an action or a condition that happens right now
Steve studies grammar every day.
The dog is asleep.
Past
Shows an action or a condition that was completed in the past
Steve studied grammar in high school.
The dog was asleep when I came in.
Future
Shows an action or a condition that hasn’t happened yet but will happen
Steve will study grammar in college, too.
The dog will be asleep when the guests arrive.
Present perfect
Shows an action or a condition that’s already started and may continue or that happened at an undefined time
Steve has studied grammar for the exam.
The dog has been sleeping for several hours.
Past perfect
Shows an action or a condition that happened before another one did
Steve had studied grammar for many weeks before he took the exam.
The dog had been sleeping for several hours when the cat awakened him.
Identifying the culprit with nouns
You’ve undoubtedly heard nouns defined as persons, places, things, or ideas. They provide information about what’s going on in a sentence and who or what is performing or receiving the action, such as the italicized nouns in this sentence: The social studies teacher gave the students five pages of homework regarding countries in Europe and asked them to write an
essay on the political consequences of joining the European Union. Nouns can be subjects (teacher), direct objects (pages, essay, European Union), indirect objects (students), objects of prepositions (homework, countries, Europe, consequences, joining), and predicate nouns.
Avoiding repeating yourself with pronouns
Pronouns rename nouns and provide a way to avoid too much repetition of nouns in a sentence or paragraph. To answer English Test questions on the ACT, get familiar with these types of pronouns:
Personal pronouns rename specific nouns. They take several forms: subjective, objective, possessive, and reflexive.
The subjective pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, you (plural), and they, and (surprise, surprise) you use them as subjects in the sentence.
The objective personal pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. You use them as objects in a sentence.
The possessive pronouns are my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, and theirs. None of the personal pronouns form their possessives with an apostrophe.
The reflexive pronouns are myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves.
Demonstrative pronouns point to nouns. They are that, this, those, and these when they're not paired with a noun. That is my favorite book.
Relative pronouns connect descriptions to nouns. Relative pronouns include that, which, and who (the subjective form), whom (the objective form), and whose (the possessive form).
Defining nouns with adjectives
Adjectives describe and clarify nouns. In the sentence “The putrid odor in the lab resulted in a bunch of sick students,” putrid defines the kind of odor and sick describes the condition of the students. Without the adjectives, the sentence takes on a different and ridiculous meaning: The odor in the lab resulted in a bunch of students.
When you check a sentence on the exam for errors, make sure the adjectives are in the correct places so that each adjective describes the word it’s supposed to.
Clarifying the questions with adverbs
Adverbs give extra information about action verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They include all words and groups of words (called adverb phrases) that answer the questions where, when, how, how much, and why. In the sentence “The chemistry students gradually recovered from smelling the very putrid odor,” gradually explains how the students recovered.
Many adverbs end in ly, but not all of them do. You know a word is an adverb if it answers the question where, when, how, how much, or why in the sentence.
You may see a question that asks for the best placement of an adverb. The most logical position for an adverb in the sentence is cozied up to the action verb it describes.
Joining together with conjunctions and prepositions
Conjunctions and prepositions link the main elements of a sentence. These often seemingly inconsequential words can play a major role in English Test questions. Here is what you need to remember:
Conjunctions join words, phrases, and clauses. The three types of conjunctions are coordinating, correlative, and subordinating. Don’t worry about memorizing these terms; just know that they exist.
The seven coordinating conjunctions — and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet — are the ones you probably think of when you think of conjunctions. Some English teachers refer to these by their mnemonic — FANBOYS.
Correlative conjunctions always appear in pairs: either/or, neither/nor, and not only/but also.
Subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses and connect them to independent clauses. Although, because, if, when, and while are common examples of subordinating conjunctions. (For more on clauses, see the later section “Phrases and clauses.”)
Prepositions join nouns to the rest of the sentence. We’d need several pages to list all the prepositions, but common examples are about, above, for, over, and with. Prepositions always appear in prepositional phrases, which also include a noun. Prepositional phrases usually modify a noun (the students in the band) or a verb (the football player ran down the field).
Piecing Together the Parts of a Sentence
The parts of speech we describe in the preceding section work together to form sentences. Every sentence has at least a subject and a verb, but most add a little bit (or a lot) more information.
Subjects and predicates
Every sentence and clause has two parts: the subject and the predicate. The subject is the main actor in the sentence; it’s the noun that’s doing the action in the sentence or whose condition the sentence describes. The predicate is the verb and pretty much everything else in the main idea of the sentence that isn’t part of the subject. The part of the predicate that isn't the verb is called the complement. The complement can be an adjective, predicate noun, direct object, or indirect object.
Phrases and clauses
A sentence usually contains single words, phrases, or clauses that convey more information about the sentence’s main message. Phrases and clauses are groups of words that work together to form a single part of speech, like an adverb or adjective. The difference between phrases and clauses is that clauses contain their own subjects and verbs; phrases don’t.
The two types of clauses are independent and dependent:
Independent clauses express complete thoughts and can stand as sentences by themselves. The sentence “Jeff opened the door, and the cat slipped out” contains two independent clauses.
Dependent clauses express incomplete thoughts and are, therefore, sentence fragments if left by themselves. “Although the cat slipped out” is an example of a dependent clause. To convert any dependent clause into a complete sentence, you must add an independent clause, as in “Although the cat slipped out, Jeff caught it before it could run away.”
Here’s how to distinguish between and phrase and a clause and between an independent and dependent clause:
If a group of words has a subject and a verb, it’s a clause, not a phrase.
If a group of words has a subject and a verb and doesn’t begin with a subordinating conjunction (see “Joining together with conjunctions and prepositions” for examples of subordinating conjunctions), then it’s an independent clause, not a dependent clause.
Understanding the difference between independent and dependent clauses helps you recognize a bunch of errors, such as sentence fragments, reference issues, and punctuation problems. (To understand how to spot these errors, see Chapter 6.)
Keeping Track of Punctuation Rules for Every Occasion
You use periods, commas, semicolons, and other forms of punctuation all the time when you write. But are you using them correctly? The ACT English Test gives you questions to make sure you know how. Punctuation rules are pretty straightforward. After you have them down, you can be sure you’re practicing proper punctuation.
Periods and question marks
The ACT rarely tests marks that end the sentence, but just in case here’s what you need to know about periods and question marks. Periods end sentences that aren’t questions (like this one). Periods also follow initials, as in J. K. Rowling, and abbreviations, such as etc. But you don’t use periods for initials in agency names, such as ROTC and YMCA, or for commonly used shortened forms, such as ad or memo.
Question marks end direct questions, like “When will dinner be ready?” However, you never put a question mark at the end of indirect questions, such as “Pam asked me when dinner would be ready.”
Commas
The comma is perhaps the most misused punctuation mark in the English language. Whenever you see an underlined comma in the English Test, evaluate its purpose. Here are a couple of important general rules to keep in mind when you encounter commas on the ACT:
Don’t put a comma in a sentence just because you think it needs a pause. Pausing is subjective; comma rules for the ACT aren’t. You may pause between cow and on in this sentence to emphasize just how whacky the image is: I saw a cow, on a bike! But the ACT wouldn’t agree with you. That comma is wrong. Use the rules that follow in this section (not your ears) to justify whether a comma is placed properly.
Remember that a single comma never separates a subject from its verb or a verb from the rest of the predicate. A comma never comes between a prepositional phrase and the noun it describes. You may see a pair of commas between the subject and verb, but not a lone comma without a comma buddy.
Remember these comma uses to take the guesswork out of placing commas:
Series: In a series of three or more expressions joined by one conjunction, put a comma after each expression except the last one, as in the sentence “Rachel, Bryan, and Tyler bought sandwiches, fruit, and doughnuts for the picnic.” Notice that no comma comes after Tyler and no comma comes before doughnuts.
The ACT won’t test whether you put a comma before the and in a series because there isn’t a firm rule about that.
Omitted and: Use a comma to replace an omitted and from a sentence in certain circumstances.
The comma stands in for the omitted and that joins coordinate adjectives (those that precede and describe the same noun): Henry adores his speedy, shiny bike. If there isn’t an omitted and joining the adjectives, don’t stick a comma between them: Henry adores his kind younger sister.
The comma replaces an omitted and that joins two like phrases: I studied with Jerry yesterday, with Pam today.
Separation of clauses: Use commas to join together clauses in these situations:
Put a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins two independent clauses. Here’s an example: The polka-dot suit was Sammie’s favorite, but she didn’t wear it when she was feeling shy.
Use a comma to set apart a beginning dependent clause from the rest of a sentence, as in “When Sammie feels shy, she doesn’t wear her polka-dot suit.” But don’t put in a comma when the dependent clause comes after the independent clause: Sammie doesn’t wear her polka dot suit when she feels shy.
A run-on sentence happens when a sentence with two or more independent clauses has improper punctuation. Here’s an example: I had a college interview yesterday morning and I’m pretty sure I knocked the interviewer’s socks off.
“I had a college interview yesterday morning” and “I’m pretty sure I knocked the interviewer’s socks off” are independent clauses because both have subjects (I) and verbs (had and am) and neither begins with a subordinating conjunction such as while or although. You can’t just stick a conjunction or comma between these two independent clauses to make a sentence. However, you have other options:
Put a comma before the and: I had a college interview yesterday morning, and I’m pretty sure I knocked the interviewer’s socks off.
Replace and with a semicolon: I had a college interview yesterday morning; I’m pretty sure I knocked the interviewer’s socks off.
Create two separate sentences by putting a period after morning and taking out the and: I had a college interview yesterday morning. I’m pretty sure I knocked the interviewer’s socks off.
Change one of the clauses so it’s no longer independent: During my college interview yesterday morning, I’m pretty sure I knocked off the interviewer’s socks.
Nonessentials: When a sentence includes information that’s important but not crucial to the meaning of the sentence, you set off that information with commas on both sides (unless the nonessential info begins or ends a sentence — then you just use one comma). Sometimes determining whether an expression is essential is difficult, but following these guidelines can help:
Asides consist of words such as however, in my opinion, and for example and are set apart from the rest of the sentence. Here’s an example: In my opinion, Sammie looks smashing in her polka-dot suit.
Appositives provide additional information about a noun that isn’t critical to understanding the main idea of the sentence: The polka-dot swimsuit, the one that Sammie wears only when she isn’t feeling shy, contains pinks dots on a black background.
In the sentence “The science teacher, Ms. Paul, scheduled a meeting with her top students,” Ms. Paul lets you know the science teacher’s name. Yet without that information, the sentence still retains its meaning. When a name is part of a title, as in the sentence “Professor Paul requested a meeting” or “Science teacher Ms. Paul won an award,” don't use commas.
Titles and distinctions that follow a name are enclosed in commas. Case in point: Georgia White, RN, is the first speaker for career day.
Abbreviations, such as etc., e.g., and i.e., are enclosed in commas. Here’s an example: Tyler pulled out the sandwiches, drinks, doughnuts, etc., from the picnic basket.
Dates and place names contain what can be considered nonessential information and are, therefore, punctuated with commas. For example, “Mike attended school in Boulder, Colorado, from September 1, 2008, to May 23, 2011.” Notice that commas appear on both sides of the state name and on both sides of the year in the date.
Nonrestrictive clauses are by definition nonessential. Because nonrestrictive clauses always provide information that doesn’t affect the meaning of a sentence, commas always set them apart from the rest of the sentence. The second clause in the sentence “The meeting took place in Ms. Paul’s classroom, which is just down the hall from the library” provides important information, but the meaning of the sentence wouldn’t change if that information were left out.
A restrictive clause provides essential descriptive information, so commas don’t separate it from the rest of the sentence: The meeting took place in the classroom that is just down the hall from the library.
You begin nonrestrictive clauses with which, restrictive clauses with that. (Notice in that last sentence we used a comma to replace the omitted and that joined the two similarly-constructed phrases.) If a clause describes a person, begin it with who regardless of whether it’s restrictive or nonrestrictive.
Semicolons
The break a semicolon provides is more definite than the one a comma provides but less final than the break a period provides. Using semicolons is appropriate in the following instances:
To join two independent yet closely related clauses without a conjunction: For example, the sentence “It’s almost the weekend; I can finally relax” has two independent clauses that are closely related, so they appear together in the same sentence separated by a semicolon.
To begin a second clause with a conjunctive adverb: Clauses that begin with conjunctive adverbs (such as accordingly, also, besides, consequently, furthermore, hence, however, indeed, likewise, moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, similarly, so, still, therefore, and thus) use a semicolon to separate them from another clause. Here’s an example: I should relax this weekend; otherwise, I’ll be tired all week. Note that a comma comes after the conjunctive adverb.
To provide clarity in complex sentences: Semicolons appear in sentences that have a numbered series or when using commas would be confusing. See what we mean in this sentence: The secretary’s duties include (1) creating, sending, and filing documents; (2) making and organizing appointments; and (3) scheduling and planning meetings.
Colons
Colons have several functions. You can use them in place of periods to separate two independent clauses (although semicolons usually fill this role). You can also use them to relate the introductory clause in a sentence to a relevant list of specifics, long appositive or explanation, or quotation. For instance, “Megan will be finished with her homework when she completes these three tasks: a rough outline for an essay, a worksheet of math problems, and the final draft of her chemistry report.”
If the words before the colon don’t form a complete sentence, then you’ve used the colon incorrectly, like this wrong construction: “Megan will be finished with her homework when she completes: a rough outline for an essay, a worksheet of math problems, and the final draft of her chemistry report.” Deleting the colon fixes the problem.
Dashes
Dashes work like colons to introduce long appositives or like commas to designate nonessential information. They can separate a beginning series from the rest of a sentence and signal abrupt breaks in the continuity of a sentence. Here’s an example: “A state championship, a college scholarship, and a Super Bowl ring — such were the dreams of the high school quarterback.”
Apostrophes
Apostrophes have two purposes — creating contractions and forming possessives. The apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter or letters in a contraction. Think they’re (they are), can’t (cannot), here’s (here is), and so on.
To show ownership of one noun by another, use an apostrophe. For example, a dog owned by a girl is “the girl’s dog” and an opinion of a judge is “a judge’s opinion.” Here are some rules for forming possessives:
Most possessives are formed by adding ‘s to the end of a singular noun or a plural noun that doesn't end in s. Here are three examples: “Betty’s car,” “children’s teacher,” and “the committee’s decision.”
If the possessive noun is plural and ends in s, only add the apostrophe. Some examples include “the four boys’ bikes” and “the neighbors’ front porch.”
Whenever you see one noun immediately followed by another, you’re almost certainly dealing with possessive form. The first noun possesses the other, so you format it appropriately.
None of the possessive pronouns contains an apostrophe. (It’s is a contraction of it is, not the possessive form of it.) But indefinite pronouns do contain apostrophes, as in the sentence “Somebody’s dog chewed my carpet.”
Picking apart the parts of speech
Only teachers care about the technical names for all this grammar stuff. All you need to know is how to use the right rules, so don’t worry about what to call things. We’re very careful to use technical terms sparingly throughout this material.
If you’re a grammar guru, you may be able to skim or skip this chapter and focus on Chapter 6. If you encounter any confusing concepts or terms when you get there, come back to this chapter for some explanation.