All ACT English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Adapted from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1784)
At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania there was not a good booksellers shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia the printers were indeed stationers; they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who loved reading were obliged to send for their books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had left the ale-house, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our club in. I proposed that we should all of us bring our books to that room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wished to read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time contented us.
Finding the advantage of this little collection, I proposed to render the benefit from books more common by commencing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skillful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of articles of agreement, to be subscribed, by which each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry to find more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations; reading became fashionable; and our people, having no public amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries.
Which is the best form of the underlined section?
Pennsylvania; there
Pennsylvania: there
Pennsylvania, there
NO CHANGE
Pennsylvania, there
The phrase that ends in "Pennsylvania" would be considered by a contemporary reader as an introductory phrase, and thus a comma should follow it.
Example Question #2 : Punctuation Errors
Adapted from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1784)
At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania there was not a good booksellers shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia the printers were indeed stationers; they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who loved reading were obliged to send for their books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had left the ale-house, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our club in. I proposed that we should all of us bring our books to that room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wished to read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time contented us.
Finding the advantage of this little collection, I proposed to render the benefit from books more common by commencing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skillful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of articles of agreement, to be subscribed, by which each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry to find more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations; reading became fashionable; and our people, having no public amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries.
Which is the best form of the underlined section?
conferences, but
NO CHANGE
conferences: but
conferences; but
NO CHANGE
Although "but" is being used as a contraction here, it is not followed by a complete sentence and thus would not need to be preceded by a comma.
Example Question #1 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Jimmy is annoyed at the video game that he was playing. For one thing, there was not nearly enough interesting characters suspenseful moments or exciting escapes in the game to satisfy him. For another, it was incredibly hard while playing the game to control the cars. It always wanted to veer to the left when he tried to steer to the right. But the ending of the game was worst. By the time he got to the end, the hero had decided to stop chasing rogue spies and therefore marry his girlfriend, a surprise attack resulted in her being kidnapped, and the hero must go on a final mission to save her before the game can be completed. That would of been fine, except it involved tracking the enemy using a helicopter, and Jimmy much to his chagrin never mastered flying the helicopter.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the bolded and underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
interesting characters, suspenseful moments, or exciting escapes
NO CHANGE
interesting characters, suspenseful moments, or exciting escapes,
interesting characters suspenseful moments plot twists, or exciting escapes
interesting characters, suspenseful moments, or exciting escapes
Commas are needed to separate each of the items in a list. While some outmoded grammar guides suggest omitting the comma before "and" or "or" in a series of three objects, the more common practice is to include it, so the phrase should read "suspenseful moments, plot twists, or exciting escapes." This particular comma is called the Oxford comma, and is used to avoid ambiguity in certain sentences.
Example Question #1 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Jimmy is annoyed at the video game that he was playing. For one thing, there was not nearly enough suspenseful moments plot twists or exciting escapes in the game to satisfy him. For another, it was incredibly hard while playing the game to control the cars. It always wanted to veer to the left when he tried to steer to the right. But the ending of the game was worst. By the time he got to the end, the hero had decided to stop chasing rogue spies and therefore marry his girlfriend, a surprise attack resulted in her being kidnapped, and the hero must go on a final mission to save her before the game can be completed. That would of been fine, except it involved tracking the enemy using a helicopter, and Jimmy much to his chagrin never mastered flying the helicopter.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the bolded and underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
NO CHANGE
Jimmy, much to his chagrin, never mastered
Jimmy much to his chagrin, never mastered
Jimmy, much to his chagrin never mastered
Jimmy, much to his chagrin, never mastered
The phrase "much to his chagrin" is extra information in the sentence and can be taken out without affecting the sentence's meaning, so it should be set off by commas.
Example Question #2 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Adapted from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1784)
At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania there was not a good booksellers shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia the printers were indeed stationers; they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who loved reading were obliged to send for their books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had left the ale-house, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our club in. I proposed that we should all of us bring our books to that room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wished to read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time contented us.
Finding the advantage of this little collection, I proposed to render the benefit from books more common by commencing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skillful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of articles of agreement, to be subscribed, by which each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry to find more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations; reading became fashionable; and our people, having no public amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries.
Which is the best form of the underlined section?
able, or with
able; with
able with
NO CHANGE
able with
There would be no need for a comma in this context since Franklin is using "with great industry" as an adjectival clause to describe his inability to find subscribers for the library.
Example Question #3 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Adapted from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1784)
At the time I established myself in Pennsylvania there was not a good booksellers shop in any of the colonies to the southward of Boston. In New York and Philadelphia the printers were indeed stationers; they sold only paper, etc., almanacs, ballads, and a few common school-books. Those who loved reading were obliged to send for their books from England; the members of the Junto had each a few. We had left the ale-house, where we first met, and hired a room to hold our club in. I proposed that we should all of us bring our books to that room, where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences but become a common benefit, each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wished to read at home. This was accordingly done, and for some time contented us.
Finding the advantage of this little collection, I proposed to render the benefit from books more common by commencing a public subscription library. I drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would be necessary, and got a skillful conveyancer, Mr. Charles Brockden, to put the whole in form of articles of agreement, to be subscribed, by which each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of books, and an annual contribution for increasing them. So few were the readers at that time in Philadelphia, and the majority of us so poor, that I was not able, with great industry to find more than fifty persons, mostly young tradesmen, willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each, and ten shillings per annum. On this little fund we began. The books were imported; the library was opened one day in the week for lending to the subscribers, on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned. The institution soon manifested its utility, was imitated by other towns and in other provinces. The libraries were augmented by donations; reading became fashionable; and our people, having no public amusements to divert their attention from study, became better acquainted with books, and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed and more intelligent than people of the same rank generally are in other countries.
Which is the best form of the underlined section?
booksellers' shop
bookseller's shop
NO CHANGE
book sellers shop
bookseller's shop
The word "bookseller" is singular, so an apostrophe and an "s" should be used to show possession instead of just an "s," which indicates the plural form.
Example Question #1 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
The teacher had several questions for her students when they returned from the museum. Who did they talk to? What did they see?
“We talked to whoever would answer our questions,” replied Jake with the red hair (as opposed to Jake who sat behind him with the brown hair). “Our questions were answered by one woman most of the time.”
"But who was that woman?" the teacher asked.
"We never got her name," Jake with the brown hair said. "At the time, we didn't think her name was important."
Upon hearing this, Hugh was getting annoyed. "Her name wasn't 'Important,'" said Hugh, "it was Ingrid."
"Oh," Jake with the brown hair said. "I knew it started with an 'I.'"
"We saw several paintings by some guy named Renoir," Jake with the red hair said.
"What were these?" Jake with the brown hair asked.
"They were the bigger of the three by the door," Jake with the brown hair replied.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
as opposed to Jake with the brown hair who sat behind him
as opposed to Jake who sat behind him
NO CHANGE
as opposed to the Jake with brown hair who sat behind him
as opposed to Jake with the brown hair who sat behind him
The phrases "with the brown hair" and "who sat behind him" are both functioning as adjectival prepositional phrases here, but they must be placed in the most logical order - "Jake with the brown hair" functions as one grammatical idea, and "who sat behind him" in turn modifies it.
Example Question #1 : Word Usage Errors
The teacher had several questions for her students when they returned from the museum. Who did they talk to? What did they see?
“We talked to whoever would answer our questions,” replied Jake with the red hair (as opposed to Jake who sat behind him with the brown hair). “Our questions were answered by one woman most of the time.”
"But who was that woman?" the teacher asked.
"We never got her name," Jake with the brown hair said. "At the time, we didn't think her name was important."
Upon hearing this, Hugh was getting annoyed. "Her name wasn't 'Important,'" said Hugh, "it was Ingrid."
"Oh," Jake with the brown hair said. "I knew it started with an 'I.'"
"We saw several paintings by some guy named Renoir," Jake with the red hair said.
"What were these?" Jake with the brown hair asked.
"They were the bigger of the three by the door," Jake with the brown hair replied.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded and underlined portion of the passage. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
At that time
NO CHANGE
In the time
In that time
NO CHANGE
The phrase "at the time" is the most logical prepositional phrase to use here.
Example Question #1 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English. One of the answer choices reproduces the underlined portion as it is written in the sentence.
The girls were always challenging their father's rules for every opportunity.
their father's rules at every opportunity.
their father's rules on every opportunity.
their father's rules onto every opportunity.
their father's rules in every opportunity.
their father's rules for every opportunity.
their father's rules at every opportunity.
The use of the preposition "for" in the sentence is odd, and does not properly reflect what the girls are doing. The preposition should be changed to indicate that they challenged during certain moments. The preposition that best shows this is "at," making the correct answer choice "their father's rules at every opportunity."
Example Question #1 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Replace the underlined portion with the answer choice that results in a sentence that is clear, precise, and meets the requirements of standard written English.
While I really enjoy studying the French language, I would also like to try and learn some Portuguese as well.
I would also like to try to learn some Portuguese.
I would also like to try learning some Portuguese.
I would also like to try and learn some Portuguese as well.
I would also like to try and learn some Portuguese.
I would also like to try to learn some Portuguese as well.
I would also like to try to learn some Portuguese.
Only the preposition “to” can follow the verb “to try.” It isn’t necessary to include the “as well” because “also” means the same thing; the original phrasing is redundant.