All ACT English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #211 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
The sky which was black and stormy virtually guaranteed a snow day from school.
sky, which was black, and stormy,
NO CHANGE
sky which was black and stormy,
sky, which was black and stormy
sky, which was black and stormy,
sky, which was black and stormy,
The correct answer uses a pair of commas to offset the unnecessary clause "which was black and stormy" from the main sentence. Using fewer or more commas than this is incorrect. Remember: to test whether a clause is necessary or not, read the sentence without the clause to see if it is still a complete (though probably more dull) sentence.
Example Question #212 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Sometimes it is better to forgive and forget, then to hold grudges.
forget then
forget, but
forget
forget than
NO CHANGES
forget than
There is no need for a comma because "than to hold grudges" is not a full sentence. Also, "than" is the correct word because you are making a comparision. "Then" is an adverb used to situate actions in time.
Example Question #213 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Adapted from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (1532)
Now, if you will consider what was the nature of the government of Darius, you will find it similar to the kingdom of the Turk. Therefore it was only necessarily for Alexander, first to overthrow him in the field, and then to take the country from him. After this victory, Darius being killed, the state remained secure in Alexander’s power, for the reasons noted earlier. If his successors had been united they would have enjoyed it securely and at their ease, for there was no tumults raised in the kingdom except those they provoked themselves. However, it is impossible to hold with such tranquility states constituted like that of France. Hence arose those frequent rebellions against the Roman’s in Spain, France, and Greece, owing to the many principalities there were in these latter states, of which the Romans always held an insecure possession; however, with the power and long continuance of the empire, the memory of them passed away, and the Romans then became secure possessors. When fighting afterwards amongst themselves, each one was able to attach to himself his own parts of the country, according to the authority he had assumed there; and the family of the former lord being exterminated, none other than the Romans were acknowledged.
When these things are remembered, no one will marvel at the ease with which Alexander held the Empire of Asia or at the difficulties that others have had to keep an acquisition. This is not occasioned by the little or abundance of ability in the conqueror but, instead, by the want of uniformity in the subject state.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the passage. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Alexander’s power, for the reasons, noted earlier
NO CHANGE
Alexander’s power for the reasons noted earlier
Alexander's power—for the reasons—noted earlier
Alexanders power, for the reasons noted earlier
Alexander’s power for the reasons noted earlier
As written, the selection misplaces the comma before "for." There is no need for this punctuation. "For" is being used here as a preposition in a phrase that adverbially describes why the state remained in Alexander's power.
Example Question #214 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Adapted from “The Fisherman and His Wife" in German Fairy Tales and Popular Stories by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (trans. Taylor, ed. 1864)
The next morning, when Dame Ilsabill had awoke, it was broad daylight, and she jogged her husband, the fisherman, with her elbow, and said, "Get up husband and bestir yourself, for we must be king of all the land."
"Wife, wife," said the man, “why should we wish to be king? I will not be king."
"Then I will," said she.
"But, wife," said the fisherman, "how can you be king? The fish cannot make you a king."
“Husband," said she, "say no more about it; instead, go and try! I will be king." So the man went away quite sorrowful to think that his wife should want to be king. This time, the sea looked a dark gray color, and was overspread with curling waves and ridges of foam as he cried out, “O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill will have her own will, and hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!"
"Well, what would she have now," said the fish?
"Alas!" said the poor man, 'my wife wants to be king."
"Go home," said the fish, “for she is king already."
Then, the fisherman had went home. As he came close to the palace he saw a troop of soldiers, and heard the sound of drums and trumpets. When he went in, he saw his wife sitting on a high throne of gold and diamonds, with a golden crown upon her head. On each side of she stood six fair maidens, each a head taller than the other.
Which is the best form of the underlined selection, "the fisherman, with her elbow, and said,"?
the fisherman, with her elbow and said,
the fisherman, with her elbow, saying,
the fisherman with her elbow, and said,
NO CHANGE
the fisherman, with her elbow, saying,
There are two issues in the selection as written. The first is merely syntactic. There is no need for the comma before the "and said." This does not mark a new independent clause. Instead, it merely marks a compounding of the predicate: "She jogged. . . and [then] she said." However, given that the sentence is already a compound of two independent clauses, it is best to eliminate the second "and," as it likely can could cause confusion. This is best done by using the present active participle "saying."
Example Question #215 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
"Whomever (1) wins the game will play in the Megabowl," (2) Paul shouted, and Derek wasnt (3) sure how to respond. He dint (4) particularly care for football generally, (5) or for the Megabowl specifically but (6) he did not want to upset his best friend, whom (7) was obviously excessively (8) excited about the news. He took a deep breath then (9) he said "That's wonderful news (10) Paul. Where is the game be (11) held?" Paul grinned and replied, "In Antarctica!" Derek blinked. "Since when are they having football games in Antarctica" he (12) asked. Paul simply smiled and said, "There had to be some good to come out of global warming, right?"
Choose from the following four options the answer that best corrects the underlined mistake preceding the question number. If there is no mistake or the original text is the best option, choose "NO CHANGE."
NO CHANGE
generally:
generally;
generally
generally
No punctuation is required after "generally," because the next clause that follows the conjunction, "or," is still considered part of the same thought.
Example Question #186 : Punctuation Errors
I love to cleaning. It’s a good way to unwind at the end of the day, and, I always function better in a clean environment. I once heard someone say, “You’re home is your temple.” I attempt to lived my life by that. My priorities are getting rid of clutter, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, and cleaning the counter top in our kitchen. I mop the floor extremely, quickly. I don’t mop all that often, but my roommates appreciate it whenever I do!.
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the passage. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
My priorities are, getting rid of clutter, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, and cleaning the counter top in our kitchen.
My priorities are getting rid of clutter, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, and cleaning the counter top, in our kitchen.
My priorities, are getting rid of clutter, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, and cleaning the counter top in our kitchen.
NO CHANGE
My priorities are getting rid of clutter, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes and cleaning the counter top in our kitchen.
NO CHANGE
Commas are necessary here to separate the items in a list. Commas are only needed after the first three gerund phrases in the list, since the fourth gerund phrase is the last item in the list.
Example Question #216 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Which of the following is NOT correct?
One way to reduce the weight of a bicycle is to purchase a carbon frame instead of an aluminum frame. Lighter bicycles are typically faster.
frame; lighter
frame. Lighter
frame, and lighter
frame, lighter
frame, lighter
The two sentences are independent clauses. A comma alone cannot join two independent clauses. A period, semi-colon, or conjunction is needed.
Example Question #217 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
The lead guitarist who had a tattoo of a dragon on his back and the drummer who always wore cowboy boots were often seen fighting backstage during the band's ill-fated ten-year reunion tour.
NO CHANGE
The lead guitarist had a tattoo of a dragon on his back and the drummer always wore cowboy boots
The lead guitarist, who had a tattoo of a dragon on his back, and the drummer, who always wore cowboy boots,
The lead guitarist who had a tattoo of a dragon on his back, and the drummer who always wore cowboy boots
The lead guitarist who had a tattoo of a dragon on his back and the drummer, who always wore cowboy boots,
The lead guitarist, who had a tattoo of a dragon on his back, and the drummer, who always wore cowboy boots,
The phrases "who had a tattoo of a dragon on his back" and "who always wore cowboy boots" should each be set apart from the main sentence by commas, since both phrases could be removed from the sentence without altering its meaning; they merely provide more detail about the lead guitarist and the drummer.
Example Question #193 : Punctuation Errors
Adapted from Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 by Edward Bellamy (1889)
"Here we are at the store of our ward," said Edith, as we turned in at the great portal of one of the magnificent public buildings I had observed in my morning walk. There was nothing in the exterior aspect (1) of the edifice to suggest a store to a representative of the nineteenth century. There was no display of goods in the great windows, or any device to advertise wares, or attract custom (2). Nor was there any sort of sign or legend on the front of the building to indicate the character of the business carried on there; but instead, above the portal, standing out from the front of the building, a majestic life-size group of statuary (3), the central figure of which was a female ideal of Plenty, with her cornucopia. Judging from the composition of the throng (4) passing in and out, about the same proportion of the sexes among shoppers obtained (5) as in the nineteenth century. As we entered, Edith said that there was one of these great distributing establishments in each ward of the city, so that no residence was more than five or ten minutes (6) walk from one of them. It was the first interior of a twentieth-century public building that I had ever beheld, and the spectacle naturally impressed me deeply. I was in a vast hall full of light, received not alone from the windows on all sides, but from the dome, the point of which was a hundred feet above. Beneath it, in the centre of the hall, a magnificent fountain played, cooling the atmosphere to a delicious freshness with its spray. The walls and ceiling were frescoed in mellow tints, calculated to soften without absorbing the light which flooded the interior. Around the fountain was a space occupied with chairs and sofas, on which many persons were seated conversing. Legends (7) on the walls all about the hall indicated to what classes of commodities the counters below were devoted. Edith directed her steps towards one of these, where samples of muslin of a bewildering variety were displayed, and proceeded to inspect them.
"Where is the clerk?" I asked, for there was no one behind the counter, and no one seemed coming to attend (8) to the customer.
"I have no need of the clerk yet," said Edith (9) "I have not made my selection."
"It was the principal business of clerks to help people to make their selections in my day," I replied.
"What! To tell people what they wanted?"
"Yes (10) and oftener to induce them to buy what they didn't want."
"But did not (11) ladies find that very impertinent?" Edith asked, wonderingly (12). "What concern could it possibly be to the clerks whether people bought or not?"
Choose from the following four options the answer that best corrects the underlined mistake using contemporary English preceding the number (12). If there is no mistake or the original text is the best option, choose "NO CHANGE."
asked: wonderingly
NO CHANGE
asked; wonderingly
asked wonderingly
asked wonderingly
While Bellamy was more likely to use a comma to set off the adverb "wonderingly," we would be more likely to use no punctuation here at all.
Example Question #75 : Comma Errors
Adapted from Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 by Edward Bellamy (1889)
"Here we are at the store of our ward," said Edith, as we turned in at the great portal of one of the magnificent public buildings I had observed in my morning walk. There was nothing in the exterior aspect (1) of the edifice to suggest a store to a representative of the nineteenth century. There was no display of goods in the great windows, or any device to advertise wares, or attract custom (2). Nor was there any sort of sign or legend on the front of the building to indicate the character of the business carried on there; but instead, above the portal, standing out from the front of the building, a majestic life-size group of statuary (3), the central figure of which was a female ideal of Plenty, with her cornucopia. Judging from the composition of the throng (4) passing in and out, about the same proportion of the sexes among shoppers obtained (5) as in the nineteenth century. As we entered, Edith said that there was one of these great distributing establishments in each ward of the city, so that no residence was more than five or ten minutes (6) walk from one of them. It was the first interior of a twentieth-century public building that I had ever beheld, and the spectacle naturally impressed me deeply. I was in a vast hall full of light, received not alone from the windows on all sides, but from the dome, the point of which was a hundred feet above. Beneath it, in the centre of the hall, a magnificent fountain played, cooling the atmosphere to a delicious freshness with its spray. The walls and ceiling were frescoed in mellow tints, calculated to soften without absorbing the light which flooded the interior. Around the fountain was a space occupied with chairs and sofas, on which many persons were seated conversing. Legends (7) on the walls all about the hall indicated to what classes of commodities the counters below were devoted. Edith directed her steps towards one of these, where samples of muslin of a bewildering variety were displayed, and proceeded to inspect them.
"Where is the clerk?" I asked, for there was no one behind the counter, and no one seemed coming to attend (8) to the customer.
"I have no need of the clerk yet," said Edith (9) "I have not made my selection."
"It was the principal business of clerks to help people to make their selections in my day," I replied.
"What! To tell people what they wanted?"
"Yes (10) and oftener to induce them to buy what they didn't want."
"But did not (11) ladies find that very impertinent?" Edith asked, wonderingly (12). "What concern could it possibly be to the clerks whether people bought or not?"
Choose from the following four options the answer that best corrects the underlined mistake using contemporary English preceding the number (10). If there is no mistake or the original text is the best option, choose "NO CHANGE."
Yes;
Yes,
Yes:
NO CHANGE
Yes,
While Bellamy himself used the semicolon in this context, in contemporary English we would be more likely to use a simple comma.