All ACT English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #251 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Communist rule in Poland ended in 1989 and the following year proved disastrous for the Polish economy. Prices rapidly ballooned while incomes dropped. Attempting to find a solution, the Balcerowicz Plan was implemented by Polish officials. The plan liberalized the economy by abolishing price controls, exposing markets to international competition, and it discontinued most industrial subsidies. In the time of the years following these efforts, economic growth has increased steady.
After years of negotiations and economic and political reforms, Poland became a member of The European Union on May 1, 2004. Soon after, Polish officials voted in favor for laws that would eventually mend the unemployment problem in Poland significantly. In fact, the unemployment rate improved for the first time in five years immediately following Poland's membership. The involvement of Poland in the Eastern Bloc is currently greater than the Czech Republic. The passage of two policies regarding energy credits from foreign countries provide evidence of the emergence of Poland in the global economy.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
in 1989; thus
in 1989, so
in 1989, and
NO CHANGE
in 1989, and
Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction such as "and" or "but" to connect two independent clauses. (An independent clause is a phrase that can stand alone as a sentence). In this problem, the two independent clauses are 1: "Communist rule in Poland ended in 1989;" and 2: "The following year proved disastrous for the Polish economy," so we need to connect them with a coordinating conjunction ("and") and a comma; therefore, the correct answer is "in 1989, and."
Example Question #252 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Communist rule in Poland ended in 1989 and the following year proved disastrous for the Polish economy. Prices rapidly ballooned while incomes dropped. Attempting to find a solution, the Balcerowicz Plan was implemented by Polish officials. The plan liberalized the economy by abolishing price controls, exposing markets to international competition, and it discontinued most industrial subsidies. In the time of the years following these efforts, economic growth has increased steady.
After years of negotiations and economic and political reforms, Poland became a member of The European Union on May 1, 2004. Soon after, Polish officials voted in favor for laws that would eventually mend the unemployment problem in Poland significantly. In fact, the unemployment rate improved for the first time in five years immediately following Poland's membership. The involvement of Poland in the Eastern Bloc is currently greater than the Czech Republic. The passage of two policies regarding energy credits from foreign countries provide evidence of the emergence of Poland in the global economy.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
After years of negotiations, and economic, and political reforms
After years of negotiations and economic and political reforms
After years of negotiations and economic, and political reforms,
After years of negotiations, and economic and political reforms,
NO CHANGE
NO CHANGE
Lists with three or more elements must be separated by commas, but lists with only two elements are not separated by commas. The answer choice "After years of negotiations and economic, and political reforms," is incorrect because the comma in that choice separates the list of two adjectives: 1) "economic and 2) political." The answer choice "After years of negotiations, and economic and political reforms," is also incorrect because the comma in that choice separates the list of two noun phrases: 1) "negotiations" and 2) "economic and political reforms."
Introductory phrases, on the other hand, must be followed by commas; therefore, the introductory phrase "After years of negotiations and economic and political reforms" requires a comma immediately after it, meaning that "After years of negotiations and economic and political reforms," is the correct answer.
Example Question #253 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Communist rule in Poland ended in 1989 and the following year proved disastrous for the Polish economy. Prices rapidly ballooned while incomes dropped. Attempting to find a solution, the Balcerowicz Plan was implemented by Polish officials. The plan liberalized the economy by abolishing price controls, exposing markets to international competition, and it discontinued most industrial subsidies. In the time of the years following these efforts, economic growth has increased steady.
After years of negotiations and economic and political reforms, Poland became a member of The European Union on May 1, 2004. Soon after, Polish officials voted in favor for laws that would eventually mend the unemployment problem in Poland significantly. In fact, the unemployment rate improved for the first time in five years immediately following Poland's membership. The involvement of Poland in the Eastern Bloc is currently greater than the Czech Republic. The passage of two policies regarding energy credits from foreign countries provide evidence of the emergence of Poland in the global economy.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
May 1 2004
NO CHANGE
May—1—2004
May, 1 2004
May, 1, 2004
NO CHANGE
When writing dates, separate the month from the year with commas, but not the month from the day, such as "June 12, 2013;" therefore, the correct way to express the date in the sentence is "May 1, 2004", as in the original text.
Example Question #254 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
The ship was having trouble again. Engineer James Ferguson couldn't figure out why the super-duper drive engine kept breaching. Every time he had fixed it, something seemed to go wrong again. He had a capable crew and he was friendly with all of them: but the aliens who had evolved from deer rather than from apes as humans had, had some problems when it came to fixing things. Their strong arms ended in tiny predicative hooves that sometimes makes it difficult for them to hold large objects. They were good at problem-solving though and he did like them a lot. The nearest one gave him a dough-eyed look of sympathy—appropriate, given her gender. He looked back at the breaching drive engine and sighed. "Once more into the breach, deer friends" he announced.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
crew,
NO CHANGE
crew;
crew:
crew,
The conjunction "and" joins two complete sentences here, so the most appropriate punctuation to precede it would be a comma. The semicolon is not used when a complete sentence begins with a conjunction.
Example Question #226 : Punctuation Errors
The ship was having trouble again. Engineer James Ferguson couldn't figure out why the super-duper drive engine kept breaching. Every time he had fixed it, something seemed to go wrong again. He had a capable crew and he was friendly with all of them: but the aliens who had evolved from deer rather than from apes as humans had, had some problems when it came to fixing things. Their strong arms ended in tiny predicative hooves that sometimes makes it difficult for them to hold large objects. They were good at problem-solving though and he did like them a lot. The nearest one gave him a dough-eyed look of sympathy—appropriate, given her gender. He looked back at the breaching drive engine and sighed. "Once more into the breach, deer friends" he announced.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
them;
them,
NO CHANGE
them
them,
Again, there are two complete sentences joined by a conjunction ("but"), so inserting a comma immediately before this conjunction (after "them") would be the grammatically correct choice.
Example Question #592 : Act English
The ship was having trouble again. Engineer James Ferguson couldn't figure out why the super-duper drive engine kept breaching. Every time he had fixed it, something seemed to go wrong again. He had a capable crew and he was friendly with all of them: but the aliens who had evolved from deer rather than from apes as humans had, had some problems when it came to fixing things. Their strong arms ended in tiny predicative hooves that sometimes makes it difficult for them to hold large objects. They were good at problem-solving though and he did like them a lot. The nearest one gave him a dough-eyed look of sympathy—appropriate, given her gender. He looked back at the breaching drive engine and sighed. "Once more into the breach, deer friends" he announced.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
deer: rather than from apes as humans had
deer, rather than from apes as humans had
deer; rather than from apes as humans had
NO CHANGE
deer, rather than from apes as humans had
Here, the comma functions to introduce and set off additional information in the sentence. Anything set apart from the main sentence by commas should be able to be removed without damaging the sentence grammatically or changing its meaning.
Example Question #231 : Punctuation Errors
The ship was having trouble again. Engineer James Ferguson couldn't figure out why the super-duper drive engine kept breaching. Every time he had fixed it, something seemed to go wrong again. He had a capable crew and he was friendly with all of them: but the aliens who had evolved from deer rather than from apes as humans had, had some problems when it came to fixing things. Their strong arms ended in tiny predicative hooves that sometimes makes it difficult for them to hold large objects. They were good at problem-solving though and he did like them a lot. The nearest one gave him a dough-eyed look of sympathy—appropriate, given her gender. He looked back at the breaching drive engine and sighed. "Once more into the breach, deer friends" he announced.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
NO CHANGE
problem-solving though, and
problem-solving, though and
problem-solving, though, and
problem-solving, though, and
The word "though" can easily be removed from the sentence without damaging it grammatically, so it should be set off in commas.
Example Question #232 : Punctuation Errors
The ship was having trouble again. Engineer James Ferguson couldn't figure out why the super-duper drive engine kept breaching. Every time he had fixed it, something seemed to go wrong again. He had a capable crew and he was friendly with all of them: but the aliens who had evolved from deer rather than from apes as humans had, had some problems when it came to fixing things. Their strong arms ended in tiny predicative hooves that sometimes makes it difficult for them to hold large objects. They were good at problem-solving though and he did like them a lot. The nearest one gave him a dough-eyed look of sympathy—appropriate, given her gender. He looked back at the breaching drive engine and sighed. "Once more into the breach, deer friends" he announced.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
engine;
NO CHANGE
engine:
engine,
NO CHANGE
The phrase "and sighed" is still part of the same verb phrase that begins with "looked back" and thus needs no punctuation to separate it.
Example Question #233 : Punctuation Errors
The ship was having trouble again. Engineer James Ferguson couldn't figure out why the super-duper drive engine kept breaching. Every time he had fixed it, something seemed to go wrong again. He had a capable crew and he was friendly with all of them: but the aliens who had evolved from deer rather than from apes as humans had, had some problems when it came to fixing things. Their strong arms ended in tiny predicative hooves that sometimes makes it difficult for them to hold large objects. They were good at problem-solving though and he did like them a lot. The nearest one gave him a dough-eyed look of sympathy—appropriate, given her gender. He looked back at the breaching drive engine and sighed. "Once more into the breach, deer friends" he announced.
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
friends",
friends."
friends,"
NO CHANGE
friends,"
The sentence does not end with the end of the quotation, and thus a comma inside the quotation marks is needed to signal the attribution phrase "he announced" that follows it.
Example Question #255 : Correcting Grammatical Errors
Margaret Mitchell the writer was having a horrible day. She just completed her latest novel when the tornado sirens went off. Fast, she rushed down into the basement, barricaded the door, and she sat in a corner of the dank dusty room to wait for the storm to pass. The winds howled noisy and increased in intensity until it sounded like the tornado was right above her. Suddenly, a gigantic bang echoed throughout the basement and Margaret dropped to the floor in terror. Then just as suddenly the noise vanished. Margaret got up and dusted her off before moving hesitantly toward the basement door. She opened it, and found the house above her was completely gone. Despite the horror of the site, she sighed and muttered, "Oh, well." A neighbor came running up to her and said, "Margaret! Thank goodness your alive! But what happened to your house, and what about your new book?" Margaret gave a rueful smile and replied, "Oh, that's Gone With The Wind."
Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
Mitchell, the writer
Mitchell, the writer,
NO CHANGE
Mitchell the writer,
Mitchell, the writer,
The phrase "the writer" acts an an appositive, a phrase that gives extra information by renaming the noun that it follows. Here, that noun is "Margaret Mitchell." Appositives that provide non-necessary information in a sentence need to be set off from the sentence by commas, so this phrase should be set off by commas.
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