ACT English : Correcting Grammatical Errors

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for ACT English

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Example Questions

Example Question #261 : 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."

Possible Answers:

dank, dusty,

dank dusty,

NO CHANGE

dank, dusty

Correct answer:

dank, dusty

Explanation:

Since the word "and" could be inserted between "dank" and "dusty" without making the sentence sound awkward, a comma should be used between these two coordinating adjectives.

Example Question #261 : 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."

Possible Answers:

basement: and

basement, and 

NO CHANGE

basement; and

Correct answer:

basement, and 

Explanation:

Compound sentences can be joined by either a semicolon or a comma followed by a conjunction. The conjunction "and" joins the two independent clauses here, so a comma is needed. Note that the option "basement; and" is incorrect because it draws from both of these methods but doesn't use either correctly.

Example Question #263 : 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."

Possible Answers:

Then, just as suddenly

Then just as suddenly,

NO CHANGE

Then, just as suddenly,

Correct answer:

Then, just as suddenly,

Explanation:

The phrase "just as suddenly" is extra information that can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence or creating grammatical errors, so "just as suddenly" should be set off in commas.

Example Question #264 : 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."

Possible Answers:

it; and

NO CHANGE

it: and

it and

Correct answer:

it and

Explanation:

Since what follows the conjunction "and" is not a complete sentence, neither a comma nor any other form of punctuation is needed.

Example Question #264 : Correcting Grammatical Errors

The house stood, at the bottom of a hill, making it hard to see from the street. The owner wants it that way, as he had no use for any of his neighbors. “Nosy sneaks and cheats” he would to say to his son. Not that his son ever really listening. The old man did not see him very much, either at his home or going anywhere else. Every time he did see him, his son would just complain about how his house was dark musty, and filthy. The old man did not need such criticism, especially from only his blood relative. He had lived in that house for fifty years, and planned to live there as long as he possibly could. While he lived there, his neighbors would never see him or his house if he could help it. He could take care of him, and steadfastly refused to allow anyone to help. In his tiny house, at the bottom of the hill, the old man was content to be alone, and believed he was living perfect.

Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."

Possible Answers:

house was dark, musty, and filthy

house was dark musty and filthy

house, was dark musty and filthy

NO CHANGE

Correct answer:

house was dark, musty, and filthy

Explanation:

Any list like the one in the underlined portion of the sentence must have each of its elements appropriately separated from each other by commas. The only answer choice that correctly uses commas is "house was dark, musty, and filthy."

Example Question #122 : Comma Errors

The house stood, at the bottom of a hill, making it hard to see from the street. The owner wants it that way, as he had no use for any of his neighbors. “Nosy sneaks and cheats” he would to say to his son. Not that his son ever really listening. The old man did not see him very much, either at his home or going anywhere else. Every time he did see him, his son would just complain about how his house was dark musty, and filthy. The old man did not need such criticism, especially from only his blood relative. He had lived in that house for fifty years, and planned to live there as long as he possibly could. While he lived there, his neighbors would never see him or his house if he could help it. He could take care of him, and steadfastly refused to allow anyone to help. In his tiny house, at the bottom of the hill, the old man was content to be alone, and believed he was living perfect.

Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."

Possible Answers:

"Nosy sneaks and cheats", he

"Nosy sneaks and cheats," he

NO CHANGE

"Nosy sneaks and cheats;" he

Correct answer:

"Nosy sneaks and cheats," he

Explanation:

Any quotation in a paragraph should be set apart from prose that is not being quoted by a comma. Additionally, the correct placement for such a comma is before the closing quotation. "'Nosy sneaks and cheats,' he" is the only answer choice that properly deploys the comma.

Example Question #241 : Punctuation Errors

The house stood, at the bottom of a hill, making it hard to see from the street. The owner wants it that way, as he had no use for any of his neighbors. “Nosy sneaks and cheats” he would to say to his son. Not that his son ever really listening. The old man did not see him very much, either at his home or going anywhere else. Every time he did see him, his son would just complain about how his house was dark musty, and filthy. The old man did not need such criticism, especially from only his blood relative. He had lived in that house for fifty years, and planned to live there as long as he possibly could. While he lived there, his neighbors would never see him or his house if he could help it. He could take care of him, and steadfastly refused to allow anyone to help. In his tiny house, at the bottom of the hill, the old man was content to be alone, and believed he was living perfect.

Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."

Possible Answers:

standing, at the bottom of a hill,

stood at the bottom of a hill,

NO CHANGE

stood: at the bottom of a hill,

Correct answer:

stood at the bottom of a hill,

Explanation:

The prepositional phrase "at the bottom of a hill" is directly connected to and mofidies the verb "stood." Therefore, the prepositional phrase should not be separated from the verb by a comma. The correct answer choice is "stood at the bottom of a hill," which removes the comma after "stood."

Example Question #241 : Punctuation Errors

The bayou was quiet, except for the sounds of insects, water and the occasional alligator. Jim was cleaning his blade, which he had recently used to dispatch one of the undead. His partner Bill and him had come out to the bayou for their nightly patrol and they had found a nest of the undead by an old abandoned dock.

"Hey, Bill!," he shouted gleefully, mindless of whether the noise would attract more undead. "Where'd you go, man?"

A noise to his left had startled him. He turned quick and saw the man who had been closest to him than a brother for the past six months walking slowly toward him.

"Whew," he said: "there you are." He went back to cleaning his blade. "I thought one of those things had got 'cha."

Standing in the dark, the light of the moon did not reach his partners face. The sudden silence caused Jim to look up again. "What's the matter with you, Bill?"

It was only when the thing that was once Bill stepped into the light and Jim saw the fresh bite on it's newly dead face that he realized what the matter was.

Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."

Possible Answers:

cleaning his blade which, he had recently used

cleaning, his blade which he had recently used

NO CHANGE

cleaning his blade which he had recently used

Correct answer:

NO CHANGE

Explanation:

"Which he had recently used" introduces extra information that can be taken out of the sentence without altering its meaning. So, it is a non-restrictive clause, and it needs to be preceded by a comma.

Example Question #242 : Punctuation Errors

The bayou was quiet, except for the sounds of insects, water and the occasional alligator. Jim was cleaning his blade, which he had recently used to dispatch one of the undead. His partner Bill and him had come out to the bayou for their nightly patrol and they had found a nest of the undead by an old abandoned dock.

"Hey, Bill!," he shouted gleefully, mindless of whether the noise would attract more undead. "Where'd you go, man?"

A noise to his left had startled him. He turned quick and saw the man who had been closest to him than a brother for the past six months walking slowly toward him.

"Whew," he said: "there you are." He went back to cleaning his blade. "I thought one of those things had got 'cha."

Standing in the dark, the light of the moon did not reach his partners face. The sudden silence caused Jim to look up again. "What's the matter with you, Bill?"

It was only when the thing that was once Bill stepped into the light and Jim saw the fresh bite on it's newly dead face that he realized what the matter was.

Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."

Possible Answers:

NO CHANGE

their nightly patrol: and they had found

their nightly patrol; and they had found

their nightly patrol, and they had found

Correct answer:

their nightly patrol, and they had found

Explanation:

If two complete sentences are joined by a conjunction, then a comma is used before the conjunction. Semicolons generally are used to join two complete sentences when they do not have a conjunction between them.

Example Question #241 : Punctuation Errors

The bayou was quiet, except for the sounds of insects, water and the occasional alligator. Jim was cleaning his blade, which he had recently used to dispatch one of the undead. His partner Bill and him had come out to the bayou for their nightly patrol and they had found a nest of the undead by an old abandoned dock.

"Hey, Bill!," he shouted gleefully, mindless of whether the noise would attract more undead. "Where'd you go, man?"

A noise to his left had startled him. He turned quick and saw the man who had been closest to him than a brother for the past six months walking slowly toward him.

"Whew," he said: "there you are." He went back to cleaning his blade. "I thought one of those things had got 'cha."

Standing in the dark, the light of the moon did not reach his partners face. The sudden silence caused Jim to look up again. "What's the matter with you, Bill?"

It was only when the thing that was once Bill stepped into the light and Jim saw the fresh bite on it's newly dead face that he realized what the matter was.

Choose the answer that best corrects the bolded portion of the passage. If the bolded portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."

Possible Answers:

NO CHANGE

"Hey, Bill!" he shouted gleefully

"Hey, Bill," he shouted gleefully!

"Hey, Bill," he shouted gleefully

Correct answer:

"Hey, Bill!" he shouted gleefully

Explanation:

The use of the word "shouted" implies that an exclamation mark is needed, but it is considered part of the quotation and replaces the comma that generally signals the end of a quotation. The entire sentence is reporting that Jim is shouting, but the sentence itself is not.

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