ACT English : Correcting Grammatical Errors
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Example Questions
Example Question #475 : Punctuation 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 new song a fan favorite opened the band’s set.
new song, a fan favorite opened,
NO CHANGE
new song, a fan favorite, opened
new, song a fan favorite opened
new song, a fan favorite opened
new song, a fan favorite, opened
In this sentence you should use commas to offset the appositive ("a fan favorite") from the main clause ("The new song opened the band's set.") Tip: An appositive just further describes the subject, so you should be able to remove it and still have a complete sentence that makes sense. Try reading the sentence without the phrase surrounded by commas ("a fan favorite"), and you'll have your main clause! Remember to include commas on BOTH sides of the appositive. Using just one ("The new song, a fan favorite opened" or "The new song a fan favorite, opened") makes the sentence incomplete. Never use commas to separate an adjective and a noun ("The new, song")
Example Question #476 : Punctuation 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 new chicken recipe did not go over well with the rest of the family, they ate it out of kindness but were not thrilled to do so.
family, they ate it out of kindness but were not thrilled to do so.
The new chicken recipe did not go over well with the rest of the family; they ate it out of kindness but were not thrilled to do so.
family: they ate it out of kindness but were not thrilled to do so.
NO CHANGE.
family and they ate it out of kindness but were not thrilled to do so.
The new chicken recipe did not go over well with the rest of the family; they ate it out of kindness but were not thrilled to do so.
Both of these clauses are independent clauses, meaning each could stand on its own as a full, complete sentence. For that reason, joining them with a comma and no conjunction is creates a comma splice. A semicolon is the appropriate punctuation to use here. Another, equally grammatically viable, option here would be to use a comma and a coordinating conjunction.
Example Question #353 : Comma Errors
There once was a shepherd boy whom sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. He was hot and exhausted fanning himself, rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down. On top of that, he had never been so bored before.
To amuse himself, he decided to play a joke. He put his hands around his mouth and yelled in a loud voice, "Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep!”
They came running. They asked the boy, “What’s going on? Did you yell ‘A wolf is chasing the sheep?’ ”
The boy laughed. “It was just a joke, everyone.”
The people fumed, but they all returned to their homes.
The next day, the boy bored again decided to amuse himself again. He bellowed, “Wolf! Wolf!”
Again, the townspeople came running. Once they arrived and witnessed the laughing boy, they realized they’d been tricked a second time. Nonetheless, they returned home and irritated resolved to never fall for the trick again for third time.
The next day, the boy was watching his sheep. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wolf appeared from behind the bushes. With its teeth bared, the boy cowered as the wolf approached the sheep. Terrified, he called, “Help! A wolf! A wolf is here!”
The people ignored his cries. “That mischievous boy,” they all said to one another. “He must think he can fool us again.” But not one of them came running.
No one was there to witness as the wolf ate every last sheep on the hillside, as the boy helplessly cowered behind a bush. As the boy hid, he shook his head. “I shall never fib again,” he resolved to himself.
Which is the best alternative for the underlined sentence: "He was hot and exhausted fanning himself, rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down"?
NO CHANGE
He was hot and exhausted, fanning himself rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down.
He was hot and exhausted fanning himself rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down.
He was hot and exhausted fanning him, rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool him down.
He was hot, and exhausted, fanning himself rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down.
He was hot and exhausted, fanning himself rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down.
Commas should be used to separate a dependent clause from an independent clause. The independent clause in this sentence is "He was hot and exhausted," while the dependent clause is "fanning himself rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down." To separate the main clause from the dependent clause, a comma should be put between the word "exhausted" and "fanning."
Example Question #841 : Act English
There once was a shepherd boy whom sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. He was hot and exhausted fanning himself, rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down. On top of that, he had never been so bored before.
To amuse himself, he decided to play a joke. He put his hands around his mouth and yelled in a loud voice, "Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep!”
They came running. They asked the boy, “What’s going on? Did you yell ‘A wolf is chasing the sheep?’ ”
The boy laughed. “It was just a joke, everyone.”
The people fumed, but they all returned to their homes.
The next day, the boy bored again decided to amuse himself again. He bellowed, “Wolf! Wolf!”
Again, the townspeople came running. Once they arrived and witnessed the laughing boy, they realized they’d been tricked a second time. Nonetheless, they returned home and irritated resolved to never fall for the trick again for third time.
The next day, the boy was watching his sheep. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wolf appeared from behind the bushes. With its teeth bared, the boy cowered as the wolf approached the sheep. Terrified, he called, “Help! A wolf! A wolf is here!”
The people ignored his cries. “That mischievous boy,” they all said to one another. “He must think he can fool us again.” But not one of them came running.
No one was there to witness as the wolf ate every last sheep on the hillside, as the boy helplessly cowered behind a bush. As the boy hid, he shook his head. “I shall never fib again,” he resolved to himself.
What is the best alternative for the underlined sentence, "The next day, the boy bored again decided to amuse himself again"?
The next day, the boy, bored again, decided to amuse himself again.
The next day the boy bored again decided to amuse himself again.
The next day, the boy, bored again decided to amuse himself again.
NO CHANGE
The next day, the boy bored, again decided to amuse himself again.
The next day, the boy, bored again, decided to amuse himself again.
The phrase "bored again" is an interrupting phrase in the main sentence. Therefore, it needs to be set apart with commas on either side: ", bored again,".
Example Question #842 : Act English
There once was a shepherd boy whom sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. He was hot and exhausted fanning himself, rapidly in a feeble attempt to cool himself down. On top of that, he had never been so bored before.
To amuse himself, he decided to play a joke. He put his hands around his mouth and yelled in a loud voice, "Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep!”
They came running. They asked the boy, “What’s going on? Did you yell ‘A wolf is chasing the sheep?’ ”
The boy laughed. “It was just a joke, everyone.”
The people fumed, but they all returned to their homes.
The next day, the boy bored again decided to amuse himself again. He bellowed, “Wolf! Wolf!”
Again, the townspeople came running. Once they arrived and witnessed the laughing boy, they realized they’d been tricked a second time. Nonetheless, they returned home and irritated resolved to never fall for the trick again for third time.
The next day, the boy was watching his sheep. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wolf appeared from behind the bushes. With its teeth bared, the boy cowered as the wolf approached the sheep. Terrified, he called, “Help! A wolf! A wolf is here!”
The people ignored his cries. “That mischievous boy,” they all said to one another. “He must think he can fool us again.” But not one of them came running.
No one was there to witness as the wolf ate every last sheep on the hillside, as the boy helplessly cowered behind a bush. As the boy hid, he shook his head. “I shall never fib again,” he resolved to himself.
Which of the following is the best alternative for the underlined phrase, "they returned home and irritated resolved"?
they returned home and, irritated, resolved
they returned home and irritably resolving
NO CHANGE
they returned home and irritated, resolved
they returned home and irritated resolved,
they returned home and, irritated, resolved
The word "irritated" is an interrupter, and should be set off by commas on either side. Adding a comma after "irritated" makes the first part of the phrase "they returned home and irritated," which is incorrect as "returned" and "irritated" are not parallel.
Changing the phrase to "irritably resolving" ruins the parallelism of the sentence, with "resolving" not matching "returned". Adding a comma to the end of the phrase does not fix the issue of the interrupter, and it also ruins parallelism by making "returned" and "irritated" a pair. Therefore, the only correct answer is "they returned home and, irritated, resolved."
Example Question #473 : Punctuation Errors
The truth is, I kinda hate my brother. Can you blame me? We're always fighting. Today, he "borrowed" my favorite book and now its ripped in two. Likewise, my brother and I like to play sports together. We both bond over games like volleyball, and basketball. We both play real good. We even were considering trying out for the high school team together.
Which of the following is the best alternative for the underlined phrase, "volleyball, and"?
volleyball, and,
volleyball; and
volleyball, also
NO CHANGE
volleyball and
volleyball and
The comma between "volleyball" and "and" is unnecessary because we are only listing two objects. A semicolon leaves the phrase "and basketball" as a sentence fragment, because a semicolon divides two independent clauses. Adding a comma on both sides of "and" makes it an appositive that can be removed, but that leaves the sentence nonsensical. "Volleyball, also" is incorrect because "also" is a transitive adverb that starts a new sentence. "Volleyball and" is the only correct answer.
Example Question #361 : Comma Errors
The truth is, I kinda hate my brother. Can you blame me? We're always fighting. Today, he "borrowed" my favorite book and now its ripped in two. Likewise, My brother and I like to play sports together. We both bond over games like volleyball, and basketball. We both play real good. We even were considering trying out for the high school team together.
What is the best form of the underlined bolded selection, "is, I"?
is:I
is, if I'm being completely honest, I
NO CHANGE
is that I
is; I
is that I
The original sentence has an unnecessary comma in between "is" and "I." The phrase, "The truth is," is not a dependent clause; it's an incomplete independent clause with a "to be" verb that HAS to be attached to an object/adjective. Adding a colon or a semicolon would not be an effective way to fix the problem, because both of these indicate the end of independent clauses and would therefore still leave the phrase "The truth is" by itself. The option that says "is, if I'm being completely honest, I" is grammatically correct, but unnecessarily wordy. The best answer is "The truth is that I kinda hate my brother."
Example Question #361 : Comma Errors
Many people believe that the current admissions process for colleges is detrimental for high school students. They claim that current admissions standards place a lot of emphasis on things that do not actually measure a child's success in college, such as standardized test scores. They also believe, that there is an augmented attitude among youth of insincerity, as they do community service just or pretend to be interested in activities solely for admissions.
On the other hand, some believe that there is nothing wrong with the admissions process: any insincerity is a result of active choices on the part of the student, as well as an increase in competition for colleges resulting from economic and social trends. Also, they believe that colleges are in the right for looking for active, rounded students involving in their school and community, and they perceive that there is nothing wrong in encouraging students to have more involvement.
Which of the following is the best alternative for the bolded phrase, "believe, that"?
believe: that
are of the belief that
believe that
believed that
NO CHANGE
believe that
There is an unnecessary comma in the passage's version of this sentence. The option, "are of the belief that," is needlessly wordy. The option, "believed that," changes the verb tense. The option, "believed: that," is incorrect because the phrase before the colon is not an independent clause. The only correct option is "believe that."
Example Question #361 : Comma Errors
Choose the answer that best corrects the underlined portion of the sentence. If the underlined portion is correct as written, choose "NO CHANGE."
During her class, at the local community college, Neko realized that her instructor was actually a well-known, popular television star in disguise.
NO CHANGE
During her class at the local community college, Neko
During her class at the local community college; Neko
During her class at the local community college Neko
During her class at the local community college, Neko,
During her class at the local community college, Neko
No comma is needed after "class" because a prepositional phrase ("at the local community college") is included as part of the introductory clause. When this occurs, the comma must be located at the end of the introductory clause (after "college"). Note also, that semicolons can never be used to connect and introductory clause to a main clause.
Example Question #505 : 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."
Casey missed the concert because she was busy studying for her Algebra quiz, which her teacher had warned would be the most difficult quiz of the semester.
Casey missed the concert, because she was busy studying for her Algebra quiz which her teacher had warned would be the most difficult quiz of the semester.
Casey missed the concert, because she was busy studying for her Algebra quiz; which her teacher had warned would be the most difficult quiz of the semester.
NO CHANGE
Casey missed the concert, because she was busy, studying for her Algebra quiz, which her teacher had warned would be the most difficult quiz of the semester.
Casey missed the concert because she was busy studying for her Algebra quiz which her teacher had warned would be the most difficult of the semester.
NO CHANGE
Usually, it is unnecessary to put a comma before "because." The only time this would be necessary is when a comma must be present to prevent altering the meaning of the sentence. A comma is, however, necessary before the clause beginning with "which." Clauses that begin with which, where, who, whom, and whose are often non-essential clauses and must be preceded by a comma. Note also that such clauses, as they are dependent clauses, must never be connected to the main clause using a semicolon.
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