Grammar Foundations

• First move on every English item: look down the four choices, say what changes from one to the next, and name the error family it belongs to (sentence boundaries and punctuation, things that must match, clarity and meaning, or economy)
• Find the subject and the main verb of any sentence, even when long phrases separate them, and make the verb agree with that subject: in 'Each of the volunteers has signed' the subject is 'each' (singular), and the prepositional phrase 'of the volunteers' is never the subject
• Tell independent from dependent clauses, and recognize simple, compound, and complex sentences and how structure errors appear on the ACT
• Keep verb tense consistent, use the past perfect (had + past participle) only for the earlier of two past events, and spot participle traps (went/gone, saw/seen) and 'would of'
• Finish on one ACT-hard question and say what made it hard

Every English sentence contains at least a subject (noun or pronoun) and a predicate (verb). An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone; a dependent clause begins with a subordinating conjunction (because, although, when) or relative pronoun (who, which, that) and cannot stand alone. A simple sentence is one independent clause, even when one subject has two verbs ('The athletes trained hard and competed in the finals' is simple, with a compound predicate, because there is no second subject); a dependent clause includes its subordinator ('because they wanted to win', not 'they wanted to win'); a compound sentence joins two independent clauses; a complex sentence joins an independent clause with a dependent one. Most ACT structure errors are a dependent clause punctuated as if it were a full sentence, or two independent clauses joined incorrectly. Verb tense is one of the most tested grammar concepts on the ACT. The test checks whether you can maintain consistent tense within a paragraph and recognize when a shift is appropriate; the default is to match the surrounding tense unless the passage signals a real change in time (a date, 'last year,' 'by then'). Watch the highest-yield verb traps: the past tense and past participle are different forms (she went vs. she has gone, I saw vs. I have seen, they drank vs. they had drunk), and 'would have' is always written that way, never 'would of.' Past vs. past perfect: use the past perfect (had + past participle) only when the sentence or the one before it sets an earlier past moment, for the event that happened first ('By the time the bus arrived, we had waited an hour'). When events are simply told in order, the plain past is right ('We waited an hour, and then the bus arrived'), and adding 'had' is an error. Subject-verb agreement: a verb agrees with its subject, and the subject is never a word inside a prepositional phrase (a phrase starting with of, in, with, for, to, or on), so cross out the phrase and match the verb to the word that is left. 'Each of the volunteers has signed the waiver' is correct: the subject is 'each', which is singular, so the verb is singular ('has', not 'have'), and 'of the volunteers' is a prepositional phrase, not the subject, even though 'volunteers' is plural and sits next to the verb. 'Each of the volunteers have signed' is therefore an agreement error: a plural noun inside the phrase never makes the verb plural. The same holds for every, either, neither, one, everyone, and anybody: 'Neither of the reports was finished' and 'One of the trails is closed' are correct. Worked examples: 'The box of old letters sits on the shelf' (cross out 'of old letters'; the box sits); 'The results of the survey were surprising' (cross out 'of the survey'; the results were); 'The list of items that the campers need is posted' (the list is). Progressive forms and conditionals are in the Verb Forms lesson. ACT English questions fall into three reporting categories: Conventions of Standard English (grammar, usage, punctuation), Production of Writing (organization, transitions, relevance), and Knowledge of Language (concision, word choice, tone). The enhanced ACT deliberately shifted weight toward Production of Writing and Knowledge of Language, so do not treat English as mostly a grammar test. First move on every English item: before reading for sense, look down the four choices and say what changes from one to the next (a punctuation mark, a verb form, a pronoun, the length). What changes tells you which rule is being tested. Then name the family: (1) sentence boundaries and punctuation, (2) things that must match (a verb and its subject, a pronoun and its antecedent, tenses in sequence, items in a list), (3) clarity and meaning (modifier placement, word choice, logic), or (4) economy (redundancy, relevance). Naming the family first keeps you from fixing the wrong thing. Read the stem, because on the enhanced ACT it names the job. The most common stem, on about 4 English questions in 10, is 'Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable?': that is a Conventions question, so fix only grammar, usage, and punctuation. Stems that name a quality ('Which choice is least redundant in context?', 'Which choice is clearest and most precise in context?', 'Which choice most effectively maintains the essay's tone?') are Knowledge of Language. Stems about the writing as a whole ('Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context?', 'Should the writer make this addition?', 'The sentence would most logically be placed at', 'Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to') are Production of Writing. The first choice is usually NO CHANGE, and it is right as often as any other letter. The ACT-hard version of today's skills: the tense depends on a time marker in the previous sentence, not the underlined one, or a long subject with a 'who' or 'which' clause never gets a main verb and is a fragment ('The mayor, who had promised the bridge for years and finally cut the ribbon in May.').

• When in doubt, find the main verb first, then find its subject. Many ACT traps separate the two with long phrases.
• Subject-verb agreement: cross out the prepositional phrase, then match the verb to what is left. In 'Each of the volunteers has signed', the subject is 'each', which is singular, so the verb is 'has'; 'volunteers' is inside the phrase 'of the volunteers' and never decides the verb.
• Each, every, either, neither, one, everyone, and anybody are singular subjects even when a plural noun follows them in an 'of' phrase: 'Each of the players was ready', 'Neither of the answers is right'.
• Read each sentence in your head to hear whether it sounds complete; fragments and run-ons often 'feel' wrong even before you can name the rule.
• Keep a running list of grammar terms you are shaky on and review it before each study session.
• For every underlined verb, check tense consistency with the surrounding sentences before you look at the choices.