ACT

The ACT English test contains 50 questions to be completed in 35 minutes. You read several essays with underlined words, phrases, and sentences, and for each question you choose the revision that makes the writing correct, clear, and effective, or you decide that the original is best. Some questions ask about a single underlined portion; others ask about a paragraph or the essay as a whole. The test measures your command of standard written English and your ability to improve writing through revision and editing.

ReportingCategory	ChaptersinThisSection
ProductionofWriting	1 .1 Topic Development · 1 .2 Organization , Unity , and Cohesion
KnowledgeofLanguage	13KnowledgeofLanguage .
ConventionsofStandardEnglish	1 .4 Foundations of Grammar · 1 .5 Agreement and Sentence Structure · 1 .6 Punctuation · 1 .7
	CommonErrors

Topic Development

Topic development questions assess your ability to evaluate whether a piece of writing accomplishes its intended purpose. They ask you to judge the relevance, precision, and effectiveness of content choices: whether to add, keep, or delete a sentence, and whether a detail supports the point the writer is making.

Every paragraph should contain sentences that directly support its main idea. When deciding whether a sentence belongs, ask whether it advances the central argument or provides relevant evidence. Sentences that introduce unrelated information, however interesting, weaken the coherence of the writing. Identify the paragraph's purpose first: a sentence about historical context belongs in a paragraph about background, not in a paragraph about current applications.

Relevance and Focus

When a question asks whether to keep or delete a sentence, run three tests. If the answer to all three is no, the sentence should be deleted.

Precision and Specificity

Effective writing uses precise language that conveys exact meaning. Vague words such as "things," "stuff," or "interesting" fail to communicate specific ideas, and the ACT rewards answers that replace general language with concrete terms.

The scientist did things with chemicals.

The scientist synthesized compounds in the laboratory.

Accomplishing Purpose

Some questions ask whether an essay would accomplish a stated goal if a sentence were added or whether the essay as a whole fulfills a purpose. First decide what the passage is trying to achieve: an essay meant to persuade needs different content than one meant to inform or entertain. Consider the audience as well. Writing for experts can use technical terminology and assume background knowledge; writing for a general audience must explain concepts clearly and avoid jargon.

For "Should the writer add this sentence?" questions, decide yes or no first, then choose the answer whose reason is accurate. Two choices usually say "Yes" and two say "No," and only one reason matches what the sentence actually does in the paragraph.

Effective writing flows logically from one idea to the next. Organization questions test your ability to arrange sentences and paragraphs in the most logical order and to choose transitions that create smooth connections.

Logical Sequence

Pattern	HowItOrganizesIdeas
Chronological	Eventsintheordertheyoccurred;workswellfornarrativesandprocessexplanations
Spatial	Physicalarrangement movingsystematicallythroughspace ,
Orderofimportance	Pointsfrommosttoleastsignificant orthereverse ,
Causeandeffect	Causesfirst thentheeffectstheyproduce ,
Comparisonandcontrast	Similaritiesanddifferencesbetweensubjects
Problemandsolution	Achallenge followedbyresponsestoit ,

Sentence Placement and Paragraph Order

To decide where a sentence belongs, look for context clues. A sentence referring to "this experiment" must follow the sentence that introduces the experiment. A sentence beginning with "however" must follow a sentence presenting a contrasting idea. Pronouns are strong clues: if a sentence uses "they" or "it," the antecedent must appear earlier, and demonstratives ("this," "that," "these," "those") need clear referents.

For paragraph order, remember that introductions establish context and present the main idea, body paragraphs develop supporting points, and conclusions synthesize and provide closure. Look for logical dependencies: a paragraph that defines a term comes before paragraphs that use it, and a paragraph describing causes comes before one describing effects.

Transitions

Transitional words and phrases signal the relationship between sentences and paragraphs. Read the sentences on both sides of the transition, name the relationship, and then choose the word that expresses it.

Relationship	Transitions	SignalsThat
Addition	furthermore moreover inaddition also , , ,	Thenextideabuildsontheprevious
		one
Contrast	however nevertheless ontheotherhand conversely , , ,	Ashifttoanopposingordifferentidea
Causeandeffect	therefore consequently asaresult thus , , ,	Onethingleadstoanother
Sequence	first next then finally subsequently , , , ,	Orderintimeorimportance
Example	forinstance forexample specifically toillustrate , , ,	Supportingevidencefollows

Unity Within Paragraphs

Each paragraph should focus on one main idea, usually established by the topic sentence, and every other sentence should relate directly to it. A sentence about funding challenges does not belong in a paragraph about research methodology, even if both topics appear elsewhere in the passage.