PreACT 8/9

A sentence must contain a subject and a predicate to express a complete thought. The subject identifies who or what performs the action, while the predicate contains the verb and describes the action or state of being.

Simple sentences contain one independent clause. Example: The dog barked loudly.

Compound sentences join two independent clauses using coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) or semicolons. Example: The rain stopped, and the sun appeared.

Complex sentences contain one independent clause and at least one dependent clause. Example: Although she studied hard, she felt nervous before the test.

Compound-complex sentences combine elements of both compound and complex structures. Example: When the bell rang, students rushed to the door, but the teacher asked them to wait.

A fragment lacks either a subject, a verb, or fails to express a complete thought. Common fragment types include dependent clauses standing alone, phrases without verbs, and afterthoughts beginning with words like especially or such as.

Incorrect: Because the weather was cold. Correct: Because the weather was cold, we stayed inside.

Run-on sentences occur when independent clauses join without proper punctuation or conjunctions. A comma splice happens when only a comma separates independent clauses.

Incorrect: The movie was long it was also boring. Incorrect: The movie was long, it was also boring. Correct: The movie was long, and it was also boring. Correct: The movie was long; it was also boring.

Subjects and verbs must agree in number. Singular subjects take singular verbs, and plural subjects take plural verbs.

The student walks to school. (singular) The students walk to school. (plural)

Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite sandwich. (single concept) The coach and the players are on the field. (separate entities)

With "or" or "nor," the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

Neither the teacher nor the students were prepared. Neither the students nor the teacher was prepared.

Indefinite pronouns require careful attention. Singular indefinite pronouns include: anybody, anyone, each, either, everybody, everyone, neither, nobody, no one, somebody, someone, something, nothing, everything.

Everyone has a responsibility. (singular) Each of the books was expensive. (singular)

Plural indefinite pronouns include: both, few, many, several.

Few understand the complexity. (plural)

Some indefinite pronouns can be singular or plural depending on context: all, any, more, most, none, some.

Some of the water is contaminated. (singular - water is uncountable) Some of the apples are rotten. (plural - apples are countable)

Collective nouns (team, group, family, committee) take singular verbs when acting as a unit and plural verbs when members act individually.

The team is traveling together. (acting as unit) The team are wearing their individual uniforms. (acting separately)

Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in number, gender, and person. The antecedent is the noun the pronoun replaces.

Incorrect: Every student should bring their book. Correct: Every student should bring his or her book. Correct: All students should bring their books.

Compound antecedents joined by "and" take plural pronouns.

Tom and Jerry brought their instruments.

With "or" or "nor," the pronoun agrees with the nearer antecedent.

Neither the manager nor the employees received their bonuses.

Subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they, who) serve as subjects or subject complements.

She and I attended the concert. It was he who called.

Object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom) serve as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of prepositions.

The teacher called him and me. Between you and me, the test was difficult.

Possessive pronouns (my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs, whose) show ownership.

The dog wagged its tail. (no apostrophe)

Who vs. Whom: Use "who" for subjects and "whom" for objects.

Who is calling? (subject) Whom did you call? (object)

Maintain consistent verb tense within sentences and paragraphs unless a time shift is logically necessary.

Incorrect: She walked to the store and buys milk. Correct: She walked to the store and bought milk. Correct: She walks to the store and buys milk.

The six basic tenses include present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect.

Present: I walk Past: I walked Future: I will walk Present Perfect: I have walked Past Perfect: I had walked Future Perfect: I will have walked

Use past perfect to indicate an action completed before another past action.

By the time we arrived, the movie had started.

Commas serve multiple purposes:

Semicolons join related independent clauses without conjunctions and separate items in complex lists.

The meeting was productive; we resolved several issues. We visited Paris, France; London, England; and Rome, Italy.

Colons introduce lists, explanations, or elaborations after independent clauses.

She packed three items: a toothbrush, a book, and a sweater.

Apostrophes show possession and form contractions.

Singular possession: the dog's collar Plural possession (regular): the dogs' collars Plural possession (irregular): the children's toys Contractions: don't, it's (it is), who's (who is)

Quotation marks enclose direct speech and titles of short works.

She said, "I'll be there soon." I read the article "Climate Change Effects."

Periods and commas go inside quotation marks. Colons and semicolons go outside. Question marks and exclamation points go inside if part of the quotation, outside if not.

Em dashes (—) set off emphatic parenthetical information or indicate interruption.

The answer—if there is one—remains unclear.

Hyphens (-) join compound modifiers before nouns and form compound words.

A well-known author (hyphenated before noun) The author is well known (no hyphen after noun)

Parallelism requires that elements in a series or comparison share the same grammatical form.

Incorrect: She likes swimming, to hike, and biking. Correct: She likes swimming, hiking, and biking. Correct: She likes to swim, to hike, and to bike.

Maintain parallelism with correlative conjunctions (either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also, both...and).

Incorrect: He is both a singer and plays guitar. Correct: He is both a singer and a guitarist.

Modifiers should be placed as close as possible to the words they modify. Misplaced modifiers create confusion or unintended meanings.

Misplaced: She almost drove the car for three hours. (suggests she nearly drove but didn't) Correct: She drove the car for almost three hours.

Dangling modifiers occur when the word being modified is absent or unclear.

Dangling: Walking through the park, the flowers were beautiful. Correct: Walking through the park, I noticed the beautiful flowers.