English Section Strategy

📝 ACT English Overview

Part 1 of 7 — Format, Timing & Question Types

The ACT English section tests your ability to revise and edit passages. Here's the snapshot of the enhanced ACT (2025 and later):

The ACT reports your English performance in three official categories:

1. Production of Writing — topic development, purpose, organization, and cohesion (adding/deleting, transitions, the writer's goal, sentence placement).
2. Knowledge of Language — precise, concise word choice and a consistent style and tone.
3. Conventions of Standard English — sentence structure, punctuation, and usage (agreement, pronouns, verb tense).

In this lesson we group those into two working approaches:

• Usage / Mechanics (= Conventions) — rule-based questions with a definite right answer.
• Rhetorical Skills (= Production of Writing + Knowledge of Language, the ACT's older label for these skills) — judgment calls that depend on context and purpose.

Every question is passage-based: an underlined portion in the text is followed by answer choices that offer revisions (or "NO CHANGE").

Question-Type Breakdown

Usage / Mechanics (Conventions of Standard English)

• Punctuation — commas, apostrophes, colons, semicolons, dashes.
• Grammar & Usage — subject-verb agreement, pronoun case, verb tense.
• Sentence Structure — fragments, run-ons, parallelism, modifiers.

Rhetorical Skills (Production of Writing + Knowledge of Language)

• Strategy — adding/deleting sentences, the purpose of a detail, "which choice best accomplishes the writer's goal?"
• Organization — sentence/paragraph order, transitions, introductions and conclusions.
• Style — wordiness, tone, precise word choice.

Key Insight: Mechanics questions reward concrete rules you can memorize; rhetoric questions reward reading for context and purpose. Both carry a large share of the score, so practice both.

Format Check 🎯

Scoring & Why It Matters

• Your English score is reported on a 1–36 scale.
• There is no penalty for guessing — always fill in an answer.
• English is often the easiest section to improve because the rules are finite and learnable.
• Your composite is the average of English, Math, and Reading. Science is optional and reported separately, so English is a full one-third of your composite.

Pro Tip: Because questions follow passage order, you can pace yourself with checkpoints every 10 questions (~7 minutes each):

Quick Recall 📝

1. How many total questions are on the enhanced ACT English section? __________

2. How many seconds per question does 50 Qs in 35 min give you? __________

3. Your composite score is the average of English, Math, and __________.

The "NO CHANGE" Option

Most questions offer "NO CHANGE" as choice (A) or (F). Key facts:

• "NO CHANGE" is a real answer, not a trick — sometimes the passage is already correct.
• Don't pick it just because the original "sounds fine." Actively check for errors.
• Don't avoid it out of suspicion either — assuming every underline is wrong leads you to "fix" correct text.

Strategy: Treat "NO CHANGE" like any other option. Read all four choices before deciding.

Concept Match 🔍

📖 Passage Reading Strategy

Part 2 of 7 — How to Read ACT English Passages Efficiently

Should you read the whole passage first or jump straight to the questions? The answer depends on your skill level, but one approach consistently works best:

The "Read-As-You-Go" Method:

1. Start reading from the beginning of the passage.
2. When you hit an underlined portion, pause and answer that question.
3. Continue reading and answering in sequence.

This works because ACT English questions are ordered by their position in the passage. You never need to jump around.

Why NOT skim first? Unlike ACT Reading, English questions test local grammar and style. Skimming wastes time because you'll have to re-read when you reach the questions anyway.

Using Context Clues

Many questions require you to understand the surrounding sentences — not just the underlined portion.

When to read beyond the underline:

• Transition questions — you need to know what comes before AND after.
• Pronoun reference — check what noun the pronoun replaces.
• Verb tense — the rest of the paragraph establishes the tense.
• Add/delete questions — you must understand the paragraph's main idea.

Example:

"The ancient Romans built aqueducts to transport water over long distances. [Underlined: They was] engineering marvels that lasted for centuries."

You need the previous sentence to realise "They" refers to "aqueducts" (plural) and the verb must be "were," not "was."

Rule of Thumb: Always read at least the sentence before and after the underlined section.

Reading Strategy Check 🎯

Navigating the "NO CHANGE" Trap

Students fall into two traps with "NO CHANGE":

Trap 1 — Always picking it: If the original sounds okay, they select "NO CHANGE" without checking the other options. This leads to missed errors.

Trap 2 — Never picking it: Some students assume there must always be an error. They change things that are already correct, introducing new mistakes.

How to handle it:

1. Read the underlined portion and actively look for an error.
2. If you spot one, find the choice that fixes ONLY that error.
3. If you don't spot an error, compare all remaining choices — if they all introduce new problems, "NO CHANGE" is correct.

Calibration check: "NO CHANGE" is one choice out of four, not your default. If you find yourself picking it on most questions in a passage — or never picking it at all — slow down and recheck.

Strategy Recall 📝

1. The recommended reading method is called "Read-As-You-__________."

2. For pronoun questions, check the __________ (the noun the pronoun replaces).

3. For a transition question, read the sentence __________ the transition AND the sentence after it.

Questions That Ask About the Whole Passage

A few questions (usually the last one for each passage) ask about the passage as a whole:

• "Suppose the writer's goal had been to write an essay about X. Would this essay successfully fulfil that goal?"
• "Which choice would most effectively conclude the essay?"

Strategy: You absorb the passage's overall purpose naturally if you use the Read-As-You-Go method. By the time you reach the passage's last question, you already have a strong sense of its main idea and tone.

Common Mistake: Answering "Yes" or "No" correctly but choosing the wrong reason. Always check that the explanation matches the passage's actual content.

Choosing a concluding sentence: The best conclusion ties back to the main idea of the paragraph or essay — often by echoing the opening. Reject choices that introduce a new topic, add a stray detail, or merely repeat one minor point.

• Essay opens: "Community gardens turn empty lots into shared spaces."
• Strong conclusion: "By reclaiming forgotten land, these gardens give neighbors a place to grow food — and to know one another." (returns to the opening idea)
• Weak conclusion: "Tomatoes need six hours of sun a day." (a new, narrow detail)

Approach Check 🔍

🔧 Usage / Mechanics Approach

Part 3 of 7 — Identifying Error Types, Agreement & Punctuation Rules

Usage/Mechanics questions have definite right answers based on grammar rules. Your approach should be systematic:

Step 1 — Identify the error type: Look at what's underlined. Does it contain a verb? A pronoun? Punctuation? This tells you what rule is being tested.

Step 2 — Apply the relevant rule:

• Verb → check subject-verb agreement and tense consistency.
• Pronoun → check antecedent agreement and case (subjective vs. objective).
• Punctuation → check comma rules, apostrophe usage, semicolons.
• Sentence structure → check for fragments, run-ons, parallelism.

Step 3 — Pick the choice that fixes the error without creating a new one.

Subject-Verb Agreement

One of the most frequently tested grammar rules on the ACT. The subject and verb must match in number.

Common traps:

• Prepositional phrase between subject and verb: "The box of chocolates are → is on the table." (Subject = "box," not "chocolates.")

• Inverted sentence order: "Near the lake stands → stand three old oak trees." (Subject = "trees," which is plural.)

• Compound subjects joined by "and": "The coach and her assistant is → are reviewing the film." (Two subjects joined by "and" make a plural subject, so the verb is plural.)

• Compound subjects joined by "or"/"nor": "Neither the teacher nor the students was → were ready." (With "or" or "neither…nor," the verb agrees with the nearer subject: "students.")

ACT Strategy: Cross out prepositional phrases mentally. Find the true subject, then check the verb.

Agreement Practice 🎯

Punctuation Rules

Commas — The Big Four Uses

1. Lists: "I bought apples, oranges, and bananas."
2. Introductory elements: "After the movie, we went home."
3. Non-essential clauses: "My sister, who lives in Boston, is visiting."
4. Compound sentences (with FANBOYS): "I studied hard, but the test was tough."

Never use a comma to:

• Separate a subject from its verb: "The dog, ran away."
• Join two independent clauses without a conjunction (that's a comma splice).

Semicolons

• Join two independent clauses without a conjunction: "I studied hard; the test was still tough."
• Both sides must be complete sentences.

Colons

• Introduce a list, explanation, or elaboration after an independent clause: "She had one goal: win the championship."

Apostrophes

• Possession: "the dog's bone" / "the dogs' bones."
• Contractions: "it's" = "it is." "Its" (no apostrophe) = possessive.

Punctuation Quick Check 📝

1. Two independent clauses joined by a comma alone is called a comma __________.

2. "It's" with an apostrophe is short for "it __________."

3. A colon must follow an __________ clause (a clause that can stand alone as a sentence).

Sentence Structure Issues

Fragments: A group of words that lacks a subject, a verb, or a complete thought.

• "Running through the park on a sunny afternoon." (No subject or main verb.)
• Fix: "She was running through the park on a sunny afternoon."

Run-on sentences: Two independent clauses joined without proper punctuation or a conjunction.

• "I love hiking I go every weekend."
• Fix: "I love hiking; I go every weekend." OR "I love hiking, and I go every weekend."

Parallelism: Items in a list or comparison must have the same grammatical form.

• "She enjoys reading, to swim, and hiking."
• Fix: "She enjoys reading, swimming, and hiking."

Misplaced modifiers: A descriptive phrase placed next to the wrong noun.

• "Covered in chocolate, the children devoured the cake."
• Fix: "The children devoured the cake, which was covered in chocolate."

Quick Usage Rules: Tense & Cause Words

• "Since" + a starting point → present perfect ("has/have" + past participle), because the action began in the past and continues now: "Since 2019, she works → has worked at the clinic."
• "Being that" is nonstandard — replace it with "because" or "since": "Being that → Because it rained, the game was postponed."
• "Because" vs. "so" — watch the direction of cause. "Because" introduces the cause; "so" introduces the result: "The bus was late because the road was icy." = "The road was icy, so the bus was late." Swapping the word without swapping the clauses reverses the logic: "The bus was late, so the road was icy."

Error Identification 🔍

🎨 Rhetorical Skills Approach

Part 4 of 7 — Adding/Deleting, Transitions, Organization & Style

Rhetorical Skills questions don't test grammar rules — they test your ability to make effective writing decisions. There's no single "rule" to apply; instead you must consider context, purpose, and clarity.

The three sub-categories:

1. Strategy — Should a sentence be added or deleted? What is its purpose?
2. Organization — Where should a sentence be placed? What transition fits?
3. Style — Is the wording concise? Does the tone match?

The Most Common Format: "Which Choice Best Accomplishes the Writer's Goal?"

"The writer wants to emphasize/show X. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal?"

Rule: The question stem tells you the goal — so the right answer is the one that does exactly that job, even if every choice is grammatical and true. Underline the key words of the goal, then test each choice against them.

Example: The writer wants to emphasize how crowded the market was.

• "The market sold fruit, spices, and fabric." — describes goods, not crowding ✗
• "The market opened early every Saturday." — describes timing ✗
• "Shoppers stood shoulder to shoulder in every aisle of the market." — shows crowding ✓
• "The market had been in the town square for decades." — describes history ✗

Adding & Deleting Sentences

The question pattern: "The writer is considering adding/deleting this sentence. Should the writer make this change?"

Decision framework:

• Add if the sentence supports the paragraph's main idea with relevant evidence or detail.
• Delete if the sentence is off-topic, redundant, or contradicts the paragraph's focus.

Two-part answers: These questions always have a Yes/No component AND a reason. You must get BOTH right.

Example:

Paragraph about the health benefits of walking:

"Walking 30 minutes daily reduces the risk of heart disease. It also lowers blood pressure and improves mood. [Proposed addition: The first pair of running shoes was made by Nike in 1964.]"

Answer: No, do not add — it introduces irrelevant historical information about running shoes when the paragraph focuses on health benefits of walking.

Trap: The proposed fact may be true and interesting, but if it doesn't support the paragraph's point, it should not be added.

Rhetorical Judgment 🎯

Transitions

Transition questions ask you to pick the word or phrase that best connects two ideas. The key is to identify the relationship between the ideas:

Strategy:

1. Read the sentence BEFORE and AFTER the transition.
2. Determine the relationship (addition? contrast? cause?).
3. Pick the transition that matches.

Emphasis example: "The new library is popular. In fact, it had to extend its hours to handle the crowds." — the second sentence doesn't contrast with the first; it backs it up with a stronger claim.

Common Trap: "However" is the most over-selected transition. Students pick it whenever they're unsure. Only use "however" when there is a genuine contrast between the two ideas.

Transition Types 📝

Identify the relationship each transition signals.

1. "Therefore" signals a __________ relationship (cause and …).

2. "On the other hand" signals a __________ between two ideas.

3. "Furthermore" signals that additional __________ is being provided.

Organization & Sentence Placement

Sentence-order questions: "For the sake of the logic and coherence of this paragraph, Sentence 4 should be placed …"

Strategy:

1. Read each sentence and identify logical links (pronouns referring back, transitions like "this" or "such," chronological order).
2. A sentence that introduces a concept must come BEFORE sentences that refer to it.
3. A sentence beginning with "This approach" must follow the sentence that describes the approach.

Paragraph-order questions: "Which of the following sequences of paragraphs makes the essay most logical?"

Look for:

• The introduction (broad overview or thesis) goes first.
• Body paragraphs should follow a logical flow (chronological, cause-effect, or general-to-specific).
• The conclusion (summary or final thought) goes last.

Rhetorical Skills Strategies 🔍

⏱️ Time Management

Part 5 of 7 — Pacing, Skipping & Guessing Strategy

With 50 questions in 35 minutes — about 42 seconds per question — the ACT English section rewards efficient test-takers. Good time management can be the difference between a 28 and a 32+.

The Pacing Goal:

• Spend about 7 minutes per 10 questions.
• Aim to finish all 50 questions with a minute or two to spare for review.

Reality check: Not every question takes the same amount of time.

• Grammar fixes (punctuation, agreement) → ~15–20 seconds.
• Rhetorical judgment (add/delete, organization) → ~40–60 seconds.

So you'll naturally move faster through mechanics questions and spend more time on rhetoric.

Pacing Checkpoints

Use these benchmarks during the test (one every 10 questions):

What if you're behind?

• Don't panic. Speed up slightly on easy mechanics questions.
• On any question you've spent 60+ seconds on, make your best guess and move on.
• Remember: the last passage has questions worth the same points as the first.

Pacing Strategy 🎯

When to Skip (and Come Back)

Skip-worthy questions:

• Questions that require reading a large portion of the passage (e.g., "Which choice most effectively concludes the essay?") — come back after you've read the full passage.
• Organization questions asking where to place a sentence — these are time-consuming and worth saving for last.
• Any question where you can't eliminate even one answer in 20 seconds.

How to skip effectively:

1. Mark the question — circle the number in your test booklet, or use the flag tool on the online test.
2. Bubble in your best guess — never leave it blank in case you run out of time.
3. After finishing the passage, return to skipped questions.

Never skip: Simple punctuation or agreement fixes. These are fast points.

Pacing Math 📝

1. 35 minutes ÷ 50 questions × 10 questions = __________ minutes per 10 questions.

2. If you're at question 30 with 17 minutes left, you are __________ of pace (ahead/behind).

3. When skipping a question, you should still bubble in a __________ answer.

When to Guess

No penalty for guessing! The ACT does not deduct points for wrong answers, so:

• Never leave a question blank.
• If you're running low on time, fill in remaining bubbles with a single letter (e.g., all B/G).

Strategic guessing vs. random guessing:

• Strategic: Eliminate 1–2 answers, then guess from the remaining options. Going from 4 choices to 2 doubles your odds (25% → 50%).
• Random: Pick any letter. Still gives you 25% — better than 0%.

"Shortest answer" heuristic: When you must guess blindly on a Usage/Mechanics question, the shortest answer is often a reasonable pick. Why? Many errors involve wordiness, and the fix is the most concise option.

Caution: This is a last-resort heuristic, not a reliable rule. Always try to apply grammar knowledge first.

Time Management Decisions 🔍

⚠️ Common Traps & Tricks

Part 6 of 7 — Patterns the ACT Uses to Trick You

The ACT is a standardised test, which means it uses predictable patterns to create wrong answers. Recognising these traps turns difficult questions into easy ones.

The Big Three Traps:

1. Wordiness — making you choose a long, fancy answer when a short one is better.
2. "DELETE the underlined portion" — offering deletion as a choice (and it's often correct!).
3. "Sounds right" bias — wrong answers that sound conversational but break grammar rules.

Let's explore each one.

Trap 1: Wordiness

The ACT loves testing conciseness. If two choices say the same thing but one uses fewer words, the shorter one is almost always correct.

Examples of wordy traps:

Redundancy is a sub-category of wordiness:

• "She returned back to the store." → "She returned to the store." ("returned" already means "went back.")
• "The new innovation was groundbreaking." → "The innovation was groundbreaking." ("innovation" already implies "new.")
• "They collaborated together on the project." → "They collaborated on the project."

Rule: When in doubt, pick the shortest answer that maintains the original meaning.

Wordiness & Conciseness 🎯

Trap 2: "DELETE the Underlined Portion"

On some questions, one choice is "DELETE the underlined portion." Students often skip this option because it seems drastic. But:

DELETE is correct when:

• The underlined portion is redundant (it repeats what's already said).
• The underlined portion is irrelevant (it doesn't belong in the sentence or paragraph).
• Removing it makes the sentence grammatically cleaner.

Example:

"The tall skyscraper, which was very tall and imposing in its height, dominated the city skyline."

DELETE is correct here — "tall skyscraper" already conveys the idea. The underlined clause is redundant.

Don't ignore it: DELETE is a legitimate answer, and students who dismiss it as "too drastic" miss easy points.

Strategy: Whenever you see DELETE as an option, ask: "Does removing this make the sentence better or worse?" If the sentence reads just as well (or better) without the underlined portion, DELETE is likely correct.

Trap Identification 📝

1. "She returned back home" contains a __________ (the error type where words repeat the same meaning).

2. "The coach __________ I admired retired last year." (who / whom)

3. "Due to the fact that" should be replaced with the single word "__________."

Trap 3: "Sounds Right" Bias

Many students rely on their ear — "this sounds right to me." But spoken English breaks grammar rules constantly. The ACT tests written standard English.

Common "sounds right" errors:

• "Me and my friend went…" → "My friend and I went…" (subjective case for subjects)
• "Between you and I" → "Between you and me" (objective case after prepositions)
• "The coach who I admired" → "The coach whom I admired" ("who" is the subject form like "he"; "whom" is the object form like "him" — "I admired him," so "whom")
• "The scientist which discovered the vaccine" → "The scientist who discovered the vaccine" ("which" is for things only; use "who" for people)

Not errors on today's ACT:

• "Everyone should bring their book" — singular "they" with a generic antecedent ("everyone," "a student," "each person") is accepted. Don't "fix" it to "his or her."
• "The data shows a clear trend" — "data" may take a singular verb. Don't treat it as an error.

Defence: Don't trust your ear alone. Apply the grammar rule, then check if the answer sounds right as a final confirmation.

The "Cross-Out" Test: For pronoun case, remove the other person from the sentence:

• "Me went to the store" → clearly wrong → use "I"
• "Give it to I" → clearly wrong → use "me"
• For who/whom, answer the clause with he/him: "he" → who, "him" → whom

Trap Detection 🔍

🎓 Full Section Practice

Part 7 of 7 — Mini-Passage with Mixed Question Types & Strategy Recap

Let's put everything together. Below is a short ACT-style passage with questions that test grammar, punctuation, transitions, add/delete, and conciseness — the full range of skills you've learned.

Read the passage and answer each question as you reach it, just like on test day.

Mini-Passage: The Rise of Urban Farming

[1] In recent years, urban farming has gained popularity in cities around the world. [2] Vacant lots, rooftops, and even abandoned buildings [A] has been transformed into productive gardens. [3] [B] However, these urban farms provide far more than fresh produce. [4] They create jobs, build community, and [C] gives residents a sense of pride and purpose.

[5] One of the most successful examples was the Growing Power project in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. [6] Founded by Will Allen in 1993, the organisation [D] turned a vacant two-acre lot into a thriving farm that produced vegetables, fish, and livestock year-round. [7] [E] [The writer is considering adding: "Will Allen was a former professional basketball player."] [8] Allen's approach demonstrated that even small urban spaces could yield a surprising amount of food.

Now answer the questions on the following slides.

Passage Questions — Grammar & Transitions 🎯

[C]: Parallelism & Conciseness

Sentence [4]: "They create jobs, build community, and gives residents a sense of pride and purpose."

What's wrong?

1. Parallelism error: The list uses "create … build … gives" — the third verb should match the form of the first two.
2. Wordiness: "gives residents a sense of" can be tightened.

Corrected: "They create jobs, build community, and give residents pride and purpose."

Notice how "give" (not "gives") maintains parallelism with "create" and "build," and removing "a sense of" eliminates unnecessary words.

Passage Analysis 📝

1. In [A], the subject is plural, so the verb should be "__________ been."

2. In [B], the best replacement for "However" is "In __________,"

3. In [C], the verb "gives" should be changed to "__________ " for parallel structure.

[E]: Add/Delete Decision

The writer is considering adding: "Will Allen was a former professional basketball player."

Should this sentence be added at point [E], between sentences [6] and [8]?

Analysis:

• The paragraph focuses on urban farming success — specifically Growing Power's achievements.
• Will Allen's basketball career is an interesting biographical detail but does not support the paragraph's argument about urban farming's impact.
• Adding it would distract from the paragraph's focus.

Answer: No — this sentence should NOT be added because it introduces biographical information that is irrelevant to the paragraph's focus on the success of the urban farming project.

Strategy Applied: When evaluating an add/delete question, always ask: "Does this support the paragraph's main idea?" If not, don't add it.

Strategy Recap 🔍

🏁 Strategy Summary

Usage / Mechanics:

• Identify the error type first (verb → agreement, pronoun → case, punctuation → rule).
• Cross out prepositional phrases to find the true subject.
• Watch for comma splices, fragments, run-ons, and parallelism errors.

Rhetorical Skills:

• Add sentences that support the main idea; delete those that are off-topic or redundant.
• Match transitions to the relationship between ideas (addition, contrast, cause/effect, emphasis).
• For "writer's goal" questions, pick the choice that does exactly what the stem asks.
• For sentence placement, look for logical links (pronouns, transitions).

Time Management:

• 50 questions in 35 minutes: ~42 seconds per question, ~7 minutes per 10 questions.
• Skip time-consuming questions (bubble a guess), return after the passage.
• Never leave a bubble blank — no penalty for guessing.

Common Traps:

• Shorter is usually better (wordiness trap).
• DELETE is a real answer — test it whenever it's offered.
• Don't trust your ear alone — apply the rule.

You now have a complete toolkit for the ACT English section. Practice with real passages and apply these strategies consistently! 🎯