The document provides strategies and skills for improving one's score on the ACT English section by 10 points. It outlines six key skills: 1) being concise in writing, 2) proper use of possessive pronouns and forms, 3) combining and coordinating ideas in sentences correctly, 4) identifying errors in structure and clarity, 5) knowing how additions or deletions can change an essay, and 6) determining an essay's purpose. Mastering these skills could increase a student's score by 8-10 scaled points, raising their composite score by up to 2.5 points. The document then discusses each skill in more detail and provides examples of questions testing these concepts.

1. ACT English vs. YOU
How to fight the battle without
losing your cool

2. Goals for this week:
1. Learn and apply specific grammar and style skills that
are found on the ACT:
• Be concise in writing
• Use the correct possessive and apostrophe forms within a sentence
• Combine and coordinate ideas in sentences correctly
• Correct errors in sentence structure and problems with clarity
• Know how additions or deletions can improve or change an essay
• Identify the purpose of an entire essay, paragraphs, or words/phrases

3. You make it happen!
2. Be more confident in my ability to “attack”
a question and read for information/errors
on the ACT English section
3. Reflect on my own skills to determine what
I need to improve or which strategies work
for me

4. What you need to know to make quick points on
the ACT
Six Skills to improve your English score by 10
points
(10? Really?)
Mr. Dan McDonell, College Boards Review
(revised by Jennifer Sutton)

5. Six Skills
#1: Concision
#2: Personal Possessive Pronouns
#3: Possessive Forms
#4: SENTENCE COMBINING
#5: Keep your focus on the question
#6: 100% Rule
And, of course, read the entire test! This is not the
time to skim.

6. Why This Matters
The five strategies in this presentation
represent 38 questions on the ACT practice
exam 2MC. In a typical test administration,
students will get 50% of those correct. Had
students gotten all of them correct, their
scores would have increased approximately
19 raw points or 8-10 scaled points. This
alone would result in an overall composite
score increase of up to 2.5 points.

8. Strategy 1-Concision
There are between 8-12 concision questions on any
exam. ACT believes good writing is tight and direct.
Students too often think that adding words makes their
writing appear smarter. They need to understand
KISS- Keep It Simple. You can spot them by either the
progressively shorter or longer answer choices in which
words are added or deleted.

9. KISS
Keep It Simple, Stupid
ACT believes that good writing is clear and to the point. A
good writer does not use more words when he or she can
use fewer. Therefore, shorter is usually better. In fact,
whenever the choice is OMIT or DELETE the underlined
portion in questions which are obviously dealing with
concision, you should be prejudiced towards that answer
until you can prove otherwise.
Begin with the shortest answer in concision questions. If
you cannot find a reason not to select it, then you should
opt for it. A warning though, this only holds for concision
questions, and then, not all of the time.

10. Question 6—shorter is better,
avoid redundancy!
That’s a crucial part of the preparation to get
ready for morel hunting, because often the
same woods that yield morels produce
poisonous mushrooms, too.
4.F. NO CHANGE
G. to make oneself fit
H. of someone planning to be ready
J. DELETE the underlined portion.

11. Question 6—shorter is better,
avoid redundancy!
That’s a crucial part of the preparation to get
ready for morel hunting, because often the
same woods that yield morels produce
poisonous mushrooms, too.
4.F. NO CHANGE
G. to make oneself fit
H. of someone planning to be ready
J. DELETE the underlined portion.

12. Question 32—shorter is better,
but it has to fit the meaning!
Historians speculate that one of the world’s
oldest toys is the yo-yo, though they know for
sure that the oldest toy is the doll.
4. A. NO CHANGE
B. yo-yo, but it hard to know for sure, considering the
yo-yo’s history.
C. yo-yo, though no one is certain why some ancient
yo-yos were made out of terra cotta, a fragile clay.
D. yo-yo.

13. Question 32—shorter is better,
but it has to fit the meaning!
Historians speculate that one of the world’s
oldest toys is the yo-yo, though they know for
sure that the oldest toy is the doll.
4. A. NO CHANGE
B. yo-yo, but it hard to know for sure, considering the
yo-yo’s history.
C. yo-yo, though no one is certain why some ancient
yo-yos were made out of terra cotta, a fragile clay.
D. yo-yo.

14. Can you identify concision
questions?
Skim through the test to see if you can
find questions that are asking whether
or not more or less words are needed.
What are the features of these
questions? How would you describe
them?

15. LVHS Practice Test 1165D
4, 6, 18, 31, 32, 37, 56, 58, 61, 66
In pairs, review and discuss the
“thinking” behind why an answer is
correct or not.
Share your new insights about
“conciseness”?

16. Strategy 2-Personal Possessive Pronouns
Know the difference between it’s (= it is, a
contraction) its (the possessive pronoun) and its’
(which does not appear in English, but which ACT
offers as a choice with maddening regularity in
order to confuse students. Think his, her, its, their
—none of these take apostrophes. This question
appears usually three times on the exam.

17. Strategy 3- Learn the Possessive Forms
Since ACT can have as many as three or
four possessive questions on the exam, it
helps to understand the possessive form
of a noun.

18. Possessive forms
A possessive form of a noun
signifies that the noun owns
something:
A musician's talent
A woman's ambition
Most importantly for the ACT—
is the noun or pronoun singular
or plural?

19. Singular possessive
The possessive form of a singular noun
is an apostrophe followed by the letter
"s."
Kramer's hair
Daphne's patience
the car's engine
Words ending with s, z or x generally omit
the "s."
Dr. Seuss' sense of humor

20. Plural possessive
For plural nouns ending in "s," add
only an apostrophe:
Singers' voices
The cousins' favorite uncle
For plural nouns not ending in "s,"
add an apostrophe and "s."
Men's clothing
Children's books

21. Question 26—Decide whether
it is possessive or not
…and they’ve hiked to the overwhelming
sites on the Mexican Plateau…
17. A. NO CHANGE
B. site’s
C. sites’
D. sites,

22. Question 26—Decide whether
it is possessive or not
…and they’ve hiked to the overwhelming
sites on the Mexican Plateau…
17. A. NO CHANGE
B. site’s (nothing belongs to the site)
C. sites’ (not possessive or plural)
D. sites, (not possessive and no
comma needed)

23. Question 49—should it be
possessive or not?
When she was fifteen, she broke the
men’s and women’s record’s for
swimming the English Channel…
17. A. NO CHANGE
B. records
C. records’
D. records,

24. Question 49—should it be
possessive or not
When she was fifteen, she broke the
men’s and women’s record’s for
swimming the English Channel…
49. A. NO CHANGE (not possessive!)
B. records
C. records’ (not possessive!)
D. records, (no comma needed)

25. Bell Ringer
Structure as many sentences as you
can, using correct punctuation, from
these parts of a sentence:
Despite wanting to become an artist
Felix enrolls in law school
Felix/he follows his parents’ wishes

26. Strategy 4-The Most Important Skill
Sentence Combining
Know how to combine two sentences into
one. Variations on this question can appear
as many as 10-12 times on any exam. Often
the question is posed as a “Which of the
following is NOT an acceptable alternative
to the underlined portion.”
Let’s review how we can do this.

27. Punctuation Strategy
How ACT Combines Two Sentences
Use a period at the end of one and start the other with
a capital letter.
Use a semi-colon between the two independent clauses.
Use a comma with one of the FANBOYS (for, and, nor,
but, or, yet and so). These are also called coordinating
conjunctions.
Make one a dependent and the other an independent
clause. (use: who, which, that)
Use a colon to provide a definition or list.
Use a dash to provide a dramatic statement.
Use a compound verb (one subject doing two or more
things).

28. Compound Sentence
Use a comma before the coordinating
conjunction (FANBOYS).
for
and
nor
but
Sentence , or sentence .
yet
so
Felix follows his parents’ wishes, and he enrolls in law school.

29. Opener
Use a comma to set off an opener
(single words, phrases, or clauses that
introduces or opens the sentence—
before an independent clause)
Opener , sentence .
Despite wanting to become an artist, Felix enrolls in
law school.

30. Interrupter
Use two commas to set off an
interrupter (parenthetical or appositive
phrases with nonessential information).
Sent , interrupter , ence .
Felix, despite wanting to become an artist, enrolls in
law school.

31. Closer
Use a comma to set off a closer
(additional information that modifies or
describes the independent clause)
Sentence , closer .
Felix enrolls in law school, despite wanting
to become an artist.

32. Question 8—To combine or
not to combine?
Every spring, there’s a contest where I
live in northern Minnesota to see who can
find the most morels, this year, I’m going
to enter.
1.F. NO CHANGE
G. morels this
H. morels. This
J. morels, because this

33. Question 8—To combine or
not to combine?
Every spring, there’s a contest where I
live in northern Minnesota to see who can
find the most morels, this year, I’m going
to enter.
1.F. NO CHANGE (comma splice)
G. morels this (run-on)
H. morels. This
J. morels, because this (makes no
sense)

34. Question 36—NOT or LEAST
acceptable
Which of the following alternatives to the
underlined portion would NOT be
acceptable?
36. F. States. Flores
G. States, and he
H. States; he
J. States he

35. Question 36—NOT or LEAST
acceptable
Which of the following alternatives to the
underlined portion would NOT be
acceptable?
36. F. States. Flores (2 Sentences)
G. States, and he (FANBOYS)
H. States; he (the same as F)
J. States he (run-on)

36. Simple way to eliminate
If one answer has a period and the
other, a semi-colon, and everything else
is the same, THESE ARE NOT THE
CORRECT CHOICES. THEY ARE
THE SAME!!

37. LVHS ACT Practice 1165D
8, 9, 15, 20, 22, 24, 28, 29, 33, 36, 40,
41, 47, 52, 54, 59, 62, 72

38. Strategy 5
Keep your focus on the question
When reading the rhetoric questions,
which ask you to consider making
changes to what is written to create a
certain effect, underline the key
phrase you are to address so as not to
lose focus on what the question asks.

39. Question 5—Most relevant
5. Given that all are true, which one provides
the most relevant and specific information at
this point in the essay?
A.NO CHANGE
B.in between trips to and from the woods
C.to gain the expertise I wanted and needed at
this point
D.very carefully on the topic that pertains to the
activity.

40. Question 5—Most relevant
5. Given that all are true, which one provides
the most relevant and specific information at
this point in the essay?
A.NO CHANGE
B.in between trips to and from the woods (not relevant)
C.to gain the expertise I wanted and needed at this
point (not specific)
D.very carefully on the topic that pertains to the activity.
(too vague)

41. Question 34—Key words
34. Given that all the choices are true, which
one provides the most effective evidence of the
long history of enthusiasm for the yo-yo in the
Philippines?
F. NO CHANGE (have been a national pastime for
centuries)
G. have been a popular hobby for years.
H. were carved out of fine wood or animal horns.
J. resembled a toy that was popular in ancient China.

42. Question 34—Key words
34. Given that all the choices are true, which one
provides the most effective evidence of the long
history of enthusiasm for the yo-yo in the
Philippines?
F. NO CHANGE (have been a national pastime for centuries)—
National Pastime=enthusiasm; Centuries is LONG
G. have been a popular hobby for years. (no enthusiasm)
H. were carved out of fine wood or animal horns. (not relevant)
J. resembled a toy that was popular in ancient China. (not relevant)

43. LVHS Practice 1165D
3, 5, 11, 34, 51, 55, 60, 62

44. Strategy 6
Apply the 100% Rule
ACT wants you to select the correct
answer from among choices that might
be correct. To do this, ask yourself if the
choice you have selected is 100%
correct in what it says. No portion of
your choice should fail to meet this
requirement.

45. Question 15—Addition
50. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following true
statement:
At its widest, the English Channel spans a distance of 150 miles.
Should the writer make this addition here?
A.Yes, because it reinforces the point that Cox swam a great
distance across the English Channel.
B.Yes, because it provides a logical transition to the rest of the
paragraph.
C.No, because the English Channel is only one place that Cox had
swum before going to Antarctica.
D.No, because it is irrelevant to the focus of the essay at this point.

46. Question 15—Addition
50. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following true
statement:
At its widest, the English Channel spans a distance of 150 miles.
Should the writer make this addition here?
A.Yes, because it reinforces the point that Cox swam a great
distance across the English Channel. (but who cares?)
B.Yes, because it provides a logical transition to the rest of the
paragraph. (no it does not)
C.No, because the English Channel is only one place that Cox had
swum before going to Antarctica. (Not true)
D.No, because it is irrelevant to the focus of the essay at this point.
(100% correct)

47. Question 42—Delete?
42. If the writer were to delete the preceding sentence,
the essay would primarily lose information that:
F. proves Duncan was uncertain what would be the best
way to promote the yo-yo.
G. reveals how quickly demonstrations by Duncan Yo-
Yo professionals gained popularity.
H. illustrates one creative strategy that Duncan used to
promote the yo-yo.
J. suggests how Duncan Yo-Yo Professionals were
chosen fo the job.

48. Question 42—Delete?
42. If the writer were to delete the preceding sentence,
the essay would primarily lose information that:
F. proves Duncan was uncertain what would be the best
way to promote the yo-yo. (not 100%)
G. reveals how quickly demonstrations by Duncan Yo-
Yo professionals gained popularity. (not 100%)
H. illustrates one creative strategy that Duncan used to
promote the yo-yo.
J. suggests how Duncan Yo-Yo Professionals were
chosen for the job. (no proof)

49. Add or delete?
Either write or read the sentence in your head
as if you made the changes
What are the key words in the question?
Before reading the responses, what is your
instinct? Does it work or not?
Yes—then read the Yes answers.
No—then read the No answers.
Which is 100% true and matches your
thinking?

50. LVHS ACT Practice 1165D
42, 50, 61, 75

51. Beware the NOT or the LEAST
Questions 1, 40, 36, 40, 64, 69
One of the answers is doing its own
thing. Can you figure out which
one?