ACT® English
ACT English and Reading equips high‑school students with the grammar, punctuation, and rhetorical analysis skills needed to ace the ACT English and Reading sections, boosting college‑readiness scores.
75
Minutes
86
Questions
Who Should Take This
Students preparing for the ACT, especially those aiming for competitive college admissions, benefit from focused practice on grammar conventions and passage analysis. The course is ideal for high‑school juniors and seniors with basic English proficiency who seek to improve accuracy, speed, and rhetorical insight to raise their overall ACT score.
Course Outline
1ACT English 3 topics
Conventions of Standard English
- Sentence Structure and Formation
- Identify sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and comma splices in passages and recognize why each construction is grammatically incorrect.
- Apply rules for joining independent clauses using coordinating conjunctions, semicolons, or subordination to correct run-on sentences and comma splices in context.
- Apply parallel structure rules to correct faulty parallelism in lists, comparisons, and correlative conjunction pairs within ACT English passages.
- Identify misplaced and dangling modifiers in sentences and determine the correct placement to ensure the modifier clearly refers to its intended subject.
- Analyze complex sentences with multiple clauses to evaluate whether subordination and coordination are used effectively to convey logical relationships between ideas.
- Punctuation
- Identify the standard rules for comma usage including commas after introductory elements, commas in a series, commas with coordinating conjunctions, and commas setting off nonessential clauses and appositives.
- Apply comma rules to determine whether commas are correctly placed or incorrectly inserted between essential clause elements in passage-based ACT English questions.
- Describe the rules for apostrophe usage in possessives (singular, plural, and irregular) and contractions, and recognize common apostrophe errors.
- Apply apostrophe rules to correct errors involving its/it's, their/they're/there, whose/who's, and possessive forms of singular and plural nouns in context.
- Identify the correct uses of semicolons to join independent clauses and to separate items in a complex series, distinguishing semicolons from commas and periods.
- Apply rules for colons to introduce lists, explanations, or elaborations, and determine whether a colon is used correctly following an independent clause.
- Apply rules for dashes to set off parenthetical information, indicate abrupt shifts, or emphasize a phrase, and distinguish correct dash usage from incorrect comma or parenthesis substitution.
- Analyze passages to evaluate which punctuation mark (comma, semicolon, colon, dash, or period) best serves the writer's rhetorical purpose in a given sentence context.
- Usage and Grammar
- Identify subject-verb agreement rules including agreement with compound subjects, indefinite pronouns, collective nouns, and subjects separated from verbs by intervening phrases.
- Apply subject-verb agreement rules to correct errors in complex sentences where the subject is obscured by prepositional phrases, relative clauses, or inverted sentence structures.
- Describe pronoun-antecedent agreement rules and recognize errors in pronoun reference including ambiguous reference, agreement with compound and indefinite antecedents, and shifts in person or number.
- Apply pronoun case rules to select the correct pronoun form (subjective, objective, possessive) in sentences with compound structures, comparisons, and appositives.
- Identify correct verb tense and form in context, including consistent tense usage within a passage and appropriate tense shifts to indicate changes in time frame.
- Apply verb tense rules to correct inappropriate tense shifts and select the verb form that maintains logical time relationships within and across paragraphs in a passage.
- Recognize commonly confused words (affect/effect, than/then, accept/except, lie/lay, who/whom) and apply correct word choice in sentence context.
- Analyze passages to evaluate whether adjective and adverb forms are used correctly, including comparative and superlative forms and adjective/adverb confusion in modifying verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Knowledge of Language
- Identify wordy, redundant, or overly verbose constructions in sentences and recognize which revision achieves the most concise expression without losing meaning.
- Apply principles of precision and concision to select the word or phrase that most accurately and efficiently conveys the intended meaning in a passage context.
- Determine whether the tone and style of a word or phrase are consistent with the overall tone of a passage, selecting replacements that match the established register.
- Analyze how sentence-level syntax choices (such as varying sentence length, using active versus passive voice, or reordering clauses) affect the clarity and rhetorical impact of a passage.
- Evaluate competing word choices to determine which option best achieves the writer's stated purpose, considering connotation, denotation, and audience awareness.
- Interpret how shifts in register (formal to informal or technical to conversational) within a passage affect the reader's engagement and the writer's credibility with the intended audience.
Production of Writing
- Topic Development
- Identify the main idea or thesis of a passage and recognize which supporting details are relevant to the topic being developed in a given paragraph.
- Determine whether a proposed addition or deletion of a sentence strengthens or weakens a paragraph's focus, unity, and development of the topic.
- Apply principles of supporting evidence and detail to select the most relevant example, fact, or elaboration that best develops the topic of a paragraph in an ACT English passage.
- Evaluate whether a passage as a whole successfully fulfills a stated purpose (e.g., to persuade, to describe, to narrate) and identify which elements contribute to or detract from that purpose.
- Organization, Unity, and Cohesion
- Identify transitional words and phrases (e.g., however, therefore, in contrast, similarly) and describe how they signal logical relationships between sentences and paragraphs.
- Apply knowledge of transitional expressions to select the transition that most logically connects ideas between sentences or paragraphs in a passage.
- Determine the most logical placement for a sentence within a paragraph or a paragraph within a passage to maintain coherent organization and logical flow.
- Apply strategies for selecting effective opening and closing sentences that introduce or conclude paragraphs in a way that maintains unity and cohesion throughout the passage.
- Analyze the overall organizational structure of an ACT English passage to evaluate whether the sequence of ideas, paragraphs, and transitions produces a coherent and unified argument or narrative.
2ACT Reading 4 topics
Key Ideas and Details
- Explicit Meaning and Textual Evidence
- Identify explicitly stated information in literary narrative, social science, humanities, and natural science passages by locating relevant details directly in the text.
- Determine which specific lines or sentences in a passage provide the strongest textual evidence to support a given answer or claim about the text.
- Interpret implicit meaning by drawing reasonable inferences from stated information, distinguishing between what the text directly says and what it implies.
- Apply close reading strategies to distinguish between paraphrase and direct quotation when selecting textual evidence, evaluating which form of evidence most effectively supports a given claim.
- Central Ideas and Summarization
- Identify the central idea or theme of a passage or paragraph, distinguishing it from supporting details and secondary points within the text.
- Classify the purpose of individual paragraphs within a larger passage by determining how each paragraph contributes to the development of the central idea.
- Apply summarization techniques to select the most accurate and complete summary of a passage, identifying which options include extraneous detail or omit key information.
- Analyze how an author develops and refines a central idea over the course of a passage through the introduction of details, examples, and qualifications in successive paragraphs.
- Relationships Within Texts
- Identify sequential, chronological, and procedural relationships described in passages, recognizing how events or steps are ordered and connected.
- Interpret cause-and-effect relationships in passages by determining how events, actions, or conditions described in the text lead to specific outcomes or consequences.
- Apply compare-and-contrast reasoning to identify similarities and differences between ideas, characters, events, or perspectives presented within a single passage.
- Analyze how an author uses multiple types of relationships (sequential, causal, comparative) to build a complex argument or narrative structure across a full passage.
Craft and Structure
- Word Meaning in Context
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as used in context, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings that differ from standard dictionary definitions.
- Interpret the impact of specific word choices on the tone, mood, and meaning of a passage, including how an author's diction creates emotional or rhetorical effects.
- Analyze how an author's use of figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification, irony) contributes to the development of themes and characterization in literary passages.
- Text Structure Analysis
- Recognize common text structures used in ACT passages including chronological, cause-effect, problem-solution, compare-contrast, and classification organizational patterns.
- Determine the function of a specific paragraph, sentence, or section within the overall structure of a passage, explaining how it serves the author's organizational plan.
- Analyze how the structural choices an author makes (e.g., beginning with an anecdote, using flashback, building to a climax) affect the reader's understanding and experience of the text.
- Author Purpose and Point of View
- Identify the author's primary purpose (to inform, persuade, entertain, or describe) and point of view (first person, third person limited, third person omniscient) in ACT Reading passages.
- Interpret how an author's perspective, background, or bias shapes the presentation of information and influences the reader's perception of the subject matter.
- Evaluate how the narrative point of view in a literary passage shapes characterization, limits or expands the reader's knowledge, and creates effects such as suspense or irony.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
- Arguments and Claims
- Identify the central claim or argument in a passage and distinguish it from supporting evidence, counterarguments, and background information.
- Classify the types of evidence (anecdotal, statistical, expert testimony, historical example) an author uses to support claims and determine their relevance to the argument.
- Evaluate the strength and sufficiency of an author's reasoning by identifying logical fallacies, unsupported assumptions, and gaps in the evidence presented.
- Comparing Texts and Paired Passages
- Identify the main perspectives, claims, and tones of two paired passages and recognize areas where the authors agree and disagree on the same subject.
- Interpret how one author in a paired-passage set would likely respond to a specific claim or piece of evidence presented by the other author.
- Synthesize the arguments, evidence, and rhetorical strategies of two paired passages to evaluate which author presents a more compelling or well-supported position.
Passage Type Strategies
- Literary Narrative and Prose Fiction
- Identify narrative elements in prose fiction passages including setting, characters, conflict, plot development, and resolution, and describe how each contributes to the story.
- Interpret character motivations, emotions, and relationships in literary narrative passages by analyzing dialogue, actions, internal thoughts, and descriptive details.
- Analyze how literary devices (foreshadowing, symbolism, irony, imagery) function within a prose fiction passage to develop themes and create meaning beyond the literal narrative.
- Social Science Passages
- Identify key claims, supporting data, and methodological references in social science passages drawn from psychology, sociology, economics, and political science topics.
- Interpret statistical claims, research findings, and cause-effect reasoning presented in social science passages, determining what conclusions the evidence supports.
- Evaluate the logical structure and persuasiveness of arguments in social science passages by assessing whether the evidence adequately supports the author's conclusions.
- Humanities Passages
- Identify the subject, thesis, and key supporting points in humanities passages covering topics such as art, music, literature, philosophy, architecture, and cultural commentary.
- Interpret the author's personal perspective and emotional engagement with the subject in humanities passages, distinguishing subjective commentary from objective description.
- Analyze how a humanities author uses rhetorical strategies (appeals to emotion, historical allusion, vivid description) to shape the reader's appreciation of a cultural or artistic subject.
- Natural Science Passages
- Identify scientific concepts, processes, and terminology presented in natural science passages and recognize how they are defined or explained within the text.
- Interpret descriptions of scientific experiments, observations, and data presented in natural science passages, determining what the evidence demonstrates about the topic.
- Evaluate the scientific reasoning in natural science passages by assessing whether conclusions follow logically from described experiments and whether alternative explanations are addressed.
Exam Structure
Question Types
- Multiple Choice
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
23 Activity Formats
Scope
Included Topics
- ACT English section (75 questions, 45 minutes): Production of Writing (29-32%) including topic development, organization, unity, and cohesion; Knowledge of Language (13-19%) including precision, concision, style/tone, and syntax; Conventions of Standard English (51-56%) including sentence structure/formation, punctuation (commas, apostrophes, semicolons, colons, dashes), and usage (subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement, verb tense, modifier placement, parallel structure, word confusion).
- ACT Reading section (40 questions, 35 minutes): Key Ideas and Details (52-60%) including explicit meaning, central ideas, summarization, and relationships (sequential, cause-effect, compare-contrast); Craft and Structure (25-30%) including word meaning in context, text structure analysis, and author purpose/point of view; Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (13-23%) including arguments and claims and comparing texts.
- ACT Reading passage types: literary narrative/prose fiction, social science, humanities, natural science, and paired passages appearing in one of the four passage sets.
- Rhetorical skills tested on ACT English: strategy (topic development, relevance, emphasis), organization (sentence order, transitions, introductions, conclusions), and style (writing style, tone, word choice, economy of language).
- Grammar and mechanics tested on ACT English: sentence structure (run-ons, fragments, misplaced modifiers, parallelism, comma splices), grammar and usage (subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, pronoun case, verb tense and form, adjective/adverb confusion, idioms), and punctuation (commas in series, commas with nonessential clauses, apostrophes in possessives and contractions, semicolons, colons, dashes, end punctuation).
- Reading comprehension strategies: close reading, annotation, evidence-based reasoning, inference, main idea identification, summarization, vocabulary in context, understanding of text structure, and comparative analysis across paired passages.
Not Covered
- ACT Mathematics, ACT Science, and ACT Writing (optional essay) sections, which are covered in separate domain specifications.
- Advanced literary criticism theories, graduate-level rhetoric and composition, and linguistics beyond what is tested on the ACT.
- Creative writing techniques, journalistic writing conventions, and technical writing formats not assessed by the ACT English section.
- Speed-reading techniques and test-taking strategies that are not content-based (e.g., process of elimination heuristics without content understanding).
Official Exam Page
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