Figurative language, often considered the opposite of literal language, is the use of unconventional words to express significance or meaning. In other words, figurative language is saying something that is NOT true, to illustrate a point. For example, if a book says “he had a heart of stone”, the author doesn’t really mean the character’s …
Congratulations we have now covered all the critical grammar rules for boosting your ACT English score by five or more points! There are, however, a couple great one off tricks that can boost your score even further! Our first one-off tip is that you should use a comma before and after the word “though” when …
People often confuse “Title Phrases” with Appositive Phrases. The ACT will frequently put a comma before and after a name (see sample question below). While you can theoretically remove the name and still have a logical sentence, names are considered “critical information” and thus they are not truly removable. Therefore, if you see a name …
Appositive Phrases Appositive Phrases are another favorite of the ACT. This grammar structure is used when a sentence is split in half by a phrase that provides additional information on the noun right before it. The quick and easy way to test if an appositive is being appropriately used is by “testing for removability”. If …
Colons typically confuse students more than any other type of punctuation on the ACT. Therefore, if you are feeling a little shaky about this section DON’T WORRY it will all make sense shortly! It is not uncommon for teachers to tell students “use colons before lists and quotes”. Unfortunately, this isn’t really the proper way …
Joining Dependent and Independent Clauses: Congratulations, now that you know how to identify the difference between independent and dependent clauses, most of the hard work is over! To build the long and complex sentences of the ACT, all we need to remember is a couple of rules for joining these different types of clauses. The …
The first, and most important, part of grammar to understand for the ACT is the difference between dependent and independent clauses. If you master identifying these two different clause types and understanding how to join them, you’ll be able to answer almost 80% of ACT grammar questions. At its most simple, an independent clause is …
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Figurative language, often considered the opposite of literal language, is the use of unconventional words to express significance or meaning. In other words, figurative language is saying something that is NOT true, to illustrate a point. For example, if a book says “he had a heart of stone”, the author doesn’t really mean the character’s …
Colons typically confuse students more than any other type of punctuation on the ACT. Therefore, if you are feeling a little shaky about this section DON’T WORRY it will all make sense shortly! It is not uncommon for teachers to tell students “use colons before lists and quotes”. Unfortunately, this isn’t really the proper way …
Congratulations we have now covered all the critical grammar rules for boosting your ACT English score by five or more points! There are, however, a couple great one off tricks that can boost your score even further! Our first one-off tip is that you should use a comma before and after the word “though” when …
