Four grammar rules, four quick points

Lesson 6 · English grammar · about 8 minutes · fixes four pure-rule misses on the 9/13 PreACT English section (he scored 75%)

Your student's English misses weren't about style or meaning. Each was one mechanical rule, and each rule is a check you can run in five seconds: find the real subject, ask "could I delete it?", match the dashes, and test both sides of a semicolon.

The method

  1. Look at exactly what is underlined, plus a few words either side. ACT's own advice: "Examine the underlined or highlighted portions of the passage. Before responding to a question with an underlined or highlighted portion, carefully examine what is underlined or highlighted in the text." (Preparing for the ACT)
  2. Name what changes across the choices: a verb ending? a comma? a dash? a semicolon? That tells you which of the four rules below is being tested.
  3. Run that one rule and pick the choice that passes it. Don't choose by what "sounds nicer".

Rule 1 · Cross out the middle, then match every verb

Subject–verb agreement

The verb agrees with the real subject, not the noun sitting next to it. Purdue OWL: "Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between the subject and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun or pronoun in the phrase." (Making Subjects and Verbs Agree). If the subject has two verbs, both must agree.

✗ The murals on the wall of the old station fades in the sun and needs repainting.
✓ The murals on the wall of the old station fade in the sun and need repainting.

Rule 2 · A label right before a name takes no commas

Commas around extra information

Commas go around information only if the sentence still works without it. In "chess champion Lena Ortiz", the words "chess champion" work like a title glued to the name, so no commas. Flip the order and the description becomes removable, so it gets a pair of commas. Purdue OWL's example of each: "The popular US president John Kennedy was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches." versus "John Kennedy, the popular US president, was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches." (Appositives)

✗ Yesterday, chess champion, Lena Ortiz, played ten games at once.
✓ Yesterday, chess champion Lena Ortiz played ten games at once.
✓ Yesterday, Lena Ortiz, a chess champion, played ten games at once.

Rule 3 · A dash opens, a dash closes

Dash pairs

Dashes work like a pair of brackets: "Dashes are used to set off or emphasize the content enclosed within dashes or the content that follows a dash." (Purdue OWL, punctuation overview). If the extra bit opens with a dash and the sentence carries on afterwards, close it with a dash too, never a comma or colon.

✗ The science museum—free on the first Sunday of each month, is always packed.
✓ The science museum—free on the first Sunday of each month—is always packed.

Rule 4 · A semicolon needs a full sentence on both sides

Semicolons vs. while, because, although…

A semicolon joins two independent clauses, Purdue OWL's pattern "Independent clause [ ; ] independent clause [ . ]". Words like because, since, while, although, when are each what the same page calls a "dependent marker" (Sentence Punctuation Patterns): the clause they start can't stand alone, so it can't sit after a semicolon.

Test: cover everything left of the semicolon. Can what's on the right stand alone as a sentence?

✗ The kettle whistled; while the toast was still browning.
✓ The kettle whistled while the toast was still browning.
✓ The kettle whistled; the toast was still browning.

What to watch for with your student. Each of his four misses was the answer that looked more formal: more commas, a semicolon, a comma instead of a second dash, a verb matching the nearest noun. Before he picks, have him say out loud which rule the question is testing (step 2). For agreement, make him literally draw a line through the words between the subject and the verb, then check every verb in the underlined part, not just the first.

Your turn

Which choice makes the sentence grammatically acceptable? The underlined part is what can change. The ACT would print the first choice as "NO CHANGE"; here it's written out. The four rules are mixed on purpose, so name the rule before answering.