Looking for tips and tricks for taking the English section of the ACT?

Answer 1

Erica Meltzer’s workbooks are hands down my favorite resource for the ACT English section because they break everything down into clear, predictable patterns. The ACT isn’t testing creativity—it’s testing whether you can recognize and apply specific grammar and style rules. Once you learn them, the section becomes much more manageable.

One of the biggest tricks is that shorter is almost always better. The ACT loves concise, direct writing, so if an answer removes unnecessary words without changing the meaning, it’s probably right. Grammar rules are also tested in a very rigid way—punctuation, verb tense, and subject-verb agreement follow predictable patterns. Commas, for example, don’t just go where they “sound” right; they have specific uses, like separating independent clauses or setting off unnecessary information.

Transitions and sentence placement come down to logic—every sentence should connect smoothly to the ones before and after it. Instead of choosing what sounds good, it helps to identify whether a transition is showing contrast, cause and effect, or continuation. Trusting the evidence is key; the ACT is designed to trick students into picking choices that seem natural but don’t actually follow the rules.

Ultimately, Erica’s biggest lesson is to treat the ACT like a game. Once you understand the patterns, you can approach every question systematically and eliminate wrong answers with confidence.

Answer 2

ACT English Hacks

For questions without a question, if there's DELETE, check it first. If DELETE is wrong or there's no option to delete, look at what's underlined. Ask yourself if it's right or wrong. If right, select NO CHANGE. If wrong, come up with your own fix, then compare your fix with the answer choices.

***

For subject/verb agreement questions, pick the verb with number (plural / singular) that's different from the others. 3 will be one thing, while 1 is correct. You don't even have to read the sentence.

The skin of all mantas, for example, (is) embedded with tiny, toothlike "denticles".

A No Change

B happen to be

C were

D are

A is singular, while B, C, and D are plural. A is the answer.

***

Almost every test has one who vs whom question. Who is followed by a verb, while whom is followed by a noun.

Eventually, he divided the farm into multiple gardens, each one named for a inventor (whom) had created machinery useful on farms.

A NO CHANGE

B being one who

C of whom

D who

"had created" is a verb, so "who" is correct. D

The man (whom) Bob named the garden for was an inventor.

A NO CHANGE

B who

C after who

D of whom

The next word is "Bob", a noun. A is correct.

***

When there are answer choices with everything the same except period vs semicolon, neither is correct (so long as there aren't multiple semicolons, such as other semicolons in the sentence.) Period and Single Semicolon separate Independent Clauses. Multiple semicolons can separate items in a list.

Although nobody knows this hero's true (identity, there) are many who are his friends.

A NO CHANGE

B identity. There

C identity; there

D identity there

B and C are period vs semicolon, so eliminate both. The correct answer is A, with a comma after an intro phrase.

***

All things equal, shorter is better. Shorter is correct over half the time. If guessing, select the shortest answer choice.

*** Rule of 3 ***

If there is one answer choice 3 or more words shorter than all the other choices, 95% of the time the short one is correct.

If there one answer choices 3 or more words shorter than two of the other choices, 95% of the time one of the two shorter choices is correct (they are equally likely to be correct.)

There are many examples of wealthy land owners giving land to former (servants).

A NO CHANGE

B servants who proved they were worthy of receiving the gift.

C servants when the wealthy land owners felt they were deserving.

D servants when the servants proved worthy of the gift.

A is 3+ words shorter than all other choices. A is correct.

The detective had figured out how the bear chose which man to attack. The bear attacked the (man carrying the most food).

A NO CHANGE

B man carrying the most food whom the bear had decided to attack.

C man

D man who had the most food after the bear decided to attack that man.

Man is 3+ words shorter than B or D. A or C is the answer - they're the two shorter choices. C doesn't provide the information of the reason the bear attacked the man. A does. A is correct.

***

If there's an option to DELETE, check it first. It's right over 75% of the time.

***

For questions that ask if something should be added, if it's an Independent Clause (sentence), the answer is NO over 80% of the time. If it's a fragment, the answer is YES over 80% of the time. Check those first in each case.

*

For questions about transition words, if there's an option with no transition, check it first. It's right over 80% of the time.

Answer 3

First you want to hit the point where you've learned enough English to understand most of the questions and the core concepts (past/present tense, use of colons, run-on sentences, etc.) If you're struggling with that, take a little practice stuff online. There's a couple of ACT tests online you can take.

If you feel reasonably good on your understanding of English, then scoring high is largely based off of deciphering exactly what a question is trying to trick you with, and learning solid test taking strategies. The ACT English has many questions about what tense we write a verb in. When do we use certain punctuations. A couple of other things. For example, one trick is to read the answers and try to identify a pattern in them. If three of the answers are varying versions of past tense expressions, then we're looking for the right form of saying that past tense expression. Go back to the sentence the question is referencing. Look for other verbs written in the past tense of that sentence. You can get a good idea of how to properly write the past tense of the expression it's asking you about by the past tense of other expressions in the same sentence. This is because the ACT English uses the proper writing technique of having consistent "past tense forms" within each sentence.

The most important tips are a couple of basic test taking strats. If a question is giving you a hard time, move on and come back to it later. 5-10 minutes should be enough time to reset your mind to try to solve the question again. This is a link to their official practice test, there are more than just this link for practice. https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-preparation/free-act-test-prep.html