{"id":9965,"date":"2017-05-15t12:51:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-15t19:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=9965"},"modified":"2021-01-06t15:41:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06t23:41:03","slug":"act-english-punctuation-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/act-english-punctuation-everything-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"act english punctuation: everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>it&#8217;s finally here: test day. you open your book when the proctor prompts you, flip to that first page, and\u2026uh-oh. time for some english questions. more specifically, time for some <a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/act-english\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">act english<\/a> punctuation, grammar, and usage questions.<\/p>\n<p>it can be easy to overlook the english section during your act prep. after all, if you live in an anglophone country, you&#8217;ve probably had english lessons for years. however, <strong>the act tests very particular types of english rules<\/strong> <em>in context<\/em>. that&#8217;s right\u2014just memorizing &#8217;em won&#8217;t be enough.<\/p>\n<p>don&#8217;t worry, you can absolutely master these question types <a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/hard-act-english-problems\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">with a little practice<\/a>. but before you do, let&#8217;s take a quick <strong>overview of act english punctuation,<\/strong> one of eight main areas the act focuses on. after all, there are tons of punctuation marks that the act <em>could<\/em> test\u2026but there are very few that it actually <em>does<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>so here it is\u2014everything you need to know about act english punctuation!<\/p>\n<p><em>if you want to jump right to a particular topic, here&#8217;s a handy table of contents.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#commas\">commas<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#colons\">colons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#semicolons\">semicolons<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#dashes\">dashes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#hyphens\">hyphens<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#apostrophes\">apostrophes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"commas\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>commas<\/h2>\n<p>the rules governing commas can be tricky; often, there\u2019s some flexibility for your personal style. for the act, the \u201cstyle\u201d rules either have one \u201cright\u201d answer or are just not tested.<\/p>\n<p>so, for our purposes here, it\u2019s easiest to think of commas as <strong>separators:<\/strong> they point out information that, for whatever reason, needs to be set apart from the rest of the sentence. here are some examples to show you what i mean.<\/p>\n<h3>lists<\/h3>\n<p>here, the commas are <strong>separating<\/strong> the individual items in a list of three or more items:<\/p>\n<p><em>othello didn\u2019t realize that iago was conniving, two-faced, and evil.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>see those commas there? they\u2019re pointing out all of iago\u2019s finer qualities, of which othello is unaware. we have to use commas to separate them or the end of the sentence would be a bit of a mushy mess.<\/p>\n<p>(note: the comma before the \u201cand\u201d is called the \u201coxford comma.\u201d in real life, the oxford comma is largely a matter of style, but it can make certain sentences clearer. on the act, <strong>always include the oxford comma in lists<em>.<\/em><\/strong> it\u2019s unlikely that an oxford comma will be the only difference between two answer choices, but the act prefers it. so, as far as the test is concerned, so should you!)<\/p>\n<h3>adjectives<\/h3>\n<p>use a comma to <strong>separate<\/strong> two adjectives when the word \u201cand\u201d could be inserted between them.<\/p>\n<p><em>romeo\u2019s choice to take poison was a rash, foolish decision.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(it was a rash <strong>and<\/strong> foolish decision. the comma is necessary.)<\/p>\n<p><em>hamlet was a sad young man.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(hamlet was a sad <strong>and<\/strong> young man? no, that sounds odd. don\u2019t use a comma here.)<\/p>\n<h3>additional (parenthetical) information<\/h3>\n<p>let\u2019s say i\u2019m telling you a story about a guy named james. here\u2019s my beginning:<\/p>\n<p><em>james is rather fond of \u201cslim jims.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>a simple enough sentence, no? but it leaves us with a major unanswered question: <em>who is james<\/em>? clearly, he must be someone i know, or i wouldn\u2019t be able to discuss his dietary preferences, but i haven\u2019t told you who he is or how i know him.<\/p>\n<p>well, james is my cousin. i know he likes \u201cslim jims\u201d because we\u2019re family. i need to put that information into the sentence to satisfy my readers\u2019 burning curiosity about james. i could rephrase it to say:<\/p>\n<p><em>my cousin james is rather fond of \u2018slim jims.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>and it would be 100% grammatical, or i could do this:<\/p>\n<p><em>james, my cousin, is rather fond of \u201cslim jim\u2019s.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>the difference here is one of style, and neither one is \u201cmore right\u201d than the other. however, if i\u2019m going to include the information that james is my cousin <em>after<\/em> i introduce his name, i need to <strong>separate<\/strong> it in commas.<\/p>\n<p>the two-commas rule works in many cases. if the extra information isn\u2019t grammatically necessary to the sentence, you can separate it with two\u2014<em>only and always two<\/em>\u2014commas. (you can also use dashes or parentheses for a similar effect. again, it\u2019s a style thing, and differences in style won\u2019t be tested on the act.)<\/p>\n<p>here\u2019s another example:<\/p>\n<p><em>james is rather fond of \u201cslim jims.\u201d my aunt, however, would rather starve than eat them.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>the sentence would be perfectly understandable without the word \u201chowever,\u201d but i wanted to include it anyway. it\u2019s additional information, a non-essential word. therefore, i <strong>separate<\/strong> it with two commas.<\/p>\n<h3>introductions<\/h3>\n<p>this point is closely related to the last one. if you\u2019re starting a sentence with a transition or other introductory word or phrase, separate it from the rest of the sentence with a comma.<\/p>\n<p><em>in my life, i\u2019ve made many mistakes. very few of them were grammatical.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>clauses<\/h3>\n<p>in case you don\u2019t remember or were never taught, here&#8217;s a quick run-down on clauses, phrases, and the differences between the two.<\/p>\n<p>don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s mostly painless.<\/p>\n<p><strong>phrases<\/strong> are groups of related words that <em>don\u2019t<\/em> have a subject or verb.<\/p>\n<p>(examples: \u201cover the rainbow,\u201d \u201csinging in the rain,\u201d \u201ca tale as old as time,\u201d etc.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>clauses <\/strong>are groups of related words that <em>do<\/em> have a subject and verb. they come in two types.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>independent clauses<\/strong> are complete sentences.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(examples: \u201ci think i\u2019ll try defying gravity,\u201d \u201cthe sun\u2019ll come out tomorrow,&#8221; etc.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>dependent clauses<\/strong> have a subject and verb, but <em>are not<\/em> complete sentences.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">(examples: \u201cher being under the sea,\u201d \u201cif i only had a brain,\u201d etc.)<\/p>\n<h4>independent\u2014dependent clauses<\/h4>\n<p>you can use commas to <strong>separate<\/strong> independent clauses from dependent clauses. usually, a dependent clause will have a<em> subordinating<\/em> <em>conjunction<\/em> at the beginning. sadly, there are too many subordinating conjunctions to list them all, but here are some of the most common ones:<\/p>\n<p><em>until, if, since, because, although, once, as, when, where, why, before, than, that, though, unless<\/em><\/p>\n<p>if you see these words (or similar ones) at the beginning of a clause, that clause is <em>dependent<\/em> and needs an independent clause to be a complete sentence. an example for you (and bonus points if you can name that musical):<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>once<\/u><\/strong><u> i\u2019m with the wizard<\/u>, my whole life will change<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(dependent clause) (independent clause)<\/p>\n<p>the word \u201conce\u201d in this sentence is the subordinating conjunction. the clause that has the word \u201conce\u201d in it is the dependent clause, so it leans on the other half to make one complete, grammatically correct sentence.<\/p>\n<h4>independent\u2014independent clauses<\/h4>\n<p>in one and only one situation, you can use a comma to <strong>separate<\/strong> two independent clauses. this is <em>only<\/em> permissible if you have a <em>coordinating conjunction<\/em> immediately following the comma.<\/p>\n<p>if i just made your brain seize up with the grammatical jargon there, don\u2019t worry! i have a nifty mnemonic for you. a coordinating conjunction is one of your <strong>fanboys<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>for<\/p>\n<p>and<\/p>\n<p>nor<\/p>\n<p>but<\/p>\n<p>or<\/p>\n<p>yet<\/p>\n<p>so<\/p>\n<p>you can use a comma and one of your fanboys to separate two complete sentences.<\/p>\n<p>important: make sure you\u2019re using the <em>right<\/em> fanboys for your situation, and you will <em>never ever<\/em> need more than one in a row. (i\u2019m looking at you, students who use \u201cbut yet\u201d in sentences! one or the other will do!)<\/p>\n<p>here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<p><em>most students find grammar dull, so i try to spice it up a bit with silly pop culture references.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>i always enjoyed grammar, but i understand why some people might not.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>did you want to continue talking about commas, or should we discuss something else?<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>error alert: comma splices<\/h3>\n<p>the comma splice is a very common error that, once you learn about it, will spoil your ability to read or write comments on the internet. i\u2019m very sorry to have to do that to you, but it\u2019s for the good of your act score.<\/p>\n<p>here is an example of a comma splice:<\/p>\n<p><em>it is physically painful for me to write this sentence, i hope you appreciate it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>see what i did there? i tried to separate two independent clauses with just a comma. technically, that example is a run-on sentence because i didn\u2019t separate the two clauses properly (either with a period, a semicolon, or a comma and an appropriate fanboys conjunction). because it\u2019s a very common error, it <em>looks<\/em> and <em>sounds<\/em> right to many students, which is why the act <em>loves<\/em> to test it. let\u2019s look at an act-style example.<\/p>\n<p><em>garret and declan went to the <u>supermarket, they wanted<\/u> to buy some orange juice.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>a. no change<br \/>\nb. supermarket they wanted<br \/>\nc. supermarket. they wanted<br \/>\nd. supermarket they. wanted<\/p>\n<p>our answer would be c, because it\u2019s the only answer choice that properly separates the two clauses in the example. a is our comma splice (which is always, <em>always<\/em> wrong), b actually makes it <em>worse<\/em> by removing any separator at all, and d turns a run-on sentence into a nonsensical sentence and a fragment.<br \/>\n<a name=\"colons\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>colons<\/h2>\n<p>the colon ( : ) is a fairly straightforward punctuation mark. the rules for colon usage are clear-cut and don\u2019t leave much room for error. master these, and the day is yours!<\/p>\n<p>colons are used after <em>independent clauses<\/em> (a.k.a. \u201ccomplete sentences\u201d) in four situations. you can remember them by remembering the letters leq.<\/p>\n<p><strong>l<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>no, it doesn\u2019t mean \u201cfor the way you <em>look<\/em> at me,\u201d like in one of my favorite songs. here, the l stands for <em>list<\/em>. you use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a series of items.<\/p>\n<p><em>i have three things on my to-do list for this summer: sitting, loafing, and goofing off.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>e<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>the e stands for <em>explanation<\/em>. you can use a colon after a complete sentence to expand on what you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n<p><em>this i know: do or do not. there is no \u2018try.\u2019 <\/em>\u2013 yoda, <em>the empire strikes back<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>while i was in ireland, i had heaven in a cup: a cadbury \u201cflake\u201d bar in vanilla ice cream.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>q<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>the q stands for <em>quote<\/em>. you can use a colon to introduce a quotation.<\/p>\n<p><em>well, it\u2019s like ralph waldo emerson once said: \u201ci hate quotations.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n<a name=\"semicolons\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>semicolons<\/h2>\n<p>semicolons are great. they\u2019re my favorite punctuation mark\u2014no, seriously. they\u2019re sophisticated; use them properly, and people will be impressed at your mastery of the english language.<\/p>\n<p>here are the rules for semicolons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use a semicolon to separate <strong>two closely related independent clauses<\/strong> when i say \u201cclosely related,\u201d i mean that they <em>clearly belong as part of the same thought.<\/em> the two sentences are grammatically complete, but make much more sense when joined together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>with educated people, i suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. but i must say i have a great respect for the semi-colon; it&#8217;s a useful little chap. <\/em><em>\u2013 <\/em>abraham lincoln<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use a semicolon to separate items in a list that <em>already<\/em> contains commas. in this example, the narrator is meeting with <em>three<\/em> people. if i hadn\u2019t used semicolons, you might think the narrator was meeting <em>five<\/em> people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>i have a meeting with donna jones, the school principal; ms. hawkins, my daughter\u2019s english teacher; and jim jackman, the volleyball coach.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>unclear version<\/em>:<\/strong> <em>i have a meeting with donna jones, the school principal, ms. hawkins, my daughter\u2019s english teacher, and jim jackman, the volleyball coach.<\/em><br \/>\n<a name=\"dashes\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>dashes<\/h2>\n<p>before we start talking about this, we need some clarity of language. a <em>hyphen <\/em>( &#8211; ) is often used to join words together. we\u2019ll talk about those later in this section. a <em>dash<\/em> ( \u2014 ) is a versatile and often dramatic punctuation mark, and since it\u2019s more fun to talk about, we\u2019ll discuss it first.<\/p>\n<p>there are actually two different kinds of dashes. the <em>en dash,<\/em> which is slightly shorter, and the <em>em dash<\/em>, which is the one you can see in the previous paragraph. the good news is that the act isn\u2019t going to test you on the differences between the two. you will only be tested on the rules of the <em>em dash<\/em>, which is what we\u2019ll cover here.<\/p>\n<p>there are three major uses for the <em>em dash<\/em>, and they\u2019re fairly straightforward.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use an <em>em dash<\/em> to show a change in flow in the middle of a sentence. here, a pair of <em>em dashes<\/em> set off additional information in the same way commas or parentheses would.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>critics of the <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>pok\u00e9mon<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>video game franchise<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\u2014<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>also known as people who have no fun<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\u2014<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>say that each game in the series feels exactly the same.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>(<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>note:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>the difference here is style only, so you won\u2019t have a question on the act that will ask you to choose from among dashes, commas, or parentheses. you may be asked to make sure that they are used in pairs or that the additional information<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>really<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>needs to be separated from the rest of the sentence.)<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>use an <em>em dash<\/em> to introduce an explanation in the same way you would use a colon. <strong>remember: always make sure you have an independent clause before the colon or <em>em dash<\/em>!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>i\u2019m not a big fan of <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>skyrim\u2014<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>if i can\u2019t figure out where the story is going in the first hour, then i don\u2019t want to play the game!<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use an <em>em dash<\/em> to indicate a change in thought or a humorous or dramatic addition to the sentence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>pac-man<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>, at its core, is a game about consuming food pellets and pieces of fruit while trying to outrun beings who are out to destroy you<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\u2014<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>sounds like a typical day in high school to me!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"hyphens\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>wait! what about hyphens?<\/h2>\n<p>oh. right. i promised you we\u2019d talk about those.<\/p>\n<p>well, to be honest, the act isn\u2019t really going to test you much on hyphen usage. you should know the rules anyway, just in case it comes up, but it\u2019s not one of their favorite topics.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use a hyphen to join two or more adjectives together when they act as a single idea and come before the noun they modify<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>a 5-page paper<\/em><br \/>\n<em>a one-year-old girl<\/em><br \/>\n<em>an all-too-common mistake<\/em><br \/>\n<em>a friendly-looking dog <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>(remember, even though it ends in<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>-ly<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>, \u201cfriendly\u201d is an adjective!)<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>don\u2019t<\/strong> use a hyphen when you have an adjective and an <strong>adverb<\/strong> before a noun. adverbs can\u2019t modify nouns, so it\u2019s already clear without the hyphen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>katie was terribly tired.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>danny was really generous.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use a hyphen for all spelled-out numbers from <em>twenty-one <\/em>to <em>ninety-nine<\/em> and fractions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>one-third of high school students<\/em><br \/>\n<em>seventy-six trombones<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use a hyphen for most compound last names.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>lady guinivere hopkins-drake will attend the soir\u00e9e.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>use a hyphen for <em>some<\/em> compound nouns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>sister-in-law<\/em><br \/>\n<em>master-at-arms<\/em><br \/>\n<em>commander-in-chief<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a name=\"apostrophes\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>apostrophes<\/h2>\n<p>let&#8217;s turn to kristin for an overview of apostrophe usage on the act.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"act english tips - apostrophes\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xaqkv1yngx8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>the act english test loves to test all sorts of punctuation, but especially apostrophes. check out the video for everything you need to know about the <a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/act-grammar-rules\/\">act grammar rules<\/a> for apostrophes. here\u2019s the gist:<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\napostrophes are used for two different purposes:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>to show possession<\/strong>: mary\u2019s books.<br \/>\n<strong>for contractions<\/strong>: would not \u2192 wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>most of the apostrophe questions on the test will have to do with the first case: possession and also a few special cases that people always mess up (i\u2019m looking at you, it\u2019s its.)<\/p>\n<h3>singular possessive<\/h3>\n<p>if a singular noun is \u201cpossessing\u201d something, the apostrophe goes before the \u201cs\u201d. for example, the dog\u2019s bone, the ventriloquist\u2019s puppets. remember that a collective noun, such as \u201cteam\u201d or \u201ccompany\u201d, even though they might be made up of people are singular. so if one team has a bus, it\u2019s the \u201cteam\u2019s bus.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>plural possessive<\/h3>\n<p>&#8230;but if multiple teams share a bus, it\u2019s the \u201cteams\u2019 bus.\u201d this is because for plural nouns, the apostrophe comes after the \u201cs\u201d. so \u201cthe girls\u2019 jackets\u201d lets us know we are talking about multiple girls with multiple jackets, not one girl with an enviable boatload of jackets (that would be \u201cgirl\u2019s jackets\u201d).<\/p>\n<h3>the exceptions to the apostrophe rule<\/h3>\n<p>i\u2019m grouping in these commonly confused words with this little lesson on apostrophes because they include apostrophes, and well, lots of times when you see apostrophes on the act, it\u2019s really about these commonly confused words. and they are commonly confused because they are exceptions to the rule about using apostrophes to show possession. when you are dealing with the pronouns its, whose, and your, these pronouns actually already show possession. and their sneaky shadow doubles with the apostrophes are actually contractions.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nhere\u2019s a refresher:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>its vs it\u2019s<br \/>\nits = the possessive pronoun<br \/>\nit\u2019s = it is<\/p>\n<p>whose vs who\u2019s<br \/>\nwhose = possessive pronoun<br \/>\nwho\u2019s = who is<\/p>\n<p>your vs. you\u2019re<br \/>\nyour = possessive pronoun<br \/>\nyou\u2019re = you are<\/p>\n<p>if you are ever not sure which one to choose, try reading in the full expression for the contraction into the sentence and see if it makes sense. let\u2019s say you see: \u201cthe dancing skeleton picked up it\u2019s scattered bones.\u201d does \u201cthe dancing skeleton picked up it is scattered bones\u201d make sense? no, so the answer is \u201cits\u201d, not \u201cit\u2019s\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>act english punctuation wrap-up<\/h2>\n<p>what&#8217;s one of the biggest mistakes students can make on the act english section? choosing something because it &#8220;sounds good.&#8221; there are a lot of trap answers out there that sound good.<\/p>\n<p>luckily, with english punctuation, it&#8217;s hard to &#8220;hear&#8221; the right answers. still, rather than just memorizing the rules or relying on your ear, you can use the info in this post to best advantage by making flashcards with the sample sentences (without punctuation!) on them, and the correct punctuation\u2014with explanations\u2014on the back.<\/p>\n<p>remember, it&#8217;s all about context! and the more punctuation you see in context, the better you&#8217;ll do on the act.<\/p>\n<p><em>thank you to magoosh act blogger catrina coffey and act expert, magoosh senior manager, and all-around superhero kristin fracchia for contributing content and expertise to this act english punctuation guide!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>it&#8217;s finally here: test day. you open your book when the proctor prompts you, flip to that first page, and\u2026uh-oh. time for some english questions. more specifically, time for some act english punctuation, grammar, and usage questions. it can be easy to overlook the english section during your act prep. after all, if you live [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24872],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- this site is optimized with the yoast seo premium plugin v21.7 (yoast seo v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>act english punctuation: everything you need to know - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta 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five years in there different countries, rachel has helped students around the world prepare for various standardized tests, including the sat, act, toefl, gre, and gmat, and she is one of the authors of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/act-prep-magoosh-schedules-strategies\/dp\/1610660692\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">magoosh act prep book<\/a>. rachel has a bachelor of arts in comparative literature from brown university, an ma in cinematography from the universit\u00e9 de paris vii, and a ph.d. in film studies from university college london. for over a decade, rachel has honed her craft as a fiction and memoir writer and public speaker. her novel,<a href=\"https:\/\/read.macmillan.com\/lp\/the-ballerinas\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> the ballerinas<\/a>, is forthcoming in december 2021 from<a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/author\/rachelkapelkedale\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> st. martin's press<\/a>, while her memoir,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/315080\/graduates-in-wonderland-by-jessica-pan\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> graduates in wonderland<\/a>, co-written with jessica pan, was published in 2014 by penguin random house. her <a href=\"http:\/\/rachelkapelkedale.com\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">work<\/a> has appeared in over a dozen online and print publications, including vanity fair hollywood. when she isn't strategically stringing words together at magoosh, you can find rachel riding horses or with her nose in a book. join her on<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rkapelkedale\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> twitter<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rachelkapelkedale\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> instagram<\/a>, or<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rkapelkedale\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> facebook<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9965"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9965"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}