all right welcome everybody to act english grammar rules this is mr tui um if you are looking for uh for all the rules for the act in your uh preparation for the act test i've got every single grammar rule you need for the act english section right here in this video i've got uh abby with us say hi to everybody abby hello everybody thank you abby and uh so today kind of the plan is we are going to go over these grammar rules we're just going to discuss them make sure that you understand these grammar rules and then that's in the first part of the video and then be another part of the video coming out where we're going to practice applying these rules on a variety of questions on the act english section but uh what i've done basically here is i've reverse engineered all the grammar rules you need for the act english section by the way this is the exact same grammar rules i use for the s.a.t writing language section so if you've seen that video no need to watch this it's the exact same rules um english is english but uh but the tests are very very closely aligned but uh this is every single thing you need for the act english section it's right here so the goal right now don't feel like you have to memorize this abby right we just wanna we're gonna discuss this and make sure that you understand these rules and if you have any questions uh don't hesitate to ask okay but i wanna make the first uh let's read the first rule together go and read that first bullet point for me on periods please we'll discuss this okay periods break up two separate standalone statements do we do we need to discuss periods here i think are we good on i think we're good i think we're good yeah complete statements uh standalone thoughts complete sentence you know same idea um yeah i i don't think most students struggle with that with that too much but go and read the next uh the next bullet point for me please use commas whenever you need a brief pause if you don't need a brief pause leave it out should not be used to connect two standalone thoughts they're a period or a semicolon it must be used yeah notice there's kind of two parts to that uh to that yeah rule right the first part is use commas whenever you need whenever you need to brief puzzles right and i can really complicate that you know a lot of like test programs and like prep books complicate the commas a lot and you just don't need to go there all you have to do is ask yourself the question do i need a brief pause here and if you need a brief pause you need a comma and if you don't need a brief pause then you don't need a comma and it's literally that simple so you know kind of when you're going through these questions we'll practice a little bit you know sort of hear it out loud in your head and and kind of feel the rhythm of the language and if you just don't need a pause there you don't need a comma and it's that simple any questions about that no sir okay now look at that second part of the comma world says should not be used to connect two standalone thoughts so uh they call that a comma splice if you separate two standalone thoughts with a with a comma and that's that's not acceptable so like in the sentence here after the the uh the word thoughts right there's a period if i put a comma there that wouldn't be acceptable okay because you can't have two standalone thoughts two complete statements separated by a comma does that make sense abby yep tough to catch but be on the lookout for that and we'll see that a bit on the act so go ahead and read the next bullet point here on semicolon semicolons connect two related statements that cannot still stand on their own as complete sentences well says they could still stand on their own oh wait what did i say yeah that's good that's a big deal right okay sorry yeah you're good so write two statements that could stand on their own as complete sentences so basically anywhere you can use a semicolon you can also use a period because both the semicolon and the period are for separating standalone statements or complete sentences does that make some sense yes okay now you never really have to use a semicolon you know because again you could use a period anywhere to separate two stale statements but sometimes an author wants to highlight the relationship between two standalone thoughts and then they'll they'll use a semicolon to highlight that relationship but you never really have to use it and i would say i rarely see it as a correct answer choice i'm not saying it won't be correct but i really rarely see it as a correct answer choice on on the a ct or especially on the sat but be on the lookout for and it's easy to test just make sure that you've got two standalone statements being separated by that semicolon and you can use it any questions about semicolon no sir sounds good all right good let's talk about the colon here now this pops up on the on the act quite a bit and most students aren't super familiar with this go and read this one this is important okay collins introduced an explanation description or a list even in a list of one item just don't use after the phrase such as uh do you want me to keep reading breathing please okay it will appear in this order one thing to do explain slash describe oh wait to be my bad think to be explained slash describe slash listed to the colon three explanation slash description slash list yeah so this is i mean it's a really really versatile punctuation mark like i said most students aren't super familiar with this but um let me give some examples of the colon in action um the most common way to use this is for a list so i could say uh i went to the grocery store to buy all the things i needed to bake chocolate chip cookies colon butter flour sugar salt and chocolate chips okay so that's a list of all the items i needed to make chocolate chip cookies notice that it follows this one two three order that you see in in the rule right the thing to be listed uh in this case all the items you need to make chocolate chip cookies and then two the colon and then three the list of all the items i needed to make chocolate chip cookies does that make sense how that example follows that one two three order yeah yeah columns are cool yeah they i i you know and i never used them really until i 200 uh the s18 and act and now i use them all the time i love them now it could also be a uh a list of one item so that's kind of a thing right you could have like a grocery list with one item so you could say i went to the store to buy the only thing i needed to make chocolate chip cookies colon chocolate chips right so it's a list not just one item that's a thing it could also be a description or an explanation so i could say like i was looking forward to baking chocolate chip cookies colon uh my favorite cookie of all time okay so that would be a description of chocolate chip cookies but it still follows that one two three formula right the thing to be described or explained right in this case the description of the chocolate chip cookies then the colon and then the description as my favorite cookie of all time does that make sense how we use the colon here for an explanation list or description yes sir great great and we'll we'll see it a lot we'll get some practice on some of these questions with those colons if you understand the colon you also understand the m-dash okay so go ahead and read the m-dash rule for me please because they're interchangeable the m dash a single m dash can be used anywhere a colon can be used following the rule above however for a list description or explanation in the middle of the sentence use the double m dash i'm going to read that example please all of the creative elements of a film casting acting cinematography effects and editing are the responsibility of the director all right all right as i said earlier the the the colon and the m-dash are are interchangeable at least the single m-dash and the colon are completely interchangeable so all the examples i gave you with the cookies instead of using a colon you could plug in an m-dash in place of the coal and that works totally totally fine except the m-dash can do one thing that a colon can't do there's a double m dash for lists or explanations or descriptions in the middle of a sentence okay so the example you read of all the creative elements of a film right notice by the way that still follows that one two three formula of the colon right you've got all the creative elements of the film right that's the first thing then the second thing is the em dash and then the third thing is the list of all the creative emblems of film still kind of follows that that formula but that description is interrupting the thought or sorry that that list is interrupting the thought in the middle of the sentence so you have to use a double m dash there because yeah so it's almost like parenthesis exactly right i was about to mention that as well yeah it's pretty much interchangeable with parentheses they don't test parentheses a ton on the ect uh i haven't seen it a bit right so know that do you know that um very you know very rarely on the sat do you see parentheses but uh but that's basically yeah you could use parentheses there as well damn dash is just cooler i i think so i like i you know i i use both parentheses but it is yeah it's it's pretty handy so um now we can rearrange that sentence and use a single m-dash or a single colon if the sentence were structured differently we could say um the director is responsible for all of the creative creative elements of a film single m-dash or colon casting acting cinematography effects and editing that would be fine does that make sense how we could rearrange it to use a single subject or a single column yeah but then that you'd be ending the sentence with the list uh not interrupting you know the thought and you know in the middle okay yeah that's why you have to use the double m sure does that yes sir okay and that's like it for punctuation essentially we're gonna be able to cover yeah we're gonna be able to cover all every single grammar for the act here in like 45 minutes so um good all right let's go to the second rule here on uh possessives go ahead and read that uh example of singular possessives for us please that is the girl's sweater okay and that is uh you've seen possessives before right we we mostly associate the apostrophe with possessives apostrophe there after the l in girls now we know that's singular because the apostrophe signifies possession okay so whatever comes before the apostrophe is in possession in this case uh the word girl is before the apostrophe so the girl singular girl is in possession of the sweater does that make some sense yes sir okay now if you pass through after the s in girls that would be um multiple girls in possession of a sweater that would be plural possessive sounds the same right by the singular and plural so you got to pay close attention to the placement of the apostrophe that's the key there when it comes to possessives look for the placement does that make sense yes sir go and read the plural example the boy's favorite game is football okay there you go and notice you know once again the apostrophe comes after or comes after the s in in boys so we know the boys plural are in possession of a favorite game right if the apostrophe were after the y in boys it would sound the same but that would signify a single uh singular boy's favorite game do you see the difference there yes okay so just pay attention to the placement apostrophe and you'll be good go and read that third bullet point for possessives please pay attention to the commonly confused possessives with no apostrophes it's versus it's with an apostrophe the dog ate its food versus it's going to rain a contraction okay so there's there's a couple possessives that don't have apostrophes and this really throws students off heck this throws me off i'm just gonna be straight with you yeah i'm texting like i messed this up man everybody messes this up it just happens okay and that's okay but pay close attention to these these three examples of possessives and no apostrophes okay so um so you know we've got it's without the apostrophe and it's with the apostrophe it's without the apostrophe is possessive okay is that clear i think so yeah because it's with the apostrophe is a contraction it's a contraction you know contraction is abby um i'm sure if you explain it okay yeah yeah so contractions when you take like two words like it is okay and you smush those two words together gotcha okay but you take out one of the letters in this case the i and is and replace that i with an apostrophe and that's how you ah it's with an apostrophe it's a contraction yeah you've seen i mean you've seen people use it all the time right oh yeah so it stands for it is so um so to avoid confusion here the the it's with without the apostrophe is the possessive form okay so how do you know you know yeah right yeah so how do you know what you're using the right form if you see it's with an apostrophe just read it as it is okay so like let's look at the example here of it's going to rain right you could read that as it is going to rain i see and that should make sense but if in the dog example if it's had an apostrophe here you'd read it as the dog it is food and that doesn't make any sense so break it up into the two words if you see it's there and you're with the apostrophe you should break it up into they are and you are and it is to test if you're using the right form does that make sense yes sir yeah but the possessed form it's there in new york do not have apostrophes okay any questions about that no sir sounds good great let's go to the third rule we're cooking here choosing the right word in context here i'm going to skip the first two bullet points on transition words um we're going to we're going to go over that part of the rule when we see when we see a question on the ect just makes more sense to kind of hold off and do that when we see the question let's go to uh some of the commonly confused words that they like testing on okay gotta be that first pair for us accept versus accept okay they sound pretty similar you know the difference between those two words right yes can you accept with an a in a sentence um you were there to accept the award yeah except was there you accepted the award right you received something right notice that to accept there it's a verb okay it's a verb it's an action so the rule here really for these first three pairs of words is a for action if it's a verb form you have to use the a form of the word right and then except would be like i like all types of ice cream except rocky road or something like that an exception to something right the next one is the trickiest everybody messes this up you know i gotta think about it sometimes too effect versus effect can you use effect with an a in a sentence do you think you can do that yeah um just make sure it's an action make sure it's a verb i was affected by the fact that this person guided by a course yeah yeah okay great that's that's a very uh that's a very morbid example yeah but i know but it works it works i love it um yeah you're by somebody getting hit by a car uh not to mention the person getting hit by the car probably also affected but uh yeah like the the disease affected you know my health or my energy right there you go okay so but there it's doing something right the car affected the person or the car accident affected you right it's an action in those examples does that make sense why you have to use the a one a for action right and then effect with an e is not an action it's a thing do you think you can use effect with an e in a sentence um i use the adobe premiere pro effect for transitions good i love i love it i love it yeah but it's a thing there it's a noun right in that in that sentence does that make sense when you have to yeah it's not an action it's like a category kind of exactly yeah it's a thing it's a thing not an action so so just ask yourself you know a for action if it's an if it's an action if it's a verb then you've got to use the a form of effect does that make sense yes sir okay access and excess uh you know if the verb form has got to be accessed with an a i access to the secret database or something like that and xs would be an extra of something i think there is a noun form of access right like i gained access to something right that could be a thing but if it's a verb it's got to be the a form of access what about proceed you know what it means to proceed oh i was just thinking of that yeah well think about let's think about let's think about the roots of these words look at that that p r e prefix what is what does pre mean three before yeah pre means to come before so to proceed literally just means to come before okay that's all it means so hmm and then well you got it right no to proceed means to come before you could say like world war one preceded world war ii okay that's it so it's just it's kind of transitional almost well yeah we're talking about yeah sorry yeah i got you yeah yeah and uh you know the 19th century came you know preceded the 20th century it came before to proceed means to move forward to continue kind of opposites right but they sound very similar it's a little bit tricky does that make sense yes what about then with an e i want to use that honestly i couldn't even tell you that yeah between these and you use it all the time and you probably use it correctly right yeah you you know when you use them it's funny right you don't think about it so then with an e is for sequence right chronology again right first i did this then later i did that right first i went to the store to buy all the ingredients then i baked chocolate chip cookies there you go right so sequence of events and then uh and i can't remember that because it's because the e and then there's an e in sequence as well and i can i can use that to keep that straight and then then with an a is for comparisons for comparisons so you could say like she is taller than her boyfriend i see right so when you're comparing two things but there's that a and compare i use that to remember than with an ace for comparisons does that make some sense yes okay good there might be a couple that pop up on a test you take but those are the big ones and those are some of the trickier ones that students get tripped up on so be on the lookout for those let's talk about whom uh sorry who whom and whose whose is easy that's possessive everybody kind of knows that but students get tripped up and would use who and whom a lot right and there's a simple rule for that if the word is preceded by preposition right if a preposition comes before the word you need to use whom with an m if it's preceded by a preposition so you say to whom for whom of whom by whom uh to whom does this belong for whom was this intended of whom were you speaking by whom was this done does that make sense yes so if a preposition comes before you got to say whom are you familiar with prepositions abby um yeah i mean pretty yeah i'm going to show you real quick go scroll down to the end of the rules real quick okay let's do it it's almost the last thing i've got a list of 25 25 common prepositions yeah and there's like a song that goes with this some students know this song like middle school did you ever learn that song do you have any i did not learn that song it's a thing there's a song you don't have to memorize these but be really familiar with them especially the first 10 right of into four with on at from by about be really familiar with those you need to recognize prepositions for for a couple reasons here on the whom rule and then later when we get to make it uh make it match we'll talk about why prepositions are important but prepositions kind of describe i'll explain it real quick they describe the relationship between two things okay okay so the example i use like you have a relationship with with your house right now you are in your house i think right now you can also have another relationship with your house you could uh like climb out the wind and climb on the roof and you would be on your house or maybe if you have a basement you could be under your your house right you could uh you could be walking from your house you could be walking to your house you could be walking around your house um you know you can't fly your house you could be flying over your house yeah you could be by your house just kind of describes the relationship between two different things does that make sense so so be familiar with those uh those prepositions and then apply that if you see a question that's testing on when you use who and whom okay any questions about that yes sir okay and the last one here for uh choosing the right words just general vocab sometimes on the act they just test you on like specific academic vocabulary like you just have to know what words mean so what i recommend is you know in your prep work when you see words you don't know in general you know just look up the words i know you're not gonna have a dictionary when you're taking the act you know i know that but use your prep as as an opportunity to boost your academic vocab in your own school or when you're reading stuff and you see a word you don't know just look it up look it up it's the best way it's the fastest way it's the easiest way to boost your academic vocab and just be familiar with the kinds of words that they're going to test you on on this test in the past i've done like vocab worksheets with students nobody wants to do that it's a pain in the butt like it's just like nobody wants to so just turn your current work any reading you do in your your classes your english class your history class your science class whatever just turn it into into act prep by looking up words you don't know and then you'll see those same words again and again it's really funky but i'm telling you just a couple months of like making that habit of looking up words you don't know your academic vocabulary just explodes and and your your reading comprehension will expand with it does that make some sense yeah do you think you can make a habit of that i think so okay good i i i do it myself i you know i don't yeah i'm normally i'm a hypocrite serious person yeah right like i but that's it it's like i still find words i don't know i'm still expanding my vocab oh yeah so it never really ends all right let's go to rule number four keep it simple this is one of the more commonly tested rules here on the act go ahead and read that first bullet point for us please whenever possible say it with fewer words incorrect oh wait yeah go and read the correct example yep the oh oh it's incredible the ice begins thawing in late summer and such thawing follows several weeks of higher temperatures the correct version of that is the ice begins thawing in late summer following several weeks of higher temperatures awesome do you see the difference there between those two uh examples yes yes there's a and such yeah and such thawing follows right it's just unnecessary yeah yeah if you can say it with fewer words generally say with fewer words i mean and that's it and uh this trips up some students right because a lot of students are are overly impressed by like complicated language or complicated sentence structure you know they're like oh i don't even know that sentence is saying so complicated that must be the right answer and on the act it's generally the opposite if you've got like one short sweet answer that works that's probably the one you want to go for and and you know they're testing on this because they'll give you like three really lengthy wordy answer choices and one that's short and sweet go with one that's short and sweet awesome so yeah yeah good writing is clear and generally the the simpler the language the clearer it is so that's what you want to go for does that make sense yes sir okay good let's read that next bullet point for me as well please okay let's see you don't have to use fancy words or complex sentence structure say it simply and clearly also avoid the passive voice when possible incorrect the dogs were taken for a walk by me wow yeah that's an ugly sentence right taken for a walk by me um that's called the passive voice have you ever heard of the passive voice before yes sir yeah right it's where the subject in this case is the dogs but the dogs aren't really doing anything something is happening to the dogs it's kind of a confusing sentence do you know how you could could rearrange that sense or express that differently that's a little more clear i took the dogs for a while yeah i took the dogs for a walk that's better right then the subject is i and then the subject is actually doing something yeah just much more clear okay so yeah so avoid the past voice whenever you can absolutely um i'm going to read that third bullet point avoid unnecessarily repetitive statements avoid redundant statements that are unnecessarily repetitive yeah so uh so do you know what redundant means yeah yeah that's an ugly sentence redundant do you know what redundant means unclear maybe in this case it means basically unnecessarily repetitive okay like unnecessary avoid redundant statements yeah you could just say avoid redundancy yeah you could just say avoid statements right or you could say avoid statements that are unnecessarily repetitive right that would be fine but don't say avoid redundant statements that are unnecessarily repetitive because by definition a redundant statement is unnecessary yeah right it's repetitive okay so if you see anything you're like didn't they already say that or like doesn't that word mean the same thing there like we've already got that then that's what they're testing on so look out for that repetitive stuff gotcha this is like cheat sheet that's exactly what this is this is literally every single thing you need to know it's right here right and and it's funny because we're chatting a little bit earlier you know before the recording and you said like yeah you know you kind of know what the right answer is sometimes but you don't know why this is why and this just clarifies everything so when you're doing this prep like reference this cheat sheet look at this stuff and uh and and see if you can apply apply these rules it just cuts through everything and simplifies it i i would argue that the act english section is the easiest section to get a big score increase on especially for these rules yeah you can get a good scorecase in a very very um short amount of time with just a little bit of prep yeah all right go ahead and read that last bullet point there for keep it simple uh where are we at when combining two sentences avoid answer choices with more than one subject yeah sometimes they'll like just straight up underlying two sentences and you've gotta combine them into one sentence um a good answer choice you know generally has just one clear subject uh you know when you have multiple subjects doing multiple things just it's kind of confusing you know so one clear subject you know one or two verbs um is is ideally what you want when you're combining sentences that make some sense yes and those genders say like which of the finance choices best combines these two sentences so you know that's what they're testing on any questions about that no sir all right great go ahead and um let's look at uh rule number five good introductions transitions and conclusions gonna read that first bullet point for us please good introductions prepare the reader to easily understand the ideas being presented in a passage you have to read ahead in the paragraph slash passage before you decide how to best introduce it yeah sometimes i ask this question like a very straightforward way they'll say like which answer choice best introduces this paragraph right well you've got to read ahead you've got to read the paragraph right understand the ideas in the paragraph before you decide how to introduce it read ahead sometimes you might have to read had multiple paragraphs if they ask about introducing the passage you know be aware of that sometimes you've got to read ahead no big deal okay does that make sense yes sir all right and that second bullet point please along with good introductions good transition sentences are fundamental to good writing good transition sentences reference a previous idea and connect it to a new idea the underlying portion above is an example of a good transition sentence you will usually see this at the beginning of a new paragraph yeah so so um do you see why that that underlined sentence there is a good transition sentence i i reference the previous idea here along with good introductions right and then i lead into the new idea good transition sentences are fundamental to good writing um and they'll generally say like which of the following provides the best transition from the previous paragraph they make it pretty clear you're being tested on that okay reference the previous idea leading to the new idea that's what you're looking out for questions about that no sir all right and then that last bullet point on good conclusions good conclusions summarize the main point of a passager article reread the title and the first paragraph of the passage to find the main idea yeah generally the main idea is in the in the first paragraph you know toward the end of the first paragraph kind of like a thesis statement or something like yeah so sometimes you got to go back right if we're talking about the main point don't just go with the most recently discussed idea that may or may not be the main point so kind of go back scan through or just or focus on that that first paragraph we're generally the main the main point of the passages does that make sense sir all right we're flying through this you're doing great let's uh go to rule number six backup claims with relevant evidence uh go and read that first bullet point for me please carefully study all graphs starting with the title y and x-axis and key yeah this probably applies more to the s.a.t there's more graphs and charts on the s.a.t writing and language section than an act english section so i'm not too worried about this right now you know but that is kind of a graph analysis method i recommend following that and of course that works on the act math section and the act science section where you do see a lot of graphs and charts but kind of go through that process start with the title the y and x axis look for a key and then lastly look at the data and that kind of increases the the accuracy and the speed of your graph analysis but uh we might cover that more on some act math videos or act science videos coming out a little bit later go and read that second bullet point for me please supporting claims with specific evidence is a good idea as long as it's relevant yeah so uh you know if you could say for example uh more people prefer eating hamburgers or hot to hot dogs you could make a claim okay but if you can support that claim with specific evidence according to a recent study 75 percent of respondents prefer eating hamburgers to hot dogs if you've got specific evidence to support a claim you always want to go with that it's always a good idea as long as it's relevant right relevant means directly related to the main point okay does that make some sense yes if you have that option you specif specific evidence always go with it and then that last bullet point providing examples or definitions of technical or unfamiliar terms is always a good idea too yeah some of these passes get get real specific you know and if you see a term that the average reader isn't familiar with you're going to want to define it or you're going to want to provide some example of it to make it really clear that makes sense just ask yourself okay is this something the average reader knows and if not you want to provide a definition or an example okay any questions no serious sounds good all right all right rule number seven this is my favorite rule they don't test out a ton but i do see it pop up a bit on the ect um let's avoid misplaced modifiers are you familiar with what a misplaced modifier is have you heard that before modifier you say i've definitely heard it yeah yeah i'm sure i've learned of it but i forgot yeah no problem so a modifier is a modifying phrase a modifying or a descriptive phrase same thing okay and so a misplaced modifier is a modifying phrase descriptive phrase in the wrong part of the sentence okay so go and read that first bullet point i think it's going to make sense here the modifying aka description phrase must always come immediately before or immediately after the word it is bonifying okay and go and read that incorrect example for us please blazing through the night sky for brief periods of time humans have long been fascinated by comets okay i'm gonna stop you real quick do you see uh do you see the modifying or descriptive phrase in that sentence abby okay blazing through the night sky for brief periods of time humans have long been so is it when you say phrase is it like two words is it like three words well it's it's it's it's a chunk it's a chunk of words here it's more than two or three yeah blazing through the nice guy for brief periods of time yeah okay that seems unnecessary so i'm gonna oh you're saying the modifying the modified phrase yeah yeah that's the modifying phrase right there blazing through the next guy for brief periods of time yeah because they're describing some yeah someone or something is blazing through the night sky for brief periods of time does that make sense yes okay good now there's a problem here that's why it's the incorrect example the thing that follows that descriptive phrase is humans so that sentence is suggesting that humans are blazing through the night sky for brief periods of time gotcha because blazing has kind of been highlighted humans are probably not blazing through the night sky for periods of time yeah okay not likely so uh and it's funny because a lot of students read that sentence they're like you know our brains are great we can kind of figure out what's going on you know we're like oh they must be talking about the comets right you can kind of figure it out but that sentence structure suggests that humans are blazing into the night sky for me the word humans follows the descriptive phrase so read the correct example i think it's going to be a little more clear blazing through the night sky for brief periods of time comments have long fascinated humans okay and you see the word comments now follow that's the difference okay gotcha makes sense you could also you know rearrange it so you'd have the descriptive phrase at the end of the sentence and that would have been fine you could say humans have long been fascinated by comets comma blazing through the night sky for brief periods of time that would be fine but again the descriptive phrase is right next to the word being described the comments so either way just make sure that that descriptive phrase is is coming immediately before or immediately after the word being described questions about that sir okay all right we're rocking and rolling uh rule number eight make it match now this uh this rule has the most elements to it it's also one of the most commonly tested rules but all the elements share this one thing in common which is that you're trying to make one part of the sentence or paragraph match another part of the sentence or paragraph so we're going to start with make it match a number now here we're talking about number as in like singular or plural okay if you have a singular subject you need to have a singular verb if you have a plural subject you need to have a plural verb does that make some sense yes okay so go and read that example there for make it match a number a pack of wild wolves is roaming through the neighborhood okay okay so you got to make the subject write the number of the subject singular plural match the number of the verb my first question here abby is what is the subject of that sentence um the pack of wild the pack of white rules you're absolutely right you could say just a pack right yeah but it's true right there's there's this prepositional phrase is where prepositions pop in uh come into play again of wild wolves describes the pack gotcha it is packed singular or plural it is i mean it's a tough question it is because it how many packs are you talking about literally have to think about it in particular it's singular right we're doing okay right yeah hacks with an s would be plural yes is an amount of wolves but it's only one it's one pack yeah it's made up of multiple wolves exactly right like a pack of cigarettes right yeah it's like one pack one pack yeah okay i got you yeah so and it's kind of like a team right is is team singular or plural it is definitely singing it's singular it's singular right one team right you're like well it's made up of a bunch of people it's funny actually if you go to britain i'm pretty sure they say like the team all taking the field right and they actually make that pull i don't know why that's weird but isn't that funky yeah i've heard that before this is some some like british soccer announcers or something like that football announcers whatever you want to call it but uh but yeah but uh but in general in american english right in america um pack or team you know group it's singular right so a pack of wild wolves but that's tricky right because wolves is plural but the wolves are not the subjects the wolves are part of that prepositional phrase describing the attack so the the the pack the subject here is singular so we need a singular verb okay now is a singular i'm going to explain why here just a moment but when you see a question where the test can make a match number they're going to give you like four possible verbs that uh you know if you need singular you gotta find the one singular so how do you know which one is singular so if you saw like in the answers you saw is are were and have been as the answer choices how do you know which one is singular test the answer choices test the verbs with the singular pronoun it right it is singular is that clear yes yeah so could you say it is is that a thing yeah you could say it is can you say it no no no can you say it were no no generally no can you say it have been nope no definitely not so it's got to be it is does that make some sense yes sir and if you needed a plural right if you found that the subject was plural you could test the answer choices with the plural pronoun they so can you say they is no no definitely not now can you say they are yes yeah can you say they were yes yeah they have been yes yeah those work because those last three are plural gotcha very cool so um so if you see you're being tested on this generally if you need a singular there will be just one singular answer choice or if you need a plural there's generally just going to be one plural answer choice so quite often the right answer is the odd man out so even without like finding the subject you just be like oh i've got one singular verb here and three plurals it's probably the one singular and it generally is there's a little kind of hat for the test yeah if you if you see that you're being tested to make a match number does that make some sense yes sir okay great go and read the next bullet point make a match tense the band played its hit tune and the audience erupted in applause okay notice we're matching the tense here these are two past tense verbs here in this example this doesn't mean you can't use different verb tenses in the same sentence you can you know depending on how the sentence is structured but if we're talking about events that happened in the past stay in the past tense we're talking about events that are happening right now in the present use the present tense and common events that will happen in the future then you will need to use the future tense so just ask yourself kind of when the events are happening make that really clear does that make sense yes sometimes you got to read a little context or read a little bit before you know the underlying portion you know the paragraph around that sentence to find out when the events are happening but you can generally figure it out all right make it match style and tone do you know what tone means abby um i guess it's how you're portraying the words yeah it's kind of it's really kind of a musical term you know quite often yeah you can also use it in writing it's just how something sounds sounds how it sounds so i could describe this rule make it match style and tone as um avoid conversational language because uh if you hear anything that sounds conversational you know the way people talk but not the way you want to write you want to get rid of that as an answer choice so go and read that example here of incorrect style and tone the polar bear is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the arctic circle they are super cute but they can be me yeah that lasts their sounds that just sounds off right it sounds like it was written by a seventh grade girl or maybe like fifth grade but uh yeah anything you feel like ooh that sounds really conversational just get rid of it as an answer choice that's what they're testing because it's like they are super cute but they sure can be mean yeah it's just you don't still want it's just not right yeah this is definitely not academically right that's it right the the passage you're gonna be reading they're they all have a formal professional style and tone okay so just stick with what's formally professional and avoid anything conversational does that make sense yes sir okay uh let's read that fourth bullet point parallel structure gonna read that example along with running and rock climbing surfing is one of my favorite activities okay let's talk about the word parallel real quick do you know what you know what uh parallel means generally used in math next to each other like parallel lines yeah parallel lines can be next to each other but what makes them parallel is not just that they're next to each other it's going in the same direction yeah two pair lines have the same slope same slope and so yeah so they they're they're so closely aligned in slope they go on forever and they never touch so we're talking about parallel structure in a sense we're talking about the same structure and so if you see a pattern in a sentence you want to stick with that pattern don't don't change the pattern so here you all these words have you know the ing ending in this list you see that running rock climbing surfing right yes you wouldn't change the pattern you wouldn't say along with running and rock climbing to surf is one of my favorite activities gotcha it has to all be listed exactly like whatever the pattern is just stick with that pattern okay okay so you could have a different pattern you could say to run to rock climb and to surf are my favorite activities that would be fine but again you're still matching that pattern that's established so whatever the pattern is stick with the pattern does that make sense yes sir okay this next bullet point here these are matching pairs of words if you see the first half you're always going to see some form of the second half let me just explain this real quick not only is always followed by some form of but also okay so i could say like not only do i like eating uh ice cream but i also like eating chocolate chip cookies i see okay so not only is always gonna be followed by some form but also notice in that example i gave you i think i had the word i between but and also right that's that's kind of a thing um you could also rearrange the sense you could say i like eating not only ice cream but also chocolate chip cookies and then there's no subject between button also but still i've seen not only it's going to be followed by some form but also does that make sense okay yes and then neither is always followed by nor either is always followed by or in some part of this gotcha does that make sense yes sir all right this last one is a little bit tricky but go and read um read that next bullet point compare only directly related ideas compared to working at a desk marine biologists get a lot more fresh air and exercise i'm gonna stop real quick abby so that's an incorrect example uh and uh my question is what two things are being compared in that incorrect example like nothing because there's nothing compared to working at a desk there's it's empty there well no something is being compared to working at a desk it's just not a good comparison but it's not it's not clear at all it's not so the comparison here in the sentence is we're comparing working at a desk and x fresh air next well no no we're comparing it to marine biologists compared to working at a desk i see marine biologists now that's not a good comparison okay it's not a good comparison let me explain why working at a desk is an activity and marine biologists are people yeah okay okay i see you can compare two activities or you can compare two people but don't compare an activity to a person that's kind of weird so read the correct example i think it's gonna be a little more clear compared to office secretaries marine biologists get a lot more fresh air and exercise so they make it really clear with those secretaries yeah right now we're comparing two people and that's just a better comparison right yes you could also compare two activities you could say compared to working at a desk working outdoors provides the opportunity for more fresh air and exercise that would be fine but they are comparing an activity to activity and that's okay but don't compare an activity to a person it's kind of weird these are tough to catch these are tough to catch but um but does that make sense why the second one is correct and the first one's not yes okay for sure good all right we are almost done there's two more rules let's go to uh rule nine this is logical order so here they're testing you on like you know you got to plug a sentence into a paragraph you got to find the right place to plug it into go and read that first bullet point for us please avoid interrupting the flow of thought the incorrect version of this is the bear population in alaska has grown by 15 in the past decade there is an abundance of other fish and wildlife in alaska the exact reason for the increase in bear populations is currently unknown okay you see what's wrong there with that that uh yeah i don't even remember what that they were emphasizing at all yeah i mean notice this the that you know that trio of sentences begins with a discussion about the bear population and then they go to discussion of like other fish and wildlife and then they go back to the bear population right so that second sentence there yeah it interrupts the flow of thought so you know what you need to do on these these logical order questions is you need to plug the sentence into the paragraph and you got to read three sentences total you got to read the sentence before the one in the question then you got to read the sentence in the question then you read the sentence after and make sure that all the ideas flow logically from one to the next so you got to read three sentences every time you're testing those does that make some sense yes okay and i call that the sentence sandwich method okay plug it in right so the sense before is like the top piece of bread then the sense in the middle is like the meat and then the sentence so with this answer or with this problem paragraph whatever yeah um is there like a certain order that you would want to put this in specifically they'll they'll give you like an option you know options to plug it into you know okay you'll see when we see a question like this and just just test them all but make sure you read through all three sentences to make sure that the ideas flow from one to the next to the next that makes some sense gotcha okay practice with these all right go and read uh let's read the last one this is trust your ear and trust your instincts gonna read that bullet point for me please you may not always know the exact rule that applies furthermore there are a number of conventions of good writing that don't fit into perfect categories so in doubt trust your ear and go with your first instinct you may be wrong some of the time but it's always your best bet it is always your best bet yeah yeah so uh at this point we were talking about this a little before the recording right that like sometimes just going with your instincts works it's great right it doesn't always work though right if you know the rule if you'll be like oh they're testing me keep it simple here just apply the rule right it's like oh let's make it match your number you know okay apply the rule right because there's some things that might sound okay to you that aren't right you know like going back to make it match number example right if you heard a pack of wild wolves are roaming through the neighborhood to some students that sounds good right because you hear wolves are roaming and it's like oh that sounds okay but it violates the rule right so um so if you know the rule apply the rule but if you're if you're reading you're like i'm not sure what the rule is but like these three answer choices sound like crap and this one sounds all right go with one that sounds good your instincts are a really helpful tool especially when it comes to conventions of english sometimes there's just certain phrasings that are acceptable in english and and other phrases that aren't and uh and you know you just got to go with you know go with your your your gut instinct on those go with what feels the best um and it's funny because you've probably heard you know some of those phrasings before in your own reading you know somewhere years ago or something like that so you might be like that sounds familiar that sounds like that might be okay you know go with it you know if you don't know the rule it's gonna be your best bet going with your first instinct does that make some sense yes sir okay it's not not perfect but uh but it is your best bet okay that's it that's every single grammar rule you need to know for the act we got it covered here uh in the second part of the video we're going to practice applying these rules to some act english questions so be on the lookout for that video i'll probably have it uh have it linked here um in the description or uh uh yeah you'll you'll find it so anyway all right abby you have any questions for me no sir it sounds all sounds good awesome great work today and uh let's um let's practice those uh applying these rules here in the next video i'll see you soon abby bye