Do you struggle to correctly use pronouns? If so, you may understandably be wary of the ACT English section.
This portion of the ACT contains 75 questions, which you must answer in 45 minutes. More than 50 percent of the English section tests standard English conventions, such as sentence structure and formation, punctuation and usage. Pronouns are a part of these conventions.
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While it may seem daunting, you can learn to spot pronoun usage errors with this three-step plan.
1. Familiarize yourself with potential error types: The ACT English section may assess pronoun knowledge in several ways.
First, when you spot a pronoun question, immediately determine whether the pronoun refers to or replaces a word. This is called the antecedent.
Then review these two pronoun grammar errors: pronoun-antecedent disagreement and ambiguous antecedents.
For the first, pronouns must agree in gender and number with their antecedents to be grammatically correct. For instance, “Each student should sit at their desk” is incorrect.
The phrase “Each student” focuses on the individual, rather than a group. The correct way to write this sentence is , “Each student should sit at his or her desk.”
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It is also important for pronouns to have a clear antecedent. If you can’t identify what the pronoun refers to, then its antecedent is ambiguous.
Consider this sentence: “Samantha told Alexis that she needed to focus because she has a test the next day.” It is unclear who “she” refers to — Alexis or Samantha.
The ACT may also assess pronoun case. Consider these three types of pronoun cases.
The possessive case is only used to show ownership. “Mine,” “my,” “your,” “yours,” “his,” “her,” “hers,” “their,” “theirs,” “our,” “ours” and “its” are all examples of possessive pronouns. Note that “its” is the possessive form, not the contraction for “it is.” An item on the ACT that read, “The dog carried it’s leash to us,” would thus be incorrect.
The subjective case refers to those words that are used as subjects in a sentence. For most sentences, these are the pronouns that come before the verb. Examples include “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” “they” and “we.”
The objective case encompasses those words that serve as objects, whether direct or indirect objects or objects of prepositions. Objects on the ACT may be incorrectly replaced with pronouns in the subjective case.
For example, review this statement: “Apples taste better than oranges to her.” “Her” is the object here. It would be incorrect to replace “her” with the subjective case pronoun “she.” However, in th e sentence, “Her called me,” you would select “She” as the correction.
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2. Research examples of pronoun usage errors: You unfortunately won’t master pronoun errors by only reading and re-reading the pronoun grammar rules. Practice is essential, since it gives you opportunities to recognize and correct pronoun usage errors within the context of the ACT.
The ACT website offers online practice questions. Consider, for example, Question 8 for Passage One, which involves a possessive case pronoun. Since the ACT provides explanations for each practice question answer, you can learn from any question you answer incorrectly.
3. Note casual speech patterns in your daily language: Another way you can prepare is to listen to your everyday discussions. Keep in mind that day-to-day casual speech, which is often informal, does not always conform to the expectations and standards set forth in the ACT English section.
For instance, “they” is not a gender-neutral, singular pronoun for the purposes of this test. In everyday language, though, you might state, “They will be here soon,” if referring to a new student whose gender you don’t know. However, on the ACT, this sentence would read, “He or she will be here soon.”
Examining how you normally speak can help you avoid simple mistakes that are made out of common use, rather than a lack of knowledge.
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Tackle Pronoun Usage Errors on ACT English Section originally appeared on usnews.com
