The Complete Guide to ACT English Author:Erica L. Meltzer Written by a top tutor whose students regularly achieve ACT English scores in the mid-30s, The Complete Guide to ACT English is the only book that offers a comprehensive review of all ACT grammar and rhetoric topics. Includes step-by-step explanations of errors in all their forms; dozens of ACT-style exercises that help you move from understandi... more »ng rules to applying them in context; and cumulative reviews that allow you to practice a progressively wider range of concepts in a passage. Also includes a complete index of English questions from The Real Guide to the ACT, grouped both by topic and by test.
Errata for books purchased prior to 8/25/14: p. 35 incorrectly states that when "however" or "therefore" is used to begin a clause, it should only follow a semicolon and not a period. The ACT is actually somewhat inconsistent with this rule: grammar questions that ask test-takers to join two complete sentences will provide only "semicolon + however/therefore" as a correct answer choice. The construction "period + However/Therefore" will not appear as an answer choice.
In contrast, on (rhetoric) questions that test meaning rather than grammar, the ACT considers the construction "period + However/Therefore" acceptable. For example, consider the following:
The first tomatoes, grown in South America as early as 500 B.C., were small and golden. Therefore, the tomatoes grown today are large and red.
A. NO CHANGE
B. However,
C. Meanwhile
D. Likewise,
Choice (B) is correct because it is the only option that indicates a contrast between the two sentences. The fact that "however" is preceded by a period rather than a semicolon would not be considered problematic.« less