SAT and ACT Grammar Review Updated May 2021

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler

Ace It Test Prep SAT/ACT Grammar Workbook provides a focused review of the grammar rules most commonly tested on the SAT and ACT. The material explains what each rule means, why errors occur, and how the tests use distractors, followed by practical guidance for identifying subject-verb agreement and maintaining consistent verb tense. Includes targeted practice questions that ask students to detect and correct underlined portions of sentences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages55

Reading Time2 h 19 min

AccessFree to download

Rule No. 1: Subject–verb agreement

What it means

How the tests will try to trick you

Other things to consider

Tips/strategies

Practice questions

Rule No. 2: Verb tense

Ace It Test Prep SAT/ACT Grammar Workbook The SAT and ACT do not expect you to know every nook and cranny of the English language. Instead, they assess your knowledge of a small subset of grammatical rules—and once you master them, you can master the Language Arts* sections of both tests. Below are the 16 most commonly tested grammatical rules, what they mean, and how to practice them. *Note: The SAT’s language arts section is called “Writing and Language.” The ACT’s is called“English.” This guide does not have tips or techniques for the tests’ essay components. Rule No. 1: Subject–verb agreement 1. What it means: Consider this simple sentence: “My mother works in a school.” The subject is “mother” and the verb is “works.” In every sentence, the subject and the verb must“agree” —or take the same form. This sentence would not be grammatically correct if it read,“My mother work in a school.” 2. How the tests will try to trick you: When the subject and verb are placed right next to each other, identifying them and their form is relatively easy (as in the example above) . So the SAT and ACT will attempt to confuse you by separating them by several (often confusing or unnecessary) words. For example, consider this sentence: “The collection of short stories—many of them written by authors in 19th-century England, including Jane Austen and C. S. Lewis—contain some of the preeminent works of fiction to date.” Is there an error here? Ask yourself three questions: What is the subject, what is its verb, and do they agree? (Blue is subject; red is verb.) The collection of short stories—many of them written by authors in 19th-century England, including Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis—contain some of the preeminent works of fiction to date. The subject is “collection.” The verb is “contain.” These do not agree: The verb should be“contains” because “collection” is singular. Thus, there is an error in this sentence. Be wary of the tests’ propensity to using singular subjects with plural verbs, or vice-versa. They love to try to trip you up with pairings like these. Don’t let them! 3. Other things to consider: • “Each” is singular. - “Each of the boys is athletic.” - “Each teacher tests the same material.” • Gerunds (words ending in “–ing”) are singular - “Running is my favorite sport.” - “The coach thought swimming was one of the most effective forms of exercise.” • Collective nouns (the government, New York City, the town council) are singular. - “The town council votes on the bicycling ordinance this summer.” - “The chain of large businesses vows to stop poaching clients from smaller stores.” • “Neither” and “nor” are singular. - “Neither the city nor its constituency has an answer to the problem.” • Use context to decide whether to use singular or plural for words like “athletics,”“economics,” “statistics,” etc. 4. Tips/strategies: • Underline the subject and its verb, and draw arrows to connect them. Determine if they agree, and if not, determine how to make them agree. • Cross out any prepositional phrases and parenthetical clauses that separate the subject and its verb. Reread the sentence with the extraneous parts eliminated. Don’t get bogged down by unnecessarily verbose sentences; focus only on the essentials: the subject and verb in question. 5. Practice questions: For the following questions, determine if there is an error in the underlined portion(s); if there is, choose the answer that best fixes it. 1) After driving through five states in a span of 14 hours, Carmen, whose two best friends accompanied her on this journey up the East Coast—which was completed in a rundown sedan overpowered by the smell of two lemon air fresheners—were exhausted—physically and mentally drained. A. NO CHANGE B. were exhausted to the point of being physically and mentally drained. C. was exhausted—physically and mentally drained. D. were physically and mentally exhausted. 2) Perhaps

FAQs

What does the workbook say about the SAT and ACT testing grammar knowledge?

The tests assess a limited subset of grammatical rules rather than every detail of English. Mastering those rules helps students perform strongly on the Language Arts sections.

How do you handle subject–verb agreement errors when subjects and verbs are separated?

Identify the subject and its verb, even if other words come between them. Eliminate intervening prepositional phrases or parenthetical clauses and determine whether the agreement form is correct.

What is the core rule for verb tense consistency in the workbook?

All verbs in a sentence must use the same tense throughout the sentence, keeping the tense consistent from start to finish.

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Skyler