1. ACT Test Prep By Ms. Worster

2. ACT TEST PREP: PRONOUNS There will be at least 8 questions out of 45 regarding pronouns. Two types of errors: Case and Agreement Case refers to whether the pronoun is used as a subject in the sentence, an object (of a preposition, direct object, indirect object) or possessive Agreement refers to whether the pronoun “matches” its antecedent (the noun it’s replacing)

3. ACT TEST PREP Pronoun Case: Possessive Possessive pronouns replace possessive nouns. ▫Ex: I have John’s keys. I have his ID too. There are a few problems with possessive pronouns that will be tested. ▫Commonly confused possessive pronouns  They’re/their/there; your/you’re; it’s/its; whose/who’s ▫Singular vs. plural pronouns  Their vs. his or her

4. ACT TEST PREP Commonly Confused Pronouns They’re: they are ▫Ex. They’re going out. They’re doing great. Their: possessive of they ▫Ex. Their house got broken into. There: a place or the beginning of a declaration ▫Ex. Please stand over there for the photographer. ▫Ex. There are several people interested. There is a game tonight. There was something missing.

5. ACT TEST PREP Commonly Confused Pronouns You’re= you are ▫Ex. You’re going to get in trouble. ▫Ex. You’re making great grades! ▫Ex. You’re on duty. Your= possessive; you own or have something ▫Ex. Is that your truck? Give me your keys. It’s = contraction of it is ▫Ex. The dog lost its collar. Its = possessive; it owns or has something ▫Ex. You can tell that it’s a real certificate by its color.

6. ACT TEST PREP Commonly Confused Pronouns Who’s = contraction for who is or who has ▫Who’s going to the game? ▫Who’s doing the extra credit? ▫Who’s got enough money to buy my lunch today? Whose = means to whom does this belong ▫Whose book bag is this? ▫I don’t know whose dog this is, but I’m not going to let it run away!

7. ACT TEST PREP Possessive Pronoun Number When one person owns something, we say “his” if the person is male and “her” if female. ▫Ex. John left his notebook in 3 rd hour. ▫Ex. Sarah got her drivers license today. When a group of people own something we say “their.” ▫Their football team is 8-0 so far this year. When you don’t know what gender, but you know it’s ONE person, you should say “his or her.” However, most people will say “their” when referring to an unknown person to avoid stating a gender. ▫Incorrect: Someone (1 person) left their (>1 person) geometry book in here. ▫Correct: Someone left his or her geometry book in here.

8. ACT TEST PREP Subjective vs. Objective Let’s start with the first person pronoun in both cases: “I” and “me.” The pronoun “I” is used for subjects and is most likely the correct case for the beginning of a sentence. ▫Ex. I went shopping. Even if you add more people to the subject, you should still use the subjective case. If the subject is compound (more than 1 person), cross out the other person and see what fits. ▫Ex. Jack and I went shopping. ▫Incorrect: Me and Jack went shopping.

9. ACT TEST PREP Objective The pronoun “me” is used for direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. Direct objects answer “Who or what?” after the verb. ▫My grandma likes me more than my sister.  (Likes who? Likes me.) ▫My teacher caught me texting in class.  (Caught who? Caught me.)

10. ACT TEST PREP Objective Indirect objects come between the verb and the direct object and answer the question “To or for whom?” ▫My mom sent me a card for my birthday.  Sent what? A card. To whom? Me. ▫My grandparents are buying me a car.  Buying what? A car. For whom? Me. ▫The principal gave Mike and me detention.  Gave what? Detention. To whom? Mike and me.

11. ACT TEST PREP Objective Below is a list of prepositions: ▫Most common: at, by, down, for, from, in, into, like, near, next, of, off, on, onto, out, over, to, up, with ▫Others: aboard, out, above, across, after, against, along, around, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, during, except, following, inside, onto, opposite, outside, round, since, through, toward, under, underneath, unlike, until, upon, without Prepositions always occur in a phrase that follows this format: preposition  object of preposition. (There may be some adjectives in front of the object). You must use the objective case after a preposition. ▫He threw the ball at me. Sit by me. Is it for me? That gift is from me. Do you want to be like me? Etc.

12. ACT TEST PREP Case with other pronouns All of the rules apply to the rest of the pronouns: SUBJECTIVEOBJECTIVE IME YOU HE, SHE, ITHIM, HER, IT WEUS THEYTHEM WHOWHOM

13. ACT TEST PREP Guaranteed Questions Elliptical clause: (Ellipsis is …) She is smarter than ___. Compound subjects: Cross out the other person and the “and”. Jill and her husband celebrated their anniversary last Friday. Jill and him/he went to dinner.

14. ACT TEST PREP Pronoun Case and Number Practice http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi -shl/quiz.pl/its_there_quiz.htmhttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi -shl/quiz.pl/its_there_quiz.htm http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_your.htm http://esl.about.com/od/grammarintermediate/ a/cm_there.htmhttp://esl.about.com/od/grammarintermediate/ a/cm_there.htm