Exam / Class: ACT English
Instructional Goals:
- To help student improve their score on the English section of the ACT
- Develop strategies which provide success on time management of the ACT English Exam
- Provide students with knowledge of common types of questions on the ACT English
Each Area at a Glance:
1. Introduction to English
2. Verbs
3. Pronouns
4. Grammar and Usage
5. Fragments
6. Run Ons
7. Sentence Structure
8. Commas
9. Punctuation
10. Rhetorical Skills
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.
Content Instruction:
Verbs Agreement
Tense
Irregular Verbs and Past Participles
Active vs Passive
Pronouns Agreement
Case
Relative Pronouns
Grammar and Usage
Adjectives and Adverbs
Prepositions
Fragments Change the Verb
Remove a Connector
Join Another Sentence
Run Ons
Use a Period
Add a Conjunction Change One Clause
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.
Content Instruction Continued
Sentence Structure
Modifiers
Dangling Modifiers
Modifiers at the End of a Sentence
Commas
When Can I Use a Comma?
When Should I not Use a Comma?
Punctuation
Apostrophes
Semicolon
Colon
Dash
Sentence Final Marks
Rhetorical Skills
Style
Organization Writing Strategy
Test Strategies: Introduction to ACT English
General Strategies – Structure of exam, timing,
Usage/Mechanics = punctuation, grammar, usage, and sentence structure (This part is more objective. When the student has a solid foundation in this area, he should be able to count on getting more of these correct.)
Rhetorical Skills = writing effectively--style, organization, writing strategy (This part is more subjective.)
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.
Classroom Examples:
Use the blue print in the textbook as a bank for classroom examples and descriptions of examples. Some examples will specify the printable handouts for students provided through the resource bank.
Usage/Mechanics: Grammar and Usage (This section is long. Try not to get bogged down in it.)
I. I. Verbs
A. Form Chart – Hand Out – ENG-1
B. Agreement Examples
C. Prepositional Phrases
D. Multiple Subjects and Multiple Verbs
E. Tense
F. Perfect Verbs
G. Would
H. Class Exercise – Hand Out – ENG-2
I. Irregular Verbs and Past Participles – Table Hand Out – ENG-3
1. Include Another Way to Look at it for Past, Present and Participle
J. Active vs. Passive
K. Verb Summary – Hand Out – ENG-4
II. Pronouns
A. Personal Pronouns
B. Demonstrative Pronouns
C. Interrogative Pronouns
D. Relative Pronouns
E. Indefinite Pronouns
F. Agreement
G. Vague Pronouns
H. Mystery Pronouns
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.
Classroom Examples: (cont’d) I. Generic Pronoun Shift
J. Noun Agreement
K. Class Exercise – Hand Out – ENG-5
L. Subject and Object
M. Reflexive Pronouns
N. Contraction and Possessive Pronouns
O. Class Exercise – Hand Out – ENG-6
P. Verb Agreement
Q. Who vs. Whom
R. Who’s Vs. Whose
S. Class Exercise – Hand Out – ENG-7
T. Pronoun Chart – Hand Out – ENG-8
U. Pronoun Summary – Hand Out – ENG-9
III. Other Topics
A. Adjectives
B. Adverbs
C. More on Adjectives and Adverbs
D. Comparatives and Superlatives
E. More on Prepositional Phrases
F. More Commonly Confused Words – Table Hand Out – ENG-10
G. Grammar and Usage Summary – Hand Out – ENG-11
Usage/Mechanics: Sentence Structure
I. Connectives
A. Coordinating Conjunctions
B. Compound Sentences
C. Subordinating Conjunctions
D. Conjunctive Adverbs
E. What is a Clause
F. Independent Clauses
G. Dependent Clauses
H. Relative Clauses – Table Hand Out – ENG-12
I. Modifiers
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.
Classroom Examples: (cont’d)
II. Fragments
A. Fixing a Fragment
1. Change the Verb
2. Remove a Connector
3. Join Another Sentence
4. Another Way to Look At It
III. Run On Sentences
A. Fixing a Run On
1. Use a Period
2. Add a Conjunction
3. Change One Clause
4. Another Way to Look At It
IV. Modifiers
A. Dangling Modifiers
B. Modifiers at the End of Sentence
C. Prepositional Phrase Placement
D. Parallelism
E. Another Way to Look At it
F. Sentence Structure Summary – Hand out – ENG-13
Usage/Mechanics: Punctuation
I. Commas
A. When Can I Use a Comma
1. Between independent clauses joined with a conjunction
2. Around Parenthetical Phrases
a. Parenthetical Phrases - explained
4. Between Items of a List with Three or More Items
5. Between Coordinate Adjectives
6. Before a Direct Quote
7. Around Sentence Adverbs
B. When Should I Not Use a Comma
1. Between the subject and verb or between the verb and object
2. Before Infinitives
3. Around Prepositional Phrases
4. In a two-part list (Compound or Conjunction)
5. With a that Clause
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.
Classroom Examples: (cont’d)
6. With a Restrictive Clause of Modifiers
C. Another Way to Look At It
II. Apostrophes
A. Possession
B. Contractions
C. Pronouns – Table Hand Out – ENG-14
D. Another Way to Look At It
III. Other Punctuation Marks
A. Semicolon
B. colon
C. Dash
D. Another Way to Look At It
E. Avoid Using a Dash When…
IV. Sentence Final Marks
A. Period
B. Question Mark
C. Exclamation Mark
D. Punctuation Summary – Hand Out – ENG-15
Rhetorical Skills
I. Style
A. Be Concise
1. Redundancy
2. Wordiness
B. Be Specific 1. Vague Pronouns
C. Choose the Right Word 1. Tone
II. Organization
A. Transition Words
1. Transition Words Table – Hand Out – ENG-16
B. Transition Sentences
C. Introductions and Conclusions
D. Sentence Order
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.
Classroom Examples: (cont’d) III. Writing Strategy
A. Does it Fill the Writer’s Goals
B. Should You Add It
C. Irrelevant Details
D. What Would the Essay Lose
E. Rhetorical Skills Summary – Hand Out – ENG-17
Key Resources:
Assessment:
Use links to Guide students to Practice Drills, Practice Tests and Benchmark Tests
- The Ultimate Guide to the ACT English – Capstone E-Textbook
- Baseline Test – ACT CPRE
- Verb Drill
- Principle Parts of a Verb Drill
- Pronoun Drill
- Grammar and Usage Drill I
- Grammar and Usage Drill II
- Fragment Drill
- Run On Drill
- Run Ons, Connectives and Fragment Drill
- Parallelism Drill
- Sentence Structure Drill I
- Sentence Structure Drill II
- Punctuation Drill I
- Punctuation Drill II
- Rhetorical Skills Drill I
- Rhetorical Skills Drill II
Special Instructions
Teacher Notes are scattered through the e-textbook (in blue and marked) and are provided to assist teacher with additional information which may be relevant in helping students understand the concepts more clearly.
This curriculum map is the property of Capstone College and Career Advising LLC and may not be reproduced, duplicated or distributed without the express written consent of Capstone College and Career Advising.