ACT ENglish TEXTBOOK
A new, comprehensive ACT English textbook with over 900 questions, including two practice tests.
Click below to order!
Mastering the ACT requires mastering the English section. How do we punctuate an appositive? When do we use a comma? What is a modifier? These are all things you need to know in order to ace ACT English. Grammar can often seem ambiguous, so we go with what ‘feels right’: this book changes that. By offering an accessible system of grammatical and rhetorical concepts, we have sought to create a parallel between mathematics and grammar. No one doubts that 2 + 2 = 4, so why doubt how to use a semicolon?
To strengthen the similarities between grammar and mathematics, this textbook contains several innovative features. First, we have expressed grammatical rules as formulae. This gives you, the reader, a rock-solid understanding of the concept, and how to apply it. You can see some of these formulae at Route 36, our online guide to ACT English.
“These are well-crafted lessons and questions that mirror the content of the ACT and prepare students well for the exam. I am always searching for material like this to use with my own students to help them prepare.”
Secondly, each chapter contains “step-by-step” questions before introducing ACT-style questions. If you were solving a math problem, you wouldn’t jump straight from the question to the answer: you would work through the steps to find the solution. In the same way, our step-by-step questions encourage you to think like a grammarian — thinking through the logical steps before arriving at the answer.
ACTing English: Contents
1. Introduction
2. Subject, Verbs, Agreement
3. Clauses and Phrases
4. Joining Clauses (Colour, B&W)
5. Sentence Fragments
6. Modifiers
7. Appositives (Colour, B&W)
8. Commas, Dashes, Parentheses
9. Pronouns
10. Possessives and Contractions (Colour, B&W)
11. Redundancy and Wordiness
12. Words at Sea
13. Words on a Mission (Colour, B&W)
14. Transitions
15. Participles, Parallelism, Comparatives, Idioms
16. Revision, Addition, Deletion
17. Ordering
18. Main Point
19. The Ten Commandments
20. Practice Test 1 (Colour, B&W)
21. Practice Test 2
We’ve designed and written this textbook based on our experience teaching hundreds of students over thousands of hours. At essai, our students improve 12 points in the English section on average: now, with ACTing English, you can too. This textbook includes:
An ACT-oriented breakdown of every grammatical and rhetorical concept needed to get a perfect score on the English section.
A standardised, structured approach to grammar: rules and formulas that are guaranteed to work every time in every situation.
Visual and diagrammatic representations of grammatical concepts.
475 step-by-step questions which build you up to ACT-style questions.
500 ACT-style questions, including 2 practice tests.
We know that grammar can be dry: ACTing English educates you through colour, illustrations, and the (mis)adventures of Tanvi and Albert as they seek to unravel the secrets of a long-forgotten language.
Practice Test 1: Passage 1
(Colour, B&W)
Email info@essai.in to find out the answers!
If you’re still looking for more material, check out Route 36, our comprehensive summary of all the rules you need to know for ACT English.