ACT Preparation / Unit 3 ACT 0228 review, 2 to 3 minutes
One Passage, Four Agreements
The idea
Every rule in this unit is a matching rule. A verb matches its subject in number, and the subject is found by crossing out phrases in between, turning inverted sentences around, and checking compounds: and makes them plural, while or and nor follow the nearer part. Indefinite pronouns such as everyone are singular; both and several are plural; some, most, all and none follow their noun. A collective noun acting as one unit is singular. Verbs match the passage's governing tense, take the past participle after have, and take were in an untrue condition. A pronoun matches its antecedent: they for a plural noun and, for a single person, singular they; it for a single thing or organization. Its case matches its job, subject or object. Point of view stays where it started, and describing words match what they describe.
In practice
Worked example: one passage, four repairs. "The orchestra performed its final concert on Friday. The box of programs on the tables were empty by eight. When the conductor raised the baton, everyone in the seats were silent. Afterward, the orchestra thanked their audience, and you could hear the applause from the street." First: the subject is box, not programs, so the box was empty. Second: everyone is singular, so everyone was silent. Third: the orchestra acted as one unit, and the passage already used its, so its audience. Fourth: the passage is in the third person, so the slide into you breaks it: "the applause could be heard from the street."
Where people slip
Matching errors hide behind distance: the noun nearest the verb, a pronoun several words from its antecedent, a tense set two sentences back. Each repair in this unit starts by looking past what is nearest to what governs. The next unit moves from rules to choices: the precise word, and no more words than the sentence needs.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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