Grade: Grade 6 Subject: SAT/ACT Skills Unit: Conventions Practice Lesson: 5 of 6 SAT: StandardEnglishConventions ACT: English

Review Common Mistakes

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This lesson reviews the most common grammar mistakes tested on the SAT and ACT. Recognizing these patterns will help you spot errors quickly.

1. Pronoun Errors

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement:

  • Wrong: Each student should bring their book.
  • Right: Each student should bring his or her book. / Students should bring their books.

Unclear Pronoun Reference:

  • Wrong: Tom told Jerry that he was late. (Who was late?)
  • Right: Tom told Jerry, "You are late." / Tom said he himself was late.

2. Modifier Errors

Dangling Modifiers:

  • Wrong: Walking to school, the rain began to fall.
  • Right: Walking to school, I noticed the rain began to fall.

Misplaced Modifiers:

  • Wrong: She almost ate the whole pizza.
  • Right: She ate almost the whole pizza.

3. Verb Tense Errors

  • Wrong: Yesterday, she goes to the store and bought milk.
  • Right: Yesterday, she went to the store and bought milk.

Rule: Keep tenses consistent unless there's a reason to shift.

4. Run-On Sentences and Comma Splices

  • Run-on: I love pizza I eat it every day.
  • Comma splice: I love pizza, I eat it every day.
  • Correct fixes: I love pizza. I eat it every day. / I love pizza; I eat it every day. / I love pizza, so I eat it every day.

5. Word Choice Errors

  • their/there/they're: Their house is over there. They're coming soon.
  • its/it's: The cat licked its paw. It's raining outside.
  • affect/effect: The weather affects my mood. The effect was immediate.
  • than/then: She is taller than me. First study, then play.

Practice Questions

Identify and fix the error in each sentence.

Question 1

Each of the players need to bring their own equipment.

Question 2

Running down the street, the bus was missed.

Question 3

The storm effected the whole town.

Question 4

I studied for hours, I still failed the test.

Question 5

Yesterday, she walks to school and talked to her friends.

Question 6

The team celebrated when they wins the championship.

Question 7

Maria told Sarah that her project was incomplete.

Question 8

I only have three dollars left.

Question 9

The dog wagged it's tail happily.

Question 10

Neither the teacher nor the students was prepared.

Answer Key

Click to reveal answers

1. Each of the players needs to bring his or her own equipment. (singular agreement)

2. Running down the street, I missed the bus. (dangling modifier - who was running?)

3. The storm affected the whole town. (affect = verb, effect = noun usually)

4. I studied for hours, but I still failed the test. (comma splice fix)

5. Yesterday, she walked to school and talked to her friends. (tense consistency)

6. The team celebrated when they won the championship. (tense consistency)

7. Maria told Sarah that Sarah's project was incomplete. (unclear pronoun reference)

8. I have only three dollars left. ("Only" should modify "three dollars")

9. The dog wagged its tail happily. (its = possessive, it's = it is)

10. Neither the teacher nor the students were prepared. (verb agrees with closer subject)