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ACT Grammar and Usage

Subject–verb agreement, pronoun case and agreement, who/whom, verb forms, adjectives and adverbs, comparisons, idioms and confused words — with worked items and an ACT-style quiz.

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Usage questions test whether each word has the right form: a verb that agrees with its subject, a pronoun in the right case, the correct past participle, an adverb where an adverb is needed, the right preposition after a word. These errors often sound natural in everyday speech, which is exactly why the test uses them. This page gives you a rule and a quick check for each one.

What this question type tests

Usage belongs to Conventions of Standard English, which is 38–43% of the 40 scored English questions (about 15–17 questions, together with punctuation and sentence structure). The question looks like any other ACT English question: an underlined word or phrase and four versions, usually with NO CHANGE first. When the vertical scan shows that the choices differ in the form of one word (is/are, he/him, went/gone, careful/carefully, larger/largest, of/for), you are looking at a usage question.

The method is always the same: find the word the underlined portion depends on (its subject, its noun, its antecedent, the word before the preposition), then apply the rule.

1. Subject–verb agreement

A singular subject takes a singular verb (is, was, has, goes); a plural subject takes a plural verb (are, were, have, go). The test hides the subject. Cross out everything between the subject and the verb, then check.

Rule	✗ Wrong	✓ Right
Ignore phrases between subject and verb (of…, in…, with…)	The walls of the oven holds the heat.	The walls of the oven hold the heat.
each, every, one, either, neither, everyone = singular	Each of the blocks were numbered.	Each of the blocks was numbered.
A + B joined by and = plural	My brother and my cousin plays football.	My brother and my cousin play football.
along with / as well as / together with do not add to the subject	The coach, along with the players, are here.	The coach, along with the players, is here.
either…or / neither…nor: the verb agrees with the nearer subject	Neither the students nor the teacher are ready.	Neither the students nor the teacher is ready.
Inverted order (there is/are, here…, a prepositional phrase first): find the subject after the verb	There is three reasons for this.	There are three reasons for this.
The number of = singular; a number of = plural	The number of visitors have grown.	The number of visitors has grown.
A clause or a gerund as subject = singular	Reading long novels help my vocabulary.	Reading long novels helps my vocabulary.

اتفاق الفاعل والفعل

امسح أي كلام بين الفاعل والفعل (زي of the oven أو in the box) وبعدين اسأل: الفاعل مفرد ولا جمع؟ Each وEvery وOne دايمًا مفرد حتى لو بعدها جمع.

2. Pronoun case: I or me? he or him?

Subject forms	Object forms	Possessive
I, he, she, we, they, who	me, him, her, us, them, whom	my/mine, his, her/hers, our/ours, their/theirs, whose

Cover the other person. "He taught Karim and I" → "He taught I" ✗ → "He taught Karim and me" ✓.
After a preposition use the object form. ✓ between you and me ✗ between you and I; ✓ for her and me.
Comparisons with than/as: finish the sentence. ✓ She is taller than I (am). ✓ He helped you more than (he helped) me.
Reflexive pronouns (myself, himself) only when the subject does the action to itself or for emphasis. ✓ I hurt myself. ✗ Karim and myself fixed it. ✓ Karim and I fixed it.

3. Who or whom?

Who is a subject (like he); whom is an object (like him). Turn the clause into a short sentence and test with he/him:

"My grandfather, ___ repaired radios…" → he repaired radios → who.
"The doctor ___ we visited…" → we visited him → whom.
"To ___ should I send the form?" → send it to him → whom.
"The girl ___ I think won the prize…" → ignore "I think": she won → who.

4. Pronoun agreement and clear reference

A pronoun must agree in number with the noun it replaces (its antecedent). ✗ The company raised their prices. ✓ The company raised its prices. ✗ The Great Temple faces east, and the engineers made sure that they still did. ✓ …that it still did.
The pronoun must clearly point to one noun. ✗ When Ali met Hassan, he was nervous. (Who was nervous?) ✓ Ali was nervous when he met Hassan.
Do not switch person in the middle of a passage. ✗ If one studies daily, you will improve. ✓ If you study daily, you will improve.
its / it's and their / they're / there are tested here too: its = belonging to it; it's = it is.

5. Verb tense and verb forms

Keep the tense consistent with the rest of the paragraph unless the time really changes. ✗ Yesterday we visit the museum and saw the mummies. ✓ Yesterday we visited the museum and saw the mummies.
Past perfect (had + past participle) = the earlier of two past actions. ✓ By the time the water arrived, the workers had taken the last block away.
Present perfect (has/have + past participle) = from the past until now, often with since or for. ✓ Since 2020 she has written three books.
Conditionals: ✓ If I had known, I would have helped. ✗ If I would have known…
would have / could have / should have, never would of. ✓ We should have left earlier.

Irregular past participles are a favourite trap: after has/have/had you need the third form, not the simple past.

Base	Simple past	Past participle (after has/have/had)
go	went	gone — ✓ had gone ✗ had went
write	wrote	written — ✓ had written ✗ had wrote
take	took	taken — ✓ had taken ✗ had took
begin	began	begun — ✓ has begun ✗ has began
choose	chose	chosen
break	broke	broken
see	saw	seen — ✓ I have seen ✗ I have saw / I seen
drink · swim · ring	drank · swam · rang	drunk · swum · rung
rise	rose	risen
lie (rest)	lay	lain
lay (put)	laid	laid

6. Adjectives vs adverbs

Adjectives describe nouns: a careful worker, a quick reply.
Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs, and often end in -ly: she worked carefully; an extremely quick reply.
✗ The blocks were cut very careful. ✓ The blocks were cut very carefully.
✗ The new design is incredible efficient. ✓ The new design is incredibly efficient. ("incredibly" describes the adjective "efficient")
After linking verbs (be, seem, look, feel, taste, sound, become) use an adjective: ✓ The soup tastes good. ✓ I feel bad. ✗ I feel badly about it (when you mean your feeling).
good = adjective; well = adverb (and the adjective for health): ✓ She sings well. ✓ He did a good job.

7. Comparatives vs superlatives

Comparing…	Use	✓ Example
two things	-er / more	Of the two temples, the Great Temple is larger.
three or more	-est / most	It is the largest of the three pyramids.
never both	—	✗ more larger, most largest, more better
countable nouns	fewer	fewer cars, fewer mistakes
uncountable nouns	less	less traffic, less water
between two / among three or more	between / among	between the two cities; among the five students

Also check that a comparison compares like with like: ✗ Cairo's population is larger than Alexandria. ✓ Cairo's population is larger than Alexandria's (or than that of Alexandria).

8. Idioms and prepositions

Some words must be followed by one particular preposition. There is no rule to work out — you learn them. When the vertical scan shows only the preposition changing, say each choice in your head and pick the standard one.

✓ Standard	✗ Common error
capable of doing	capable to do
different from	different with / different of
interested in	interested about
responsible for	responsible of
consist of	consist from
depend on	depend of
insist on going	insist to go
prefer X to Y	prefer X than Y
similar to	similar with
aware of	aware about
succeed in doing	succeed to do
prevent someone from doing	prevent someone to do
focus on	focus in
contribute to	contribute in
apologise for	apologise about
regard X as Y	regard X to be Y

9. Commonly confused words

Pair	Meaning	✓ Example
affect / effect	affect = verb (to influence); effect = noun (a result)	The noise affected my sleep. / It had a strange effect on me.
than / then	than = comparison; then = time (next)	better than Karim / First we ate, then we left.
lie / lay	lie = rest (no object): lie – lay – lain; lay = put (needs an object): lay – laid – laid	He would lie down. / She laid the book on the desk.
accept / except	accept = agree to receive; except = apart from	I accept your offer. / everyone except Ali
lose / loose	lose = stop having; loose = not tight	Don't lose your key. / a loose shirt
principal / principle	principal = head, main; principle = rule, belief	the school principal / a moral principle
imply / infer	imply = suggest; infer = conclude	Her smile implied approval. / I inferred that she agreed.
its / it's · whose / who's	possessive / contraction	Its roots are deep. / Who's there?

Lie ولا Lay؟

lie يعني "يتمدد/يرتاح" ومالهاش مفعول: He would lie down. أما lay يعني "يحط حاجة" ولازم بعدها مفعول: Lay the book on the table. خلي بالك: lay كمان هي الماضي بتاع lie، فبعد would أو to استخدم lie.

Worked examples

Each example is part of an ACT-style essay. The underlined portion is shown in bold.

Worked example 1. "The collection of old maps in the university library attract researchers from all over the world."