ACT English Practice Test: Punctuation, Grammar and Usage

The sentence is correct as written: commas separate the items in the series, and no punctuation belongs between the verb "fills" and the phrase that completes it. Dropping the comma after "lamps" runs two items together, and a colon cannot come directly after the preposition "with."

The toolboxes belong to all twelve volunteers, so the plural possessive "volunteers'" is needed. "Volunteer's" points to a single volunteer, and an apostrophe after "toolboxes" makes the wrong word possessive.

The subject is the singular noun "table"; the phrase "according to the sign-in sheets kept by the organizers" only interrupts it. The singular verb "belongs" is needed, while the other choices are plural forms that agree with "sheets" or "organizers" by mistake.

"He has repaired small appliances for most of his life" and "he can often find a problem..." are both independent clauses, so a semicolon belongs between them. A comma alone creates a comma splice, no punctuation creates a run-on, and "being that" is a nonstandard substitute for "because."

The pronoun is an object of the preposition "between," so the object form "me" is correct. "I" is a subject pronoun, and "myself" is reflexive, so it is used only when "I" is the subject of the same clause.

The story is told in the past tense, and "opened" matches "handed," "told" and "blew" in the same passage. The present and future forms break that sequence.

The phrase "Bending closer to the motor" describes the narrator, so "I" must come right after the comma. As written, the wire seems to be bending closer; in the other choices the phrase is attached to "my eye" or still describes the wire.

The possessive form of "it" (the fan) is "its," with no apostrophe, so the sentence is correct as written. "It's" means "it is," "its'" is not a word, and "their" would need a plural antecedent.

The underlined portion correctly attaches the dependent clause beginning with "because" to the main clause. A period or a semicolon would leave that clause standing alone as a fragment, and starting a new sentence with "Since" has the same problem.

The items in a series should share the same form: "to test a fuse, replace a frayed cord, and reattach a loose handle." The "-ing" form, the passive phrase and "to be replacing" all break the parallel pattern.

A colon can introduce a list after a complete independent clause, and "Last month, Mrs. Okafor came back with three things she had not brought on her first visit" is one. A semicolon must be followed by another independent clause, and leaving out punctuation runs the list into the clause.

"The librarian who first proposed the event" renames Lena Ortiz and is not essential to the sentence, so it needs a comma on both sides. Without the closing comma, the phrase runs straight into the verb "hopes"; the other choices break the phrase apart in the wrong places.