ACT Lesson #4: Run-Ons and Fragments

Michael Prince went up to the podium with his speech I wasn’t prepared for the flood of emotion.

• NO CHANGE

• speech, which

• speech that

• speech.

We took the long route around the lake, but after about an hour, we saw the campus about three blocks away. Exhausted and sweaty, jogging back to our dorm.

• NO CHANGE

• to jog

• having to jog

• we jogged

As we drove away from the city, dozens of evacuation sirens booming loudly from the city center.

• NO CHANGE

• sirens, which boomed

• sirens that boomed

• sirens boomed

My boys don’t need to be reminded to show respect to their elders they know that.

• NO CHANGE

• elders they already know

• elders; they know

• elders; knowing

Books by Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and other modernist writers along the shelves.

• NO CHANGE

• sitting on

• on

• line

My mother, Marge having been the oldest of all her siblings and cousins.

• NO CHANGE

• Marge, was

• Marge,

• Marge being

Gilligan likes goofing off. The Skipper really tries to fix things.

Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would NOT be acceptable?

• NO CHANGE

• off, while the skipper

• off; the skipper

• off the

You could probably guess what the rest of the party went after the stereo stopped working.

• NO CHANGE

• if

• how

• DELETE the underlined portion.

One of these is compassion, a value that many people ignore today.

• NO CHANGE

• One of these,

• One,

• One being

In the suburbs, such activities are not encouraged, which led us to reconsider moving away from the city center.

Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would NOT be acceptable?

• encouraged; this

• encouraged. This

• encouraged this

• encouraged, an issue which