ACT English — pronouns: clear reference, who and whom, that and which

A pronoun is a promise that the reader already knows who or what is meant. The ACT English section tests whether the writer has kept that promise, and whether the pronoun has the right form for its job in the sentence.

The twelve original sentences here start with reference. When Rosa shows a plan to her sister and "she" is surprised, the reader cannot tell which woman; when a city raises fees and cuts service and "this" angers commuters, the reader cannot tell which change; when "they" at a records office told us something, there is no "they" in the sentence at all. The fix each time is to name the noun, and the questions ask you to find the choice that does.

Four questions work on who and whom, the most reliably tested case distinction on the section: an object inside a relative clause, a subject hidden behind an interrupting "the organizers believed," "most of whom" after a preposition, and "whoever" as the subject of its own clause even though the whole clause follows "to." One question uses "that" rather than "who" for a machine, and one uses "which," never "that," for a clause set off by commas. Two catch pronoun shifts, from "one" to "you" and from "we" to "you," and one corrects "to Dana and myself."

The explanations give the test for each decision (answer the clause with he or him; drop the interrupting words; read the pronoun in its own clause) and say why each other choice fails, by its content. On the real test the sentences sit inside longer passages with a portion underlined; here each question prints its own sentence with the portion in square brackets, and NO CHANGE is one of the four choices, as it is on the test.

The flashcards hold those tests in short form, along with the that/which rule and the one situation where "myself" is correct.

The material offers a multiple-choice quiz and a deck of flashcards. Pronoun use falls under Conventions of Standard English, one of the three reporting categories of the English section. Questions are deliberately not built on the singular "they," where careful writers disagree. Zestly is an independent study tool; this practice material is not produced, affiliated with or endorsed by ACT, Inc., which owns the ACT.

• Identify ambiguous or vague pronouns and replace them with a clear noun
• Choose who or whom by the pronoun's role in its own clause
• Use whoever and whomever correctly inside a clause that follows a preposition
• Use which, not that, for a nonessential clause and that or which, not who, for things
• Keep a consistent point of view (one, we, you) within a sentence
• Use reflexive pronouns only when the subject is the same person

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the reporting categories in ACT's public description of the English section of the enhanced ACT (Conventions of Standard English). Every sentence, essay, option and explanation is original; nothing is reproduced from any ACT publication or released test.