Unlike that unnecessarily judgy mug, the ACT English section makes no secret that it is evaluating how well you know your English grammar.
ACT English is all about assessing your knowledge of the conventions of standard written English. While this includes your grasp of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure, it also includes your comprehension of rhetorical skills, such as effective writing strategy, organization, and style. Other critical things to note about ACT English:
- It’s the first section of the ACT.
- You have 35 minutes to answer 50 multiple-choice questions—about 42 seconds per question.
- Only 40 of those questions count toward your score. The rest are unscored “field-test” questions that ACT is trying out. You can’t tell which are which, so treat every question as if it counts.
One quick note before we dig in: these numbers describe the Enhanced ACT, the current, shorter version of the test (fully rolled out across the 2025–2026 testing year). If a prep book or website tells you ACT English has 75 questions and a 45-minute time limit, it’s describing the old test. (Our Enhanced ACT guide covers everything that changed.)
English also matters more than it used to. Your Composite score is now the average of just three sections (English, Math, and Reading, with Science optional), so English makes up a full third of your Composite. If you’re still choosing between tests, our ACT vs. SAT comparison breaks down the differences.
Here’s what you need to know about ACT English, from what it tests to tips and practice!
What Is on the ACT English Test?
Question Types
According to ACT’s official test description, English questions fall into three reporting categories:
- Production of Writing (38–43%): These questions focus on the writing’s overall development and organization. In other words, does the writing meet the author’s purpose? Is it cohesive and unified?
- Knowledge of Language (18–23%): These questions test your understanding of style. That means choosing the most effective and precise word while maintaining the piece’s tone.
- Conventions of Standard English (38–43%): These are the grammar and punctuation questions most students associate with ACT English. They test everything from sentence structure to punctuation to common English usage.
Notice something? Grammar is no longer more than half the test. On the old ACT, Conventions of Standard English made up 51–56% of the section. On the Enhanced ACT, it shares top billing with Production of Writing. So if your study plan is all comma rules and no rhetoric, you’re preparing for less than half of the section.
However, these seemingly general categories test very specific information! Take a look at the content you’ll see tested in these English questions.
Content Tested
- Punctuation (including commas, apostrophes, colons, semicolons, and dashes)
- Subject-verb agreement
- Verb forms and verb agreement
- Pronoun forms and pronoun agreement
- Adjectives and adverbs
- Comparative and superlative modifiers (such as “Magoosh is more fun than my most entertaining friend.”)
- Sentence structure (such as independent and dependent clauses, misplaced modifiers, run-on sentences and comma splices)
- Effective essay and paragraph organization and clear, concise writing style, including strategy
For even more detail on what to study for this section, check out this nifty guide!
Question Formats
ACT English questions are passage-based. You’ll work through a series of short passages; specific words and phrases are underlined on the paper test, or highlighted if you test online. Most questions correspond to one of these marked portions, and a handful focus on a paragraph or the passage as a whole.
Here’s the big format change: every question on the Enhanced ACT now has a question stem. That means each question actually asks you something specific, like “Which choice is most grammatically acceptable?” On the old test, many questions were just a list of alternatives to the underlined phrase, and you had to infer what was being asked. “No Change” still appears as an answer choice on many questions, and yes, sometimes it really is the right answer.
One more thing you can stop worrying about: reverse questions. The old test loved asking which choice would NOT be acceptable (older prep books call these EXCEPT/NOT/LEAST questions). Those reverse questions are gone from the Enhanced ACT—every question now asks for the best choice.
Here’s a quick summary of what changed:
| Legacy ACT (before 2025) | Enhanced ACT (current) | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 75 | 50 (40 scored) |
| Time limit | 45 minutes | 35 minutes |
| Question stems | Most questions had none | Every question has one |
| Reverse (NOT acceptable) questions | Included | Removed |
| Category mix | Grammar-heavy (51–56% Conventions) | Balanced (38–43% Conventions, 38–43% Production of Writing) |
ACT English Strategies
Because the ACT English section tests your understanding of grammatical and style rules, it is one of the more straightforward sections of the exam to prepare for. Here’s how to master it!
Ensure you understand the test format and your current knowledge level by taking a practice test. This will help you understand the areas where you need to brush up, as well as giving you a much-needed preview of what you’ll see on test day! Don’t only practice English by itself, though. It’s important to take full-length practice tests with all three Composite sections (English, Math, and Reading) in one sitting, plus Science and the essay if you’re taking them, so you know how your English skills hold up during a marathon test session.
✅ Prioritize your studying by focusing on the most tested topics before the more obscure ones. See our 3 most popular ACT study plans here!
✅ Work on your pacing. With 35 minutes for 50 questions, you have about 42 seconds per question, and spending too much time on any one problem can tank your section score.
✅ Brush up on your grammar, including your knowledge of punctuation and word forms.
✅ Get familiar with less-familiar question types, such as organization questions and adding/deleting sentences.
✅ Use the answer choices to your advantage. Compare what changes between the choices to spot the rule being tested, and remember that the shortest grammatically correct choice is often the right one.
Pro tip: Take a free ACT practice test to establish your baseline before you build a study plan. You’ll find out quickly whether grammar or rhetoric needs more of your study time.
Want to find out more about boosting your English score? Check out How to Get a Perfect 36 on the ACT English Test! And for even more advice, take a look at:
ACT English Practice
So how do ACT questions test these concepts, from word choice to sentence fragments? Take a look! Read the mini-passage, then test your knowledge with the practice questions. These questions use the Enhanced ACT format, with a question stem on every item. The correct answers, along with a video and text answer explanation for each question, are included below.
Today when someone points a camera at us, we smile. This is the cultural and social reflex of our time, and such are our expectations of a picture portrait. In the long history of (1) portraiture, however the open smile has been largely, pun aside, frowned upon. A walk around any art gallery (2) for a very long time will reveal that the image of the open smile was deeply unfashionable. Such is the field upon which the mouth in portraiture has been (3) debated: an ongoing conflict between the serious and the smirk.
1. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable?
portraiture, however
A. No Change
B. portraiture however
C. portraiture; however,
D. portraiture, however,
2. The best place for the underlined portion would be:
for a very long time
A. where it is now.
B. after the word reveal.
C. after the word unfashionable.
D. after the word walk.
3. Which choice is most grammatically acceptable?
debated: an ongoing conflict
A. No Change
B. debated, ongoing
C. debated. An ongoing
D. debated, and an ongoing
Now that you know what ACT English looks like, keep practicing! And if you want a guide along the way, Magoosh ACT prep is fully updated for the Enhanced ACT, with a smart diagnostic that shows you exactly which English topics to work on first.
