Life can be tricky here on the Upper Test Side. You’ve got the ACT on your left and the SAT on your right, both full of sneaky little traps that try to trip you up at every turn. Ever wonder what’s really going on behind the scenes of the ACT English or the SAT Writing and Language section? Well, I’m going to tell you all those dirty little grammatical secrets the test makers have been hiding up their sleeves for years. And who am I? Let’s just say that I’m a friend on the inside who’s here to dish out the juiciest grammar gossip of the standardized test scene. Our first order of business is punctuation: all those little dots, lines, and squiggles we just love to hate.

Punctuation Sightings:

1. Semicolon (;) was seen separating two independent clauses. It’s trying so hard to be a period, refusing to separate two ideas that aren’t both complete.

Get over yourself, semicolon; nobody likes you.

2. Colon (:) was caught skulking around after a complete idea. Colons always follow an independent clause and introduce explanatory information such as a list.

Only one punctuation mark shares its name with a body part: the colon.

3. Apostrophe (‘) was working two jobs, the first joining two words together into a contraction and the second making nouns possessive.

It’s a hard day’s work, but someone’s got to put food on the table for all the little apostrophes back at home.

4. Em Dash (—) was acting one way by itself and completely differently around its partner. Alone, an em dash introduces an explanation or list (just like a colon), but two em dashes within a sentence mark the boundaries of information that is technically unnecessary to the main clause.

Don’t forget about the em dash—not to be confused with its little cousin, the hyphen—in your ACT English practice.

5. And our final punctuation secret is probably the biggest one of all! Comma (,) was spotted hobnobbing all over the Upper Test Side:

a. First, it separated all the items in a list.

A, B, C, and D all seem like good options—how can I ever decide?!

b. Then it divided two ideas that were both incomplete.

Because you read this article, you’re now a master of SAT grammar rules.

c. Later, it denoted unnecessary information within a sentence (just like two em dashes).

Two commas, just like two em dashes, can surround information that is unnecessary to the meaning of the main sentence.

d. And just last night, it was seen canoodling with one of the FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), separating two complete ideas.

It’s lucky that one of the FANBOYS was around, or we’d be dealing with a type of run-on sentence known as “comma splice.”

Well, there you have it—all the naughty little punctuation secrets the SAT and ACT thought you’d never find out. I wonder if I may have just started a war on the Upper Test Side. Let the games begin!

X, O, X, and O,

Grammar Girl

P.S. Want the DL on more ACT and SAT topics? Schedule your free session with a Student Success Advisor to get the inside scoop on all things test prep.