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English · Punctuation

Medium Punctuation Drill

15 medium-difficulty ACT English questions on Punctuation. Each question is on its own page with a worked answer explanation, the underlying rule, and a quick study tip.

Medium English Punctuation

All 15 questions

  1. 1 Comma Before a Coordinating Conjunction The hike was long and exhausting, but the view from the summit was worth every step Medium
  2. 2 Semicolons in a Complex List The conference featured speakers from Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon, and Madison, Medium
  3. 3 Apostrophe with a Plural Possessive The students' projects were displayed in the auditorium for the science fair. Medium
  4. 4 Colon Before a List The recipe called for three simple ingredients, flour, butter, and salt. Medium
  5. 5 Commas Around a Nonessential Phrase My oldest brother who lives in Toronto is flying down for the holidays. Medium
  6. 6 Comma Before a Coordinating Conjunction The hike was long and exhausting, but the view from the summit was worth every step Medium
  7. 7 Semicolons in a Complex List The conference featured speakers from Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon, and Madison, Medium
  8. 8 Apostrophe with a Plural Possessive The students' projects were displayed in the auditorium for the science fair. Medium
  9. 9 Colon Before a List The recipe called for three simple ingredients, flour, butter, and salt. Medium
  10. 10 Commas Around a Nonessential Phrase My oldest brother who lives in Toronto is flying down for the holidays. Medium
  11. 11 Comma Before a Coordinating Conjunction The hike was long and exhausting, but the view from the summit was worth every step Medium
  12. 12 Semicolons in a Complex List The conference featured speakers from Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon, and Madison, Medium
  13. 13 Apostrophe with a Plural Possessive The students' projects were displayed in the auditorium for the science fair. Medium
  14. 14 Colon Before a List The recipe called for three simple ingredients, flour, butter, and salt. Medium
  15. 15 Commas Around a Nonessential Phrase My oldest brother who lives in Toronto is flying down for the holidays. Medium

How to use this drill

Open the questions one at a time. Read the prompt, decide on an answer before scrolling, then check the explanation. The point of a drill is not to "get the question right" — it's to internalize the rule so you can apply it cold under timed conditions on test day.

If you're missing more than a third of the questions in this set, drop down a difficulty tier and rebuild from there. If you're getting all of them quickly, jump up a tier and try a mixed drill across subtopics.

What "Medium" means here

Medium questions add a layer — multi-step calculation, two competing rules, or a mildly tempting wrong answer that requires careful reading. A student scoring around 26 composite should be solid here; this is also the sweet spot for most score-improvement work.

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