Check your knowledge of grammar

Can you distinguish between a conjunction and a preposition? Or a main verb and an auxiliary? Try
our grammar quiz and see how good your knowledge of grammar really is.

Thank you. Your responses have been automatically graded. Here are your
 
results.

Score Summary
points points
(Click on question number to jump to question.) earned possible
Question 1 incorrect 0 1
Question 2 correct 1 1
Question 3 correct 1 1
Question 4 incorrect 0 1
Question 5 incorrect 0 1
Question 6 incorrect 0 1
Question 7 incorrect 0 1
Question 8 incorrect 0 1
Question 9 incorrect 0 1
 
Question 10 correct 1 1
Question 11 correct 1 1
Question 12 correct 1 1
Question 13 incorrect 0 1
Question 14 incorrect 0 1
Question 15 correct 1 1
Question 16 correct 1 1
Question 17 correct 1 1
Question 18 incorrect 0 4
Question 19 incorrect 0 5
Question 20 correct 4 4
Score: (40%) 12 30

1. He might not have been expecting to see us.

Is "have" ...

•  a primary auxiliary verb (correct answer)

•  a secondary (or modal) auxiliary verb (your response)
•  a catenative verb

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
2. I don't have a pen.

How many auxiliary verbs are there in the sentence above?

•  0
•  1 (correct answer, your response)
•  2
 Feedback: "DO" is the auxiliary and "HAVE" is the main verb

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
3. Type in the grammatical function of "as soon as" in the sentence below. Choose from :
adjective, adverb, conjunction, preposition.

We'll start as soon as Helen arrives.

   

The following answer is acceptable:

conjunction

Your response:

CONJUNCTION

Feedback: See here for a definition of conjunctions :

http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2012/12/conjunction.html

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
4. Type in the grammatical function of "Therefore" in the example below. Choose from :
adjective, adverb, conjunction, preposition.

... because of the cost. Therefore, we recommend that ...

   

The following answer is acceptable:

adverb

Your response:

conjunction

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
5. What's the missing word?

The present perfect continuous form is composed of present tense plus both perfect and
continuous  

The following answer is acceptable:

aspect

Your response:

perfect

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
 6. Can you give the correct term for the following?
Any word or expression which indicates the semantic relationships between items in the
discourse - eg however, but, in spite of, although (Paper 1/1)

   

The following answer is acceptable:

connective

Your response:

Linking word

Feedback: For more information see here : http://eltnotebook.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/an-elt-

glossary-connectives.html

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
7. Can you give the correct term for the following?

Words which have a heightening or lowering effect on the item they modify - eg "a bit" in "I
felt a bit silly" or "complete" in "He's a complete idiot" (Paper 1/1)   

The following answer is acceptable:

Intensifiers

Your response:

augment

Feedback: For more information see here : http://eltnotebook.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/am-

elt-notebook-intensifiers.html

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
8. A verb form which is not marked for tense, person or number. EG "Lying" in "Lying by the
window, she had a clear view of the street."   

The following answers are acceptable:

• Non-finite
• A non-finite verb
• non-finite verb

Your response:

gerund

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
9. A preposition which consists of more than one word ( eg in addition to, as well as) is called a
preposition. 

The following answer is acceptable:

complex

 Your response:

compound

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
10. Which of the following would fit in the following definition instead of XXX ?

XXX joins two items at the same syntactic level (eg two noun phrases, two clauses) into a
single sentence. Eg: and, because

•  A preposition
•  A determiner
•  A conjunction (correct answer, your response)
•  A sentence adverbial
•  An adverb of manner
•  An adjective

Feedback: See here for a definition of conjunctions :

http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2012/12/conjunction.html

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
11. The person I spoke to didn't know anything.

"I spoke to" is ...

•  a main clause
•  a defining relative clause (correct answer, your response)
•  a non-defining relative clause

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
12. I did the shopping this morning.

Is "did" ...

•  a primary auxiliary verb

•  a secondary (or modal) auxiliary verb
•  the main verb (correct answer, your response)

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
13. Type in the grammatical function of "most" in the sentence below. Choose from : adjective,
adverb, conjunction, preposition.

He's the <u>most</u> talented person I know.

   

 The following answer is acceptable:

adverb

Your response:

adjective

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
14. Type in the grammatical function of of "since" in the sentence below. Choose from : adjective,
adverb, conjunction, preposition.

I haven't seen David since Tuesday.

   

The following answer is acceptable:

preposition

Your response:

adverb

Feedback: See here for prepositions : http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2012/01/an-elt-

notebook-prepositions.html

Points earned: 0 out of 1

 
15. Type in the grammatical function of "since" in the sentence below. Choose from : adjective,
adverb, conjunction, preposition.

Since he's going to be late, let's go and have coffee.

   

The following answer is acceptable:

conjunction

Your response:

Conjunction

Feedback: See here for a definition of conjunctions :

http://eltnotebook.blogspot.com/2012/12/conjunction.html

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
16. What's the grammatical function of "myself" in this sentence?

I often ask myself that.

•  subject pronoun
•  object pronoun
 •  relative pronoun
•  reflexive pronoun (correct answer, your response)

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
17. How does "his" function grammatically in this sentence?

He said it wasn't his.

As a ....

•  possessive pronoun (correct answer, your response)

•  possessive adjective
•  object pronoun

Points earned: 1 out of 1

 
18. "that" also has various grammatical functions. Again, can you match them to the sentences

  Correct answers Your responses  

Can you pass me that book? demonstrative demonstrative (incorrect)
determiner pronoun
He said that he was too conjunction relative pronoun (incorrect)
busy.
The person that I spoke to relative pronoun demonstrative (incorrect)
was useless. determiner
Don't say that! demonstrative conjunction (incorrect)
pronoun

Points earned: 0 out of 4

 
19. The word "round" can function grammatically in various ways. Can you match each of the
following sentences with the correct word class for "round"?

Correct Your
   
answers responses
The cars round this bend at verb adverb (incorrect)
150mph.
It was small and round with knobs adjective adjective (correct)
on.
My house is just round the corner. preposition preposition (correct)
Come round for dinner sometime. adverb verb (incorrect)
It's my round! noun noun (correct)

Points earned: 0 out of 5

 
20. Click on all the terms which describe the noun in the following sentence :

We don't have much information on it.

•  common (correct answer, your response)

•  proper
 •  countable
•  uncountable (correct answer, your response)
•  abstract (correct answer, your response)
•  concrete
•  singular (correct answer, your response)
•  plural

Points earned: 4 out of 4

 
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