How much do you know about the most common issues in grammar? Probably a lot if you have been following this blog! So try this grammar quiz. Keep in mind that this quiz is for grammar only. There are no punctuation or word confusion (homonyms, for example) errors on this quiz….those quizzes are coming! Sorry, the quiz isn’t interactive, but you can check the answers if you scroll down (no cheating!). Check the blog next week for explanations of the answers.
Instructions: Here are 20 sentences. Some of them may be correct (but I’m not telling!), and others have grammar mistakes. Correct the sentences with the grammar mistakes.
1. Maddie is the taller of the triplets, and Andy is the taller of the twins.
2. Jeannie wished she were a princess, and she often acted as if she was!
3. Every boy on the team brought their track uniform.
4. Who are you talking about?
5. There are 103 boys in the club, but there are only six girls!
6. When Steve drove by Doug, he waved at him.
7. Either Jane or Susan will perform her original composition.
8. He gave cookies to her and I.
9. It is they who donated all the money anonymously.
10. I swam in the school pool every evening this week.
11. I feel really bad about the accident.
12. While I was at the library, I read about the Aztecs in the garden.
13. He is taller than me, but shorter than her.
14. I have drunk all the milk, so we need more.
15. I saw the boy whom they said got the touchdown.
16. Written by one of my favorite authors, I enjoyed
every page of that book.
17. She looks like she saw a ghost.
18. He chose my brother and myself to be on the hiring committee.
19. These are my favorite type of apples.
20. Either my cousins or my uncle are coming with us.
Scroll down for answers……
Keep scrolling…..
Keep scrolling…..
And scrolling……
And scrolling…..
Almost there…..
Almost……
A little further
Getting really close…
OK!!!
Here are the answers:
1.Maddie is the tallest of the triplets, and Andy is the taller of the twins.
2. Jeannie wished she were a princess, and she often acted as if she were!
3. Every boy on the team brought his track uniform. (Their is acceptable, but why not be correct????)
4. Whom are you talking about?
5. There are 103 boys in the club, but there are only 6 girls!
6. When Steve drove by Doug, Doug waved at him. (or Steve waved at him. Whichever , but it needs to be made clear.)
7. Either Jane or Susan will perform her original composition.This one is correct.
8. He gave cookies to her and me.
9. It is they who donated all the money anonymously. This one is correct.
10. I have swum in the school pool every evening this week.
11. I feel really bad about the accident. This one is correct.
12. While I was in the garden at the library, I read about the Aztecs.
13. He is taller than I, but shorter than she.
14. I have drunk all the milk, so we need more. This one is correct.
15. I saw the boy who they said got the touchdown.
16. I enjoyed every page of that book, which was written by one of my favorite authors,
17. She looks as if she saw a ghost.
18. He chose my brother and me to be on the hiring committee.
19.This is my favorite type of apple.
20. Either my cousins or my uncle is coming with us.
The quiz was a wakener, above all on a Monday morning.
I did well although I don´t agree with some of th explinations, but that is just
a personal opinion.
British English and American English do differ somewhat, so some of the
sentences would be correct.
Thank you for waking me up.
.
You are very welcome!
I enjoyed this and think it’s perfect for my class. Can I use it? It would be for my online class so all your information would be included– I’d send the link. Deirdre
Certainly! And I really appreciate your sending my website link too!
Thanks! d.
Agreed! And if you are speaking in a more formal situation as well.
I did quite well. It is a good quiz..
Thank you!
This was a good quiz.
I did well.
I was taught to never end a sentence with a preposition. #4 About whom are you talking?
#19 These are my favorite types of apples. (This is also correct.)
Glad you like the quiz — and did well! Yeah, we were all taught that, but if not ending with a preposition makes it sound weird and awkward, you can end with one.
My colleagues and I enjoyed this quiz. It seems to be a matter of the difference between rules and what is actuality. Even between individual teachers there are some errors that grate more than others. As far as our students are concerened, if they wrote the above sentences, I would be hard pressed to correct them.
Glad you enjoyed the quiz! Yes, rules and actuality can be quite different!
Concerning No..five: I never saw in “AP Style” where it said to be consistent in a sentence, except that numbers zero through ten–yes, ten–should always be written with letters.
Also, about calling that a “Grammar Quiz.” Is that the correct usage? Because usage is what quite a few of them seem to be about.
And yes, I know I used sentence fragments. I do that quite often to make my writing more conversational. I think that if we forget that written language derives from spoken language, we put ourselves in danger of losing at least one and possibly both forms of language.
Style guides do disagree. I know some say you should be consistent in a sentence — but only if the numbers are referring to the same thing, as they were in my quiz. To me usage is word choice, such as affect/effect, etc. I thought the issues in my quiz were purely grammar. Semantics, I guess. I use fragments as well in my books for effect. I think it is fine to break the rules if you have a good reason. However, if you don’t know the rules, you cannot break them intentionally and for a good reason.
Written language and the spoken word are different. In our speaking we often use conversational language. However, if you are supposed to write an academic paper or a professional email or a cover letter you ought to follow the rules.
Well, if you don’t mind, I would like to raise a plain question why grammar seems to have been stuck to certain limited rules in this useful post. To be honest, I think I have something more, something different from what I have seen as answers, so that we can feel grammar broad and broadened in today’s context.
# 2. Another correct answer as often used informally is:
“Jeannie wished she was a princess, and she often acted as if she was!”
#3. I agree to the given answer, but I am sorry I don’t find why “their” is acceptable. As I have understood, “their” is acceptable only when gender is not clear. For example,
“Every ‘passenger’ should have ‘their’ luggage checked at the counter.”
#4. The given sentence “Who are you talking about?” is also correct. And it is informally more usual, and often heard in speech. I do agree to the given answer “Whom are you talking about?” [But, some writers say “You must use ‘whom’ behind preposition if there is. It means the given answer may draw some difference] And, the third answer, which is formal is: About whom are you talking?
#10. I think the given sentence ‘I swam in the school pool every evening this week’ is also correct if you have nothing significant to do about it at the time of speaking.
Now, let me raise a question: When do you think such a sentence is said?
# 13. The given sentence “He is taller than me, but shorter than her” is also supposed to be correct in the informal context. It is OK as long as there is no ambiguity.
#16. I would simply rearrange the words for a correct sentence:
“I enjoyed every page of that book written by one of my favorite authors.”
#17. The given sentence ‘She looks like she saw a ghost’ is also a correct one in American English. It is very informal. Anyway, I prefer the given answer
#19. Another possibility:
“These are my favorite types of apples.”
Hope the points I have explained above will draw some useful interaction. 🙂
Thanks for the comments! Greatly appreciated…comments, anyone?
# 3. Please correct me if I am wrong but when I was learning English I was told that when gender is not known or when we are talking about a group of males and females, the pronoun is “his” not “their”. “Their” has been used recently so that we don not sound sexist.
If you are using a singular pronoun like everyone or everybody, and it is a group of males and females, it is fairly customary to use “his or her” so as not to sound sexist. “His” was too sexist. However, although I don’t like it and won’t use it, “their” is being accepted as a singular in that case. Best to just avoid and rewrite.
#4. The given sentence “Who are you talking about?” is incorrect as the object of the preposition must, therefore, be in the objective case. Either “About whom are you talking?” or “You are talking about whom?” is correct.
#10. There is no need for the passive voice of “have swum” here. Correctly, the simple past “swam” is the only correct usage.
#12. Simply put, this sentence contains a misplaced (but not a “dangling”) modifier. I should explain my ancient use of these modifiers: a “dangling” modifier exists when there is nothing for it to modify.
#13. Only the nominative case is acceptable as those pronouns are used in unfinished or what’s called elliptical clauses. If complete, this is how it would read, ” “He is taller than I am tall but shorter than she is tall. NOTE: There is
no punctuation before the conjunction as with the comma, the subject and its modifiers are then separated.
#16. This sentence also contains a misplaced modifier.
#19 If the writer has more than 1 type of apple as his favorite, then “types” and “these” are acceptable usages.
I think I agree with you (and you thus agree with me)….except “have swum” isn’t passive. It is in present perfect tense rather than simple past. I think the context of the sentence implies that present perfect be used.
You posted “Either Jane or Susan will perform her original composition.This one is correct.”
However, this sentence is not correct. This is an example of vague pronoun reference. The “her” could refer to either Jane or Susan. It does not automatically refer to the latter noun. Both nouns are feminine, so the pronoun could refer to either.
Correct: Either Jane or Susan will perform Jane’s original composition OR
Either Jane or Susan will perform Susan’s original composition.
Let me share a word on that. You are right the possessive adjective refers to both Jane and Susan, but one at a time because of ‘either….or’. Since both of the nouns are feminine, ‘her’ is justifiable with no ambiguity, I think. Now look at the sentence:
Either Alan or Susan is likely to make ‘their’ presentation today.
I am hopeful it is ‘their’ that justifies in either case, isn’t it?
Well, I would say use “his or her,” but it sounds rather ridiculous there. I would rewrite the sentence and probably just change the pronoun to “a.”
Also, I understood the sentence to mean that whoever performed, it would be HER original composition. In other words, if Jane performs, she will perform her own (Jane’s) original composition; but if Susan performs, she will perform her own (Susan’s) original composition. Am I right?
That is correct. The rule is if you have a singular and another singular joined by OR, the verb and pronoun following it are singular.
I am wondering about #17…what is the difference between ‘like’ and ‘as if’?
Also, if it’s the end of the week, wouldn’t #10 be correct as written?
DAAANNG….My kids think I’m a grammar Natzi, but I didn’t do as well I thought I would…! 🙂
Like is used for a simple comparison followed by a noun: She acts like a princess.
As or as if or as though is used when a clause follows: She acts as if she were a princess.
Re #5: I’m wondering why you chose a numeral instead of spelling out six. Academics spell out numbers that are one or two words long. Journalists and business writers spell out numbers one through nine.
Two numbers in the same sentence referring to basically the same thing should be treated consistently. Either way, but consistently.
How come no questions about the difference between “anyway” and “anyways”?
Because everyone knows that anyways in simply the plural of anyway! (just kidding…inside joke!)
Please explain the difference between grammar and punctuation. I always thought punctuation was an element of grammar. Thanks
Most of the time, punctuation is included in the topic of grammar and certainly in grammar books. But sometimes grammar refers specifically to the way words are used in language….and since I am planning to do a quiz which specifically focuses on punctuation, I called this one grammar.