Are You a Grammarista?
Can you tell your apostrophes from your ellipsis? Are you punctilious about punctuation?
This quiz accompanies our book Grammar, by Millie Slavidou, which you can download on our website. It is designed to give parents confidence when helping their children with homework, for adults who are learning a foreign language, and for non-native speakers of English.
If you spotted the deliberate mistake in the title, award yourself a bonus cookie!
Find out more about the book Grammar, by Millie Slavidou here, or download as eBook here.
Can you find the verb in this sentence?
Verbs are often described as 'doing words', but this doesn't tell the whole story. A verb can often talk about a state, or something that is happening.
stopped
car
morning
Find the stative verb in this statement
Verbs that describe a state rather than an action are known as stative verbs.
croissant
feel
had
Which of these words is an adverb in this sentence?
An adverb tells us about a verb, and also about an adjective or another adverb.
quickly
happy
large
Identify the uncountable noun in this paragraph.
Countable nouns refer to things that can be counted or numbers. If we want to count an uncountable noun, we must use it with another noun that is countable, e.g. two bottles of water.
Lucy
bottle
water
door
dog
Find the SUPERLATIVE adjective in this paragraph.
brilliant
easier
best
Identify the OBJECT in this sentence
The verb in the sentence tells us what the object is, and if it is a direct or indirect object.
letter
postman
Identify the SUBJECT of this sentence.
The subject is whatever is using the verb of the sentence. In this case, the verb is 'delivered'.
letter
postman
Does this sentence use the passive or the active voice?
In an active sentence, the subject does the action of the main verb.
active
passive
Does this sentence use the passive or the active voice?
With the passive voice, it's the object of the verb, not the subject that we have to look at.
active
passive
Identify the DIRECT OBJECT in this sentence.
bone
dog
Harry
Whoops. Grammar isn't really your thing, is it? Don't worry, we can help you out! Take a look at our book, which explains the basics of English grammar in a fun and accessible way. We'll make Grammarista out of you yet!
Not bad! You know your verbs from your adverbs, but find more technical parts of English grammar a bit confusing. Our book on grammar is designed to fill those gaps and give you more confidence when explaining the nitty gritty of the English language.
Congratulations, Grammarista! Jump up onto the Pedant Pedestal and accept your prize. Just don't email us any grammar mistakes you find on Jump! Mag, ok.