How Can I Test My Knowledge of English Grammar?
"Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason," wrote Anglican archbishop and poet Richard C. Trench. The rules of grammar may be many and complex, but a clear grasp of the English language requires knowing them thoroughly. If you are a second language learner or simply want to brush up on your English grammar knowledge, testing yourself against the fundamentals will help you decide which areas you need to focus on.
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Instructions
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1
Name all eight parts of speech. Further divide the eight parts into smaller categories. For example, the part of speech called "conjunctions" has two subcategories, "coordinating" and "subordinating."
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2
Parse all the words in a sentence. Parsing means to identify the part of speech of a word. The sentence "Users are responsible for their own safety" is parsed as follows: noun, verb, adjective, preposition, pronoun, adjective, noun.
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3
Locate the subject, the main noun or noun phrase that performs an action, and the predicate, the rest of the sentence. Every proper sentence contains a subject and a predicate.
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4
Conjugate all the tenses of a verb. For example, the verb "to give" conjugates as "gave" in the past tense and "give" in the present. The past participle of "give" is "given."
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5
Construct simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences. These are the four basic types of English sentences and require a thorough knowledge of the parts of speech and sentence structure.
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6
List all the different kinds of verb tenses and their functions and give an example. For instance, the present progressive tense indicates that an event is ongoing at the moment, as in "I am reading."
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Tips & Warnings
You can also evaluate your English grammar knowledge through Internet grammar tests. You can find tests on all elements of grammar -- not just the eight parts of speech, but writing problems such as run-on sentences, comma splices and more. These tests usually score you on your answers.
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Resources
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