English (UK) grammar exercises

Learning English grammar and punctuation can be difficult. The exercises below complement our articles on English grammar that cover parts of speech and punctuation. Once you’ve read those articles, complete the exercises on this page and then check your answers to see how you’re doing.

Parts of speech exercises

1. Correct the capitalisation in this sentence: ‘I drove my Car to new York to meet with sarah.’
2. Choose the correct plural form of the nouns in this sentence: ‘Please go to the grocery store and get some (cherrys/cherries), two (loaves/loafs) of bread and two gallones/gallons) of milk.’
3. Mark whether the nouns in this sentence are count or non-count nouns: ‘I’m going to ride my bike (count/non-count) to the park (count/non-count) so I can play in the grass (count/non-count) and get some fresh air (count/non-count)’.
4. Choose the correct pronouns for the following sentences: ‘Jane (she/her/he) decided to go with Jane’s (her/his/he) brother to see a movie. Jane’s brother (him/he/she) didn’t like the movie (it/they/them).’
5. Choose the correct past tense of the verbs for the following sentence: ‘I (walk/walked/walking) up the street and (visit/visiting/visited) my neighbours.’
6. Choose the correct present tense of the verbs for the following sentence: ‘I want to (flew/fly/flying) to Los Angeles to (see/saw/seeing) my cousins.’
7. Choose the correct future tense of the verbs for the following sentence: ‘She (gave/will give/give) me a present for my birthday.’
8. Rewrite the following sentence so it uses the active voice instead of the passive voice: ‘The car was driven by the teenager.’
9. Choose whether the modifying words in the following sentence are adjectives (i.e. they describe a noun) or adverbs (i.e. they modify a verb): ‘She quickly (adjective/adverb) drove her new (adjective/adverb) red (adjective/adverb) car down the street, yelling angrily (adjective/adverb) out the open (adjective/adverb) window.’
10. Choose the correct articles in the following sentence: ‘I read (a/the/an) new book my sister wanted me to read. I thought it was (a/the/an) really good story with (a/the/an) excellent ending.’

Punctuation exercises

1. Choose the proper ending punctuation for the following sentences: ‘I’m going to go see that new movie (./?/!) Do you want to come with me (./?.!) It’ll be fun (./?.!)’
2. Insert commas in the appropriate places in the following sentence: ‘After we got back from our trip I took a shower put on my pyjamas and got in bed but I forgot to brush my teeth.’
3. Choose whether a comma, colon or semicolon should be used in the appropriate places in the following sentence: ‘We’re going to the grocery (,/:/;) you can choose one thing from this list and we’ll bring it to you (,/:/;) candy (,/:/;) cookies or ice cream.’
4. Following British English rules, place quotation marks, commas and periods in the correct places in the following sentence: I don’t know why you did it that way she said but it turned out pretty well.
5. Insert en dashes (–) or em dashes (—) in the appropriate places in the following sentence: ‘Students in years 1 (–/—) 5 will enjoy a special performance (–/—) which we are very excited about (–/—) today.’
6. Insert hyphens in the correct places to indicate compound modifiers: ‘The well known actor and his up and coming co-star are doing a press tour for their newly released movie.’
7. Use apostrophes to form the correct contractions for any words that can be combined in the following sentence: ‘You will regret it if you do not go on this trip now.’
8. Use apostrophes to make the correct possessive form of any words that should be possessive in the following sentence: ‘My sister has two sons and my brother has a daughter. Today I’m going to my parents house to visit my sisters kids.’

Answers

Parts of speech exercises

1. I drove my car to New York to meet with Sarah.
2. Please go to the grocery store and get some cherries, two loaves of bread and two gallons of milk.
3. Bike: count; park: count; grass: non-count; air: non-count
4. She decided to go with her brother to see a movie. He didn’t like it.
5. I walked up the street and visited my neighbours.
6. I want to fly to Los Angeles to see my cousins.
7. She will give me a present for my birthday.
8. The teenager drove the car.
9. Quickly: adverb; new: adjective; red: adjective; angrily: adverb; open: adjective
10. I read the new book my sister wanted me to read. I thought it was a really good story with an excellent ending.

Punctuation exercises

1. I’m going to go see that new movie. Do you want to come with me? It’ll be fun!
2. After we got back from our trip, I took a shower, put on my pyjamas and got in bed, but I forgot to brush my teeth.
3. We’re going to the grocery; you can choose one thing from this list and we’ll bring it to you: candy, cookies or ice cream.
4. ‘I don’t know why you did it that way’, she said, ‘but it turned out pretty well’.
5. Students in years 1–5 will enjoy a special performance—which we are very excited about—today.
6. The well-known actor and his up-and-coming co-star are doing a press tour for their newly released movie.
7. You’ll regret it if you don’t go on this trip now.
8. My sister has two sons, and my brother has a daughter. Today I’m going to my parents’ house to visit my sister’s kids.

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