Revise Your Grammar Skills Worksheet

This worksheet contains a range of questions designed to help with you with technical writing skills. It focuses on vocabulary and punctuation in particular.

If you struggle with any of the questions you could try some of the worksheets that look at the different areas in more detail.

All of the words in the list are linked to the root word local. Tick the two that are nouns.

locally

location

locality

locate

All of the words in the list are linked to the root word fatal, but only one is an adverb. Tick the adverb.

fatally

fatality

fatalism

Which of the following sentences contains the word 'speciality' in the correct context?

Speciality, I love reading.

Cooking is not speciality to me.

Gardening is my speciality.

Choose THREE of the following sentences in which the word 'possibility' is used in the correct context.

That's always a possibility!

Possibility, you are correct.

The possibility of that is slim.

Yes, I think so, possibility.

There is a high possibility of rain.

Match up these "cious" words with their meanings. You can use a dictionary if you need to.

Column A	Column B
tenacious	with lots of room
vivacious	determined
audacious	fierce, savage
capacious	with a lot of nerve
ferocious	effective
efficacious	lively

Replace the _ in these sentences with the correct punctuation mark. If you can't see the whole sentence, hover your mouse over the box.

Column A	Column B
How old is she_	!
She's 16_	:
I can't believe she's 92_	,
She looks younger_ I think.	.
It's her 21st_ candles, balloons, cake, party!	?

The punctuation marks have been removed from the sentence below. Re-write it using:

one capital letter

one comma

one full stop

at three minutes past midnight she walked through the door

Look at the following situations. Tick the two contexts in which you would use a comma.

just before a question mark

to separate items in a list.

straight after a capital letter

to separate two clauses

straight after a semi-colon

The following two sentences can be joined into one if the correct punctuation mark is used. Tick the correct answer.

Peter's birthday is in February. Mine is in September.

Peter's birthday is in February: mine is in September.

Peter's birthday is in February, mine is in September.

Peter's birthday is in February; mine is in September.

Which of the following sentences uses the correct punctuation for direct speech?

1) "I'll do my homework when I get back from the cinema, promised Maya."

2) "I'll do my homework when I get back from the cinema," promised Maya.

3) "I'll do my homework when I get back from the cinema", promised Maya.

sentence 1

sentence 2

sentence 3

ANSWERS

Question 1

All of the words in the list are linked to the root word local. Tick the two that are nouns.

CORRECT ANSWER

location
locality

EDDIE SAYS

'Locally' is an adverb; 'locate' is a verb.

ANSWERS

Question 2

All of the words in the list are linked to the root word fatal, but only one is an adverb. Tick the adverb.

CORRECT ANSWER

fatally

EDDIE SAYS

'Fatality' and 'fatalism' are nouns.

ANSWERS

Question 3

Which of the following sentences contains the word 'speciality' in the correct context?

CORRECT ANSWER

Gardening is my speciality.

ANSWERS

Question 4

Choose THREE of the following sentences in which the word 'possibility' is used in the correct context.

CORRECT ANSWER

That's always a possibility!
The possibility of that is slim.
There is a high possibility of rain.

ANSWERS

Question 5

Match up these "cious" words with their meanings. You can use a dictionary if you need to.

CORRECT ANSWER

Column A	Column B
tenacious	determined
vivacious	lively
audacious	with a lot of nerve
capacious	with lots of room
ferocious	fierce, savage
efficacious	effective

ANSWERS

Question 6

Replace the _ in these sentences with the correct punctuation mark. If you can't see the whole sentence, hover your mouse over the box.

CORRECT ANSWER

Column A	Column B
How old is she_	?
She's 16_	.
I can't believe she's 92_	!
She looks younger_ I think.	,
It's her 21st_ candles, balloons,...	:

ANSWERS

Question 7

The punctuation marks have been removed from the sentence below. Re-write it using:

one capital letter

one comma

one full stop

at three minutes past midnight she walked through the door

CORRECT ANSWER

At three minutes past midnight, she walked through the door.

ANSWERS

Question 8

Look at the following situations. Tick the two contexts in which you would use a comma.

CORRECT ANSWER

to separate items in a list.
to separate two clauses

ANSWERS

Question 9

The following two sentences can be joined into one if the correct punctuation mark is used. Tick the correct answer.

Peter's birthday is in February. Mine is in September.

CORRECT ANSWER

Peter's birthday is in February; mine is in September.

EDDIE SAYS

A semi-colon is used to join two sentences that are linked in some way. A colon should only be used if the second sentence explains the first one, and a comma should never be used in this way.