Revise Your Grammar Skills Worksheet

This activity summarises some key components of word classification and punctuation. You can use this as a test to see where your knowledge is currently at.

We'll be looking at the use of root words in English, to begin with, and how to use the words in these word families correctly.

Make sure you know your noun from your adverb and your semicolon from your colon to have the most success here!

If you are in doubt at any point, why not write down the rules as you go!

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	determined
Vivacious	with a lot of nerve
Audacious	effective
Capacious	fierce, savage
Ferocious	lively
Efficacious	with lots of room

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 and capital letters have been removed from the sentence below. Where would you make changes to make it correct?

(There are 3 things to add to this sentence)

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

First, we need to remember what a noun is. It's a word used to classify a place, people or things. If we look at the list there are two things there that we could describe, which are location and locality. '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

Can you remember what an adverb is? Adverbs are words that modify a verb. So, now let's look at the list. If we were to write that someone was 'fatally stabbed' we are explaining that they have been killed (fatally - adverb) through the act of stabbing (verb). Can you see how this adverb is modifying the verb? Without the word fatally we do not know what has happened as a result of the stabbing. '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.

EDDIE SAYS

How did you do here? Sometimes you can just hear that words are in the wrong sentence and other times we need to use our grammar rules and the use of our dictionary. What does speciality mean? A speciality is normally a skill or hobby that someone has devoted a lot of time to and has therefore improved in. In the first sentence, although reading may be a hobby someone spends a long time doing, this does not make sense grammatically. In the second sentence really the speaker should have used the word 'special' if they wanted this to make sense. So the correct option must be 'Gardening is my speciality'. It's a skill and hobby that the speaker clearly thinks they are good at.

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.

EDDIE SAYS

Did you get it? Possibility is something that may happen or be the case. In the second and fourth option, the speaker should have used the word possibly, which comes from the same route word 'possible' if they wanted to be grammatically correct here.

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

EDDIE SAYS

Are you spotting patterns with the words that you are using? These are great words to use, so why not write them down so you don't forget?

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,...	:

EDDIE SAYS

Did you match it up? It helps to think of these sentences in the full context and then to say the sentence out loud.

ANSWERS

Question 7

The punctuation marks and capital letters have been removed from the sentence below. Where would you make changes to make it correct?

(There are 3 things to add to this sentence)

CORRECT ANSWER

at three minutes past midnight she walked through the door

EDDIE SAYS

How did you get on here? First of all, we need to add a capital letter at the start. Secondly, we need to put a comma between the two clauses. The comma should go after the word midnight. Lastly, you know the drill, we need a full stop to make this sentence correct!

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

EDDIE SAYS

Hopefully, you got this one right? There are two situations above where the comma should be used to be grammatically correct. If you are still unsure of this, why not make a note so that you remember for the future?

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

Did you get this right? All three sentences look pretty similar, but if you take a closer look you will see there is one slight difference between them all... one uses a colon, one a comma and the last a semicolon. 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.

ANSWERS

Question 10

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.

CORRECT ANSWER

Sentence 2

EDDIE SAYS

How did you do? In this last question, we need to make sure that the comma comes before the closing speech marks. Well done for completing another activity! Why not have a look at the next one in your account to really test your knowledge?