English Grammar
Grammar practice at three levels, in the style of the tests students take: Easy like the TOEFL, Medium like the SAT, and Hard like the sentence correction of graduate-school tests. 1400 questions on 35 topics, each with its rules and an explanation for every answer.
Easy TOEFL
In the style of the TOEFL ITP: complete the sentence, or find the part that’s wrong.
Easy practice test 40 questions from every easy topic, about 25 minutes; your score and every answer explained at the end.1 Sentence structure
Every sentence needs a subject and a main verb: The library opens at nine.
40 questions
2 Subject–verb agreement
A singular subject takes a singular verb, even when words come between them: The box of old books is heavy.
40 questions
3 Verb tenses
Use the simple present for habits and facts: Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
40 questions
4 Gerunds, infinitives and participles
Some verbs are followed by the -ing form, such as enjoy, finish, avoid, mind and suggest: She enjoys reading.
40 questions
5 The passive voice
The passive is a form of be plus the past participle: The bridge was built in 1990.
40 questions
6 Modal verbs
After a modal verb, use the base form of the verb: She can swim.
40 questions
7 Conditionals and wishes
For things that are always true, use the present tense in both parts (zero conditional): If you heat ice, it melts.
40 questions
8 Articles: a, an, the
Use a before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound, whatever the first letter is: a university, an hour.
40 questions
9 Nouns and quantity
Countable nouns have plurals and can take a or an, but uncountable nouns like water, advice and information can’t: a book, two books, some advice.
40 questions
10 Pronouns
Use a subject pronoun (I, he, she, we, they) as the subject of a verb, even in a pair: Sita and I built the model.
40 questions
11 Adjectives and adverbs
An adjective describes a noun, and an adverb (often ending in -ly) describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb: The quiet boy spoke quietly.
40 questions
12 Comparisons
Short adjectives add -er and -est, and a final y becomes i: tall, taller, the tallest; easy, easier, the easiest.
40 questions
13 Prepositions
Use at for clock times, on for days and dates, and in for months, years and seasons: at 7 o’clock on Monday in July.
40 questions
14 Joining ideas
Although and even though come before a subject and verb, but despite and in spite of come before a noun or an -ing word: Although it rained, we played; despite the rain, we played.
40 questions
15 Parallel structure
Words joined in a list take the same form, nouns with nouns and adjectives with adjectives: The room was clean, bright, and quiet.
40 questions
16 Relative clauses
Use who for people, which for things, and that for either in a clause that tells which one you mean: The girl who won the race is my cousin.
40 questions
17 Noun clauses and reported questions
A that clause can be the object of a verb such as think, know or say: I think that the test will be easy.
40 questions
18 Reported speech
Use say without a listener and tell with a listener: She said that she was busy. She told me that she was busy.
40 questions
19 Question tags
A positive statement takes a negative tag, and a negative statement takes a positive tag: Pokhara is beautiful, isn’t it?
40 questions
20 Word order and inversion
After a negative or limiting word at the start of a sentence, put the helping verb before the subject: Never have I seen such a bright comet.
40 questions
21 Word forms
Use a noun after a, the, my or an adjective: The team made a quick decision.
40 questions
22 Word choice and redundancy
Use make for creating or building something and do for tasks and activities: We made a model and did our homework.
40 questions
Medium SAT
In the style of the SAT’s grammar questions: choose what completes the sentence or passage correctly.
Medium practice test 30 questions from every medium topic, about 36 minutes; your score and every answer explained at the end.1 Joining and ending sentences
Two complete sentences need a period or a semicolon between them, not just a comma: The river rose; the bridge closed.
40 questions
2 Punctuation and capital letters
Capital letters begin a sentence and the word I, and names of people, places, days, months, languages and festivals, but not seasons or common nouns: In autumn, my uncle and I celebrate Dashain in Gorkha.
40 questions
3 Agreement
A verb agrees with its subject, not with a noun that comes between them: The box of crayons is on the desk.
40 questions
4 Verb forms and tense
Every sentence needs a main verb with a subject; an -ing word, “to” + verb, or “having” + verb can’t be one: “The comet appeared,” not “The comet appearing.”
40 questions
5 Modifiers
An introductory phrase describes the first noun after its comma: “Born in Janakpur, the artist painted,” not “Born in Janakpur, her paintings were.”
40 questions
6 Possessives and plurals
A plural noun that owns nothing takes no apostrophe: the scientists measured the rocks.
40 questions
7 Transitions
Pick the transition by asking how the last sentence relates to the one before it: same idea, opposite idea, result, example, or next step: It rained; as a result, the match was canceled.
40 questions
Hard Sentence correction
In the style of the old GMAT Sentence Correction: choose the best of five versions of the underlined part.
Hard practice test 25 questions from every hard topic, about 38 minutes; your score and every answer explained at the end.1 Parallelism
Items in a list or series take the same grammatical form: to read, to write, and to count, not to read, to write, and counting.
40 questions
2 Comparisons
Compare like with like, using that of or those of when needed: the population of Nepal is smaller than that of India, not than India.
40 questions
3 Modifiers and reference
An opening phrase must describe the subject that comes right after the comma: Walking home, we saw a rainbow (not Walking home, a rainbow appeared).
40 questions
4 Verbs and mood
After words that demand or require something, use the plain base form of the verb for every subject: The rules require that he wait; it is essential that it be dry.
40 questions
5 Idioms
Consider takes its description directly, but regard and view need as: many consider Pluto a dwarf planet; many regard it as a dwarf planet.
40 questions
6 Concision and meaning
Say each thing once, since words that repeat a meaning are errors: return the book, not return the book back.
40 questions
About these questions
Every question was written for this site and checked by a second reader for exactly one right answer. They follow the kinds of question in three tests: the Structure and Written Expression part of the TOEFL ITP (Easy), the Standard English Conventions and Transitions questions of the SAT (Medium), and the Sentence Correction questions the GMAT used until 2023 (Hard; the GRE, which has no grammar questions, is covered by English Vocabulary’s Advanced list). They aren’t those tests’ questions, and ETS, the College Board and GMAC have nothing to do with this site.
The sentences use American English. Your answers stay in this browser.