SEAG grammar and punctuation practice
Grammar and punctuation questions test precision as much as knowledge. A child needs to know the rules, and then apply them carefully under time pressure. Below are three real-style questions with full worked answers.
Try three grammar and punctuation questions
Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
A. Its raining outside, so bring your umbrella. B. It's raining outside, so bring your umbrella.
Answer: B. "It's" is the correct contraction of "it is". "Its" without an apostrophe shows possession, so it would be wrong in this sentence.
Which sentence uses the correct tense?
A. By the time we arrived, the film already started. B. By the time we arrived, the film had already started.
Answer: B. The past perfect tense ("had already started") is needed to show the film began before the other past action of arriving.
Which sentence contains a comma splice, where two complete sentences are incorrectly joined by only a comma?
A. I finished my homework, then I watched television. B. I finished my homework and then watched television.
Answer: A. Option A joins two complete sentences with just a comma. It should use a conjunction, semicolon or full stop instead.
What tends to catch children out
The most common mistakes are confusing "its" and "it's", and rushing past a sentence without reading it fully before deciding whether it contains an error. Slowing down on this section usually earns more marks than speeding through it.
Practise this topic, then sit a full mock
Transfera has original grammar and punctuation questions, including error-spotting passages, across easy, medium and hard difficulty, each with a clear written explanation. Once your child is confident here, a full timed mock brings this topic together with the rest of the English paper.
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