Quiz: Can you pass a primary school grammar test?

Is it time to brush up on your grammar skills? Take the test

Primary school grammar test: How many can you get right?
Mr Shakespeare knew his stuff

Is your grasp of grammar up to the Key Stage 1 and 2 benchmark? Take the Oxford University Press test to find out.

Here are 8 exam questions that divided the internet in 2015 – how many can you get right?

The answers

1.

Modal verbs are auxiliary, or helper verbs, such as may, might, could, can, must, would, should. They are used to change the meaning of other verbs, and can express possibility, ability or likelihood, necessity, and the future.

2.

The present perfect tense combines the present tense of the verb to have with the simple past tense of another verb. It is used for something that happened and is still relevant or meaningful now, and for something that started happening in the past and is still happening now.

3.

For very formal speech and writing, we use the subjunctive form of were instead of was with I, he, she and it.

4.

In British English, practise is the verb, and practice is the noun. To remember the difference, think of advise, the verb, and advice, the noun.

5.

It’s is the contracted form of ‘it is’, whereas ‘its’ is a possessive pronoun, like his and her.

6.

The progressive past tense is formed from the past tense of the verb to be and the present participle of the main verb. It is used for something that was not finished when something else happened, and for something that continued for some time.

7.

Relative pronouns introduce a clause that gives more information about a noun.

8.

An active verb is used when the subject of a sentence does the action of the verb. A passive verb is used when the subject of a sentence has the action done to it.

9.

A punctuation mark always comes inside the final set of inverted commas.

10.

Subordinating conjunctions join the less important part of a sentence (the subordinate clause) to the more important part of a sentence (the main clause). Co-ordinating conjunctions join two clauses of equal importance.

11.

An adverbial is an adverb, phrase or clause that modifies a verb. The example in the question is of a fronted adverbial, which appears at the beginning of the sentence and draws attention to the time, manner, place, purpose or frequency of an action. Fronted adverbials are usually followed by a comma.

Exam questions that divided the internet
Hannah's Sweets
When is Cheryl's birthday?
The answer
Step 1: Take the words from the question, and write it down as an equation - 6/n x 5/(n-1) = 1/3 Step 2: Multiply the 6 by the 5 and the n by the n-1. That gives you: 30/(n^2 - n) = 1/3 Step 3: Multiply the top-left by bottom-right and top-right by bottom-left Step 4: Subtract 90 from both sides, leading to your answer n^2 - n - 90 = 0
When is Cheryl's birthday?
The answer
You should create a table of four columns with the months at the top and the dates Cheryl gives after. "You can rule out some of the options. For Albert to have known the answer, he would have to have May and June as that is when 19 or 18 occur." The number 14 is the only one in both months but Bernard is now sure of the birth date. This means Bernard knows it is July 16.
The cruel exam question
The answer
The answer depends on what type of person you are. "In reality, if too many people overuse a common resource then everyone in the group suffers," said the professor who set it.
Why 5+5+5 doesn’t always make 15
The answer
A student was marked down for using the solution 5+5+5, with the teacher noting the correct working out should be shown as 3+3+3+3+3 using the repeated addition strategy.
The 50 cent conundrum
The answer
360 degrees in a circle divided by 12 x 2 coins = 60

Meanwhile, think you could pass the world's hardest test? This is the entrance exam for fellowship at All Soul's College at the University of Oxford.

Example questions from the 'hardest test in the world'

  1. Did the left or right win the twentieth century?
  2. "Secure people dare". Do they?
  3. Should intellectuals tweet?
  4. Should prisoners be allowed to watch television?
  5. How can words be beautiful?
  6. Can we be forced to be free?
  7. Is the financial sector larger than it should be?
  8. Can policy rely on human rationality?
  9. Is there an economic case for limiting pay bonuses to twice an annual salary?
  10. Should the state restrict what people should do with their pension savings?
  11. Is homelessness a reflection of a badly functioning economy?
  12. Would an inflation target of 4% be better than 2%?
  13. How do apologies work?
  14. Does the status quo have any moral privilege?
  15. Can emotions be reasons for decisions?
  16. Can there be substantive disagreement in the absence of fact?
  17. What is the connection between knowing something and being certain of it?
  18. Is meaning best understood via the concept of truth?
  19. How can someone know what they will do tomorrow if they do not know that they will not have a heart attack before tomorrow arrives?
  20. Who should pay for the costs of educating and bringing up children?