Grammar test practice

What the real test usually looks like

There is no single standard grammar test. Employers choose their own, as a stand-alone English test or as part of a wider skills test, so the number of questions, the time limit and the question styles all vary. Your invitation is the best guide to yours. Four public examples show the range:

• An online grammar, spelling and punctuation test. Mettl lists its Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation Test at 40 questions in 20 minutes, covering the basic principles of English spelling, grammar and punctuation across easy, medium and difficult questions (Mettl).
• A short US English grammar test. HR Avatar lists its English Grammar (US English) test at about 12 minutes, covering spelling, grammar and proofreading, with questions drawn from a larger bank (HR Avatar).
• Grammar inside a basic skills test. Criteria's Basic Skills Test has 40 questions in 20 minutes across verbal and math skills, and its verbal part covers grammar, spelling and punctuation alongside reading (Criteria).
• A civil service example. New York State's guide to its Secretary 1 and 2 written test describes a 15-question section on grammar, usage, punctuation and sentence structure. For grammar, usage and punctuation, each question gives four sentences and you pick the one with the error. For sentence structure, you pick the one sentence of four that is correctly built (New York State Secretary guide).

Areas commonly reported:

• Grammar and usage: subject-verb agreement, verb forms, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs, and words that sound alike but mean different things.
• Punctuation: commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, question marks and quotation marks.
• Sentence structure: fragments, run-ons, dangling modifiers and lists that do not match.
• Spelling: common business words that are easy to get wrong.

What our mocks cover. Each full mock has 30 questions in 20 minutes, in US English: grammar and usage (12), punctuation (8), sentence structure (5) and spelling (5). Every question has four options and one answer that a grammar rule decides, not a matter of taste or style. You can go back and flag questions before you submit. Our mocks do not include typing, proofreading of long documents or British spelling.

Question types with worked examples

One worked example for each area, with the trap most people fall into.

1. Grammar and usage: agreement. "The box of files ___ on the desk." Is it "is" or "are"? It is "is", because the subject is "box". Trap: letting the nearest noun, "files", choose the verb. Cross out the phrase that starts with "of" and read the sentence again.

2. Grammar and usage: sound-alike words. "The ___ reason for the delay was the weather." Is it "principal" or "principle"? "Principal", which means main or most important. A "principle" is a rule or belief. Trap: going by sound. Words that sound alike are a favorite of usage questions, so learn the common pairs: affect and effect, principal and principle, their and there, complement and compliment.

3. Punctuation: the introductory comma. "After the audit ended the team went home." Where does the comma go? After "ended". An opening clause takes a comma before the main clause. Trap: putting the comma after "audit", which splits the opening clause in two.

4. Sentence structure: fragments. Is "Because the shipment arrived late." a sentence? No. It starts with "because", so it needs a main clause: "Because the shipment arrived late, we missed the deadline." Trap: thinking any group of words with a verb is a sentence.

5. Spelling: double letters. Which is right: "occured" or "occurred"? "Occurred". When a word ends in one vowel and one consonant with the stress on the last part, the consonant doubles before "-ed". Trap: trusting how a word looks after a long day of reading. Learn the rule, then the exceptions.

How to prepare

1. Read your invitation first. Check whether you face a stand-alone grammar test or a section inside a wider skills test, and whether it uses US or British English. Formats vary too much to assume.
2. Learn the question style. If your test asks which of four sentences contains an error, as the New York State Secretary guide describes, read each sentence on its own and look for one specific broken rule (New York State Secretary guide). Three of the four will be correct, even if they sound a little formal.
3. Find the subject and the verb first. Most agreement questions hide the subject behind a phrase. Name the subject, then check the verb.
4. Learn a short list of rules, not every rule. Agreement, pronoun case, adverbs, comma splices, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, modifiers and parallel lists cover a large share of grammar questions.
5. Keep a list of sound-alike words. Write down every pair you are not sure of, with a short example sentence for each, and read the list daily.
6. Practice spelling on business words. Accommodate, necessary, separate, occurred, receive, liaison and questionnaire are good places to start.
7. Practice at the real pace. At 40 questions in 20 minutes, the pace of the Mettl test above, you have 30 seconds a question (Mettl). Take full timed mocks so the pace feels normal on the day.

How scoring usually works

Scoring depends on the employer and the test. There is no national scale and no universal pass mark. Many grammar tests count correct answers, and some compare that count with a reference group. One public example:

• Criteria's Basic Skills Test: each candidate gets a raw score, the number of the 40 questions answered correctly, and a percentile ranking that compares the result with the group the test was normed on (Criteria).

How a result is used is up to the employer. Roles with a lot of writing, such as administrative, customer support or editing jobs, may look for a higher result than others.

Our practice score is the number of our own questions you answered correctly, with a breakdown by area, so you can see whether grammar and usage, punctuation, sentence structure or spelling costs you most. It is a practice score: it is not a score on any employer's or publisher's test and does not predict whether you will pass.

Common grammar test mistakes

• Choosing the sentence that sounds odd. Formal sentences can sound strange and still be correct, like "Attached are the signed forms." Look for a broken rule, not an unusual sound.
• Trusting the nearest noun. In "The cost of the repairs is high", the verb follows "cost". Find the real subject every time.
• Using "I" after a preposition. "For you and I" and "between you and I" are errors. Drop the other person and listen: "for I" is clearly wrong.
• Adding colons before every list. A colon needs a complete clause before it. "The kit includes: gloves" is wrong; "The kit includes three items: gloves" is right.
• Mixing list forms. "Answering, scheduling and to file" breaks the pattern. Make every item match the first.
• Spending too long on one question. If two options still look right after a careful read, pick the one that follows a rule you can name and move on.

Many employment skills tests pair grammar with reading. Our reading comprehension test practices workplace documents, and our verbal reasoning practice covers judging statements against a passage.