The Initial Plus Grammar Test

Multiple-choice test
Make a note of your score at the end!

Choose the best answer.
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  1. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the word 'angry' is ...
    1.   ... a verb
    2.   ... an adverb
    3.   ... an adjective
    4.   ... a noun
  2. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the word 'very' is ...
    1.   ... a noun
    2.   ... a verb
    3.   ... an adjective
    4.   ... an adverb
  3. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the word 'became' is ...
    1.   ... a modal verb
    2.   ... an auxiliary verb
    3.   ... a lexical or main verb
    4.   ... a copular verb
  4. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the phrase 'very angry indeed' is ...
    1.   ... a verb phrase
    2.   ... a noun phrase
    3.   ... an adverb phrase
    4.   ... an adjective phrase
  5. We say 'delicious citrus fruit' not 'citrus delicious fruit' because ...
    1.   ... the noun is 'citrus fruit'
    2.   ... the word 'citrus' classifies the word 'fruit'
    3.   ... we can't say 'more' or 'most citrus'
    4.   ... we can't say 'more' or 'most delicious'
  6. Adding '-er' and '-est to make comparative and superlative forms of adjectives is called ...
    1.   ... prefixation
    2.   ... declination
    3.   ... inflexion
    4.   ... periphrasis
  7. In the clause "My mother came to help make the dinner", the word 'came' is ...
    1.   ... a copular verb
    2.   ... a non-finite verb
    3.   ... a finite verb
    4.   ... an infinitive
  8. In the clause "My mother came to help make the dinner", the word 'make' is ...
    1.   ... a finite verb
    2.   ... an auxiliary verb
    3.   ... a non-finite verb
    4.   ... a copular verb
  9. In the clause "She has arrived at last", the word 'has' is ...
    1.   ... a primary auxiliary verb
    2.   ... a non-finite verb
    3.   ... a copular verb
    4.   ... a modal auxiliary verb
  10. We can't say "She arrived the hotel" because ...
    1.   ... the verb always takes an object
    2.   ... 'the hotel' can never act as an object
    3.   ... the verb is non-finite
    4.   ... the verb never takes an object
  11. We can't say "She made" because ...
    1.   ... the verb never takes an object
    2.   ... the verb always takes an object
    3.   ... the verb is non-finite
    4.   ... the verb is used to link the noun to an adjective
  12. In the two clauses, "The bird flew away" and "She flew the plane", the verb ...
    1.   ... is different in each case
    2.   ... cannot be transitive
    3.   ... always takes an object
    4.   ... changes its meaning depending on whether it has an object
  13. In the clause, "He walked off his hangover" the verb phrase is ...
    1.   ... he walked
    2.   ... walked
    3.   ... walked off
    4.   ... he walked off
  14. In the clause, "He walked over the bridge" the verb phrase is ...
    1.   ... walked over
    2.   ... he walked
    3.   ... he walked over
    4.   ... walked
  15. We can't say, "He doesn't must do it" but we can say "He didn't need to do it" because ...
    1.   ... 'must' is a central or pure modal auxiliary verb and 'need to' is a semi-modal auxiliary verb
    2.   ... the first clause is in the present tense and the second is in the past
    3.   ... 'need to' is not an auxiliary verb
    4.   ... 'must' is a semi-modal auxiliary verb and 'need to' is a pure modal auxiliary verb
  16. In the clause, "He could play the piano well as a child", the word 'could' refers to ...
    1.   ... obligation
    2.   ... ability
    3.   ... possibility
    4.   ... permission
  17. In the clause, "I will cook if you like", the word 'will' refers to ...
    1.   ... ability
    2.   ... futurity
    3.   ... willingness
    4.   ... permission
  18. In the clause, "I was smoking a cigarette", the tense of the verb is ...
    1.   ... past simple
    2.   ... past progressive
    3.   ... past perfect
    4.   ... present perfect
  19. In the clause, "I had been waiting for hours", the tense of the verb is ...
    1.   ... past perfect
    2.   ... present perfect progressive
    3.   ... past progressive
    4.   ... past perfect progressive
  20. In the clause, "She'll have been driving all night", the verb tense is ...
    1.   ... future simple
    2.   ... future perfect
    3.   ... future progressive
    4.   ... future perfect progressive
  21. The sentence, "She hasn't read it but it's on her holiday list" can be described as ...
    1.   ... a complex sentence
    2.   ... a simple sentence
    3.   ... a compound sentence
    4.   ... a complex-compound sentence
  22. The sentence, "Will you be quiet, please?" functions as ...
    1.   ... a positive
    2.   ... a negative
    3.   ... a question
    4.   ... an imperative
  23. The tense of the verb in "He had been thinking of her" is ...
    1.   ... past progressive
    2.   ... present perfect progressive
    3.   ... past perfect simple
    4.   ... past perfect progressive
  24. The normal word order for positive sentences in English is ...
    1.   ... Subject - Verb - Object
    2.   ... Verb - Subject - Object
    3.   ... Object - Verb - Subject
    4.   ... Subject - Object - Verb
  25. The placement of the word 'concerned' in "the people concerned" is unusual because ...
    1.   ... adjectives in English normally come before the noun
    2.   ... it should be 'the people are concerned'
    3.   ... it should be 'the concerned people'
    4.   ... the word 'concerned' can't be used as an adjective
  26. In the sentence, "Having opened the door, he went in", the word 'having' is ...
    1.   ... a present progressive
    2.   ... a present participle
    3.   ... a gerund
    4.   ... a past participle
  27. The word 'because' in "She came because I asked" is ...
    1.   ... a correlating conjunction
    2.   ... a subordinating conjunction
    3.   ... a coordinating conjunction
    4.   ... a defining conjunction
  28. In the sentence, "I'll come when I can", the word 'when' is ...
    1.   ... an adjective
    2.   ... an adverb
    3.   ... a pronoun
    4.   ... a conjunction
  29. In the sentence, "When did they arrive?", the word 'when' is ...
    1.   ... a conjunction
    2.   ... an adverb
    3.   ... an adjective
    4.   ... a pronoun
  30. In the sentence, "I have been here since ten o'clock", the word 'since' is ...
    1.   ... a preposition
    2.   ... a noun
    3.   ... an adverb
    4.   ... a conjunction
  31. In the expression, "take those tickets", the word 'those' is ...
    1.   ... a demonstrative determiner
    2.   ... a pronoun
    3.   ... an adverb
    4.   ... an adjective
  32. In the clause, "He is being stupid" the verb is used ...
    1.   ... dynamically
    2.   ... statively
    3.   ... as an auxiliary
    4.   ... with an object
  33. "I am seeing the doctor tomorrow" refers to ...
    1.   ... a current activity
    2.   ... a future based on present evidence
    3.   ... a present arrangement
    4.   ... a future prediction
  34. In the sentence, "He was cycling when he saw the accident", the first verb refers to ...
    1.   ... an action that definitely stopped immediately
    2.   ... an action that definitely continued after the accident
    3.   ... an action which began before the accident
    4.   ... an action which was habitual
  35. In the phrase, "the class in Room 16", the word 'class' is ...
    1.   ... a collective noun
    2.   ... an uncountable noun
    3.   ... a mass noun
    4.   ... a proper noun
  36. "I don't have many furniture" is not possible because ...
    1.   ... 'furniture' is countable
    2.   ... 'many' cannot be used in the plural
    3.   ... 'furniture' is a mass noun
    4.   ... we can't use 'many' in negative sentences
  37. There is no article (a, an or the) in "Alligators are aggressive" because ...
    1.   ... we are referring to all alligators everywhere
    2.   ... we are referring to a collective noun
    3.   ... 'alligator' is a countable noun
    4.   ... we are referring to specific alligators
  38. In the clause, "She waited outside", the word 'outside' is ...
    1.   ... a noun
    2.   ... a pronoun
    3.   ... a preposition
    4.   ... an adverb
  39. The word 'wonderfully' in, "It appeared wonderfully clever" is ...
    1.   ... modifying the verb 'appeared'
    2.   ... an adjective
    3.   ... modifying the word 'clever'
    4.   ... modifying 'it'
  40. "I frequently can see it" is wrong because ...
    1.   ... adverbs always follow verbs
    2.   ... adverbs of indefinite frequency always come before the main verb
    3.   ... adverbs of indefinite frequency cannot come before the auxiliary verb
    4.   ... no adverbs can come before auxiliary verbs
  41. The difference between "If he came, I'd talk to him" and "If he comes, I'll talk to him" is that ...
    1.   ... the second is less likely than the first
    2.   ... the first is less likely than the second
    3.   ... the second refers to the present and the first refers to the past
    4.   ... the first is impossible and the second is possible
  42. "He spoke too quickly" contains ...
    1.   ... an adjective following an adverb
    2.   ... an adverb following an adjective
    3.   ... two adjectives
    4.   ... two adverbs
  43. In the sentence, "I don't like this car as much as that", the word 'that' is ...
    1.   ... a verb
    2.   ... a demonstrative
    3.   ... a pronoun
    4.   ... a noun
  44. In the clause, "Anybody can come", the word 'anybody' is ...
    1.   ... a pronoun
    2.   ... an adverb
    3.   ... an adjective
    4.   ... a noun
  45. The term "tree surgeon" is an example of ...
    1.   ... adjective + noun compounding
    2.   ... noun + noun compounding
    3.   ... adjective + verb compounding
    4.   ... verb + noun compounding
  46. In "I did it myself", the word 'myself' is ...
    1.   ... a reflexive pronoun
    2.   ... a possessive determiner
    3.   ... an object pronoun
    4.   ... a possessive pronoun
  47. In "He sold me them", the word 'me' is ...
    1.   ... the indirect object
    2.   ... the direct object
    3.   ... a possessive pronoun
    4.   ... the subject
  48. In "He sold me them", the word 'them' is ...
    1.   ... the direct object
    2.   ... a possessive pronoun
    3.   ... the indirect object
    4.   ... a subject pronoun
  49. In the clause "It's expensive enough", the word 'enough' is ...
    1.   ... an adjective
    2.   ... a preposition
    3.   ... an adverb
    4.   ... a determiner
  50. This is the last question. Make a note of your score NOW.
    In "Why not tell him?", the word 'tell' is ...
    1.   ... a to-infinitive
    2.   ... the object of 'Why'
    3.   ... an infinitive
    4.   ... a finite verb