The Initial Plus Grammar Test

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

Choose the best answer.
ELT Concourse Home page

  1. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the word 'angry' is ...
    1.   ... a verb
    2.   ... a noun
    3.   ... an adjective
    4.   ... an adverb
  2. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the word 'very' is ...
    1.   ... a noun
    2.   ... an adjective
    3.   ... an adverb
    4.   ... a verb
  3. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the word 'became' is ...
    1.   ... a modal verb
    2.   ... a lexical or main verb
    3.   ... an auxiliary verb
    4.   ... a copular verb
  4. In the clause: "She became very angry indeed", the phrase 'very angry indeed' is ...
    1.   ... an adjective phrase
    2.   ... a verb phrase
    3.   ... a noun phrase
    4.   ... an adverb phrase
  5. We say 'delicious citrus fruit' not 'citrus delicious fruit' because ...
    1.   ... we can't say 'more' or 'most delicious'
    2.   ... the word 'citrus' classifies the word 'fruit'
    3.   ... we can't say 'more' or 'most citrus'
    4.   ... the noun is 'citrus fruit'
  6. Adding '-er' and '-est to make comparative and superlative forms of adjectives is called ...
    1.   ... declination
    2.   ... inflexion
    3.   ... prefixation
    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.   ... an infinitive
    4.   ... a finite verb
  8. In the clause "My mother came to help make the dinner", the word 'make' is ...
    1.   ... an auxiliary verb
    2.   ... a copular verb
    3.   ... a non-finite verb
    4.   ... a finite verb
  9. In the clause "She has arrived at last", the word 'has' is ...
    1.   ... a non-finite verb
    2.   ... a modal auxiliary verb
    3.   ... a copular verb
    4.   ... a primary auxiliary verb
  10. We can't say "She arrived the hotel" because ...
    1.   ... the verb is non-finite
    2.   ... the verb never takes an object
    3.   ... the verb always takes an object
    4.   ... 'the hotel' can never act as an object
  11. We can't say "She made" because ...
    1.   ... the verb is used to link the noun to an adjective
    2.   ... the verb is non-finite
    3.   ... the verb always takes an object
    4.   ... the verb never takes an object
  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.   ... changes its meaning depending on whether it has an object
    4.   ... always takes an object
  13. In the clause, "He walked off his hangover" the verb phrase is ...
    1.   ... walked off
    2.   ... he walked off
    3.   ... he walked
    4.   ... walked
  14. In the clause, "He walked over the bridge" the verb phrase is ...
    1.   ... he walked
    2.   ... he walked over
    3.   ... walked
    4.   ... walked over
  15. We can't say, "He doesn't must do it" but we can say "He didn't need to do it" because ...
    1.   ... 'need to' is not an auxiliary verb
    2.   ... 'must' is a central or pure modal auxiliary verb and 'need to' is a semi-modal auxiliary verb
    3.   ... the first clause is in the present tense and the second is in the past
    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.   ... permission
    2.   ... obligation
    3.   ... possibility
    4.   ... ability
  17. In the clause, "I will cook if you like", the word 'will' refers to ...
    1.   ... willingness
    2.   ... ability
    3.   ... futurity
    4.   ... permission
  18. In the clause, "I was smoking a cigarette", the tense of the verb is ...
    1.   ... past simple
    2.   ... past progressive
    3.   ... present perfect
    4.   ... past perfect
  19. In the clause, "I had been waiting for hours", the tense of the verb is ...
    1.   ... past progressive
    2.   ... past perfect progressive
    3.   ... past perfect
    4.   ... present perfect progressive
  20. In the clause, "She'll have been driving all night", the verb tense is ...
    1.   ... future perfect progressive
    2.   ... future progressive
    3.   ... future simple
    4.   ... future perfect
  21. The sentence, "She hasn't read it but it's on her holiday list" can be described as ...
    1.   ... a compound sentence
    2.   ... a simple sentence
    3.   ... a complex sentence
    4.   ... a complex-compound sentence
  22. The sentence, "Will you be quiet, please?" functions as ...
    1.   ... a positive
    2.   ... a question
    3.   ... a negative
    4.   ... an imperative
  23. The tense of the verb in "He had been thinking of her" is ...
    1.   ... present perfect progressive
    2.   ... past perfect simple
    3.   ... past perfect progressive
    4.   ... past progressive
  24. The normal word order for positive sentences in English is ...
    1.   ... Subject - Object - Verb
    2.   ... Object - Verb - Subject
    3.   ... Subject - Verb - Object
    4.   ... Verb - Subject - Object
  25. The placement of the word 'concerned' in "the people concerned" is unusual because ...
    1.   ... it should be 'the people are concerned'
    2.   ... adjectives in English normally come before the noun
    3.   ... the word 'concerned' can't be used as an adjective
    4.   ... it should be 'the concerned people'
  26. In the sentence, "Having opened the door, he went in", the word 'having' is ...
    1.   ... a present participle
    2.   ... a past participle
    3.   ... a gerund
    4.   ... a present progressive
  27. The word 'because' in "She came because I asked" is ...
    1.   ... a correlating conjunction
    2.   ... a coordinating conjunction
    3.   ... a subordinating conjunction
    4.   ... a defining conjunction
  28. In the sentence, "I'll come when I can", the word 'when' is ...
    1.   ... an adjective
    2.   ... a pronoun
    3.   ... an adverb
    4.   ... a conjunction
  29. In the sentence, "When did they arrive?", the word 'when' is ...
    1.   ... a conjunction
    2.   ... a pronoun
    3.   ... an adjective
    4.   ... an adverb
  30. In the sentence, "I have been here since ten o'clock", the word 'since' is ...
    1.   ... a preposition
    2.   ... a conjunction
    3.   ... a noun
    4.   ... an adverb
  31. In the expression, "take those tickets", the word 'those' is ...
    1.   ... a demonstrative determiner
    2.   ... a pronoun
    3.   ... an adjective
    4.   ... an adverb
  32. In the clause, "He is being stupid" the verb is used ...
    1.   ... dynamically
    2.   ... with an object
    3.   ... statively
    4.   ... as an auxiliary
  33. "I am seeing the doctor tomorrow" refers to ...
    1.   ... a future prediction
    2.   ... a current activity
    3.   ... a future based on present evidence
    4.   ... a present arrangement
  34. In the sentence, "He was cycling when he saw the accident", the first verb refers to ...
    1.   ... an action which began before the accident
    2.   ... an action that definitely stopped immediately
    3.   ... an action that definitely continued after the accident
    4.   ... an action which was habitual
  35. In the phrase, "the class in Room 16", the word 'class' is ...
    1.   ... an uncountable noun
    2.   ... a collective noun
    3.   ... a proper noun
    4.   ... a mass noun
  36. "I don't have many furniture" is not possible because ...
    1.   ... 'furniture' is a mass noun
    2.   ... 'furniture' is countable
    3.   ... 'many' cannot be used in the plural
    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 specific alligators
    2.   ... we are referring to a collective noun
    3.   ... 'alligator' is a countable noun
    4.   ... we are referring to all alligators everywhere
  38. In the clause, "She waited outside", the word 'outside' is ...
    1.   ... a pronoun
    2.   ... a preposition
    3.   ... a noun
    4.   ... an adverb
  39. The word 'wonderfully' in, "It appeared wonderfully clever" is ...
    1.   ... an adjective
    2.   ... modifying the verb 'appeared'
    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 cannot come before the auxiliary verb
    3.   ... adverbs of indefinite frequency always come before the main 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 first is less likely than the second
    2.   ... the second refers to the present and the first refers to the past
    3.   ... the second is less likely than the first
    4.   ... the first is impossible and the second is possible
  42. "He spoke too quickly" contains ...
    1.   ... two adverbs
    2.   ... an adjective following an adverb
    3.   ... an adverb following an adjective
    4.   ... two adjectives
  43. In the sentence, "I don't like this car as much as that", the word 'that' is ...
    1.   ... a demonstrative
    2.   ... a noun
    3.   ... a verb
    4.   ... a pronoun
  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.   ... noun + noun compounding
    2.   ... adjective + noun compounding
    3.   ... verb + noun compounding
    4.   ... adjective + verb compounding
  46. In "I did it myself", the word 'myself' is ...
    1.   ... an object pronoun
    2.   ... a possessive determiner
    3.   ... a reflexive pronoun
    4.   ... a possessive pronoun
  47. In "He sold me them", the word 'me' is ...
    1.   ... the subject
    2.   ... the indirect object
    3.   ... a possessive pronoun
    4.   ... the direct object
  48. In "He sold me them", the word 'them' is ...
    1.   ... a subject pronoun
    2.   ... the direct object
    3.   ... the indirect object
    4.   ... a possessive pronoun
  49. In the clause "It's expensive enough", the word 'enough' is ...
    1.   ... an adjective
    2.   ... a determiner
    3.   ... a preposition
    4.   ... an adverb
  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.   ... a finite verb
    3.   ... an infinitive
    4.   ... the object of 'Why'