There has been a lot of talk in the news about the UK Government's proposal to test 11 year old's grasp of grammar, spelling and vocabulary.
You can read about this in this article in the Telegraph newspaper.
Over the years, I have spoken to many teachers about the fact that when we started teaching English, we knew very little about our own language. What I knew about English, I had transferred from my learning of French and German.
Over the years, I gleaned many insights from coursebooks and often found myself telling Advanced and Proficiency students that I'd get back to them in the following class with an answer to an awkward grammar question.
So what would the test for 11 year olds ask? The Telegraph gives these example questions (notice the mistake in question 3 of Level 3-5):
LEVEL 3-5
1 Circle all the adverbs in the sentence below:
Open the drawers carefully and quietly when using the filing cabinet. (1 mark)
2 Tick one word to complete the sentence below.
Michael and Kate read their books ______________ they ate their sandwiches.
while
which
between
during
(1 mark )
3 Draw lines to match each sentence with the most likely final punctuation.
Look out ?
How are you doing !
January is the first month of year .
(1 mark)
4 Circle the word that describes how William played on the field.
William played badly on the field.
(1 mark)
5 Look at this sentence
The shopping list said he should buy bread, butter, jam and tea.
a) What is the name of the punctuation mark that is used after the words ‘bread’ and ‘butter’?
________________________
b) Why is this punctuation mark needed in the sentence above? Tick one.
to mark the start of a new clause
to show that a word is missing
to separate the items in a list
to take the place of brackets
(1 mark )
6 The sentences below each have an error. The errors are underlined. Write the correction in the dotted space allocated, making sure the verb matches the tense. One has been done for you.
had
Yesterday, I have the chance to play for my local team.
......
Our local café makes great cakes. We like to sit and ate them on a Saturday.
..................
The children are going to a shopping centre tomorrow and they had bought some new toys.
.................
I am putting on my shoes and I will have been for a walk in the park right now!
(1 mark)
7 Write a short question beginning with the words below.
How many____________________________________
(1 mark)
(1 mark)
8 Underline the subordinate clause in each of the following sentences. One has been done for you.
Although his Mum thought they were very smart, Peter disliked his new trousers.
Before he could go swimming, Ali packed his towel.
The twins asked Dad to turn up the heating as it was cold.
After drinking his water, Mark washed up his glass.
(2 marks)
9 Put the baker’s words into direct speech.
The baker said that he hoped to sell all of the loaves by lunchtime.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
(2 marks)
10 Complete the sentences below using either I or me.
____ pulled out the keys from my pocket.
She asked ____ to help her put up the pictures.
My team and ____ are playing next week.
Why isn’t anyone able to understand what ____ am trying to do?
I had to help with the washing up before Dad would turn on the television for ____.
(1 mark)
(1 mark)
11 Which sentence uses inverted commas correctly? Tick one.
“Fortunately, Peter, you’re going after all, said Mrs. Smith.” It’s a good job, too!
”Fortunately, Peter, you’re going after all, “said Mrs Smith”. It’s a good job, too!
“Fortunately, Peter, you’re going after all,” said Mrs Smith. It’s a good job, too!
“Fortunately, Peter, you’re going after all,” said Mrs Smith. “It’s a good job, too!”
(1 mark)
(1 mark)
12 Write whether each sentence is a statement, a command or a question.
Wait at the door.
________________________
What time are we going.
________________________
Think about it a bit more.
________________________
(1 mark)
13 Complete the sentence below with a contraction that makes sense.
If you give me the recipe _________ buy the ingredients on the way home.
(1 mark)
(1 mark)
14 Add a suffix to this word to make an adjective. dread ____________
(1 mark)
LEVEL 6
1 Rewrite the sentences, changing them from the active to the passive voice. One has been done for you.
Active voice: Sam ate a biscuit.
Passive voice: A biscuit was eaten by Sam.
Active voice: Victoria drank her tea.
Passive voice ____________________________________________
Active voice: The team won the trophy.
Passive voice ____________________________________________
Active voice: Rishi poured the milk.
Passive voice ____________________________________________
(1 mark)
2 This sentence is made up of two clauses, a main clause (MC) and a subordinate clause (SC).
Paul’s Auntie May, who loves to bake cakes, always has flour in the cupboard.
Add a subordinate clause to the sentence below.
We walked, __________________________________________, to the local park.
(1 mark)
(1 mark)
3 Rewrite the sentence below, changing it from a personal form to an impersonal form.
It takes me a lot of time to decide what shoes to wear.
_____________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
4 Insert a comma and a semi-colon in the sentence below to clarify the meaning of the sentence:
David eats cake whenever he has the chance I prefer apples oranges and bananas.
(2 marks)
5 Label each of the nouns below as either abstract AB, collective CL, common CM or proper PR noun.
Last Sunday, the team was filled with excitement that they might win the trophy!!
(1 mark)
You can see the answers here.
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