Grammar Tests with Answers

Exercise 1

I.              Identify all parts of speech embedded in the text.

II.           Pin down the phrases & sub-clauses the text contains and tell to what types they do belong.

Driver Loses Mabel, Finds Jail

A fifteen-year-old boy was injured in a car accident when the minivan he was traveling in was hit by a pickup truck at an intersection. The boy was taken to a nearby hospital. The paramedics said that it appeared that the boy had nothing more serious than a broken left leg, but that internal injuries were always a possibility. The boy was conscious and alert. His mother, who was driving, was uninjured. She said that the truck appeared out of nowhere, and she thought she was going to die. She turned the steering wheel sharply to the left, and the truck hit her minivan on the passenger side.

The driver of the truck was a 50-year-old man who was unemployed and apparently had been drinking—police found 18 empty beer cans inside the truck. The man denied drinking, but he failed the police test for sobriety. When asked to touch his nose with his arms outstretched and eyes closed, he was unable to touch any part of his head.

The handcuffed man asked the police if they knew where "Mabel" was as he was put into the back seat of the police vehicle. The police asked him if Mabel was his wife. He said, "She's my dog, my dog! Where's my baby?" A dog with a collar, but no identification, was found minutes later, half a block away. The man was taken to the city jail and booked on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and on causing an accident.

Exercise 2

I.              Identify all parts of speech embedded in the text.

II.           Pin down the phrases & clauses the text contains and tell to what types they do belong.

Heavenly Justice

Once, there was a preacher who was an avid golfer. Every chance he could get, he would be on the golf course swinging away. It was an obsession. One Sunday was a picture-perfect day for golfing. The sun was out, no clouds were in the sky, and the temperature was just right.
The preacher was in a quandary as to what to do, and shortly, the urge to play golf overcame him. He called an assistant to tell him that he was sick and could not do church, packed the car up, and drove three hours to a golf course where no one would recognize him. Happily, he began to play the course.

An angel up above was watching the preacher and was quite perturbed. He went to God and said, "Look at the preacher. He should be punished for what he is doing."
God nodded in agreement. The preacher teed up on the first hole. He swung at the ball, and it sailed effortlessly through the air and landed right in the cup 250 yards away. A picture perfect hole-in-one. He was amazed and excited.

The angel was a little shocked. He turned to God and said, “I beg your pardon, but I thought you were going to punish him.”
God smiled. “Think about it-who can he tell?”

Exercise 3

To Absent Brothers

I.              Identify all parts of speech embedded in the text.

II.           Pin down the phrases & clauses the text contains and tell to what types they do belong.

An Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness and sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finished all three, he comes back to the bar and orders three more. The bartender says to him, 'You know, a pint goes flat after I draw it; it would taste better if you bought one at a time.' The Irishman replies, 'Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the other in Australia, and I'm here in Dublin.

When we all left home, we promised that we'd drink this way to remember the days we all drank together. 'The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there. The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar and always drinks the same way: he orders three pints and drinks the three pints by taking drinks from each of them in turn. One day, he comes in and orders two pints.

All the other regulars in the bar notice and fall silent. When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says, 'I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your great loss.' The Irishman looks confused for a moment, then a lights dawns in his eye and he laughs. 'Oh, no, ' he says, 'Everyone is fine. I've just quit drinking!

Exercise 4

I.              Identify all parts of speech in the text.

II.           Pin down the phrases and the clauses embedded in the text, if there are any; and tell to what types they do belong.

College Letters

A girl goes into the doctor's office for a checkup. As she takes off her blouse, he notices a red "H" on her chest. "How did you get that mark on your chest?" asks the doctor. "Oh, my boyfriend went to Harvard and he's so proud of it that he never takes off his Harvard sweatshirt, even when we make love," she replies.

A couple of days later, another girl comes in for a checkup. As she takes off her blouse, he notices a blue "Y" on her chest. "How did you get that mark on your chest?" asks the doctor. "Oh, my boyfriend went to Yale and he's so proud of it that he never takes off his Yale sweatshirt, even when we make love," she replies.

A couple of days later, another girl comes in for a checkup. As she takes off her blouse, he notices a red "M" on her chest. "Do you have a boyfriend at Michigan?" asks the doctor. "No, but I have a girlfriend at Wisconsin. Why do you ask?"

Exercise 5

Read the instructions very carefully.

I.              Identify all parts of speech embedded in the text.

II.           Pin down all phrases and clauses, if there are any, and tell to what types they do belong.

Act like the Others

Lydia and Anna decide to shop in the city. "See you boys when we get back!" the girls shout. In the village Jack and Mike see a beautiful old church, but when they enter the church, a service is already in progress. "Shh! Just sit quietly, so that we don't stand out. And act like the others!" Mike whispers. Since they don't really know French, Jack and Mike quietly sit down.

During the service, they stand, kneel and sit to follow what the rest of the crowd do. "I hope we blend in and don't look like tourists!" Mike tells Jack. At one point, the priest makes an announcement and the man who sits next to Jack and Mike stands up."We should stand up, too!" Jack whispers to Mike. So, Jack and Mike stand up with the man. Suddenly, all the people burst into laughter!

After the service, Jack and Mike approach the priest, who speaks English. "What's so funny?" Jack asks. With a smile on his face the priest says, "Well boys, there is a new baby born, and it's tradition to ask the father to stand up." Jack and Mike look at each other and Mike shakes his head. He smiles and says, "I guess we should understand what people do before we act like the others!"

Exercise 6

I.              Identify all parts of speech embedded in the text

II.                Pin down all phrases and clauses, if there are any, and tell to what types they do belong.

A Thief in the night

Dunstan Cass started off in the early morning. He had to go to the lane (which passed by the piece of unenclosed ground called the Stone-pits). Here stood the cottage( where Silas had lived for fifteen years.)

The place looked very cheerless at this season. The deserted pit was half filled with muddy water, and the trees stood round it like ghosts. That was Dunstan’s first thought( as he approached it); the second thought was (that the foolish old weaver),( whose loom he heard working already), had a great deal of money hidden somewhere.

Bryce and Keating were at the hunt (as Dunstan had expected.)

“Good day,” said Bryce,( who had long wanted to buy Wildfire.) “ You’re on your brother’s horse today. Why is that?”

“Oh, I’ve exchanged with him,” said Dunstan.

“Wildfire is mine now.”

“What! Has he exchanged Wildfire for that big-boned old horse of yours?” said Bryce.

“Oh, he owed me some money,” said Dunstan carelessly, “and he gave me Wildfire instead of paying. I shall keep Wildfire now I’ve got him,( though I had an offer of a hundred and fifty pounds for him the other day,)”

Bryce, of course, guessed( that Dunstan wanted to sell the horse)