English Grammar Quiz with Answers

Parts of speech: the base of every grammar question

There are eight parts of speech in English: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Almost every grammar question, like error spotting or sentence improvement, is really testing whether one of these is used in the right way and the right place.

Start by being able to spot the part of speech of each word in a sentence. Once you can tell that a word is a verb (and not a noun) or an adverb (and not an adjective), most error questions become easy. For example, knowing that 'quick' is an adjective and 'quickly' is an adverb tells you which one fits 'He ran ___'.

Do not just memorise the names. Practice short MCQs where you pick the part of speech of an underlined word. This builds the speed you need when the clock is running in the exam.

Tenses: keep the time clear and consistent

English has twelve main tenses, built from the present, past and future, each in simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous form. Exams love to test whether you mix two tenses in one sentence by mistake. A common error is starting in the past tense and switching to the present halfway through.

The key rule is consistency. If a sentence is set in the past, the verbs should stay in the past unless there is a clear reason to change. Also watch fixed patterns: after 'until', 'when' and 'as soon as' you use the present tense for a future idea, as in 'I will wait until she comes' (not 'until she will come').

Practice tense questions in mixed sets so you learn to feel when a verb form is wrong, not just recite the rules.

Subject-verb agreement: the highest scoring rule

Subject-verb agreement is one of the highest weightage areas in both SSC and bank exams, so it deserves extra time. The basic rule is simple: a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

The tricky cases are the ones exams pick. Words like each, every, either, neither, anyone and no one are singular, so they take a singular verb: 'Each of the boys has a book' (not 'have'). With 'either...or' and 'neither...nor', the verb agrees with the subject closest to it: 'Neither the teacher nor the students were ready', but 'Neither the students nor the teacher was ready'.

Make a small list of these special cases and revise it often. They repeat in exam after exam, so this is reliable, easy marks.

Articles and prepositions: small words, big traps

Articles (a, an, the) are decided by sound, not by spelling. Use 'a' before a consonant sound and 'an' before a vowel sound. So it is 'an hour' (the h is silent, so it sounds like a vowel) but 'a university' (it starts with a 'yoo' sound, which is a consonant sound). 'The' is used for a specific thing already known to the listener.

Prepositions (in, on, at, by, for, with and so on) show the link between words, and English fixes many of them by habit rather than logic. You cannot always reason them out, so you have to learn common pairs: 'good at', 'angry with', 'depend on', 'married to', 'capable of'.

Because these are small and easy to miss, exams use them in error spotting. Practice them as fill in the blanks until the right word feels natural.

Error spotting and sentence improvement: same rules, different look

Error spotting, sentence improvement and fill in the blanks together carry a big share of the English section, and all three test the same core grammar rules in different shapes. In error spotting you find the wrong part of a sentence. In sentence improvement you pick the better version of an underlined part.

The trick is to read the whole sentence first, then check the usual suspects in order: subject-verb agreement, tense, articles, prepositions, pronouns and word order. Most errors hide in one of these. If every part looks correct, the answer is often 'no error', so do not force a mistake that is not there.

Since these questions reuse the same rules, every rule you master pays you back many times across all three question types.

Vocabulary, idioms and reading comprehension: read, then practice

Vocabulary covers synonyms, antonyms, one word substitution, phrasal verbs and idioms and phrases. These appear across SSC, bank and other government exams. Idioms carry a hidden meaning, like 'smell a rat' (to sense something is wrong), so you cannot guess them from the words alone. Build them by reading and by revising a short list daily so they stay in memory.

Reading comprehension is often the single largest part of the English section in bank exams. The smart method is to read the questions first, then scan the passage for the answer, and stay with what the passage actually says rather than your own opinion.

A daily habit of reading an English newspaper or simple articles builds vocabulary and reading speed at the same time, which helps every part of the section.

Why it matters in the exam

English grammar and vocabulary are core to the English section of most Indian competitive exams. In SSC CGL Tier 1, English Comprehension has 25 questions for 50 marks, with 0.50 marks deducted for each wrong answer, and grammar based topics like error spotting, sentence improvement and fill in the blanks make up a large share of it. In SSC CGL Tier 2 the English part is even bigger, around 135 marks. In bank exams like IBPS PO and IBPS Clerk, the English section mixes reading comprehension (often the largest part), cloze test, error spotting, sentence improvement, para jumbles and vocabulary. Because these questions are rule based, they are among the most scoring and time saving in the whole paper once the rules are learnt.