English grammar can turn one tiny comma into either a polite invitation or a family emergency.
These English grammar trivia questions cover parts of speech, punctuation, and sentence structure while noting where reputable style guides differ.
Nouns, Pronouns, and Determiners
Start with the words that name, replace, point out, and count the people and things in a sentence.
- What part of speech names a person, place, thing, or idea?
Answer: A noun - What type of noun names a specific person or place and is normally capitalized?
Answer: A proper noun - What type of noun names something perceived as an idea or quality?
Answer: An abstract noun - What is a collective noun?
Answer: A noun that names a group - What pronoun refers back to the subject, as in herself?
Answer: A reflexive pronoun - Which first-person pronoun functions as a subject: I or me?
Answer: I - Which first-person pronoun functions as an object: I or me?
Answer: Me - What type of pronoun introduces many relative clauses?
Answer: A relative pronoun - Which relative pronoun traditionally refers to people in formal usage?
Answer: Who - What case is whom?
Answer: Objective case - What type of word is the in traditional grammar?
Answer: A definite article - What are a and an called?
Answer: Indefinite articles - Which article normally appears before a consonant sound?
Answer: A - Which article normally appears before a vowel sound?
Answer: An - What is a demonstrative determiner?
Answer: A word such as this, that, these, or those used before a noun
Verbs, Tense, and Agreement
Verbs carry time, action, and state, plus an impressive number of ways to disagree with their subjects.
- What part of speech expresses an action, occurrence, or state?
Answer: A verb - What is the base form of a verb?
Answer: Its uninflected dictionary form - What is the past tense of go?
Answer: Went - What is the past participle of go?
Answer: Gone - What auxiliary forms the English present perfect?
Answer: Have - What auxiliary forms the progressive aspect?
Answer: Be - What construction expresses the passive voice?
Answer: A form of be or get plus a past participle - In 'The dogs bark,' why is bark plural in traditional agreement terms?
Answer: It agrees with the plural subject dogs - Which verb agrees with the singular subject each: is or are?
Answer: Is - What mood appears in 'If I were you'?
Answer: The subjunctive - What mood gives a command?
Answer: The imperative - What is an infinitive?
Answer: The base verb form, often introduced by to - What is a gerund?
Answer: An -ing verb form functioning as a noun - What is a participle?
Answer: A verb form functioning adjectivally or in a verb phrase - What is an irregular verb?
Answer: A verb that does not form all inflections by the regular -ed pattern
Adjectives, Adverbs, and Modifiers
Modifiers add detail, but they also cause trouble when they wander too far from what they describe.
- What part of speech typically modifies a noun?
Answer: An adjective - What part of speech often modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb?
Answer: An adverb - What suffix forms many English adverbs from adjectives?
Answer: -ly - What is the comparative form of good?
Answer: Better - What is the superlative form of good?
Answer: Best - Which is standard for comparing two items: between or among?
Answer: Between, though usage can depend on distinct relationships - What is a dangling modifier?
Answer: A modifier without a clear word to modify - What is a misplaced modifier?
Answer: A modifier positioned so it appears to describe the wrong word - What does an intensifier do?
Answer: Strengthens another modifier - What word class is very in 'very cold'?
Answer: An adverb or intensifier - What is a coordinate adjective?
Answer: One of two or more equal adjectives modifying the same noun - How can the and test help identify coordinate adjectives?
Answer: If and fits naturally between them, they are often coordinate - What is an attributive adjective?
Answer: An adjective placed before its noun - What is a predicate adjective?
Answer: An adjective linked to the subject by a linking verb - Which sentence is standard: 'She feels bad' or 'She feels badly' when describing emotion?
Answer: She feels bad
Clauses, Phrases, and Sentence Architecture
Now zoom out from single words to the structures that make a sentence complete, complex, or delightfully dramatic.
- What two elements does a complete independent clause normally contain?
Answer: A subject and a predicate - What is an independent clause?
Answer: A clause that can stand as a sentence - What is a dependent clause?
Answer: A clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence - What does a subordinating conjunction introduce?
Answer: A dependent clause - Name one common coordinating conjunction.
Answer: For, and, nor, but, or, yet, or so - What mnemonic groups the seven coordinating conjunctions?
Answer: FANBOYS - What is a simple sentence?
Answer: A sentence with one independent clause - What is a compound sentence?
Answer: A sentence with at least two independent clauses - What is a complex sentence?
Answer: A sentence with an independent clause and at least one dependent clause - What is a compound-complex sentence?
Answer: A sentence with at least two independent clauses and a dependent clause - What is a phrase?
Answer: A group of words functioning as a unit without forming a full clause - What is a prepositional phrase?
Answer: A preposition plus its object and modifiers - What is an appositive?
Answer: A noun phrase that renames another noun phrase - What is a sentence fragment?
Answer: An incomplete structure punctuated as a sentence - What is a run-on sentence?
Answer: Two or more independent clauses joined without proper punctuation or conjunction
Commas, Semicolons, and Colons
A little punctuation can organize a list, join an idea, or save Grandma from an alarming dinner invitation.
- What punctuation mark separates items in a series?
Answer: A comma - What is the Oxford comma?
Answer: The comma before the final conjunction in a series - Do all major style guides require the Oxford comma?
Answer: No, conventions differ - What punctuation can join closely related independent clauses without a conjunction?
Answer: A semicolon - What punctuation commonly introduces a list after a complete clause?
Answer: A colon - Should a colon normally separate a verb directly from its object?
Answer: No - What punctuation pair can set off a nonessential parenthetical element?
Answer: Commas, parentheses, or dashes - What comma follows an introductory dependent clause?
Answer: An introductory comma - What is a comma splice?
Answer: Two independent clauses joined only by a comma - What punctuation usually appears before a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses?
Answer: A comma - What punctuation separates city and state in running text?
Answer: A comma - What punctuation often separates a direct-address name?
Answer: A comma - What punctuation appears between coordinate adjectives?
Answer: A comma - Does a restrictive clause normally take commas?
Answer: No - Does a nonrestrictive clause normally take commas?
Answer: Yes
Apostrophes, Quotation Marks, and Other Marks
This round handles possession, dialogue, interruptions, omissions, and the marks that carry them.
- What does an apostrophe show in can't?
Answer: Omitted letters in a contraction - What does an apostrophe commonly show in the dog's collar?
Answer: Possession - How is a regular plural noun ending in s usually made possessive?
Answer: Add an apostrophe after the s - Does the possessive pronoun its contain an apostrophe?
Answer: No - What does it's mean?
Answer: It is or it has - What punctuation marks usually enclose direct quotations?
Answer: Quotation marks - In American style, where do periods usually go relative to closing quotation marks?
Answer: Inside - In British style, can punctuation placement depend more on whether it belongs to the quoted material?
Answer: Yes - What does an ellipsis indicate?
Answer: Omitted material or trailing speech - What does a hyphen do in many compound modifiers?
Answer: Links words functioning together - What is the main job of parentheses?
Answer: Enclose supplementary information - What do square brackets often indicate inside a quotation?
Answer: Editorial additions or changes - What punctuation mark ends a direct question?
Answer: A question mark - What punctuation mark signals strong emphasis or exclamation?
Answer: An exclamation point - What mark can connect a range of numbers in formal typography?
Answer: An en dash
Usage Choices and Common Confusions
Some answers are firm grammar distinctions, while others depend on audience, dialect, and house style.
- Which word means belonging to them: their, there, or they're?
Answer: Their - Which word means they are?
Answer: They're - Which word usually refers to a place?
Answer: There - Which word means to influence as a verb in most uses: affect or effect?
Answer: Affect - Which word usually means a result as a noun: affect or effect?
Answer: Effect - Which word means fewer in number for countable items?
Answer: Fewer - Which word often applies to uncountable amounts?
Answer: Less - Which form is traditionally used as the subject: who or whom?
Answer: Who - Which form is traditionally used as the object: who or whom?
Answer: Whom - Is singular they accepted by major modern dictionaries and style guides?
Answer: Yes - What is the difference between imply and infer?
Answer: A speaker implies; a listener infers - Which word means to praise: compliment or complement?
Answer: Compliment - Which word means to complete or go well with?
Answer: Complement - Which phrase is standard: could have or could of?
Answer: Could have - Is ending a sentence with a preposition always ungrammatical?
Answer: No
Grammar, Style, and Language Change
Finish with the difference between rules, conventions, dialects, and the choices writers make for clarity.
- What is descriptive grammar?
Answer: The study of how speakers actually use language - What is prescriptive grammar?
Answer: Rules or recommendations about preferred usage - What is a style guide?
Answer: A set of editorial conventions - Which style manual is widely used in book publishing in the United States?
Answer: The Chicago Manual of Style - Which style is widely used in U.S. journalism?
Answer: Associated Press style - Which documentation style is common in humanities papers?
Answer: MLA style - Which documentation style is common in social sciences?
Answer: APA style - What is register?
Answer: A language variety suited to a social context - What is Standard American English?
Answer: A prestige variety used in many U.S. institutions - Is a dialect merely incorrect Standard English?
Answer: No - What is a contraction?
Answer: A shortened combination of words with omitted letters - What is parallel structure?
Answer: Using matching grammatical forms for related ideas - What is active voice?
Answer: A construction in which the grammatical subject typically performs the action - Is passive voice always incorrect?
Answer: No - Why do grammar recommendations change over time?
Answer: Usage, evidence, technology, and editorial conventions evolve
Keep the game going with Shakespeare trivia, general knowledge trivia, and high school trivia.
Sources and Further Reading
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary and usage notes
- Purdue Online Writing Lab grammar guides
- The Chicago Manual of Style Q&A
- MLA Style Center
- Cambridge Grammar resources
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