Can You Pass This Advanced ESL English Grammar Quiz?

Stella Alexander

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About This Quiz

Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. These words make up the basis of English grammar. There are millions of people who grow up learning English, and it's taught in schools all around the world. Even with it being forced into the curriculum, there are tons of native speakers who still can't seem to master the grammar. If this is hard for them, you can only imagine how it is for English as a Second Language (ESL) students! Can you prove that you know the basics and pass this advanced ESL quiz?

Around the world, you'll find 360 million people who speak English as their first language. While that seems like a small figure compared to the 7.5 billion people in the world, the number becomes more impressive when you include all the English speakers. Although 360 million speak English as their first language, there are around 1.5 billion people who speak English in general. This is 20% of the world's population! You'll find English as the official language in countries like Singapore, Kenya and Ireland. In countries such as Brazil, Spain, Russia and dozens more, their natives would have to enroll in an ESL course. Learning English words is one feat, but mastering the grammar is another accomplishment, one that many native speakers have yet to do. Have you? Whether English is your first language, second or maybe even third, test your grammar knowledge with this advanced ESL quiz!

Could you please be quiet? I'm ______ the phone.

This sentence shows the proper use of prepositions.

Should I give this book to ______ or to Michelle?

For this question, you're dealing with an object pronoun. The proper object in this sentence would be "you."

David and Gabrielle _________ people that I know.

In this sentence, you're dealing with superlatives. "Most" would be the highest form of the superlative, but you also have to check subject-verb agreement. Since David and Gabby are two people, the proper verb would be "are" and not "is."

There aren't _____ libraries in my town.

This sentence ideals with quantifiers, which would be "any" and "some." For this sentence, "any" is the proper answer.

Nicholas wants ______ at the Mexican restaurant.

For this sentence, you would need to use the infinitive. The infinitive of any verb has "to" in front of it, hence making this answer "to eat."

Is this _____ book? Does it belong to you?

This example deals with using the proper possessive pronoun. Do you know your pronouns?

How ______ apples are there on the table?

This question deals with counting nouns. "Much" is used for objects that are too "much" to be counted, while "many" would have a concrete answer.

We ________ study for this test.

For "have to," "have" is used with plural subjects, while "has" would be used for a singular subject.

The United States is big, but Canada is _______ the United States

When you compare objects, you're almost always going to use "than." In this question, the answer is "bigger than."

I can't talk to you right now because I __________.

For this, you'd have to use the proper present verb. You would also need to use "am," because that is the verb that goes alongside "I."

Was it cold last week? Yes it _______.

For this question, you're being asked a question about the past, meaning that your answer should feature a past tense verb. You can mirror the answer with the question by choosing "was."

_________ answered the door when I knocked.

You're dealing with indefinite pronouns here, which means you're not talking about a particular person. For this sentence, select "no one."

Are you happy now? Yes I _______.

Since the initial question is asking about now, the answer has to be a present verb. Since it is first person, the answer is "am."

My brother's name ________ Fred. He is a teacher.

This question is asking about the present simple form of a verb. With this you can also mirror the verb with the second sentence, giving you the answer of "is."

Paris is the capital of France, _________?

When looking at sentences like these, they often mirror the beginnings of the phrase. Since they use the verb "is," you would mirror this with "isn't it."

What is the proper ending of the verb in parentheses: My friend (study) at the library in town.

With this question, you have to find the proper way to make verbs singular or plural. For this question, to make "study" a singular verb for the subject "friend," you'd have to replace the "y" with "ies."

My birthday is in February. I was born ____ February 10.

This sort of question deals with understanding the sense of time. You could be born "at" a particular time, but "on" a particular day.

After we got _____ the airplane, we found our seats and sat down.

This question deals with prepositions. While many might get this confused, you'd be "in" a car but "on" an airplane.

I don't like that dog. _____ bit me last week.

This question deals with subject and object pronouns. In this sentence, the subject pronoun would be "it," because it meant to match the previous object, "dog."

His grandfather is ______ in his family.

This sentence deals with superlatives. The proper way to show to show the grandfather's age would be with "the oldest."

We can't go shopping. We didn't bring _______ money with us.

This question deals with quantifiers. Since the sentence includes "did not," you need to negate the amount without using a negative word like "no." This makes the answer "any."

We are planning on _________ a party this weekend.

In this question, you're dealing with knowing the difference between using the infinitive verb or gerund. In this example, you'd have to use the gerund of "to have," which is "having."

It's not theirs, it's _______. We bought it yesterday.

This question deals with possessive pronouns. You'd have to look at the second sentence to decide on the answer. Since the pronoun is "we," the possessive pronoun has to be "ours."

Did you find out very ________ information about the college?

This question deals with quantifying nouns. Information is not something that can be counted, which is why you'd have to use "much," not "many."

My father _________ a tie at work.

This sentence deals with forms of "have to." In this case, you need a singular verb because the subject, "father," is singular.

My brother is taller than my sister, but my sister __________.

This sentence deals with comparisons. Since there are only two people, the adjective should end in -er.

I _________ dinner because we ordered Chinese food a few minutes ago.

For this sentence, you're dealing with continuous present verbs. Since the subject is "I," the verb has to be first person singular, which is "am making." You have to add "not" to negate the meaning.

______ you late? No, I ______.

For the first sentence, you need a second person past tense verb, which gives you "were." For the second sentence, you need a first person singular verb that is past tense, which would give you "wasn't."

_________ can lift this box! It's too heavy to lift.

This sentence deals with indefinite pronouns. In this case, the answer is "no one."

________ you at the company meeting last Wednesday?

For this question, you need to know the proper verb tenses in past and present simple. To answer this question, you have to recognize that "you" goes with the past tense verb, "were."

My friend ________ in class right now. She's in the library.

For this sentence, you need to know present simple verbs. First identify that the subject "friend" is third person-singular, so you'd need the appropriate verb, which would be "is."

It usually rains a lot in your state, __________?

In this sentence, the first half features a singular verb "rains." Therefore, the corresponding verb also has to be singular, like "doesn't it (does it not)."

What is the proper ending of the verb in parentheses: Cameron (go) to school very early in the morning.

This sentence deals with making verbs singular or plural. Since "Sarah" is a singular subject, you need a corresponding singular verb. In order to do that, you'd have to add -es to "go" to make "goes."

My last class ends _____ 3 p.m.

This sentence deals with the sense of time. The class could end "on" a day or happen "in" a room, but it would end "at" a specific time.

I was ______ time for class today, but I was late yesterday.

When expressing time, you can be "on" time. If you're referring to a specific time, you should use "at."

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