According to Global Language Monitor, the estimated number of words in the English language is over a million — 1,025,109, to be exact, but there is some controversy over that exact figure. However, it’s safe to say it is over a million. Language is something to celebrate. Some people think that grammar is just a boring set of rules for language, but it is more than that: it is a system for understanding language. And understanding this system and structure helps us to communicate better and even learn new languages more easily.
So….to celebrate National Grammar Day 2018, here is a fun quiz, the answers to which are grammar terms — so it’s not a quiz about the rules. The answer to each of the following 20 questions is something you might find in a glossary of grammar terms (so, hint, hint, don’t look at the glossary that is at the back of some of my books). You will find the answers if you scroll way, way down.
Here we go….
- A pronoun takes the place of a noun or another pronoun somewhere in the sentence. What is that noun or other pronoun called in relationship to the pronoun?
- A, an, and the are called what?
- There are two of them when referring to a quality of verbs: active and What is this quality that verbs possess?
- A group of words that contains a subject and a verb (and might or might not be a complete sentence) is called what?
- There is a special term for nouns like these: bunch, group, team, herd, class. What is that term?
- There are five of them in Latin and even more in German and other languages. English has three. They are nominative, objective, possessive. What are they?
- A verb that is being used as an adjective (and usually ends in -ing or -ed) is called a what?
- What are these called? in a box, out the door, above the tree, under the table
- I like pizza. Pizza is a noun. What function does it have in that sentence?
- Which tense is the verb in this sentence an example of? I have read that book twice.
- I am going to the movies is a simple sentence. What is this one called? I am going to the movies, and I am meeting my friends afterwards.
- If you want to connect two sentences that are closely related, and you don’t want to use a period or a conjunction, what punctuation might you use?
- What is this called? I think you will like that movie, I certainly did.
- The little line that is used for the minus sign and to indicate a range of numbers in an index is called what?
- A verb with an -ing ending is sometimes used as a noun. What is that called?