Grammar and Correct Usage Set C
1. Choose the best question word for this sentence!
______ won the spelling bee?
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. How
B. Who
C. What
Show Answer
B. Who
Question words ask about people (who/which), places (where), times (when), or ideas and explanations (why/what/how).
The conventional word for asking a question about people is “who”.
2. Which of the words in this sentence is a question word?
When are we going home?
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. When
B. are
C. going
D. home
Show Answer
A. When
Question words ask about people (who/which), places (where), times (when), or ideas and explanations (why/what/how).
In this sentence, the question word is “when”.
3. Choose the best question word for this sentence!
I didn’t hear you; ______ did you say?
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. what
B. whose
C. why
Show Answer
A. what
Question words ask about people (who/which), places (where), times (when), or ideas and explanations (why/what/how).
The conventional word for asking a question about ideas and meaning is “what”.
4. Which of the words in this sentence is a question word?
What was Sarah eating?
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. What
B. was
C. Sarah
D. eating
Show Answer
A. What
Question words ask about people (who/which), places (where), times (when), or ideas and explanations (why/what/how).
In this sentence, the question word is “what”.
5. Choose the best personal pronoun for this sentence.
Coincidentally, ______ and Lena had gotten each other the same present.
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. he
B. Gavin
C. the elves
Show Answer
A. he
Personal pronouns refer to people and things. They include I/me, you, he/she, they, we/us, and it.
While multiple choices may make sense in context, only one of them uses a personal pronoun.
Of the choices, only “he” is a personal pronoun.
6. Choose the best personal pronoun for this sentence.
Xóchitl keeps roses in her backpack because she doesn’t want to lose ______.
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. the flowers
B. them
C. roses
Show Answer
B. them
Personal pronouns refer to people and things. They include I/me, you, he/she, they, we/us, and it.
While multiple choices may make sense in context, only one of them uses a personal pronoun.
Of the choices, only “them” is a personal pronoun.
7. Choose the best personal pronoun for this sentence.
______ didn’t want to get wet in the rain, so the students ate lunch in the gym.
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. They
B. The students
C. Noor and Oksana
Show Answer
A. They
Personal pronouns refer to people and things. They include I/me, you, he/she, they, we/us, and it.
While multiple choices may make sense in context, only one of them uses a personal pronoun.
Of the choices, only “they” is a personal pronoun.
8. Choose the best personal pronoun for this sentence.
Let’s figure out if ______ can solve this math problem.
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. the class
B. Alexa
C. we
Show Answer
C. we
Personal pronouns refer to people and things. They include I/me, you, he/she, they, we/us, and it.
While multiple choices may make sense in context, only one of them uses a personal pronoun.
Of the choices, only “we” is a personal pronoun.
9. Choose the best pronoun for this sentence.
A fly appeared in the frog’s field of vision. The frog captured ______.
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. itself
B. it
Show Answer
B. it
We use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same thing.
Examples of reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves.
In this sentence, “the frog” is the one doing the capturing, but the “fly” is the one being captured.
So, instead of a reflexive pronoun, we should use the pronoun “it”.
10. Choose the best pronoun for this sentence.
The ducks preened ______ in the sunshine.
$_{\text{Choose 1 answer:}}$
A. themselves
B. them
Show Answer
A. themselves
We use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same thing.
Examples of reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves.
In this sentence, the ducks are both the ones doing the preening and the ones being preened, so we should use the reflexive pronoun “themselves”.
Source: Khan Academy