English Worksheet – Preparation for Test on 18 October
Question 1 – Parts of Speech
1.1) Read the following paragraph. Underline all the proper nouns and circle all the common Nouns
John and Thomas are visiting their best friend Will, who lives in Holstein avenue in Edgewood Estate.
John and Thomas want to play with Will’s dog, Rocco and with Will’s parrot, Polly. Britain’s Got
Talent is their favourite show on television. They have to hurry back home, otherwise they will miss
the show.
1.2) Read the following paragraph. Underline all the collective nouns and circle all the abstract
nouns.
Kabelo and Thandi went to the circus. They felt so much excitement and happiness while waiting in
the queue to enter the circus tent. When the lights turned down and the music started, they felt so
nervous sitting in their front row seats. The first act to come out was a band of musicians, followed
by a herd of elephants. They couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the troop of monkeys
balancing on their heads!
1.3) Fill in the appropriate Pronoun:
Sandy went to the park with _______________________ mother and father. ______________ ran
on the lawn. Then ______________ father pushed _______________ on the swings while
________________ mother smiled and watched. ______________ spread out a blanket on the lawn
and read a book while Sandy and ________________ father played catch with a ball. Sandy threw
_____________ too hard, and _____________ father had to chase after _____________. Sandy did
some somersaults, rolling forward on ______________ head and kicking _____________ feet up
over _______________ head. ______________ giggled and lay on the grass until ____________ dad
came back. All three of _________________ ate sandwiches together before _____________ went
back home.
1.4) Rewrite the following sentences in the past tense. Underline the verbs in all sentences.
a) “Paul, take my sweets and eat them” says Vanessa.
Past: _________________________________________________________________________
b) “I am not feeling well and cannot take part in the race” says Joseph.
Past: _________________________________________________________________________
c) “If the builder builds the wall two metres high, it will be high enough” says Mr Turner.
Past: _________________________________________________________________________
1.5) Complete the tables below, giving either the present or past tense of the verbs:
Present Tense Past Tense Present Tense Past Tense
Shone were
Teach Paid
Tell Shake
Came Forget
Meet Slept
1.6) Change the following adjectives to adverbs and then use each adverb in a sentence of your
own.
a) Graceful - __________________
___________________________________________________________________________
b) Mysterious - __________________
___________________________________________________________________________
c) Nervous - ___________________
___________________________________________________________________________
d) Lazy - _____________________
___________________________________________________________________________
1.7) Sort the following words into the correct column:
“soon” | “now” | “somewhere” | “carefully” | “nowhere” | “gladly” |
“much” | “lastly” | “aforementioned” | “happily” |
“tomorrow” | “seldom” | “very” | “always
… of time … of place … of manner … of number … of degree … of frequency
1.8) Complete the Crossword.
1 2 3
5 6
Across:
4 Names a person, place or thing (boy, ball)
7 A short exclamation (Hi!, Ouch!)
8 Substitutes a noun or a noun phrase to show another name for a person, place or thing.
9 The part of speech that describes a verb, adjective or adverb.
Down:
1 Describes a Noun
2 A word that joins two parts of a sentence.
3 A word that connects a noun or pronoun to another word in the sentence (before, into)
5 A word that is put next to a noun
6 An action word
Question two – Figures of Speech
2.1) Read the lines of poetry (the slash represents the beginning of a new line in the poem). Figure
out what technique is being used: simile, metaphor, personification or a pun.
a) He could write, but his hours are as busy/ As the bees in the sun … ________________
b) My words are little jars/ For you to take and put upon a shelf. / Their shapes are quaint and
beautiful, / And they have many pleasant colours and lusters. ________________
c) But words are things and a small drop of ink,/ Falling like dew upon a thought
______________
d) My brain is fire – my heart is lead! / Her soul is flint and what am I? ________________
e) And then my heart with pleasure fills, / And dances with the daffodils ________________
2.2) Read the following short poem titled “Running Water” by Lee Emmett. Pick out words from
the poem that exemplify onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance.
“water plops into pond
splish-splash downhill
Warbling magpies in tree
trilling, melodic thrill
Whoosh, passing breeze
flags flutter and flap
frogs croak, bird whistles
babbling bubbles from tap”
Onomatopoeia
Alliteration
Assonance
2.3) Match the idiom in Column A with its meaning from Column B
Column A Column B
A fish out of water A) Leave things ass they are
A whale of time B) Extremely angry
Let the cat out of the bag C) Completely out of place
Hold your horses D) The largest part or share
Wild goose chase E) A very good time
Let sleeping dogs lie F) Reveal a secret
The lions share G) Wait a bit
Mad as a hornet H) Useless exercise
2.4) Using your own words, give the meaning to some of these commonly used proverbs:
a) There are plenty of fish in the sea
_______________________________________________________________________________
b) Everything that glitters isn’t gold.
__________________________________________________________________________________
c) A leopard cannot change its spots.
__________________________________________________________________________________
d) Too many cooks spoil the broth.
_________________________________________________________________________________
2.5) Write a pun using each set of words. The source of the pun is highlighted. ( Answers may vary)
Example: dog, wood, bark. Can you make a dog from wood bark?
a) Live, present, past, tense
___________________________________________________________________________
b) Help, Santa Claus, subordinate Clause
___________________________________________________________________________
c) Doctor Alex, too busy, lose patients
___________________________________________________________________________
Question 3
3.1) Read the following sentences and replace the underlined word in the sentence with a
synonym that means the same thing.
a) Karen was sad when she did not win a prize at the race. _________________
b) Jonas lives in that large yellow house on the corner. ____________________
c) After the game, Marcus looked sleepy. ________________________
d) Can you help me put together these boards to make a bird house? ______________________
e) I would like to buy one of those new red t-shirts. ____________________
3.2) Give one antonym for the following words:
a) Divide ________________ e) Extinct ________________
b) Urban ________________ f) Hostile ________________
c) Available ________________ g) Dense ________________
d) Optimist ________________
3.3) Choose the correct homophone to complete the sentences. Underline your choice.
a) Can I go to the party to/ too/ two?
b) The school principal/ principle spoke to a group of parents.
c) I don’t want to talk about the passed/past anymore.
d) do you think it’s going to reign/rain/rein this afternoon?
3.4) The incorrect homonym has been used in the following sentences. Correct the sentences by
giving the correct homonym.
a) He choose his food with his mouth open. ___________________
b) The course fabric was not my style. ________________
c) We had a sight survey done before building. _________________
d) The flew is really going around this year. _________________
3.5) What does each abbreviation and acronym stand for? Write the full word or words on each
line.
a) Rd. _____________ f) PIN ____________
b) tsp. _____________ g) Dr. ____________
c) AKA _____________ h) Mr. ____________
d) cm _____________ i) SMART ___________________________
e) RSVP _____________ j) Prof. ____________
Question 4 – Sentences and Sentence Structure
4.1) For each sentence given below, underline the Subject once, circle the verb and underline the
predicate twice.
a) The horse appeared at the starting line.
b) I felt exhausted from the anticipation.
c) The owners grew flowers all around the house.
d) The race track looks very wet because it has been in the rain for many hours.
e) Birds fly often in the blue sky.
f) The audience grew very restless waiting for the play to start.
4.2) Read each sentence. Decide whether each sentence uses active voice or passive voice.
a) The girl was bitten by the dog. _______________________
b) Research will be presented by Einstein at the conference. ________________
c) The book is being read by the class. _________________
4.3) Read each sentence and rewrite each sentence in the passive voice.
a) Marilyn mailed the letter. _______________________________________
b) John threw the football. ________________________________________
c) David shot the basketball at the hoop. _____________________________
4.4) Read each sentence and rewrite each sentence in the active voice.
a) The chunks of dirt will be removed from the street by clean-up teams.
_________________________________________________________________________
b) It is believed by the candidate that a ceiling must be placed on the budget by Congress.
_________________________________________________________________________
c) It was earlier demonstrated that heart attacks can be caused by high stress.
_________________________________________________________________________
4.5) Complete the table by creating two words from each prefix given in the below table. The fist
one has been done for you.
1. anti- Antigravity Antibodies
2.extra-
3.over-
4.under-
5.trans-
4.6) Circle the word with the suffix from each group of words.
a) Roof Roofing Roofs
b) Artist Art Arts
c) Back Straight Backward
d) Big Bigger Large
4.7) Correctly punctuate each of the following sentences.
a) Kelsey and I want to go to Aunt Joys for thanksgiving
b) Mom said where are my keys
c) Our labours in life learning earning and yearning are also our reasons for living
d) My doctor who ive been seeing since I was born is going to retire
