Grammar — MCQ & Grammar Cloze
Booklet A: 10 grammar MCQ questions. Booklet B: 10 grammar cloze blanks to fill in context. Tests tense, subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, conjunctions, modals, conditionals and sentence structure.
Grammar areas that appear in Paper 2
Tenses
Simple past/present, present perfect, past perfect, present & past continuous, future perfect. Watch the sequence: a past perfect ("had already been evacuated") marks the earlier of two past events.Subject-verb agreement
Match the verb to the real subject, not the nearest noun. Watch "the number of…", "each", "every". With "neither… nor" and "either… or", the verb follows the subject closest to it.Pronouns
Possessive (his/hers/theirs), reflexive (himself/themselves), and relative (who/whose/which/that) — which one depends on the job it does in the clause, and whether it refers to a person or a thing.Question tags
Positive statement → negative tag, and the reverse. The tag copies the auxiliary and tense. Two fixed ones to memorise: "Let's…, shall we?" and "Nothing was damaged, was it?"Determiners & quantifiers
a / an / the, and countable vs uncountable: few/fewer/many with countables, little/less/much with uncountables. "An" goes before a vowel sound, which is why it is "an hour".Connectors & conditionals
Some take a clause (although, while, because), some take a noun phrase (despite, in spite of, because of). Inverted conditionals: "Had the bus arrived on time…" = "If the bus had arrived on time…"Prepositions & collocations
Fixed pairings that have to be learnt: responsible for, regardless of, interested in, afraid of, consist of, defend against.Verb forms & word form
Participles after "having" ("Having finished the test…"), and noun/verb/adjective/adverb choice: confide / confidence / confident / confidently.Part A — Grammar MCQ (Paper 2, Booklet A · 10 marks)
For each question, four options are given. One of them is the correct answer. In the exam you make your choice (1, 2, 3 or 4) and shade it on the Optical Answer Sheet.
The safety officer reminded us that every pupil is responsible ________ his or her own belongings.
Answer: (3) for. "Responsible for" is a fixed pairing — the adjective always takes "for" before the thing you answer for. There is no reasoning that gets you there; collocations like this have to be learnt and recognised. Compare "capable of", "interested in", "afraid of".
Neither the coach nor the players ________ satisfied with the result of the match.
Answer: (3) were. With "neither… nor", the verb agrees with whichever subject sits closest to it. That is "the players", which is plural, so the verb must be plural — and "were" is the only plural option offered. Reverse the two nouns and the answer flips: "Neither the players nor the coach was satisfied."
When the firefighters reached the flat, the residents ________ already been evacuated.
Answer: (1) had. Two things happened in the past, and the evacuation came first — that earlier event takes the past perfect, "had already been evacuated". "Have" (3) is the trap: the plural agrees with "residents", but the present perfect clashes with "reached", which is past. "Has" (2) is singular as well as present, and "were been" (4) is not a possible verb form.
"Let's leave the props in the hall after the rehearsal, ________?" suggested Priya.
Answer: (1) shall we. This one does not follow the usual positive-statement-negative-tag rule. A sentence beginning "Let's…" is a suggestion, and its tag is always "shall we" — memorise it as a pair. The other three would need an ordinary statement with "we" as the subject, such as "We leave the props in the hall, don't we?"
The twins insisted on carrying the heavy props ________ instead of asking the stagehands for help.
Answer: (4) themselves. The pronoun here emphasises that the twins did it without help, which is the job of a reflexive pronoun. "Themself" (2) is not standard English — the plural reflexive is "themselves". "Them" (1) is an object pronoun and the sentence already has an object ("the props"); "theirs" (3) is possessive and would have to stand in for a noun.
There was so ________ rubbish left behind after the carnival that the cleaners worked until midnight.
Answer: (2) much. "Rubbish" is uncountable — you cannot say "one rubbish, two rubbishes" — so it takes "much". "Many" (1), "few" (3) and "several" (4) all need a plural countable noun. Test any quantifier by trying to count the noun: if you can't, use much / little / less.
________ the heavy rain, the organisers decided to carry on with the outdoor concert.
Answer: (3) Despite. What follows the blank is a noun phrase, "the heavy rain" — not a clause with its own verb. Only "despite" (and "in spite of") can introduce a noun phrase like that. "Although" (1) and "because" (2) need a full clause: "Although it rained heavily, the organisers…". "However" (4) joins two sentences and would need a semicolon or full stop before it.
________ the results been released earlier, the school could have arranged the ceremony this week.
Answer: (4) Had. This is an inverted conditional: "Had the results been released earlier…" is another way of writing "If the results had been released earlier…". The clue is "could have arranged", which pairs with a past perfect condition. "If" (1) would work only with "had" still in place after the subject; "should" (2) needs "be" rather than "been", and "were" (3) does not combine with "been".
The judges praised the team for the ________ with which they solved the final puzzle.
Answer: (2) confidence. Work out the part of speech the slot needs rather than the meaning. "The ________ with which…" sits straight after "the", so it has to be a noun. "Confide" (1) is a verb, "confident" (3) an adjective and "confidently" (4) an adverb — all four share a meaning, so only the form decides it.
Half ________ hour later, the power to the whole block was finally restored.
Answer: (2) an. "An" goes before a vowel sound, not a vowel letter. The "h" in "hour" is silent, so the word starts with the sound "ow" and takes "an" — which also rules out "a" (1). "Half an hour" is then a fixed phrase, so "one" (3) and "the" (4) do not fit either. The same trick appears with "an honest mistake" and, the other way round, "a university".
Part B — Grammar Cloze (Paper 2, Booklet B · 10 marks)
There are 10 blanks, numbered 1 to 10, in the passage below. From the list of words given, choose the most suitable word for each blank. In the exam you write its letter (A to Q) in the blank. The letters (I) and (O) have been omitted to avoid confusion during marking.
Each word can be used only once.
(A)against
(B)are
(C)been
(D)before
(E)in
(F)is
(G)much
(H)none
(J)not
(K)though
(L)what
(M)which
(N)while
(P)who
(Q)whose
Tap a blank in the passage, then tap a word from the list above.
Almost everyone has cried when cutting an onion, but 1______ actually causes those tears? The onion 2______ not trying to hurt us. It is simply defending itself 3______ animals that might eat it.
An onion plant stores sulphur compounds 4______ its cells. 5______ the cells remain undamaged, these compounds are harmless. The moment a knife slices through them, however, they mix with enzymes that 6______ also released. This reaction produces a gas 7______ drifts upwards towards our eyes.
When the gas reaches the surface of the eye, it turns into a mild acid. Our eyes wash it away with tears. These tears are 8______ a sign of injury; they are simply the body's way of protecting itself.
There are simple ways to reduce the effect. Chilling an onion 9______ the first cut slows the reaction down, and a sharp knife crushes fewer cells than a blunt one. 10______ of these tricks stops the tears completely, but they do make the job easier.
An onion plant stores sulphur compounds 4______ its cells. 5______ the cells remain undamaged, these compounds are harmless. The moment a knife slices through them, however, they mix with enzymes that 6______ also released. This reaction produces a gas 7______ drifts upwards towards our eyes.
When the gas reaches the surface of the eye, it turns into a mild acid. Our eyes wash it away with tears. These tears are 8______ a sign of injury; they are simply the body's way of protecting itself.
There are simple ways to reduce the effect. Chilling an onion 9______ the first cut slows the reaction down, and a sharp knife crushes fewer cells than a blunt one. 10______ of these tricks stops the tears completely, but they do make the job easier.
Answers and reasoning
1 — L (what). The blank opens a question about a cause, so it needs a question word. "Who" (P) is for people, and "which" (M) would need a noun, or a set already named, after it.
2 — F (is). Singular subject "the onion", and the passage is written in the present tense throughout.
3 — A (against). "Defend itself against" is the fixed pairing when naming the threat.
4 — E (in). The compounds are stored inside the cells.
5 — N (while). "While" here means "for as long as" — it sets up the contrast with what happens once the knife cuts. "Though" (K) is the trap: it fits the slot but reverses the logic, since staying undamaged is the reason the compounds are harmless, not something they are harmless in spite of.
6 — B (are). The subject is plural "enzymes", and "are released" is the present passive.
7 — M (which). A relative pronoun referring back to "a gas". "Who" and "whose" are for people.
8 — J (not). The semicolon sets up a correction: they are not injury, they are protection.
9 — D (before). Chilling happens first, then the cut. Note that "the first cut" is a noun phrase, so "while" cannot go here — "while" needs a clause or an -ing verb after it.
10 — H (none). "None of these tricks stops…" — the subject is "none", so the verb stays singular. "Much" (G) needs an uncountable noun, and "these tricks" can be counted.
Words not needed: (C) been, (G) much, (K) though, (P) who, (Q) whose. In the real paper five of the fifteen words are always left over, so a word fitting loosely is not enough — check it is the best fit before committing it.
1 — L (what). The blank opens a question about a cause, so it needs a question word. "Who" (P) is for people, and "which" (M) would need a noun, or a set already named, after it.
2 — F (is). Singular subject "the onion", and the passage is written in the present tense throughout.
3 — A (against). "Defend itself against" is the fixed pairing when naming the threat.
4 — E (in). The compounds are stored inside the cells.
5 — N (while). "While" here means "for as long as" — it sets up the contrast with what happens once the knife cuts. "Though" (K) is the trap: it fits the slot but reverses the logic, since staying undamaged is the reason the compounds are harmless, not something they are harmless in spite of.
6 — B (are). The subject is plural "enzymes", and "are released" is the present passive.
7 — M (which). A relative pronoun referring back to "a gas". "Who" and "whose" are for people.
8 — J (not). The semicolon sets up a correction: they are not injury, they are protection.
9 — D (before). Chilling happens first, then the cut. Note that "the first cut" is a noun phrase, so "while" cannot go here — "while" needs a clause or an -ing verb after it.
10 — H (none). "None of these tricks stops…" — the subject is "none", so the verb stays singular. "Much" (G) needs an uncountable noun, and "these tricks" can be counted.
Words not needed: (C) been, (G) much, (K) though, (P) who, (Q) whose. In the real paper five of the fifteen words are always left over, so a word fitting loosely is not enough — check it is the best fit before committing it.