Grammar Tests: Prep and Practice Activities

What Can I Do To Prepare My Child for a Grammar Test?

When your child is scheduled to take a grammar test, you can help him prepare by reviewing at home. First, ask what the test will be on. For example, will students be tested on comma usage, prefixes and suffixes, compound sentences or something else? Once you've decided what to focus on, you can go to the Internet to find educational sites that offer free worksheets your child can use to practice his grammar skills. Additionally, you may use the following ideas for supplemental review.

Three Practice Activities

Identifying Parts of Speech

Many grammar tests require students to be able to pick out and name the parts of speech in a test sentence. The complexity of the sentence and specific skills being tested will depend upon your child's grade level. If you're unsure of what to include in your practice activity, ask your child's teacher or search for examples online. Give your child sentences at home and have her identify the nouns, verbs and adjectives in each one. For added challenge, ask her to identify the objects in the sentence, both direct and indirect.

Part of Speech Crosswords

Another fun activity that may help your child learn what role each part of speech plays in a sentence involves creating a crossword puzzle. Several websites offer free puzzle generators, making it easy for you to custom-design a puzzle for your child. Each clue can describe a part of speech, its purpose or an example of how it's used. For instance, if the answer is 'noun,' the clue could be 'person, place, thing or idea.' If the answer is 'adjective,' a clue might be 'beautiful.'

Peer Proofreading

Another good way to help your child understand and improve his grammar skills is to provide proofreading exercises. Many teachers do this in the classroom by having students exchange papers for grading. To duplicate this classroom activity at home, you can write a paragraph that contains incorrect grammar usage. You may want to purposefully include errors that your child often makes in his own writing. Ask your child to check your work, reading what you wrote and correcting any mistakes in punctuation, structure or spelling. When your child is finished, review his corrections to make sure he has a solid understanding of the grammar rules involved.