Focus: Grammatical Accuracy & Syntax | Level: Junior Secondary (JSS3)
Master the grammatical foundations of English Studies required for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE / Junior WAEC). This module offers 100 practice questions designed to test your understanding of core grammatical concepts, syntactical rules, and punctuation standards.
Aims & Objectives:
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Choose the correct collective noun to complete the sentence:
A _____ of lions was seen resting under the acacia tree.
pride
A group of lions is correctly referred to as a 'pride'. 'Flock' is typically used for birds or sheep, 'herd' for cattle or elephants, and 'pack' for dogs or wolves.
Which of the following words from the sentence is an abstract noun?
"His bravery during the crisis earned him great respect."
bravery
An abstract noun refers to a concept, quality, or state that cannot be touched or seen. 'Bravery' is a quality, making it an abstract noun. 'Earned' is a verb, 'crisis' is a common noun denoting an event, and 'him' is a pronoun.
Identify the auxiliary verb in the following sentence:
"The students have finished their assignment."
have
An auxiliary (or helping) verb accompanies the main verb to indicate tense. In this sentence, 'have' is the auxiliary verb assisting the main verb 'finished' to form the present perfect tense.
Fill in the blank with the appropriate relative pronoun:
"The girl _____ won the scholarship is my cousin."
who
The pronoun 'who' is used as the subject of a relative clause referring to people. In the relative clause '_____ won the scholarship', the subject is missing, so 'who' is the correct choice.
Choose the correct comparative form to complete the sentence:
"Of the two brothers, Paul is the _____."
taller
When comparing two subjects, the comparative degree is used. The comparative form of 'tall' is 'taller'. The superlative 'tallest' is used when comparing three or more.
Identify the adverb of frequency in the following sentence:
"She rarely arrives late for her morning classes."
rarely
Adverbs of frequency describe how often an action occurs. 'Rarely' tells us the frequency of her arriving late, meaning it does not happen often.
Complete the sentence with the correct preposition:
"The manager congratulated him _____ his outstanding performance."
on
The verb 'congratulate' is idiomatically followed by the preposition 'on'. We congratulate someone 'on' an achievement.
Select the correct subordinating conjunction to join the clauses:
"We will not go for the picnic _____ it stops raining."
unless
'Unless' is a subordinating conjunction of condition that means 'except if'. The sentence means they won't go for the picnic if it doesn't stop raining.
Choose the correct verb tense to complete the sentence:
"I _____ in this city for ten years."
have lived
The phrase 'for ten years' indicates an action that started in the past and continues into the present (or is recently completed with present relevance). This requires the present perfect tense 'have lived'.
Which sentence correctly uses the past perfect tense?
The train had left before we arrived at the station.
The past perfect tense is formed with 'had' + past participle. It is used to show that one action happened before another action in the past. 'Had left' indicates the train left before the arrival happened.
