KS2 SATs KS2 English Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence uses a comma correctly to separate a subordinate clause?
- When the bell rang, the children ran outside. (Correct answer)
- The children ran outside, when the bell rang.
- When, the bell rang the children ran outside.
- The children, ran outside when the bell rang.
Correct answer: When the bell rang, the children ran outside.
A subordinate clause at the start of a sentence is followed by a comma before the main clause. 'When the bell rang' is the subordinate clause, so a comma after 'rang' is correct.
Question 2: What is the correct plural of 'leaf'?
- leafs
- leaves (Correct answer)
- leafes
- leaf's
Correct answer: leaves
Words ending in '-f' or '-fe' usually change to '-ves' in the plural. 'Leaf' becomes 'leaves', following the same pattern as 'wolf → wolves' and 'knife → knives'.
Question 3: Which word is a pronoun in this sentence: 'She gave him the book'?
- gave
- book
- She (Correct answer)
- the
Correct answer: She
A pronoun replaces a noun. 'She' is a pronoun replacing a person's name. Both 'She' and 'him' are pronouns in this sentence, but 'She' is listed and is a subject pronoun.
Question 4: Which punctuation mark is used to show that letters have been missed out in a contraction?
- Comma
- Full stop
- Apostrophe (Correct answer)
- Hyphen
Correct answer: Apostrophe
An apostrophe shows where letters have been omitted in a contraction. For example, 'do not' becomes 'don't' — the apostrophe replaces the missing 'o'.
Question 5: What type of word is 'quickly' in the sentence 'She ran quickly'?
- Adjective
- Adverb (Correct answer)
- Verb
- Noun
Correct answer: Adverb
'Quickly' is an adverb because it modifies the verb 'ran', telling us how she ran. Adverbs often end in '-ly' and describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
Question 6: Which sentence is written in the passive voice?
- The dog chased the cat.
- The cat was chased by the dog. (Correct answer)
- The dog is chasing the cat.
- The cat chased the dog.
Correct answer: The cat was chased by the dog.
In the passive voice, the subject receives the action rather than doing it. 'The cat was chased by the dog' puts the cat as the subject even though the dog performed the action.
KS2 SATs KS2 English Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling 1
Which sentence uses a comma correctly to separate a subordinate clause?