Language How language works, for a curious pupil: sounds, words and rules, nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions, kinds of sentences, tenses, irregular verbs and brave mistakes, plurals, grammar puzzles and the spelling traps of their, there and they're.
Tests: 221 of 602 right (36.7%) · plain 86 of 216 · ★ 54 of 176 · ★★ 46 of 119 · ★★★ 35 of 91 · exam 79 of 220 · Controls: all red · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
The controls , each to be below the real 221 of 602: no lesson 155 of 602 — red; questions shuffled 193 of 602 — red; key sentences removed 162 of 602 — red. The guessers: the longest option 169 of 602; the first option shown 155 of 602. The lessons sentence by sentence: the course in the corpora .
1 What language is: sounds, words and rules everyone shares 4 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 2 Nouns: the names of things, people, places and ideas 6 of 11 right · exam 3 of 4 3 Verbs: doing words and being words 2 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 4 Adjectives and adverbs: describing things and actions 5 of 11 right · exam 0 of 4 5 Pronouns: I, me, you, they and who 5 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 6 Prepositions and conjunctions: little words that hold sentences together 3 of 11 right · exam 0 of 4 · ★ 7 Kinds of sentences: statements, questions, commands, exclamations 2 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 8 Tenses: past, present and future 5 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★★ 9 Irregular verbs: goed, brung and other brave mistakes 6 of 11 right · exam 0 of 4 · ★★ 10 Plurals that make no sense: mice, sheep and geese 4 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★★ 11 Grammar puzzles, part one 5 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★★ 12 Spelling traps: their, there, they're and friends 3 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 13 Silent letters and the mystery of -ough 7 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 14 Punctuation that changes meaning 2 of 11 right · exam 4 of 4 · ★ 15 The apostrophe war 2 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 16 Formal and informal: a mate versus the head teacher 3 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 17 Slang and how it changes with every generation 3 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 18 Accents and dialects of Britain and Ireland 1 of 11 right · exam 3 of 4 · ★ 19 Accents and dialects around the world 4 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★ 20 Is there one proper English? The big arguments 5 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★★ 21 British and American words 3 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 22 Where English came from 3 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 23 Borrowed words: French, Norse and Latin 1 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 24 Borrowed words from far away: Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Ukrainian and more 4 of 10 right · exam 1 of 4 25 Idioms taken literally 5 of 11 right · exam 0 of 4 · ★★ 26 Phrasal verbs: get up, give up, make up 8 of 10 right · exam 2 of 4 27 Homophones: words that sound the same 5 of 10 right · exam 1 of 4 28 Puns and jokes that need a pun 4 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★★ 29 Sarcasm and tone of voice 3 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★ 30 Texting, abbreviations and emoji 1 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 31 How babies learn to talk 8 of 11 right · exam 3 of 4 · ★ 32 Sign language 5 of 10 right · exam 2 of 4 33 Ukrainian compared with English 4 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★ 34 Mandarin compared with English 2 of 10 right · exam 0 of 4 · ★ 35 French compared with English 4 of 10 right · exam 2 of 4 36 Grammar puzzles, part two 5 of 11 right · exam 0 of 4 · ★★★ 37 Building words: prefixes, suffixes and compounds 5 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 38 Words that changed their meaning 3 of 10 right · exam 0 of 4 39 Talking well: politeness, listening and saying sorry 3 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★ 40 The big language quiz 5 of 12 right · exam 1 of 4 41 Alice's word games: puns, parodies and nonsense 1 of 12 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★★★ 42 Kipling's word games: «Best Beloved», the 'Stute Fish, «Humph!» and the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo 5 of 12 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★★ 43 Pan, panic and Ulysses: the old myths and old words inside «The Wind in the Willows» 7 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★★★ 44 Starving, a million times and a ton: everyday hyperbole 5 of 12 right · exam 2 of 4 45 Dead, a mile long and everyone: more everyday hyperbole 5 of 12 right · exam 2 of 4 46 Which number counts? Hyperbole and real numbers in maths 3 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★ 47 The best ever and shocking: adverts and headlines 4 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★ 48 My dad could lift a car: playground boasting 3 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 49 A bit nippy and not ideal: British understatement 4 of 11 right · exam 1 of 4 · ★ 50 Not unhappy and not half: litotes 4 of 10 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★★ 51 Just a scratch and I'm fine: when to worry and tell an adult 7 of 12 right · exam 3 of 4 · ★ 52 Sarcasm, hyperbole and understatement side by side 4 of 10 right · exam 3 of 4 · ★★ 53 Told you a hundred times: how other languages exaggerate and play down 3 of 10 right · exam 1 of 4 54 Off with her head and the finest house on the river: Alice and Toad 4 of 11 right · exam 2 of 4 · ★ 55 ★★★ Olympiad: hyperbole and downplaying puzzles 4 of 12 right · exam 0 of 4 · ★★★ ← previous Historynext → Medicine↑ back to at school This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/