Perfect for pedants' corner

14/14, BUT...

In 4 the subordinate clause is conditional, not the sentence.

In 5 the 'correct' answer seems to me to be a subordinate phrase, not a clause. I thought a subordinate clause had to contain a finite verb.

I agree there is confusion between grammatically and orthographically in 10. The same error occurred in one of the 'Two Brains' questions in last Saturday's Times

Bags I don't think that sentence was an example of the subjunctive, which surely needs to express doubt - 'If it be possible to dig a tunnel...'
'Were he to be able to dig a tunnel...'

Feetle If you scroll down a bit further from your score, you can click on a link that takes you to the right answers and it shows where you went wrong.

13/14 - but I don't know which question I got wrong!

Funny thing - I don't recall ever hearing the word 'gerund' in my school days. Come to that I didn't learn the "its/it's" set-up until I was in my twenties - so much for Grammar School education!

I should add that Mr Wetton's explanations were often accompanied by Basil Fawlty-type antics of total exasperation as half the class failed to 'get' it

Bags wrote: " I don't agree that this sentence is conditional: "He thought he might be able to dig a tunnel through the rock".

I think it is passive because it describes a thought."

Bags passive and active voices are nothing to do with thinking.

If a verb is in the active voice, the sentence goes subject-verb-object.
Or as my Latin master Mr Wetton explained, 'Rover sees the ball'.

If it is in the passive voice, something is done or happens to something else.
Mr Wetton again: 'The ball is seen by Rover'.

Hope that helps

Bags Isn't it actually subjunctive rather than conditional? But that wasn't an option.

That test isn't for the kids Bags. Thank goodness! (our little feller wouldn't have a clue with that) grin

Obviously iPad doesn't know gerund either!

11/14. Not bad for a mere doctor who hasn't studied E Lang for 50 years.
Never heard of a Grundy before!

Glad it's not just me, elegran. Actually, I think the test is quite hard for eleven year olds.

I couldn't find a conditional sentence in the three choices on that question, so plumped for that one as being the nearest.

Come on, grammar gurus. What do you say?

I don't agree that this sentence is conditional: "He thought he might be able to dig a tunnel through the rock".

I think it is passive because it describes a thought. The thought is conditional (possibly – I'd say subjunctive, actually) but the sentence describing it isn't.

12

j08 8 when did that happen?

And I would have thought No 10 is more about correct spelling then grammar! Why does it ask which is grammatically correct. They all sound dreadful anyway. Punctuation is bad, at the very least.

I might have guessed right!

So you got 11 really!

And I googled gerund.

I got 12.

I think the first question is rubbish though. How can polluted be an antonym for hygienic? A glass of pure water with a splash of vodka would be polluted by the vodka but it wouldn't be unhygienic. What's wrong with unhygienic anyway?

shysal it is a term used when giving directions. For example if someone says "can you direct me to the station, please?" you can reply "Yes of course. You gerund the corner and it's on your left".

11/14. What is a gerund? Never heard of it [ignorant emoticon]!

I shocked and amazed! I got 12!!! My brain still works