11+ English

Grammar in the 11+ — Questions, Worked Answers and Practice Papers

Punctuation, sentence structure and grammar rules tested in 11+ English papers.

20 Papers
8.5 Avg Qs / paper
1.29 Typical marks
1.1 min Target time

What examiners actually ask

Grammar appears in 20 of our 338 ready papers (170 tagged questions). It averages 8.5 questions a paper worth about 1.29 marks each. The typical question allows around 1.1 min.

Grammar questions are high-yield when children know a small set of rules cold: commas, apostrophes, speech marks, verb agreement and sentence types. Papers mix multiple-choice identification with short corrections. Mistakes often come from over-inserting commas or confusing it’s/its and your/you’re. Build a short error-spotting routine: read the sentence aloud in your head, check punctuation pairs, then check agreement. Practise under time pressure so the rules survive when the rest of the paper feels heavy. Strong grammar also lifts creative writing marks when schools score accuracy separately. Keep a personal “three errors I always make” list and scan for those first in the final minute. When options look similar, test each one inside the full sentence rather than choosing from the word in isolation.

Worked example

A real tagged question from our catalogue — method included, not paywalled.

Colfe's School 11 Plus English 2018 Sample Paper · Question 1 · 2 marks · Sentences Punctuation

Correct answer
Method

Common mistakes

  • Confusing it’s/its, your/you’re and their/there/they’re.
  • Misplacing apostrophes in plurals vs possession.
  • Using commas where a full stop or conjunction is needed.
  • Breaking speech punctuation rules in dialogue.

Papers with the most Grammar questions

Ranked from our tagged catalogue — open a paper to practise the questions that actually test this topic.

Find what is actually costing marks

Not sure whether grammar is the problem? Mark any past paper on 11plusSolved and the report tells you which topics are costing marks — and how many.