11+ English
Punctuation, sentence structure and grammar rules tested in 11+ English papers.
Grammar appears in 31 of our 571 ready papers (209 tagged questions). It averages 6.7 questions a paper worth about 1.33 marks each. The typical question allows around 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. Under timed 11+ conditions, children who pause to name the method before they calculate — and who check the form of the final answer — keep more marks than those who rush the first approach that comes to mind. Build that habit with short, mixed sets from real papers rather than endless textbook drills of one type.
A real tagged question from our catalogue — method included, not paywalled.
Ranked from our tagged catalogue — open a paper to practise the questions that actually test this topic.
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.
