Grammar Pre-Test

Grade 6

Name______

Correct the following paragraph for all errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Remove or change any “dead” words (words that are vague or overused).

Their are about a billion bicycles in the world. Can you guess which country has the most. Its china but the people use bikes primarily for transportation not recreation. Some common bikes are mountain bikes BMX bikes racing bikes and tandem bikes. People can ride mountain bikes on trails but the bikes fat tires help them roll over sticks and rocks to. BMX which stands for bicycle motorcross is an other name for dirt bike. BMX racing is popular here. There is a track near McAlder elementary school in Puyallup Washington. The first bicycles were made of wood and riders pushed with their feet pedels were added later. The first bicycles had one really big wheel in the front yet only a really small wheel was attached in the back. By the end of 1890 bicycles had began to look almost the same as they do today.

6th Grade Grammar Pretest

Answer Guide

Points / Correction / Rule
1 / their / incorrect use of homonym
1 / question mark / question, not a declarative sentence
1 / It’s / apostrophe for contraction, it is
1 / China / proper name/noun
1 / China, but / compound sentence
1 / transportation, not / to set off interruption
1 / common / incorrect spelling
3 / mountain bikes, BMX bikes, racing bikes, and / comma to separate items in a series
1 / trails, but / compound sentence
1 / bike’s / apostrophe for possessive case
1 / change them to bikes or similar / unclear pronoun referent
1 / too / incorrect use of homonym
2 / BMS, which…motorcross, is / commas to set off appositive
1 / another / incorrect spelling—one word
2 / Elementary School / proper name
1 / Puyallup, Washington / comma between city, state
1 / wood, and / compound sentence
2 / feet; pedals or feet. Pedals / run-on sentence and incorrect spelling of pedals
2 / omit really from big and small / dead words
1 / front, yet / compound sentence
1 / end of 1890, / introductory prepositional phrase
1 / began or had begun / incorrect verb tense

28 Total