7 Test of Grammar and Usage

X
Nina Sofiana Wits English

The most common types of objective items used to test X
awareness of the grammatical features of the language
Multiple-choice Items
Error-recognition Items
Rearrangement Items
Completion Items
Transformation Items
Items Involving The Changing of Words
‘Broken Sentence’ Items
Combination Items
Addition Items
Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English
Multiple-choice Items X
MULTIPLE – CHOICE GRAMMAR ITEMS
It is the incomplete statement type, with a choice of four or five options.
ITEM TYPES
TYPE 1
Tom ought not to … (A. tell B. having told

C. be telling D. have told) me your secret, but he did.
TYPE 2
Tom ought not to … me your secret, but he did.

A. tell
B. having told
C. be telling
D. have told
TYPE 3
Tom ought not to A. tell me your secret, but he did.

B. having told
C. be telling
D. have told
TYPE 4
Tom ought not to have told me your secret, but he did.

A. No change
B. tell
C. having told
D. be telling

TYPE 5
A. Tom ought not to tell me your secret, but he did.

B. Tom ought not to having told me your secret, but he did.
C. Tom ought not to be telling me your secret, but he did.
D. Tom ought not to have told me your secret, but he did.
TYPE 6
‘Tom ought not to have told anyone the secret.’

A. ‘So ought you’
B. Neither ought you.’
C. ‘Neither you oughtn’t.’
D. ‘So oughtn’t you.’

TYPE 7
‘Tom ought not to have told me.’

A. Tom did not tell me but he should.
B. Perhaps Tom may not tell me.
C. Tom told me but it was wrong of him.
D. It was necessary for Tom not to tell me.

It may be argued that an understanding of syntactical

patterning is just as necessary for the following item:
‘ …… was Robert late last week?’

‘Three times.’
A. How much C. How often
B. How may D. How long

Items which appear in a test of grammar and structure
should be made to sound as natural as possible. The
following mechanical test item:
This book belongs to Peter. It is …….
A. Mary’s book C. the book of Peter
B. the book to Mary D. the book of Peter’s
can be rewritten as follows

This book belongs to Peter, but that is ……
A. Mary’s book C. the book of Mary
B. the book to Mary D. the book of Mary’s
Note that distractors should generally be correct both in written and

in speech. The following item proved unsuccessful when it was
included in a test because many of the more able students selected
option D. the reason being that they pronounced used to quite
correctly as use to/ju:stә/:
I …… to go to my uncle’s farm every weekend.

A. am used C. was used
B. used D. use

The language is authentic background knowledge and details to avoid
ambiguity and alternative interpretations, and the newspaper report
itself is very interesting.
A long way from home
A 72-year-old Samoan who (1) ……… no English at all spent thirteen
days (2) ……. on buses in the San Frasisco area he had become
separated (3) ….. his family, police said. (4) ….. said that Faitua Logo,
(5) …….. moved to the United States two-years ago, left his son and
daughter-in-law, etc………
(1) A. is speaking B. speaks C. has spoken D. was speaking

(2) A. to ride B. was riding C. ride D. riding
(3) A. with B. from C. by D. off
(4) A. he B. they C. one D. it
(5) A. which B. that C. who D. what

CONSTRUCTING MULTIPLE – CHOICE ITEMS X
Item 1
Let us ignore the error in the first sentence for the time being and
concentrate on the error of tense after hope.
Step 1: The first step is to reduce the length of the

sentence and to correct the error (and any other errors in
the original sentence). Thus,
I hope that you wouldn’t mind on such a long period

between my last letter and this one.
becomes I hope you won’t mind waiting for so long.

Item 1
Step 2: Next we write out the sentence, substituting a

blank for the area being tested. We write in the correct
option and the distractor which the student has provided
for us. However, we have to add a sentence because in
certain (rare) contexts, wouldn’t may be correct.
I hope you ……. mind waiting for so long. I promise to

reply sooner in the future.
A. won’t B. wouldn’t

Item 1
Step 3: We now add another two distractors.

Again, we go to the written work of our students to
provide these distractors. But if we cannot locate
any suitable errors without too much difficulty, we
use our own experience and knowledge of the
target and native languages. Thus, two useful
distractors which would also balance the existing
two options might be shouldn’t and shan’t.
Item 1
Step 4: One suggestion may be that we replace shan’t

with can’t. if students from a particular language
background make such mistakes as can’t mind, can’t should
be used as a distractor, and possibly shouldn’t changed
to couldn’t. as can be seen at this early stage, the actual
process of item writing is extremely subjective.

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X

Nina Sofiana Wits English

Tom ought not to … (A. tell B. having told

Tom ought not to … me your secret, but he did.

Tom ought not to A. tell me your secret, but he did.

Tom ought not to have told me your secret, but he did.

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

A. Tom ought not to tell me your secret, but he did.

‘Tom ought not to have told anyone the secret.’

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

‘Tom ought not to have told me.’

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

It may be argued that an understanding of syntactical

‘ …… was Robert late last week?’

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

can be rewritten as follows

Note that distractors should generally be correct both in written and

I …… to go to my uncle’s farm every weekend.

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

(1) A. is speaking B. speaks C. has spoken D. was speaking

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

Step 1: The first step is to reduce the length of the

I hope that you wouldn’t mind on such a long period

becomes I hope you won’t mind waiting for so long.

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

Step 2: Next we write out the sentence, substituting a

I hope you ……. mind waiting for so long. I promise to

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

Step 3: We now add another two distractors.

Step 4: One suggestion may be that we replace shan’t

Tests of Grammar and Usage Wits English

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