KS2 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

This is the most learnable paper in the whole set, because most of it is rules and names rather than judgement. A pupil who knows what a relative clause is called can find one; a pupil who knows that plurals never take an apostrophe will not put one in.

So these ten questions test the naming and the rules directly. Which word in a sentence is the adverb, and which is the adjective that sounds like one. Which part of a sentence is the relative clause, and which sentence out of four has its adverbial at the front. Which sentence is in the passive voice. Which form is standard English where the non-standard one is the one you hear said aloud. And two punctuation questions: commas separating items in a list, and an apostrophe that has to go after the s because there is more than one boy.

One note on the format. A multiple-choice quiz cannot offer four versions of the same sentence differing only by a comma — they read as one answer repeated. So the punctuation questions here give the faulty sentence and ask which change would fix it, with the options written out in words: "put an apostrophe after the s in boys" rather than the sentence shown again. The rule being tested is exactly the rule the real paper tests; only the way of asking differs, and the wrong options are still the mistakes pupils actually make, including the apostrophe put into a plural.

Every sentence here was written for this set. Past KS2 papers are Crown copyright and free to download from gov.uk under the Open Government Licence, which makes them an unusually good supplement — nothing of theirs is reproduced here.

Zestly is an independent study tool. It is not affiliated with the Standards and Testing Agency or with any school, and it is not an exam centre.

• Identify an adverb, an adjective and a preposition in a given sentence, and say which word each one is describing
• Recognise a fronted adverbial and a relative clause, and tell them apart from the main clause
• Place a possessive apostrophe correctly when the owner is plural, and know that plurals alone never take one
• Use commas to separate items in a list
• Recognise the passive voice by which part of the sentence receives the action
• Choose the standard English form over the non-standard one that sounds right when spoken
• Choose the right homophone for the meaning of a sentence

This sentence needs an apostrophe: 'The boys bikes were left by the gate.' There is more than one boy. Which change would make it correct? — one of ten Year 6 questions written for this set, alongside word classes, fronted adverbials, relative clauses, commas in a list, the passive voice, standard English and homophones.