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GED Language Arts · Drills

Language Arts Drills

Short sets of questions, one skill each, numbered in order.

← Language Arts · Sentences: Start Here · Grammar: Start Here · Punctuation: Start Here · GED at The People’s Share

How the drills work

One skill at a time, in order

A drill practices one skill and nothing else. The drills come in families, and each family follows one “Start Here” page and the matching chapters of your Kaplan book, in the same order:

Read the part of Start Here first; then use the drill to make the skill quick and sure.

At the end of the list is a review drill that mixes all three families in longer passages, the way the test does. Do it after the three families, or whenever you want to see which skills are still shaky.

Each drill starts with two worked examples, with every step shown, and links to the page where the skill is taught. Then come ten questions, or five if you are short of time. Many of them look like the GED’s own language questions: a sentence with a drop-down menu where one part goes. Check your answers on the screen and read the reasoning for each one, or print the set, with its answer key on the last page. Press New set for different questions.

A drill is mastered when you get all ten right, or all five right twice in a row. A mastered drill gets a check mark on this page. The check marks are kept in this browser only; on another phone or computer they start fresh.

If two sets in a row go badly (fewer than 7 of 10 right, or fewer than 4 of 5), the drill will send you to the part of Start Here that teaches the skill, to read it first.

The families

Jump to a family

Family VI

Sentence structure

Sixteen drills · following Sentences: Start Here

  1. VI.01Find the subject and the verbStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 1
  2. VI.02Sentence or fragment?Start Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 1
  3. VI.03Fix the fragment (choose the repair)Start Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 1
  4. VI.04Independent or dependent clause?Start Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 2
  5. VI.05Name the sentence type (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex)Start Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 2
  6. VI.06Join with a comma and the right conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)Start Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 2
  7. VI.07Correct, run-on, or comma splice?Start Here, Part 3 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 3
  8. VI.08Fix it: choose the correct repairStart Here, Part 3 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 3
  9. VI.09Choose the subordinating word that fits the meaningStart Here, Part 4 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 4
  10. VI.10Comma or no comma with a dependent clauseStart Here, Part 4 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 4
  11. VI.11Combine two sentences: choose the best versionStart Here, Part 4 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 4
  12. VI.12Find the misplaced modifierStart Here, Part 5 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 5
  13. VI.13Fix the dangling modifierStart Here, Part 5 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 5
  14. VI.14Which item breaks the pattern?Start Here, Part 6 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 6
  15. VI.15Choose the parallel versionStart Here, Part 6 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 6
  16. VI.16Mixed: a short passage with GED-style drop-down choicesall six parts, mixed

Family VII

Grammar and usage

Fifteen drills · following Grammar: Start Here

  1. VII.01Choose the verb that agrees with its subjectStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 3
  2. VII.02Agreement when words come between the subject and verbStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 3
  3. VII.03Agreement with and, or, either…or, and with each and everyoneStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 3
  4. VII.04Agreement when the verb comes first: there is, there are, questionsStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 3
  5. VII.05Verb forms: went or gone, saw or seenStart Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 2
  6. VII.06Choose the tense that fits the time wordsStart Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 2
  7. VII.07Keep the tense steadyStart Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 2
  8. VII.08Pronoun agreement: the company … itsStart Here, Part 3 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 1
  9. VII.09Pronoun case: I or me, who or whomStart Here, Part 3 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 1
  10. VII.10Unclear pronouns: who does “she” mean?Start Here, Part 3 · Kaplan Ch. 8, Lesson 1
  11. VII.11Confused words: its, their, your, whoseStart Here, Part 4 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 4
  12. VII.12Confused words: then or than, affect or effect, and moreStart Here, Part 4 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 4
  13. VII.13Wordiness: the shorter version that says the same thingStart Here, Part 5 · Kaplan Ch. 7, Lesson 1
  14. VII.14Formal or casual: the word that fits the writingStart Here, Part 5 · Kaplan Ch. 7, Lesson 3
  15. VII.15Mixed: a short passage with GED-style drop-down choicesall five parts, mixed

Family VIII

Punctuation and capitals

Twelve drills · following Punctuation: Start Here

  1. VIII.01Commas in a listStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 1
  2. VIII.02A comma after an opening word, phrase, or clauseStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 1
  3. VIII.03Commas around extra informationStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 1
  4. VIII.04Commas that do not belongStart Here, Part 1 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 1
  5. VIII.05SemicolonsStart Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 4, Lesson 3
  6. VIII.06Colons: only after a complete sentenceStart Here, Part 2 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 1
  7. VIII.07Apostrophes for belonging: the worker’s, the workers’Start Here, Part 3 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 3
  8. VIII.08Contractions, and plurals with no apostropheStart Here, Part 3 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 3
  9. VIII.09Capital letters for namesStart Here, Part 4 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 2
  10. VIII.10Capitals that do not belongStart Here, Part 4 · Kaplan Ch. 9, Lesson 2
  11. VIII.11Transition words: however, therefore, for exampleStart Here, Part 5 · Kaplan Ch. 5, Lesson 3
  12. VIII.12Mixed: a short passage with GED-style drop-down choicesall five parts, mixed

Review

All three families together

One drill · after Families VI, VII, and VIII · sets of twenty or ten

  1. R.01All three families, mixed: longer passages with GED-style drop-down choicesFamilies VI, VII, and VIII, mixed