Has anyone done this quiz?

[PanicMode]

www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationquestions/9987757/Good-grammar-test-can-you-pass.html

I thought my grammar was fairly solid, but was quite shocked by the result.

The point is that properly constructed sentences make sense and don't leave ambiguity about what you mean (except where that is your intention).

Yes. That.

(neither of those were proper sentences, but I think they communicate my agreement in a clear and unambiguous manner :) )

From the explanations:

7. ?Come and sit near me.?

"Near" is an preposition governing the pronoun ?me?.

I feel perfectly justified in doubting the integrity of this quiz, and thus my abysmal score is not representative.

Also in the first question, no one apart from a complete anal retentive would ever say "Do you see whom I see".

Grammar rules are not totally immutable and self consistent. The ultimate test is how they read or how they sound to the ear.

Er, this is Pedants' Corner, somebloke!
I disagree with your 'ultimate test'. Most of my inlaws would say, "Have you drawed a nice picture?", or "I haven't broke it.". Just because someone says something in a particular way all the time, it doesn't mean that they are correct!

Suzie - yes I agree there, but I do think that language is not all logical. For example the phrase "by and large" or the statement "It's early days yet" are both widely accepted correct idioms - and not just regionalisms or slang, and yet when you try to analyse them they don't make sense.

I tend to draw a parallel with music. There are rules of harmony and the default position is to obey them, but the tutored ear is the final judge.

I certainly wouldn't interpret this as an "anything goes" attitude. I do think knowledge of the rules is important, even if you end up breaking them on occasion.

I quite like "Fowler's Modern English Usage" on this issue. His discussion of the split infinitive is particularly good I think.

I do like that phrase "the tutored ear"...yes, I agree with that.

I too, like the "tutored ear". I think that sums up how grammar should work quite nicely. (Poor sentence construction but am catching up and dashing out of the door.....)

The only one I dropped was the "first(ly)" one. Some of them represent major bugbears.

The Evelyn question was awful. It would have been much more natural without the names:

This is my sister, who lives in New York, my brother who doesn't, and my only other sibling.

The final sibling is both male and an inhabitant of New York.

75% Yay! guessed some

Agree with Senua about 'directly'. Unless they think 'directly' has the West Country meaning of 'now'

Miranda- as in: "Be 'long dreckly", often heard around these parts?

Have you read about the guy who set the test? It explains a lot. He's essentially a Latinist who has set himself up as an authority on English grammar, and is much beloved of Michael Gove and Prince Charles.

Well he does happen to be the best teacher in the world (in the opinion of Himself).

gwynneteaching.com/

Looks like a bit of linguistic willy waving from someone who knows a lot of Latin and probably wishes we still spoke it.

Can't take that sibling question seriously at all.