Technical accuracy (SPaG)
Edexcel GCSE English Language revision on Technical accuracy (SPaG). Aligned to the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Language 1EN0 specification. This bank has 8 practice questions on this topic.
Sample questions (3 of 8)
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Question 1
Which of these sentences uses the apostrophe correctly?
- A) The dog's bone was buried in the garden.
- B) The dogs' bone was buried in the garden.
- C) The dogs bone was buried in the garden.
- D) The dog's' bone was buried in the garden.
Show answer
Answer: The dog's bone was buried in the garden.
Singular possession: dog's bone (one dog). Plural possession: dogs' bone (multiple dogs sharing). Plural with no possession: just dogs. The most common error is plain plurals with rogue apostrophes ('CD's for sale'). Apostrophes are also used for contractions: don't = do not.
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Question 2
'There', 'their', and 'they're' — which one means 'they are'?
- A) there
- B) their
- C) they're
- D) they'are
Show answer
Answer: they're
Trio of homophones AQA loves to test (because they're easy to confuse): THERE = place ('over there'). THEIR = possessive ('their bag'). THEY'RE = contraction of 'they are' ('they're coming'). Test: replace with 'they are' — if the sentence still makes sense, you want they're.
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Question 3
A semicolon (;) is correctly used to...
- A) End every sentence
- B) Join two related independent clauses without a conjunction
- C) Replace a question mark
- D) Mark direct speech
Show answer
Answer: Join two related independent clauses without a conjunction
Example: 'It was raining; the streets were flooded.' Both sides could stand alone. Semicolons impress AQA examiners when used correctly (signals sentence control) and embarrass when misused (random in the middle of one clause). Don't sprinkle them — use one per page max in exam writing.
Want to test yourself on the remaining cards for this topic?
5 more questions on Technical accuracy (SPaG) — plus mistakes tracking and spaced repetition across the whole English Language spec.