Grade 10 English Language Arts

Name: ________________________

Skills in this pack

Changing a word's part of speech
Agreement with harder subjects
Reading a passage closely
Editing and proofreading
Writing a summary
Writing an analytical paragraph

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Grade 10 English Language Arts · 1 of 6

Changing a word's part of speech

Turn a word into a noun, adjective, verb or adverb by changing its ending.

1."The ____ of the bridge took two years." Which form of "construct" fits?
- a) constructed
- b) construction
- c) construct
- d) constructive
2.Make a noun from "know".
3.Match each ending to what it makes.
- -tion
- -ous
- -ify
- -ly
- -ment
- -en
- a noun, as in attention
- a verb, as in simplify
- a verb, as in widen
- a noun, as in movement
- an adjective, as in famous
- an adverb, as in quickly
4.Make an adverb from "happy".
5.Make a noun from "strong".
6.Make a noun from "decide".
7.Which word is the noun form of "able"?
- a) unable
- b) ability
- c) ably
- d) enable
8."She explained the rule ____." Write the adverb form of "clear".

Changing a word's part of speech · Grade 10 English Language Arts · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Grade 10 English Language Arts · 2 of 6

Agreement with harder subjects

Make the verb agree when the subject is a quantity, a fraction, an inverted phrase or a subject buried in an added phrase.

1.Write "was" or "were": Among the papers on the desk ____ a torn map.
2.At the end of the lane ____ two old wells.
- a) are
- b) has been
- c) was
- d) is
3.Which sentence is correct?
- a) Half of the mangoes has ripe.
- b) Half of the mangoes was ripe.
- c) Half of the mangoes were ripe.
- d) Half of the mangoes is ripe.
4.A number of students ____ absent today.
- a) are
- b) is
- c) was
- d) has
5.Write "is" or "are": Two-thirds of the students ____ present.
6.Write "has" or "have": More than one house ____ been damaged by the storm.
7.Sort each subject by the verb it needs.
Groups: Takes a singular verb · Takes a plural verb
- Every one of the roads
- All of the roads
- More than one answer
- The number of visitors
- A number of visitors
- Both of the answers
8.Sort each sentence by whether the verb agrees with its subject.
Groups: Agrees · Does not agree
- The number of letters have grown.
- More than one shop were shut.
- A number of letters has arrived.
- A number of letters have arrived.
- The number of letters has grown.
- More than one shop was shut.

Agreement with harder subjects · Grade 10 English Language Arts · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Grade 10 English Language Arts · 3 of 6

Reading a passage closely

Answer questions on an extract — what it states, what it implies, and what its words mean there.

1.Put these four sentences into the order that makes one paragraph. The time words tell you where each one belongs.
- By September the water has drawn back a little, and the birds arrive.
- For most of the year the lake is a shallow bowl of cracked mud.
- They stay until the mud returns.
- In July, however, the rains fill it to the brim.
2.Read: "Meera checked the sky twice before she left, and pushed the umbrella deep into her bag." What does this suggest?
- a) She was going to the market.
- b) She was expecting rain.
- c) She disliked walking.
- d) She had lost her umbrella.
3.Sort each sentence by whether it reports a fact or gives an opinion.
Groups: Fact · Opinion
- The library is the finest building in town.
- The book has 240 pages.
- The book is far too long.
- The trains are hopelessly slow.
- The library opens at nine.
- Three trains run every hour.
4.Read: "He had rehearsed the speech forty times, yet his hands would not keep still." What does "yet" do here?
- a) It offers an example of the first half.
- b) It sets the second half against the first.
- c) It gives the reason for the first half.
- d) It gives the result of the first half.
5.Read: "'Of course you may borrow it,' said Nita, holding the book a little tighter." What does the detail about her hands suggest?
- a) The book was very heavy.
- b) She did not really want to lend it.
- c) She had only just bought it.
- d) She was about to read it aloud.
6.Read: "The letter was terse: three lines, no greeting, no signature." Write one word that gives the meaning of "terse" here.
7.Read: "The scheme was launched with great fanfare, but within a year it had folded quietly." Write the one word from the extract that tells you the ending was not announced loudly.
8.Read: "Rooftop gardens cool a building, hold rainwater and give city birds somewhere to feed. They cost little to start and less to keep." What is the main idea?
- a) Buildings are too hot in summer.
- b) Rainwater should always be collected.
- c) City birds are in danger.
- d) Rooftop gardens are cheap and useful in several ways.

Reading a passage closely · Grade 10 English Language Arts · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Grade 10 English Language Arts · 4 of 6

Editing and proofreading

Find and correct the single error in a line — grammar, spelling or punctuation.

1.Sort each line by whether it contains an error.
Groups: Correct · Contains an error
- I did not see him.
- She has two brothers.
- She have two brothers.
- There is many books.
- I did not saw him.
- There are many books.
2.Which word is the error? "She don't like sweets."
- a) don't
- b) sweets
- c) She
- d) like
3.Which line is punctuated correctly?
- a) wheres my pen?
- b) Where's my pen
- c) wheres my pen
- d) Where's my pen?
4.Which word is the error? "He has went to the market."
- a) has
- b) market
- c) went
- d) to
5.Correct the error: "She don't like sweets." Write the corrected word or words.
6.Correct the spelling: "They live in a seperate house." Write the word correctly.
7.Which word is the error? "The book which I bought it yesterday is torn."
- a) which
- b) bought
- c) it
- d) torn
8.One word must be removed: "He is the most tallest boy in the class." Write the word to remove.

Editing and proofreading · Grade 10 English Language Arts · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Grade 10 English Language Arts · 5 of 6

Writing a summary

Cut a passage to its essential points and write them out as your own connected sentences.

1.Why should a summary avoid copying the passage's own sentences word for word?
- a) Because a summary has to be longer than the passage.
- b) Because copying does not show that the passage has been understood.
- c) Because a summary may not use complete sentences.
- d) Because the passage's sentences are always badly written.
2.Reduce this phrase to a single word: "in spite of the fact that".
3.A passage of 240 words is to be summarized in about a third of its length. Roughly how long should the summary be?
- a) 40 words
- b) 80 words
- c) 200 words
- d) 120 words
4.Which is the best opening sentence for a summary of a passage about water shortage?
- a) Water shortage in the district has three main causes.
- b) In this passage the writer says a great many things.
- c) I think the passage is about water shortage.
- d) Let me tell you all about water shortage.
5.Reduce this phrase to a single word: "at regular intervals".
6.Which of these belongs in a summary?
- a) Your own opinion of the passage
- b) One example from each paragraph
- c) The main point of each paragraph
- d) A direct quotation from the passage
7.Put the steps of writing a summary in the order you should do them.
- Finally, join the points you kept into connected sentences of your own.
- Next, read it again and underline the main point of each paragraph.
- First, read the passage right through to find out what it is about.
- Then cross out every example, repetition and figure of speech.
8.Sort each sentence by whether a summary should keep it or drop it.
Groups: Keep — a main point · Drop — an example or a restatement
- Cycling to school saves money and keeps a child fit.
- The lane behind the temple, for instance, is thick with fumes at eight o'clock.
- Schools that encourage cycling report fewer late arrivals.
- Fewer cars near the gate means cleaner air.
- In other words, children who cycle get there on time.
- For example, one boy at a nearby school saves a little every week.

Writing a summary · Grade 10 English Language Arts · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Grade 10 English Language Arts · 6 of 6

Writing an analytical paragraph

Turn a chart or a table into one paragraph that reports what it shows, without listing every figure on it.

1.Sort each phrase by the job it does in the paragraph.
Groups: Introduces the data · Compares two points · Sums up
- The table gives
- Taken together, these figures
- On the whole
- only half as many as
- far more than in
- As can be seen from the graph
2.Complete with one word beginning with r: Attendance fell in 2022 but ____ again in 2023.
3.Complete with one word: The number of readers reached its ____ in 2021, the highest point anywhere on the chart.
4.Complete with one word: The number of readers rose ____ 2019 and 2021.
5.Sort each sentence by where it belongs in an analytical paragraph.
Groups: Opening · Body · Close
- Taken together, these figures show a library in better health than five years ago.
- The bar chart shows how many readers used the library each year from 2019 to 2023.
- Overall, use of the library grew across the period.
- After a dip in 2022, they recovered a little in 2023.
- The chart below gives the number of readers over five years.
- Numbers rose sharply between 2019 and 2021.
6.Which is the better sentence for an analytical paragraph?
- a) The figure was forty, then seventy, then ninety-five, then sixty, then eighty-five.
- b) I like the year 2021 best of all.
- c) The chart is about library readers.
- d) The figure almost doubled in two years before falling back.
7.The chart shows how many readers used the village library each year from 2019 to 2023. Tap the bar for the first year in which the number fell.
Write the number of the part.
8.Which sentence reports a trend rather than a single figure?
- a) There were sixty readers in 2022.
- b) The number rose steadily until 2021 and then fell.
- c) In 2021 the figure was ninety-five.
- d) The chart has five bars on it.

Writing an analytical paragraph · Grade 10 English Language Arts · www.arenapublications.com/learn

Answer keys — Grade 10 English Language Arts

In the same order as the worksheets.