A made-up book is about a robot that hides in a rain barrel. Which version of its title is capitalized correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "A Little Help with Capitals"
A sentence tells where the writer's aunt lives. Which version uses capital letters correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "A Little Help with Capitals"
A spoken sentence is interrupted by the words "Omar said." Which version is punctuated correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.b; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "How to Use Quotation Marks"
Dad's exact words were: The soup is ready. Which sentence punctuates them correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.b; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "How to Use Quotation Marks"
What is the correct spelling of the plural of "story"?Common Core standard L.4.2.d; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "story"
Where does the comma belong in this sentence? "Tessa wanted to swim but the pool was closed."Common Core standard L.4.2.c; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Commas: Quick Rules"
Show all 67 questions (61 more)
Capitals, punctuation and spelling, continued
Which end mark best shows strong feeling in this sentence? "Watch out for that falling branch"Common Core standard L.4.3.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "exclamation point"
Which of these four words is spelled correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.d; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike"
Which sentence about the rain uses a comma correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.c; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Commas: Quick Rules"
Which sentence capitalizes the language and the country correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "A Little Help with Capitals"
Which sentence capitalizes the season and the month correctly?Common Core standard L.4.2.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "A Little Help with Capitals"
Which sentence does not need a comma before the word and?Common Core standard L.4.2.c; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Extended Rules for Using Commas"
Which sentence has a spelling mistake?Common Core standard L.4.2.d; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "surprise"
Which spelling is correct for the word that means "not the same"?Common Core standard L.4.2.d; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "different"
Which word in this sentence should begin with a capital letter? "Our class will visit the museum on friday."Common Core standard L.4.2.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "A Little Help with Capitals"
Grammar and usage 17
Choose the correct word. "___ going to be late if you do not hurry."Common Core standard L.4.1.g; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike"
Choose the correct word. "That is the park ___ we fly our kites."Common Core standard L.4.1.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Relative Pronouns: Introduction and General Usage in Defining Clauses"
Choose the correct word. "The boy ___ bike was stolen called his dad."Common Core standard L.4.1.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Relative Pronouns: Introduction and General Usage in Defining Clauses"
Choose the correct word. "The girl ___ won the race is my cousin."Common Core standard L.4.1.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Relative Pronouns: Introduction and General Usage in Defining Clauses"
Choose the correct word. "The players left ___ jackets on the bench."Common Core standard L.4.1.g; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike"
Choose the correct word. "This hill is steeper ___ the last one."Common Core standard L.4.1.g; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike"
Choose the preposition that completes the sentence. "Our soccer practice begins ___ noon."Common Core standard L.4.1.e; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Prepositions"
Which group of words is a prepositional phrase in this sentence? "The cat slept under the kitchen table."Common Core standard L.4.1.e; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Prepositions"
Which group of words is a sentence fragment?Common Core standard L.4.1.f; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Sentence Fragments"
Which is the best way to fix this run-on? "The dog barked the baby woke up."Common Core standard L.4.1.f; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Run-ons, Comma Splices, Fused Sentences"
Which phrase puts the adjectives in the usual order?Common Core standard L.4.1.d; checked in the Cambridge Dictionary grammar page "Adjectives: order"
Which question asks for permission?Common Core standard L.4.1.c; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "may"
Which sentence about a puppy uses its or it's correctly?Common Core standard L.4.1.g; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Spelling: Common Words that Sound Alike"
Which sentence puts the adjectives before bike in the usual order?Common Core standard L.4.1.d; checked in the Cambridge Dictionary grammar page "Adjectives: order"
Which sentence uses a progressive verb tense?Common Core standard L.4.1.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "progressive"
Which word shows that wearing a helmet is required? "You ___ wear a helmet when you ride."Common Core standard L.4.1.c; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "must"
Which words complete the sentence in the future progressive tense? "At noon tomorrow, we ___ lunch."Common Core standard L.4.1.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "progressive"
Vocabulary and word parts 13
The guide words at the top of a dictionary page are "magnet" and "marble." Which word is on that page?Common Core standard L.4.4.c; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "guideword"
In which sentence does the word bank mean the land beside a river?Common Core standard L.4.4.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "bank"
Read the sentence: "A pond is the habitat of many frogs." What does habitat mean?Common Core standard L.4.6; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "habitat"
Read the sentence: "Mia was reluctant to dive in, so she stood at the edge of the pool for a long time." What does reluctant mean?Common Core standard L.4.4.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "reluctant"
Read the sentence: "The desert is so arid that only a few plants can grow there." What does arid mean?Common Core standard L.4.4.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "arid"
What does the prefix mis- mean in the words misspell and misplace?Common Core standard L.4.4.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "mis-"
What does the suffix -less mean in the words fearless and careless?Common Core standard L.4.4.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "-less"
Which reference book lists words together with other words that have similar meanings?Common Core standard L.4.4.c; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "thesaurus"
Which word is a synonym of "enormous"?Common Core standard L.4.5.c; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "enormous"
Which word is an antonym of "ancient"?Common Core standard L.4.5.c; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "ancient"
Which word means almost the same as "walked" but shows that someone moved in a slow, heavy way?Common Core standard L.4.5.c; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "trudge"
The word part bio- comes from a Greek word for life. What does a biologist study?Common Core standard L.4.4.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "bio-"
The word part micro- means small. What is a microscope used for?Common Core standard L.4.4.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "microscope"
Figurative language 10
Read the sentence: "After the long hike, Ben's legs felt like wet noodles." What does the simile mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "simile"
Read the sentence: "At the party, Mr. Lee told a joke to break the ice." What does break the ice mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "break"
Read the sentence: "Grandma's kitchen is the heart of our home." What does the metaphor mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "heart"
Read the sentence: "Jada was under the weather, so she stayed home from school." What does under the weather mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.b; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "weather"
Read the sentence: "The spelling quiz was a piece of cake for Dana." What does a piece of cake mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.b; checked in the Cambridge Dictionary, entry "a piece of cake"
What does the proverb "Actions speak louder than words" mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.b; checked in the Cambridge Dictionary, entry "actions speak louder than words"
What does the saying "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.b; checked in the Cambridge Dictionary, entry "don't count your chickens before they hatch"
What does the saying "The early bird catches the worm" mean?Common Core standard L.4.5.b; checked in the Cambridge Dictionary, entry "the early bird catches the worm"
Which sentence about the moon contains a simile?Common Core standard L.4.5.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "simile"
Which sentence contains a metaphor?Common Core standard L.4.5.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "metaphor"
Revising and editing 12
A paragraph gives three reasons why recess should be longer. Which sentence is the best concluding statement?Common Core standard W.4.1.d; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Transitional Devices"
Choose the best linking words. "A school garden gives the lunchroom fresh vegetables. ___, it lets students watch plants grow."Common Core standard W.4.1.c; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Transitional Devices"
Choose the best linking words. "Our town has many places to play. ___, Pine Park has swings and a climbing wall."Common Core standard W.4.2.c; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Transitional Devices"
Choose the best transition for the order of events. "First, we mixed the batter. ___, we poured it into the pan."Common Core standard W.4.3.c; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Transitional Devices"
How many capitalization mistakes are in this sentence? "On saturday, Eli and i went to the Park."Common Core standard W.4.5; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "A Little Help with Capitals"
What is the best way to combine these two sentences? "The kitten is gray. The kitten is asleep on the couch."Common Core standard W.4.5; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Run-ons, Comma Splices, Fused Sentences"
Which sentence describes the puppy's meal most precisely?Common Core standard L.4.3.a; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "gobble"
Which sentence does not belong in this paragraph? "(1) Our class planted a garden. (2) We dug the soil and dropped in seeds. (3) My cousin has a new bike. (4) Soon green sprouts came up."Common Core standard W.4.5; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Paragraphs and Paragraphing"
Which sentence has a verb error? "(1) Last summer my family drove to the lake. (2) We swimmed every morning. (3) My brother caught a fish. (4) We ate it for dinner."Common Core standard W.4.5; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Irregular Verbs"
Which sentence is best for a letter to the school principal?Common Core standard L.4.3.c; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Levels of Formality"
Which sentence is the best topic sentence for a paragraph about why Maya likes her new school?Common Core standard W.4.2.a; rule checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, "Paragraphs and Paragraphing"
Which sentence uses a sensory detail to describe the storm?Common Core standard W.4.3.d; checked in the American Heritage Dictionary, entry "sensory"
How this list was compiled: Our own questions and our own sentences. Outline: the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, Language, grade 4, https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/L/4/, and Writing, grade 4, https://www.thecorestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/4/, read 2026-10-10. Each question names the standard it practices. Grammar, punctuation and writing rules were checked at the Purdue Online Writing Lab, https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/; word meanings, spellings and idioms in the American Heritage Dictionary, https://www.ahdictionary.com/; the order of adjectives, one idiom and three sayings in the Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/. All read 2026-10-10. Licence: Own work. Questions, sentences, answer choices and explanations were written for this site. Nothing is copied or reworded from a state test, a released form, a sample item, a workbook or another practice test.
How it works
Unofficial fourth grade ELA practice: 67 questions written for this page to the Common Core grade 4 Language and Writing standards. It is the language half of ELA, with no reading passages, and it is not any state's test.
Read the full guide
What the 67 questions cover
Grammar and usage has 17 questions; capitals, punctuation and spelling 15; vocabulary and word parts 13; revising and editing 12; figurative language 10. Each one prints the sentence or short paragraph it asks about and ends with its standard, such as L.4.2.b for quotation marks in speech. The link under each answer opens the grammar guide or dictionary entry it was checked against.
For a writing test, pick Revising and editing
For 4th grade writing test practice in multiple choice, that topic asks for a linking word, a topic sentence, a concluding statement, the sentence that does not belong and the error to fix. No essay is written or scored.
Read every choice before you pick. Two of them often differ by one comma or one capital letter.
In a vocabulary question, find the clue in the sentence before you look at the choices.
Questions and answers
Is there a 4th grade ELA practice test PDF?
Yes, through the print window. The questions print as a paper test, with an answer key if you want one, and Save as PDF keeps a copy.
Does this ELA practice test for 4th grade have reading passages?
No. It covers language: conventions, grammar, vocabulary, figurative language and editing, one sentence or short paragraph at a time. For reading, the ELA practice test has short stories and nonfiction texts for grades 3 to 5.
What is on a 4th grade ELA test?
Each state sets its own. The Common Core grade 4 standards for English language arts cover reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language. This page practices the language standards and the revising part of writing.
Is this my state's ELA test for 4th grade?
No. For questions that follow one state's published design, try the Georgia Milestones, LEAP or TCAP 4th grade practice tests.