Grandma's Grammar Pie Trivia Quiz

Answer: Grandma is wearing a white hat. (B)

The word "an" comes before words that start with a vowel sound ('a', 'e', 'i', 'o', or 'u'). For example, Grandma might wear "an orange apron" or "an awesome hat". If the word does not start with a vowel sound, the word "a" comes before it. That is why Grandma would wear "a yellow dress", "a green necklace", or "a white hat".

Answer: Grandma asks me what pie I want. (L)

If only one person is asking a question that person "asks" the question. In any other case, they "ask" the question. So Grandma asks me a question, I ask you a question, you ask us a question, we ask them a question, and they ask me a question. This 's' rule applies to most verbs (action words).

Answer: I find Grandma's cookbook. (U)

If the cookbook belongs to Grandma, it is "Grandma's cookbook" with an apostrophe followed by an s. Generally, if something belongs to a single person (such as Grandma) an apostrophe and an s is added. However, if something belongs to more than one person (such as two girls), only an apostrophe is added. So it is "Grandma's cookbook" but "the girls' baseball". An exception for this rule is if the noun is plural but does not end in an 's', such as in "the children's toys".

Answer: The sugar I need is over there. (E)

"There", "their", and "they're" all sound the same, but they have different meanings. In a sentence, "they're" can always be replaced with "they are". So my parents can say they are going to give me the sugar, or they can say they're going to give me the sugar. "Their" means that the object belongs to someone. My parents would give me their sugar. Finally, "there" refers to a place or the existence of something, which is why you would say there is sugar in the cupboard.

Answer: She needs the milk. (B)

Pronouns - words that stand in for nouns like "she" and "her" - can be subjects or objects. Subject pronouns like "she", "he", "I", and "we" refer to someone doing the action. In this case, Grandma is the one needing the milk. Object pronouns like "her", "him", "me", and "we" refer to someone the action is being done to, or someone receiving the action. If I give Grandma the milk, I am the subject and Grandma is the object.

Answer: I help Grandma make the crust. (E)

"Crust" is a common noun, not a name or title, so it should be lowercase. In this sentence, however, we are using "Grandma" as a name, so it should start with a capital letter. If we were using "grandma" as a common noun (such as in "my grandma"), it would be lowercase.

Answer: I carry the pie to the oven. (R)

"Two", "to", and "too" sound the same but mean different things. "Two" always refers to the number, so I would have two hands, two arms, and two legs. "Too" means something extra or added, and it can usually be replaced with "also" or "very". I could say that the oven is very hot, or I could say that the oven is too hot. If the word is not a number and does not mean "very" or "also", "to" is the right word to use.

Answer: Grandma rests her eyes. (R)

Most of the time, to make a noun plural, you only need to add an 's' at the end. However, this is not always the case. For example, a noun ending with 'y' like "city", "story", or "daisy" changes the '-y' to an '-ies'. The words become "cities", "stories", and "daisies". If a word ends in '-ife' like "life", "wife", and "knife", '-ife' changes to '-ives'.

The words become "lives", "wives", and "knives". Some words have different rules, like "child". "Child" is a special word that becomes "children" when it is made plural.

Answer: The pie is ready. (Y)

A full sentence should have a subject (someone doing/being something) and a predicate (what that person is doing/being). In this sentence, the subject is "the pie" and the predicate is "is ready", because that is what the pie is being. If a sentence leaves you asking questions, it might be a fragment.

For example, what looks really tasty? What is our hard work doing? What is on top of the table?

Answer: Blueberry

That's right - if you put all the letters together you can see that Grandma made a blueberry pie!