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150 multiple-choice questions and 75 flashcards, organised into 6 chapters, written to the Common Core State Standards blueprint. Every question carries a full rationale.
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Common Core State Standards (CCSS) — ELA, Grade 6: Writing (W.6.1-10) and Language (L.6.1-6). Public standards from corestandards.org.
CoStudy's 6th Writing & Language bank holds 225 items organised into 6 chapters that follow the published blueprint. Every multiple-choice question carries a written rationale explaining why the correct answer is correct and why each distractor is tempting but wrong.
Each chapter follows a domain of the published exam outline. Practise one on its own:
A sample of 12 multiple-choice questions from the bank, with the full rationale shown.
Use of "its" vs "it's":
Answer: A — its = possessive (no apostrophe). it's = contraction of it is
A) Standard. B/C/D) Each is incorrect.
The objective case pronoun in 'She gave the gift to ___ ' is:
Answer: D — me
Object of preposition takes objective case. (A) is subjective; (C), (B) are possessive.
To determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word, a reader should:
Answer: D — Use context clues (surrounding words and sentences), check known root/prefix/suffix meanings, look it up in a dictionary if needed
Multiple strategies. (A), (C), (B) misread.
Which sentence is in the present perfect tense?
Answer: B — I have walked to school.
B) 'Have + past participle' = present perfect. A) Simple past. C) Future. D) Present progressive.
Which is the correct possessive form?
Answer: B — The children's coats.
B) 'Children' is already plural; add 's. A) 'Childrens'' treats it as a regular plural, but 'children' is irregular. C) Double possessive is wrong. D) No apostrophe at all.
A comma is needed in which sentence?
Answer: D — I bought apples, bananas, and oranges. (Items in a series, with optional Oxford comma)
Commas separate items in a series. (A) has no commas; (C), (B) misplace them.
The suffix '-ology' means:
Answer: D — Study of — as in 'biology' (study of life), 'geology' (study of earth), 'psychology' (study of mind)
-ology = study. (A), (C), (B) misread.
An informational/explanatory essay aims to:
Answer: A — Inform readers about a topic by selecting and organizing relevant facts and concepts; the writer's job is clarity, not persuasion
Informational writing explains. (B) is argumentative; (C) is narrative; (D) is creative.
Antonym for "begin":
Answer: B — End
B) Standard. A) Synonym. C/D) Each is incorrect.
In English grammar, a 'subject' is:
Answer: C — The noun or pronoun that performs the action or is described in a sentence
Subject = doer. (A), (B), (D) misread.
The central element of an argumentative essay is:
Answer: A — A clear claim supported by reasons and evidence
A) Arguments stand or fall on the strength of claim + evidence. B/C/D) Off-form: definitions or narrative content do not anchor an argument.
Formal vs. informal language differs in:
Answer: D — Word choice (formal avoids slang, contractions, casual phrases), tone, and sometimes complexity of sentence structure — appropriateness depends on audience and purpose
Register matters for audience. (A), (C), (B) misread.
6 sample cards from the 75 in the bank.
What is a 'denotation'?
The literal dictionary definition of a word.
What's a 'semicolon' used for?
To join two related complete sentences without a conjunction. 'I love coffee; my brother loves tea.'
What's the difference between 'who's' and 'whose'?
Who's = who is. Whose = belongs to whom.
What is a 'reflexive pronoun'?
A pronoun reflecting back on the subject (-self/-selves). 'She taught herself piano.'
Why is a strong opening important?
It hooks the reader, introduces the topic, and previews the writing's purpose.
What does the suffix '-ous' mean?
Full of, having. Famous, dangerous, generous.
These samples are a small slice. The full bank runs flashcards, multiple choice and timed mock exams with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
The 6th Writing & Language bank holds 225 items: 150 multiple-choice questions, 75 flashcards. 18 of them are on this page to read free, with no signup.
Yes. Every multiple-choice item carries a written rationale that states the controlling principle behind the correct answer and then addresses each wrong option in turn — why it tempts and precisely where it fails. Knowing why the plausible answer was wrong is worth more than knowing which letter was right.
It is organised into 6 chapters that follow the published exam blueprint: Writing Arguments with Claims and Evidence; Writing Informative and Explanatory Texts; Writing Narratives; Production, Distribution, and Revision of Writing; Conventions: Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics; Vocabulary Acquisition and Use. The number of questions in each chapter is proportional to that domain's published weight, so working through the bank exposes you to roughly the mix the real exam uses.
Common Core State Standards (CCSS) — ELA, Grade 6: Writing (W.6.1-10) and Language (L.6.1-6). Public standards from corestandards.org.
The samples on this page are free to read in full, rationales included, with no account. The complete 225-item bank, the timed mock exams and per-chapter progress tracking are part of CoStudy on the web and in the iOS app.
Last reviewed 2026-08-22. Banks are written against the certifying body's published exam outline and re-checked when that outline changes — exams get renumbered, retired and reweighted, and a bank written to a superseded outline teaches the wrong proportions. Figures that are re-indexed annually are deliberately not asserted as rules; the questions test the governing principle instead.