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Primary 4 English Language syllabus: topics and practice questions

These are the topics and skills of Primary 4 English Language in the MOE syllabus, with 84 original practice questions. Each topic below has a sample question: try it, then open the worked answer.

Grammar

Verbs and tenses

11 practice questions

  • Present perfect and past continuous tenses
  • Subject–verb agreement (either/or, neither/nor, a pair of)

Sample question

Choose the correct answer.
We in this HDB flat since 2019.
  1. A have lived
  2. B lived
  3. C are living
  4. D were living
Show the answer and working

Answer: (A) have lived

How:
"since 2019" means from 2019 until now, so we use the present perfect: have lived.

Why: The present perfect (have/has + past participle) is used for something that started in the past and is still true now. "since" with a starting point is a clue.

Sentence structures

16 practice questions

  • Question tags
  • Relative pronouns (who, which, whose)
  • Adjectives and adverbs that compare (more, most, better, worse)

Sample question

Choose the correct question tag.
Priya can swim very well, ?
  1. A can't she
  2. B can she
  3. C doesn't she
  4. D isn't she
Show the answer and working

Answer: (A) can't she

How:
The sentence is positive and uses "can", so the tag is negative with "can": can't she?

Why: A question tag repeats the helping verb of the sentence. A positive statement takes a negative tag, and the pronoun matches the subject (Priya → she).

Linking ideas

5 practice questions

  • Connectors: although, unless, so … that, too … to

Sample question

Choose the correct answer.
it was raining heavily, the boys continued their football match.
  1. A Although
  2. B Unless
  3. C Because
  4. D So
Show the answer and working

Answer: (A) Although

How:
The second part is a surprise after the first, so we need a word that shows contrast: Although.

Why: "Although" joins two ideas that contrast: something happened even though we would not expect it.

Vocabulary

Words in context

16 practice questions

  • Choose the word that fits the meaning
  • Phrasal verbs and fixed expressions
  • Fill a passage with suitable words

Sample question

Read the passage. Choose the best word for blank (1).

Sunday at the Wet Market

Every Sunday morning, Meena (1) her grandmother to the wet market near their block. The market is always (2) with shoppers, and the stallholders call out loudly to (3) customers to their stalls.

The air smells of fresh vegetables, flowers and seafood. Meena's favourite stall sells live crabs, which wave their claws at her from a large basket.

Grandma likes to (4) the fish carefully before she buys any. "Fresh fish have bright, clear eyes," she explains. She also chats with the fishmonger, who has known her for more than twenty years and always saves the best prawns for her.

After they have finished shopping, Meena helps to carry the heavy bags home. She feels tired but (5) because Grandma always rewards her with a bowl of cold chendol.

  1. A accompanies
  2. B attends
  3. C approaches
  4. D admits
Show the answer and working

Answer: (A) accompanies

How:
Meena goes with her grandmother to the market, so she "accompanies" her.

Why: "accompany" means to go somewhere with someone. "attend" is used for events (attend a class), "approach" means to come near, and "admit" means to let in or to agree something is true.

Reading & Viewing

Comprehension

15 practice questions

  • Literal and inferential questions on a story or report
  • Visual text comprehension (posters, flyers, brochures)
  • Grammar cloze: choose words to complete a passage

Sample question

Read the story, then choose the correct answer.
When did Jun Hao have to return the shark book?

The Missing Shark Book

Jun Hao loved Saturdays because that was when he visited the public library with his father. Last Saturday, however, he could not find the book he had borrowed two weeks earlier. It was a thick book about sharks, and it was due that very day.

He searched his bedroom, the living room and even the kitchen. He looked under his bed and behind the sofa, but the book was nowhere to be found. "I'll have to pay for it," he groaned, thinking of the money he had been saving for a new football.

Just then, his little sister Mei Mei walked past. She was holding her teddy bear in one hand and something blue in the other. Jun Hao stared. It was the shark book! Mei Mei explained that she had been "reading" it to her teddy bear in her room every night because she liked the pictures of the fish.

Jun Hao wanted to scold her, but when he saw her worried face, he only laughed. "Next time, ask me first," he said gently. "We can read it together."

That afternoon, Jun Hao returned the book just before the library closed. He also borrowed a picture book about the sea for Mei Mei, so that she would have a book of her own.

  1. A Last Saturday
  2. B Two weeks after last Saturday
  3. C On the day he borrowed it
  4. D Last Sunday
Show the answer and working

Answer: (A) Last Saturday

How:
Paragraph 1 says the book "was due that very day", and that day was last Saturday.

Why: "due" means it had to be returned by then. "that very day" refers to "Last Saturday".

Listening & Viewing

Listening comprehension

5 practice questions

  • Listen for details, sequence and purpose

Writing & Representing

Accuracy

16 practice questions

  • Edit for spelling and grammar
  • Combine and rewrite sentences
  • Direct and reported speech

Sample question

The underlined word is wrong. Type the correct word.
Yesterday, my brother buyed a new storybook from the bookshop.
Show the answer and working

Answer: bought

How:
The past tense of "buy" is "bought", not "buyed".

Why: "buy" is irregular, so we do not add -ed. buy → bought.

Practise all 84 Primary 4 questions

With an account, practice adapts to your child: hints one step at a time, feedback on the mistake behind a wrong answer, review of older topics and a Primary 4 mock paper.

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