Class 8 practice
Class 8 english questions.
English questions for Class 8, at the level of students aged 12–14, each with its answer and a short explanation. Try each one before opening the answer.
Read the direct sentence: Meera said, "I am reading an adventure novel." Which option shows the correct indirect speech?
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Answer: Meera said that she was reading an adventure novel.
In reported speech with a past reporting verb, present continuous ('am reading') changes to past continuous ('was reading'), and 'I' becomes 'she'.
Choose the correct preposition to complete the sentence. Deepa has been practising Bharatanatyam _____ last December.
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Answer: since
'Since' marks a specific starting point in time in the past for an ongoing action.
During the cricket match, Rohan decided to 'call it a day' after five overs of bowling. What does this idiom mean?
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Answer: Stop doing an activity
The idiom 'call it a day' means to decide to stop working or halt an ongoing activity for the rest of the day.
Ananya prepared diligently for the inter-school debate. She managed to keep her cool during tough counter-questions. What does the idiom 'keep her cool' mean?
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Answer: Remain calm and composed
To 'keep one's cool' is an idiom meaning to stay calm, composed, and in control of one's emotions under stress.
Choose the correct verb to complete the sentence: Neither the teacher nor the students ______ ready for the surprise assembly.
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Answer: were
When subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb agrees with the closer subject. Since 'students' is plural, 'were' is correct.
Read the sentence and find the meaning of the underlined word. Meera gave a candid reply during the interview, explaining her mistakes openly.
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Answer: Frank and honest
The word 'candid' means truthful, straightforward, and sincere in expressing one's thoughts without hiding anything.
Which sentence correctly shows that the bicycles belong to more than one girl?
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Answer: The girls' bicycles were parked near the gate.
For plural nouns ending in 's', show possession by placing the apostrophe after the 's' (girls').
Select the word that is an antonym of 'abundant'.
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Answer: Scarce
Abundant means existing in large quantities, while scarce means rare or insufficient.
Neither Priya nor her cousins _____ planning to join the photography club this term. Which auxiliary verb correctly completes the sentence?
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Answer: are
When subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb agrees with the nearer subject. Here, 'her cousins' is plural, so 'are' is correct.
"______ the heavy downpour delayed the train, Priya reached the auditorium in time for her performance." Choose the correct conjunction.
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Answer: Although
"Although" is a subordinating conjunction that introduces a clause containing a subject and a verb. "Despite" functions as a preposition and needs a noun phrase.
The heavy monsoon rains had a noticeable _____ on the water level of the Kaveri River. Choose the correct word.
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Answer: effect
'Effect' is a noun meaning an outcome or result, whereas 'affect' is usually a verb meaning to influence.
Read the sentence and choose the meaning of the idiom: The debate topic was tricky, but Farhan hit the nail on the head.
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Answer: Said something exactly right
The idiom 'hit the nail on the head' means to describe a situation or give an explanation with complete accuracy.
- True or false?
In the sentence "Sunita arrived early," the word "early" functions as an adjective modifying "Sunita."
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Answer: False
In this sentence, "early" tells when the action happened. Because it modifies the verb "arrived," it functions as an adverb.
- True or false?
Homophones are words that share identical spellings but have different pronunciations and meanings.
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Answer: False
Homophones sound identical, regardless of spelling, like 'sun' and 'son'. Words that share spelling are homographs.
- True or false?
The prefix 'bene-' in words like 'benefit' and 'benevolent' comes from Latin and means 'good' or 'well'.
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Answer: True
The Latin root 'bene' means well or good. It appears in English words such as 'beneficial', 'benefactor', and 'benevolent'.
- Fill in the blank.
By the time the bell rang, Priya had already ___ (begin) her science project presentation.
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Answer: begun
With the auxiliary verb 'had', the past perfect tense requires the past participle form of the verb 'begin', which is 'begun' rather than the simple past form 'began'.
- Fill in the blank.
If Priya had studied the map carefully, she would not have ___ (lose) her way inside the old fort.
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Answer: lost
In a third conditional sentence ('would have' + past participle), the past participle form of 'lose' is 'lost'.
- Fill in the blank.
Neither the class teacher nor the students ___ (be) in the library during the power cut yesterday.
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Answer: were
When subjects are joined by 'neither... nor', the verb agrees with the closer subject. Since 'students' is plural and the event occurred yesterday, 'were' is correct.
Which word is the odd one out based on its prefix?
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Answer: Important
In "immature", "impossible", and "impatient", "im-" acts as a negative prefix meaning "not". In "important", "im-" is an integral part of the root word.
Which conjunction is the odd one out?
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Answer: And
And is a coordinating conjunction connecting words or clauses of equal rank. Because, although, and since are subordinating conjunctions.
These questions come from Ado’s question bank and are written with AI help. They are never used in ranked play, so practising them here can’t change anyone’s rank.
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