HESI A2 › § Grammar
Free HESI A2 Grammar Practice Questions
The HESI A2 Grammar subtest asks you to spot the error in a sentence, not write one from scratch, since every question is multiple choice. It commonly runs 55 questions in 50 minutes, with 50 scored, spread across three areas: parts of speech, sentence structure, and common errors and usage. That last area covers agreement, pronoun case, and punctuation.
Every question below is original. RedRubric writes each one and maps it to the grammar topics we teach: parts of speech, sentence structure, and common usage errors. Answer, and the rationale appears at once, showing why the right choice works and why the others do not.
Read this sentence: "The pharmacy relabeled it's shelving after the audit." Which correction fixes the error?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Correct answer: D, 'it's' should be 'its'
The pharmacy possesses the shelving, so the sentence needs the possessive pronoun its, which never takes an apostrophe. It's is a contraction for it is or it has and does not fit here. The verb tense and the noun shelving are already correct as written.
____ nurses on the night shift rotate through the trauma bay every three months, according to the new staffing policy.
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Correct answer: B, We
"Nurses" renames the pronoun in an appositive, and the pronoun is the subject of "rotate," so the subjective case "we" is correct. "Us" would only fit as an object, "ourselves" is reflexive, and "them" does not match the first-person meaning intended.
Which sentence correctly matches the verb to the subject closer to it?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Correct answer: C, Neither the day-shift aides nor the charge nurse is covering the desk.
When neither and nor link a plural subject to a singular one, the verb must agree with whichever subject sits closer to it. In option c, charge nurse is the closer subject and is singular, so is is correct. Option a wrongly uses the plural are, option b pairs a plural charge nurses with the singular is, and option d uses the plural past-tense were instead of the singular was.
Choose the subordinating conjunction that correctly completes the sentence and matches its meaning. "The night nurse silenced the pump alarm ______ she had already corrected the kinked tubing."
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Correct answer: C, because
Because correctly shows that having already fixed the kinked tubing is the reason the nurse silenced the alarm. Unless would wrongly turn the fix into a condition that blocks the action, although wrongly suggests a contrast that is not there, and before contradicts the word already, which shows the tubing was fixed first.
The therapist confirmed the patient has enough leg strength now, so she ___ climb the four stairs to the exit unassisted.
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Correct answer: D, can
The sentence describes physical ability confirmed by strength, not permission, so can is the correct choice rather than may.
The nursing student was told she should not administer the new medication ___ the pharmacist confirms the dosage in writing.
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Correct answer: D, unless
Unless means except if, so the sentence correctly withholds the medication in every case except the one where the pharmacist confirms the dosage in writing. If would reverse that safety condition, and because and although do not express the required exception.
In the sentence "After the transfusion, the patient's color seemed stronger," what job does stronger do?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Correct answer: A, It is a predicate adjective describing color
Seemed is a linking verb, and stronger follows it to describe the subject color rather than to show an action, which makes stronger a predicate adjective. Linking verbs take no direct object, and stronger is not modifying the verb, so it cannot be an adverb.
That is seven of hundreds.
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