Free proofreading test
Free proofreading test online: 12 sentences with one spelling, grammar, word-choice or punctuation error each. You type the fix. New sentences every attempt.
FREE PRACTICE · NEW QUESTIONS EVERY ATTEMPT
Proofreading test
Edit each sentence to fix its one error. Keep all other wording. Use standard US English; straight and curly apostrophes are both accepted. Spellcheck is switched off in the field.
Each attempt draws 12 of 48 questions, and a retake avoids the ones you have just seen. One point per correct answer, no penalty for guessing. Skip and return to questions; answers and explanations appear after you finish. Your progress stays on this page until you reload or leave.
What a proofreading test measures
A proofreading test checks whether you catch the errors that spellcheck does not: their for there, effect for affect, a plural verb after a singular subject, a missing apostrophe, two sentences run together with a comma. They appear in hiring for editorial, administrative, marketing, legal, customer-communication and translation roles, and for any role that writes to customers, because a wrong your in a client email costs more than the time it takes to test for it.
This test is an editing task, not a quiz. You are shown a sentence with one error and you type the corrected sentence. Recognising that a sentence is wrong is the easy half; producing the right fix, and only that fix, is what the job needs.
How this free test works
- 12 sentences, three from each category: spelling, subject-verb agreement, word choice (homophones and confusables) and punctuation (apostrophes, sentence boundaries, list commas).
- A bank of 48 original sentences in a workplace register. A retake draws different ones.
- You make the correction. The sentence is loaded into an editable field with spellcheck switched off. Make the smallest change that fixes the error and leave everything else as it is.
- 8 minutes timed, or untimed while you learn. About 40 seconds a sentence is realistic.
- Explanations name the rule: why fewer and not less, why has and not have.
- An optional shareable result with a permanent link, preview image and Add to LinkedIn profile button.
Sample proofreading questions
The list of approved suppliers are attached. The subject is list, singular, so the verb is is: “The list of approved suppliers is attached.”
Please leave the parcel over their. There is the place; their is possessive.
The office opens at nine, the warehouse opens at seven. A comma cannot join two complete sentences. Either a full stop or a semicolon is accepted: “The office opens at nine. The warehouse opens at seven.”
The two managers report is ready. The report belongs to two managers, so the apostrophe follows the plural: “The two managers’ report is ready.”
How to improve your proofreading score
- Read twice: once for meaning, once for mechanics. The second pass is slow and mechanical on purpose.
- Find the subject before you judge the verb. “The number of complaints has fallen”: the subject is number, not complaints.
- Keep a confusables list: affect/effect, principal/principle, complementary/complimentary, stationary/stationery, then/than, to/too, accept/except, precede/proceed.
- Apostrophes mean contraction or possession, never plural. It’s = it is. Its = belonging to it.
- Change one thing. If your fix touches more than the error, the scorer will not match it and a real editor would query it.
Reading your result
The result guide explains the calculation and which of the four categories to work on. Unsupervised practice, not a certificate.
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