I85PREP
⌘ K
Praxis ESOL study materials
Praxis ESOL study resources

Praxis ESOL practice questions

One question at a time. Build your Praxis ESOL understanding.

First 50 of 200 questions. Each one lists the choices, the correct answer, and an explanation. The checker at the top of this page saves progress in this browser when it is available.

Continue in the practice tool above to load more questions, 50 at a time.

Question 1Foundations of Language and Linguistics

A pair of words such as "ship" and "sheep" that differ in only one phoneme and have different meanings is called a

  1. complementary distribution
  2. free variant
  3. allophone
  4. minimal pair Correct answer.

Explanation

A minimal pair consists of two words that are identical except for one phoneme occurring in the same position, and the substitution changes meaning. This test helps identify whether two sounds are separate phonemes in a language. Allophones and free variants are alternate pronunciations of a single phoneme, not meaning-distinguishing pairs.

Question 2Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The smallest unit of language that carries meaning is called a

  1. syllable
  2. grapheme
  3. phoneme
  4. morpheme Correct answer.

Explanation

A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language, such as the word "cat" or the plural suffix "-s." Phonemes are sound units that do not carry meaning by themselves. Graphemes are written symbols, and syllables are phonological units.

Question 3Foundations of Language and Linguistics

Words such as "hot" and "cold" are related in meaning as

  1. antonyms Correct answer.
  2. synonyms
  3. homonyms
  4. hyponyms

Explanation

Antonyms are words with opposite or contrasting meanings, as in "hot" and "cold." Synonyms share similar meanings, while homonyms share form but have unrelated meanings. Hyponyms are more specific terms within a broader category.

Question 4Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In the noun phrase "the very old house," the head word is

  1. very
  2. house Correct answer.
  3. the
  4. old

Explanation

The head of a phrase determines its grammatical category and core meaning. In this noun phrase, "house" is the noun that the determiner and modifiers describe. The other words are dependents that modify or specify the head.

Question 5Foundations of Language and Linguistics

Which of the following is a voiced bilabial stop?

  1. /b/ Correct answer.
  2. /f/
  3. /m/
  4. /p/

Explanation

A bilabial stop is produced by completely blocking airflow with both lips. Voicing means the vocal folds vibrate during the sound, which is true for /b/. The sound /p/ is a voiceless bilabial stop, /m/ is a bilabial nasal, and /f/ is a labiodental fricative.

Question 6Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In the word "cats," which element is a free morpheme?

  1. cat Correct answer.
  2. -s
  3. -es
  4. -en

Explanation

A free morpheme can stand alone as a word, and "cat" does so. The plural marker "-s" is a bound morpheme because it must attach to a base. The other listed suffixes are also bound forms.

Question 7Foundations of Language and Linguistics

A speaker says, "Could you pass the salt?" Although the sentence has the form of a question about ability, it is most naturally understood as

  1. an apology
  2. a compliment
  3. a factual question about ability
  4. a request Correct answer.

Explanation

This utterance is an indirect speech act: its literal form is a question, but its intended function is a request for action. Listeners infer the request from context and politeness conventions. It does not function primarily as a factual ability question.

Question 8Foundations of Language and Linguistics

A regional or social variety of a language characterized by distinctive vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation is called a

  1. register
  2. pidgin
  3. idiolect
  4. dialect Correct answer.

Explanation

A dialect is a variety associated with a particular region or social group and includes systematic differences in lexicon, grammar, and pronunciation. Register refers to variation according to situation or formality. An idiolect is an individual's unique speech pattern, and a pidgin is a contact language.

Question 9Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The branch of linguistics that studies the sound system of a language, including phonemes and their patterning, is

  1. semantics
  2. syntax
  3. phonology Correct answer.
  4. morphology

Explanation

Phonology examines how sounds function and pattern in a particular language, including phonemes and their permissible combinations. Morphology studies word structure, syntax studies sentence structure, and semantics studies meaning. Each branch addresses a different level of linguistic organization.

Question 10Foundations of Language and Linguistics

Which of the following suffixes is inflectional rather than derivational?

  1. -ness
  2. -ed Correct answer.
  3. -able
  4. un-

Explanation

Inflectional suffixes mark grammatical information such as tense, number, or person without changing the word's category. The past-tense suffix "-ed" is inflectional in English. The suffixes "-ness" and "-able" and the prefix "un-" are derivational because they create new words, often of a different category.

Question 11Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In the sentence "The student from Brazil won the prize," the phrase "from Brazil" functions as

  1. the main verb of the sentence
  2. the subject
  3. the direct object of "won"
  4. a modifier of "student" Correct answer.

Explanation

"From Brazil" is a prepositional phrase that modifies the noun "student" by identifying origin. The full subject is "The student from Brazil," and the direct object is "the prize." The main verb is "won."

Question 12Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The word "rose" is related to the word "flower" as

  1. a synonym
  2. a homonym
  3. an antonym
  4. a hyponym Correct answer.

Explanation

A hyponym is a more specific term whose meaning is included within a broader superordinate term. "Rose" is a type of flower, so it is a hyponym of "flower." Synonyms are near-equivalent in meaning, antonyms are opposites, and homonyms share form but not meaning.

Question 13Foundations of Language and Linguistics

Speaker A asks, "Are you coming to the party?" Speaker B replies, "I have a huge exam tomorrow." B's reply most clearly illustrates

  1. an implicature Correct answer.
  2. deixis
  3. phonological assimilation
  4. a speech act of promising

Explanation

B does not directly answer yes or no but implies that the answer is no because of the exam. This implied meaning is a conversational implicature, inferred from the cooperative nature of conversation. It is not a promise, a deictic expression, or a phonological process.

Question 14Foundations of Language and Linguistics

A speaker's choice of formal academic vocabulary in a job interview rather than casual slang with friends is best described as a difference in

  1. accent
  2. register Correct answer.
  3. idiolect
  4. dialect

Explanation

Register is the variety of language selected according to situation, audience, and purpose, such as formal versus informal contexts. The same speaker may shift registers across settings. Dialect and accent are tied more to regional or social group membership, while idiolect is an individual's unique speech pattern.

Question 15Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In Krashen's monitor model, anxiety, low motivation, and low self-confidence can raise the

  1. affective filter Correct answer.
  2. comprehensible input
  3. critical period
  4. natural order

Explanation

Krashen's affective filter hypothesis holds that emotional factors such as anxiety, motivation, and self-confidence can block or filter comprehensible input from being acquired. A high affective filter reduces the learner's openness to input. Comprehensible input and the natural order are separate constructs in the model.

Question 16Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The consonant /k/ is produced with the back of the tongue against the velum, so its place of articulation is

  1. palatal
  2. bilabial
  3. velar Correct answer.
  4. alveolar

Explanation

Place of articulation refers to where in the vocal tract the constriction occurs. For /k/, the back of the tongue contacts the velum, making it a velar consonant. Alveolar sounds involve the alveolar ridge, bilabial sounds involve both lips, and palatal sounds involve the hard palate.

Question 17Foundations of Language and Linguistics

How many morphemes are in the word "unbelievable"?

  1. three Correct answer.
  2. two
  3. five
  4. four

Explanation

"Unbelievable" can be analyzed as "un-" + "believe" + "-able," giving three morphemes. The prefix "un-" and suffix "-able" are bound derivational morphemes, while "believe" is a free morpheme.

Question 18Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In the sentence "She has been running," the word "has" is

  1. an adverb
  2. a preposition
  3. an auxiliary Correct answer.
  4. a main verb

Explanation

"Has" helps form the present perfect progressive verb phrase "has been running," so it functions as an auxiliary verb. The main verb is "running." Auxiliaries carry tense and grammatical information rather than the main lexical meaning.

Question 19Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The two meanings of "bank" (a financial institution and the edge of a river) are historically unrelated, so this is an example of

  1. polysemy
  2. synonymy
  3. metonymy
  4. homonymy Correct answer.

Explanation

Homonymy occurs when two or more distinct words share the same form but have unrelated meanings, as with the two senses of "bank." Polysemy involves multiple related senses of a single word. Synonymy is sameness of meaning, and metonymy is a meaning relationship based on association.

Question 20Foundations of Language and Linguistics

A bilingual speaker alternates between Spanish and English within a single conversation. This is called

  1. diglossia
  2. language shift
  3. code-switching Correct answer.
  4. pidginization

Explanation

Code-switching is the alternation between two or more languages or language varieties within a conversation or even a sentence. It is a common and rule-governed practice among bilinguals. Diglossia refers to the functional distribution of two varieties, language shift is a community-level change, and pidginization is the development of a contact language.

Question 21Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In English, the /p/ in "pin" is aspirated while the /p/ in "spin" is unaspirated. These two sounds are

  1. separate phonemes
  2. allophones Correct answer.
  3. in free variation
  4. a minimal pair

Explanation

Aspirated and unaspirated /p/ occur in different, non-overlapping phonetic environments in English and do not distinguish meaning, so they are allophones of a single phoneme. The difference is predictable from context. Separate phonemes would create meaning contrasts, and free variation would allow either variant in the same environment.

Question 22Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The past tense "went" for the verb "go" is an example of

  1. regular inflection
  2. reduplication
  3. zero derivation
  4. suppletion Correct answer.

Explanation

Suppletion is the use of an unrelated or historically different root to supply an inflected form, as in "go" and "went." Regular inflection would add a predictable affix such as "-ed." Zero derivation and reduplication are word-formation processes, not irregular inflection of this kind.

Question 23Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The sentence "Visiting relatives can be boring" is ambiguous because

  1. it contains a deictic pronoun
  2. it is structurally ambiguous Correct answer.
  3. "boring" is a homonym
  4. it violates a Gricean maxim

Explanation

The ambiguity arises from two possible phrase structures: "visiting" may modify "relatives" (relatives who visit) or "visiting relatives" may be the gerund subject (the activity of visiting relatives). This is structural or syntactic ambiguity, not lexical ambiguity or a pragmatic violation. The sentence contains no deictic pronoun.

Question 24Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The sentence "The king was assassinated" entails which of the following?

  1. The king was unpopular.
  2. The king was a good ruler.
  3. The king died. Correct answer.
  4. The assassin was caught.

Explanation

Entailment is a logical relationship in which the truth of one sentence guarantees the truth of another. If the king was assassinated, then the king died, so the second sentence must be true whenever the first is true. The other options add information about motives, capture, or reputation that is not logically guaranteed.

Question 25Foundations of Language and Linguistics

A pidgin that becomes the native language of a community and develops a full grammar is called a

  1. lingua franca
  2. dialect
  3. creole Correct answer.
  4. pidgin

Explanation

When a pidgin acquires native speakers and expands into a fully developed language with a stable grammar and vocabulary, it is called a creole. A pidgin remains a simplified contact language without native speakers. A lingua franca is any language used for communication between groups with different first languages.

Question 26Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The English consonant /f/ is produced by bringing the lower lip close to the upper teeth and forcing air through the narrow opening, creating turbulence. Which term best describes this manner of articulation?

  1. fricative Correct answer.
  2. affricate
  3. lateral
  4. stop

Explanation

Manner of articulation describes how airflow is obstructed in the vocal tract. A fricative is produced when air is forced through a narrow constriction, causing turbulent noise, as with /f/. Stops involve complete closure, laterals route air around the tongue, and affricates combine a stop closure with a fricative release.

Question 27Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The words 'hot' and 'cold' are opposites that sit at the ends of a scale, so a room can be somewhat hot, very hot, or neither hot nor cold. This relationship is best described as:

  1. gradable antonyms Correct answer.
  2. homophones
  3. converses
  4. complementary antonyms

Explanation

Gradable antonyms are opposites on a continuous scale, allowing comparative and intermediate forms such as 'warmer' or 'lukewarm.' Complementary antonyms, by contrast, exhaust the possibilities with no middle ground, as with 'dead' and 'alive.' The other options describe sound identity or reversed relational pairs, not scalar opposition.

Question 28Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In the sentence 'I wanted to go, but it rained,' which word is a coordinating conjunction?

  1. rained
  2. wanted
  3. to
  4. but Correct answer.

Explanation

A coordinating conjunction joins two clauses or other units of equal grammatical status. In this sentence 'but' links the two independent clauses 'I wanted to go' and 'it rained.' The other words are a verb, an infinitive marker, and a verb, respectively.

Question 29Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The English words 'ship' and 'sheep' are identical except for the vowel sound, /ɪ/ versus /iː/, and that difference distinguishes their meanings. This pair is best described as:

  1. a minimal pair Correct answer.
  2. a pair of allophones
  3. a homophone set
  4. a digraph

Explanation

A minimal pair consists of two words that differ in exactly one phoneme and have different meanings, which shows that the differing sounds are distinct phonemes in the language. 'Ship' and 'sheep' differ only in the vowel, confirming that /ɪ/ and /iː/ contrast in English. The other terms refer to same-sounding words, variant realizations of one phoneme, or two letters representing one sound.

Question 30Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The word 'greenhouse' is made up of 'green' and 'house,' yet it refers to a structure for growing plants rather than a house that is green. How is this word best analyzed morphologically?

  1. a derived adjective
  2. a compound noun Correct answer.
  3. an inflected verb form
  4. a bound root plus a suffix

Explanation

A compound is formed by combining two or more free morphemes into a single word. 'Greenhouse' joins the free morphemes 'green' and 'house,' and its meaning is specialized rather than fully predictable from its parts. Derivation and inflection involve affixes, not the joining of two independent words.

Question 31Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In the sentence 'The teacher gave the students extra time,' what grammatical function does 'the students' serve?

  1. the indirect object Correct answer.
  2. the subject complement
  3. the direct object
  4. an object complement

Explanation

The verb 'gave' takes two objects: 'extra time' is the thing given (direct object), and 'the students' is the recipient (indirect object). The indirect object typically answers the question 'to whom or for whom?' and can often be expressed with a prepositional phrase ('gave extra time to the students'). Subject and object complements describe or rename another element rather than receiving the action.

Question 32Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The sentence 'The mayor stopped embezzling funds' presupposes which of the following?

  1. the mayor has never embezzled funds
  2. someone other than the mayor embezzled funds
  3. the mayor embezzled funds earlier Correct answer.
  4. the mayor was arrested for embezzlement

Explanation

Presuppositions are background assumptions that survive negation and questioning. The verb 'stop' triggers the presupposition that the activity was occurring before it ceased, so the sentence assumes prior embezzling. The sentence does not assert or assume an arrest, and it contradicts the idea that no embezzling occurred.

Question 33Foundations of Language and Linguistics

Asked 'Where is the museum?', a speaker replies, 'It is somewhere in town.' This reply most clearly flouts which Gricean maxim?

  1. quantity Correct answer.
  2. quality
  3. manner
  4. relation

Explanation

The maxim of quantity requires speakers to give as much information as is needed for the purpose of the exchange. 'Somewhere in town' is far less informative than the question demands, so the speaker appears to flout quantity, inviting an implicature such as 'I do not know exactly.' Quality concerns truthfulness, relation concerns relevance, and manner concerns clarity.

Question 34Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The English consonants /b/, /d/, and /g/ are produced with vibration of the vocal folds. Which phonetic property do they share?

  1. voiceless
  2. nasal
  3. voiced Correct answer.
  4. aspirated

Explanation

Voicing refers to vibration of the vocal folds during sound production. The sounds /b/, /d/, and /g/ are voiced stops, contrasting with voiceless counterparts /p/, /t/, and /k/. Nasality and aspiration are separate properties that depend on velum position and release timing.

Question 35Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In one community, a formal variety of a language is reserved for writing, education, and public address, while a colloquial variety is used for everyday conversation. This stable, functionally divided situation is known as:

  1. bilingualism
  2. code-switching
  3. diglossia Correct answer.
  4. pidginization

Explanation

Diglossia describes a society in which two varieties of the same language are used in complementary, socially stratified functions, often labeled 'high' and 'low.' Bilingualism refers to an individual's use of two languages, code-switching to alternation within discourse, and pidginization to the emergence of a contact language.

Question 36Foundations of Language and Linguistics

English 'father' and Latin 'pater' resemble each other because both descend from a common ancestor in the Indo-European family. Words related in this way are called:

  1. loanwords
  2. false friends
  3. calques
  4. cognates Correct answer.

Explanation

Cognates are words in different languages that derive from the same ancestral source and therefore show systematic sound correspondences. 'Father' and 'pater' reflect the same inherited root rather than borrowing. Loanwords are borrowed directly, calques are translated morpheme by morpheme, and false friends look similar but differ in meaning.

Question 37Foundations of Language and Linguistics

The English verb 'edit' was created by removing the ending from 'editor,' based on the mistaken assumption that '-or' was a derivational suffix. This word-formation process is:

  1. backformation Correct answer.
  2. inflectional affixation
  3. conversion
  4. clipping

Explanation

Backformation creates a new word by removing an affix-like ending from an existing word, often changing the word class, as when 'editor' yielded 'edit.' Clipping shortens a word without regard to morpheme boundaries, conversion changes a word's class without adding or removing material, and inflection adds grammatical endings.

Question 38Foundations of Language and Linguistics

English permits a word-initial cluster such as /str/ in 'street' but does not permit /tsr/ in the same position. This restriction reflects the language's:

  1. assimilation rules
  2. elision patterns
  3. phonotactics Correct answer.
  4. intonation contours

Explanation

Phonotactics is the study of permissible combinations and orderings of phonemes in a language, including which clusters may occur at the beginning or end of syllables. English allows /str/ but not /tsr/ word-initially because of these sequencing constraints. Assimilation, elision, and intonation involve sound modification, deletion, and pitch patterns rather than combinatory legality.

Question 39Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In 'The key opened the door,' 'the key' is an instrument, whereas in 'The janitor opened the door,' 'the janitor' is an agent. This contrast is best described in terms of:

  1. speech acts
  2. thematic roles Correct answer.
  3. grammatical relations
  4. truth conditions

Explanation

Thematic roles describe the semantic part a participant plays in an event, such as agent (the doer) or instrument (the means used). Although both sentences have a subject and a direct object, the subject's thematic role differs. Grammatical relations concern syntactic positions such as subject and object, while truth conditions and speech acts belong to other areas of meaning and use.

Question 40Foundations of Language and Linguistics

In the sentence 'The rumor that the coach resigned surprised everyone,' the clause 'that the coach resigned' functions as:

  1. a complement clause Correct answer.
  2. a relative clause
  3. an adverbial clause
  4. a main clause

Explanation

The clause 'that the coach resigned' is a declarative content clause that completes the noun 'rumor,' specifying what the rumor was; it is a complement clause. It contains no gap and does not modify 'rumor' by identifying a participant, which distinguishes it from a relative clause such as 'the rumor that spread.' It is subordinate to the main clause rather than being the main clause itself.

Question 41Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

A teacher explains that second language learning is the formation of habits built through imitation, repetition, and reinforcement. This explanation reflects which theoretical perspective?

  1. Sociocultural
  2. Innatist
  3. Behaviorist Correct answer.
  4. Interactionist

Explanation

Behaviorism, associated with Skinner, treats language learning as habit formation in which stimulus, response, and reinforcement shape verbal behavior, and audiolingual methods drew directly on this view. The other perspectives locate the explanation elsewhere: in innate knowledge, negotiated interaction, or socially mediated activity.

Question 42Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

According to Krashen's input hypothesis, acquisition is supported when learners receive second language input that is:

  1. at the learner's current level of competence
  2. restricted to forms the learner has already mastered
  3. well above the learner's level, with no contextual support
  4. slightly beyond the learner's current level of competence Correct answer.

Explanation

Krashen's i + 1 principle states that acquisition occurs when input is comprehensible but contains structures just beyond the learner's current level. Input far beyond that level is not comprehensible, and input at or below the current level supplies nothing new to acquire.

Question 43Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

Krashen distinguishes between acquisition and learning. Which statement captures that distinction?

  1. Acquisition is limited to childhood; learning continues through adulthood.
  2. Acquisition applies to vocabulary; learning applies to grammar and pronunciation.
  3. Acquisition is deliberate rule study; learning happens without awareness.
  4. Acquisition is subconscious; learning is conscious rule study. Correct answer.

Explanation

For Krashen, acquisition is an implicit, subconscious process driven by meaningful communication, whereas learning is the conscious, explicit study of rules with attention to form. The two are treated as separate systems, with learned knowledge usable only through the monitor.

Question 44Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

The claim that children are born with a language acquisition device that constrains the shape of possible human languages is central to which position?

  1. Innatist Correct answer.
  2. Behaviorist
  3. Interactionist
  4. Sociocultural

Explanation

Innatist accounts, following Chomsky, hold that children possess an innate, species-specific capacity, often described as universal grammar, that guides language development. The other perspectives explain language growth through environmental reinforcement, negotiated interaction, or socially mediated activity.

Question 45Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

A newly arrived student is anxious about making mistakes and, although he receives plenty of comprehensible input, he avoids using English and takes in little of what he hears. Which Krashen construct best accounts for this?

  1. Fossilization of his interlanguage
  2. A weak monitor
  3. A high affective filter Correct answer.
  4. An unusually long critical period

Explanation

The affective filter is a barrier of anxiety, low self-confidence, or low motivation that can keep comprehensible input from reaching the acquisition device. High anxiety and embarrassment raise the filter, so input is available but blocked.

Question 46Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

According to the monitor hypothesis, a learner can use conscious grammar knowledge to edit output only when:

  1. the learner has acquired the rule naturally rather than studied it
  2. the learner knows the rule and has time to apply it Correct answer.
  3. the learner is speaking quickly under time pressure
  4. the learner is focused entirely on meaning

Explanation

The monitor is a conscious editor, so it requires sufficient time, attention to form, and explicit knowledge of the rule. When any of these conditions is missing, as in fast meaning-focused conversation, the monitor cannot operate effectively.

Question 47Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

The strong form of the contrastive analysis hypothesis holds that:

  1. every learner error can be traced to a universal developmental sequence
  2. difficulty can be predicted by comparing the first and second languages Correct answer.
  3. errors decline in proportion to the amount of corrective feedback given
  4. learners rarely transfer features of their first language into the second

Explanation

Contrastive analysis compared the learner's first and second languages and predicted that structures differing most between them would cause the greatest difficulty through negative transfer. Later research showed that many errors are developmental rather than transfer-based, weakening the strong version.

Question 48Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

Selinker's concept of interlanguage refers to:

  1. a learner's evolving rule system influenced by both languages Correct answer.
  2. the alternation between two languages within one conversation
  3. a simplified contact language used between speakers with no shared language
  4. the point at which a learner's second language becomes indistinguishable from a native speaker's

Explanation

Interlanguage is the learner's own systematic, rule-governed version of the target language, shaped by first language transfer, overgeneralization, and other learning processes as it develops over time. It is a legitimate system rather than a defective copy of the target language.

Question 49Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

A child learning English says "I runned fast" and "three sheeps." These errors are best described as:

  1. negative transfer from the first language
  2. a deliberate communication strategy used to keep the conversation going
  3. overgeneralization of a target-language rule Correct answer.
  4. avoidance of difficult forms

Explanation

Overgeneralization is an intralingual error in which learners extend a regular pattern, such as past -ed or plural -s, to forms that do not follow it. Such errors show that the learner is actively constructing and testing rules rather than merely copying input.

Question 50Foundations of Second Language Acquisition and Language Learning

A Spanish-speaking learner of English says "eschool" for school, adding a vowel before the initial consonant cluster. This pattern is best explained as:

  1. negative transfer from the first language Correct answer.
  2. a developmental sequence shared by all learners
  3. a failure to monitor output
  4. overgeneralization of an English rule

Explanation

Spanish does not allow /s/ plus consonant at the beginning of a word, so speakers often insert a vowel; the learner is applying a first-language phonological pattern to English. This is negative transfer, or interference, at the level of phonology.