Who is this site for?
This site is for English learners who wish to improve their grammar and vocabulary using real English content, and for English teachers who are looking for quizzes to use with their students. Our quizzes focus mainly on intermediate level (B1) and above.
Can I use the quizzes in English classes?
Yes, you may use the quizzes in English classes or as homework exercises provided that you do not remove any copyright notices.
How can I print a quiz?
Click the ‘Print quiz’ link on the quiz’s start page. This will open your browser’s print dialog where you can choose a printer to use. The quiz will be printed in a print-friendly format. You can also print a quiz after you have started it by using your browser’s standard print function.
How can I save a quiz as a PDF file?
Click the ‘Print quiz’ link on the quiz’s start page. In the print dialog which opens, choose the ‘Save as PDF’ option (or equivalent) instead of selecting a printer.
Do you use British or U.S. English?
British English is used on this site unless otherwise stated.
Why did you choose the name ‘Phrasally’?
Firstly, we thought it was a fun-sounding name. Secondly, as a real word, ‘phrasally’ means ‘in terms of phrases [groups of words]’; we think that it reflects the idea of learning English from real English content (and all its wonderful phrases) quite nicely. We hope you agree!
How do you pronounce ‘Phrasally’?
Like this: /’freɪzəli/
How do quiz levels work?
Our quizzes are divided into 5 levels: Level 1 (easier) to Level 5 (harder). The levels represent the difficulty of the vocabulary used in the quiz questions, which we calculate automatically.
Level 1 quizzes are comparable in vocabulary difficulty to the easiest 20% of online news articles; Level 5 quizzes are comparable to the most difficult 20% of news articles; Level 3 quizzes are comparable to news articles of average difficulty.
How do ratings work?
When you register with our website and log in, you are given a rating number, initially 1000, which is shown in the Your Stats panel. Each quiz also has a rating, which is shown on its start page. When a quiz is quite new, its difficulty rating will be shown with a ‘~’ prefix, e.g. ‘~1000’, to indicate that the rating is approximate.
When you take a quiz for the first time, your rating goes up or down according to how many answers you get right. The quiz’s rating also changes in the same way. If you decide to review your answers and retry the quiz afterwards, that doesn’t affect your rating. (Note: if you indicate that you are an English teacher when you register, your quiz results won’t affect quiz ratings.)
Over time, your rating will allow you to monitor your progress and choose quizzes at your level. We hope you will find this feature motivating too.
What are badges?
Badges are a feature to help keep you motivated while you study. You earn them automatically when you reach certain study goals, such as completing 10 quizzes, reaching a rating of 1400, passing a Level 2 quiz, scoring 100% on a quiz, and so on. Some examples are shown in the picture below.
Do I need to register to take the quizzes?
No, registering is optional. If you choose not to register, you can still take the quizzes but your results won’t be saved and you won’t see certain features such as ratings, statistics and badges.
Who created this site?
This site was made by Tim Brogden (me). I’m a CELTA-qualified English teacher from England who taught English to adults for several years in Latvia. English is my native language. I’m also an experienced computer programmer and I am passionate about applying scientific approaches to language learning. That is what this website aims to do.
How do you create the quiz questions?
All our questions are created by native English speakers, but we use pattern matching and artificial intelligence (AI) to help us do it faster. The sentences we use are inspired by real English sentences from sources such as online news websites. We do replace some details, such as names and places, with fictional (not real) or generic (not specific) ones, so please regard all question content as fictional.
Other question?
If you have another question, feel free to get in touch via the Contact page.