The Editor's Locked Office
A B2 grammar escape room set in a publishing house, where adult learners solve nine puzzles on tenses, agreement, punctuation, reported speech, passive voice, cohesion and common errors to find a nine-letter password.
A free Escape Room for Adults at CEFR B2 level. Topic: 2. Design five English puzzles.
You are interns at an old publishing house, and you stayed late to finish proofreading the final manuscript of a famous novel. When the clock struck midnight, the heavy oak door of the chief editor's office slammed shut, and a note appeared on the desk explaining that only those who read carefully…
Solve all nine grammar puzzles, collect one letter from each, and combine the letters in order to form the nine-letter password that opens the office door.
Puzzles
- 📝 The Volunteer Certificate: A note pinned to the editor's corkboard reads: 'Each of the volunteers who helped at the animal shelter last winter ___ received a certificate of thanks.' Which verb correctly completes the sentence?
- 🔤 The Word Labels: The editor has underlined four words in this sentence: 'Although the journey was long, the reliable driver quickly earned our trust through his honesty.' Match each word to its part of speech.
- ✒️ The Missing Mark: The editor's favourite punctuation mark is used to join two independent clauses that are closely related, as in 'I wanted to stay out late ___ however, I had work in the morning.' Unscramble this word: LOCOMINES
- ⏳ The Broken Timeline: Three of these verb phrases belong to the same tense, which is used to describe an action completed before another moment in the past. Which one does not belong?
- 🏛️ The New Library: Read the whole passage, then complete the gap with the correct passive form of the verb 'build'. 'The town's old library had been closed for years because nobody could afford to repair it. Then, in 2022, a group of retired teachers decided that something had to be done. They…
- 🗣️ Daniel's Decision: Read the passage, paying close attention to what each person reported. Then decide whether each statement is true or false.
- 🔗 The Linking Code: On the editor's desk lies a coded linking word. It belongs in the gap of this paragraph: 'The new marketing plan seemed perfect on paper, and the board approved it without hesitation. ___, it failed in practice because nobody had asked customers what they actually wanted.'…
- 🌧️ The Torn Sentence: continued Although walking. it we raining, was
- 🔍 The Editor's Final Riddle: I am a small word that many speakers forget to use. Look at this sentence from the manuscript: 'There were less people at the book launch than we had expected, so less chairs were needed.' The author made the same mistake twice, and I am the word that should replace…
Printable worksheet
This Escape Room comes with a free printable worksheet: 1 part for students to do after the game, and an answer key for the teacher. It prints at three levels (Support, Core and Challenge); this is the Challenge sheet. Sign in free to print the whole sheet.
What's on the worksheet
- Escape on paper · Open every lock. Fewer options to choose from this time.
Part 1: Escape on paper
Open every lock. Fewer options to choose from this time.
- 📝 The Volunteer Certificate A note pinned to the editor's corkboard reads: 'Each of the volunteers who helped at the animal shelter last winter ___ received a certificate of thanks.' Which verb correctly completes the sentence?
- 🔤 The Word Labels The editor has underlined four words in this sentence: 'Although the journey was long, the reliable driver quickly earned our trust through his honesty.' Match each word to its part of speech. quickly honesty although reliable adverb noun adjective conjunction
- ✒️ The Missing Mark The editor's favourite punctuation mark is used to join two independent clauses that are closely related, as in 'I wanted to stay out late ___ however, I had work in the morning.' Unscramble this word: LOCOMINES O E M I C S L N O