Can You Score 13/15 on This C1 English Test? | 15 Questions

Hi, I'm Jennifer. If you're watching this video, you're probably confident that your level of English is intermediate or higher. How much higher? Are you B2, high intermediate? Are you C1, C2, advanced? Take this grammar test. Answer 15 questions. I'll explain the answers to help you learn. Let's start. Choose the best and most natural sounding answers. I had some initial doubts about the proposal. I agreed to move forward. A. Moreover B. Consequently C. Nevertheless Answer C. Nevertheless Nevertheless is a conjunctive adverb. It creates a relationship between two ideas. It's a transition word between two statements, and it expresses a contrast, like however. A similar word is nonetheless. I agree with those who say there really isn't a big difference between nevertheless and nonetheless. Both sound rather formal. I probably use nevertheless more. Both are more common in writing than in everyday conversation. It's common to use this adverb, nevertheless, at the beginning or at the end of a sentence. Nevertheless, I agreed to move forward. I agreed to move forward nevertheless. Some use it in a middle position. I nevertheless agreed to move forward. 2. I received my undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College. A. A, the indefinite article. B. The, the definite article. Or C. No article. Answer C. No article, the zero article. No article is needed before the names of most colleges and universities. A clue is the preposition of. If you have of in the name, it's very likely that the definite article the is needed. A good example is the College of William and Mary. The is part of the name. Next spring, my son will be graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For short, everyone says UMass Amherst. With the abbreviation, no article is needed. 3. According to company policy, all employees are to, supposed to, ought to participate in an annual peer review. Answer A. Are to participate. The use of be to plus the base verb is a formal way to express strong necessity or expectation. Supposed to also expresses expectation, but the pattern is be supposed to, plus the base verb. You must have a form of be. Ought to is weaker, and it's closer to should, which is used for obligation and advice. 4. What's a more everyday equivalent of you mustn't tell anyone? A. You don't have to tell anyone. B, you can't tell anyone, or C, you ought not to tell anyone. Answer B, you can't tell anyone. Must not is strong. Cannot and can't are also strong forms. When we say you cannot do or can't do something, we're prohibiting that action. We're saying it's not allowed. Compared to mustn't, we use can't a lot more in everyday English. 5. How do we report this question? Damon asked, If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Look carefully. A, B, C. Answer B. Damon asked me where I would live if I could live anywhere in the world. It ends with a period. When we report a question, it's no longer a direct question. So it ends with a period. Also, when we report unreal conditional sentences, we make no changes to the verbs. In other words, we don't backshift. 6. Which statement is written correctly and naturally for everyday English? A. Before leaving for their trip, Lisa and Ray turned off the lights and locked all the doors. B. Before having left for their trip, Lisa and Ray turned off the lights and locked all the doors. C. Before leaving for Lisa and Ray's trip, the lights were turned off and all the doors were locked. The answer is A. Before leaving for their trip, Lisa and Ray turned off the lights and locked all the doors. Let's look at the beginning part, the phrase, before leaving for their trip. The full adverb clause of time is before Lisa and Ray left for their trip. To reduce this adverb clause of time to an adverb phrase, we change LEFT to the ING form, leaving. Using having left isn't necessarily wrong, but it's unnecessary. Before leaving sounds most natural for everyday English. The subject, Lisa and Ray, can be moved to the main Claim Clause. This kind of reduction from a full clause to a phrase is only possible when the subjects of the adverb clause and the main clause are the same. 7. Which statement correctly expresses a reason? A. For studying French and Italian, Leila quickly picked up Spanish. B. While studying French and Italian, Leila quickly picked up Spanish. C. Having studied French and Italian, Leila quickly picked up Spanish. Answer C. The sentence starts with having studied French and Italian. The full adverb clause is because Leila had studied French and Italian. To reduce this adverb clause of reason to an adverb phrase, we omit because and then use having plus the past participle of the main verb. Having studied. Having studied is the same as because she had studied. B is grammatically correct, while studying for French and Italian, but it expresses a time relationship. It means that everything happened at the same time, and that was not the case. Notice how this reduction from clause to phrase is possible because the subjects in the two clauses are the same. When we reduce the adverb clause, we remove the subject, and we need to state it clearly in the main clause. 8. In the following statement, which phrase identifies work? In other words, which phrase was reduced from an adjective clause? Here's the statement. Any work submitted past the deadline will not be accepted. Is it A. Submitted past the deadline, B. Will not be accepted, or C. The deadline? Answer A. Submitted past the deadline. The main clause, the main idea is any work will not be accepted. But it's not clear which work. We need something to identify that noun, work. The full adjective clause is which is submitted past the deadline or that is submitted past the deadline. It's an identifying adjective clause. This is necessary information. The adjective clause explains which work will not be accepted. To reduce this identifying adjective clause to a phrase, we omit the relative pronoun, which or that, as well as the verb be, and we're left with a past participle. Again, which work? Any work submitted past the deadline. 9. Which statement is written correctly and naturally? A. The meeting had started no sooner the fire alarm went off. B. No sooner had the meeting started than the fire alarm went off. C. No sooner the meeting had started when the fire alarm went off. Answer B. No sooner had the meeting started than the fire alarm went off. When we start a sentence with a negative adverb, in this case, no sooner, we must invert or switch the order of the subject and the verb. We put the verb first. This pattern of negative inversion is more common in writing, and it's used for emphasis. 10. Which statement is written correctly and clearly? A. Many cities are challenged by the shortage of affordable housing, traffic congestion, and crime. B. Many cities are challenged by the shortage of affordable housing, traffic congestion, and fighting crime. C. Many cities are challenged to provide affordable housing, traffic congestion, and fighting crime. The answer is A. Many cities are challenged by the shortage of affordable housing, traffic congestion, and crime. When we have a coordinated pair or a list of items, all those items must be grammatically equal. We call this parallel structure. For example, we need all nouns, all infinitives, or all gerunds. When we have a mix of grammar, the statement lacks parallel structure, and it lacks clarity. Sentence A uses three nouns or noun phrases. Shortage, congestion, crime. Sentence B uses two nouns and a gerund phrase. Shortage, congestion, and fighting, crime. And sentence C has a very unclear mix of grammatical structures. That's why A is the best. 11. Which statement is correct? A. The police have been questioning suspects. B. The police has been questioning suspects. Answer? A. The police have been questioning suspects. We need a plural verb. Why? Police is an aggregate noun. It's plural, and we can't use it as a singular noun. We don't say a police. We also view it as a unit, the police. We don't break it down and count all the members. So remember, when you say the police, always choose a plural verb. The police are, the police were, the police have been. 12. You must disclose if you are making use of AI content generated. AI generating content. AI generated content. Answer C. AI generated content. This is a compound modifier. When used before a noun, we hyphenate it. Also, the past participle with that E-D ending shows that it's passive. The content is generated by AI. 13. How would you change the statement from active to passive? Choose the most accurate and natural sounding answer. Here's the statement. The dental hygienist polished my teeth to a shine. Look carefully. A. My teeth were shined to a polish by the dental hygienist. B. My teeth were polished to a shine by the dental hygienist. C. My teeth had polished to a shine. Answer B. My teeth were polished to a shine by the dental hygienist. The active sentence uses the simple past polished. So the passive sentence must use the simple past of be, were. We then use the past participle because the passive requires a form of be plus the past participle. In this case, were polished. Polished is the main verb. Shine is not the main verb. Polish is the main verb, so we're polished. The doer or the agent or the performer of the action can be named with a by-phrase. We use a by-phrase if it's important. In this case, it is. Who did this action? The dental hygienist, so we'll give credit with a by-phrase. By the dental hygienist. 14. Which statement sounds the most formal and objective? A. The house is quite possibly haunted. B. It has been rumored that the house is haunted. C. Rumor has it that the house is haunted. Answer B. It has been rumored that the house is haunted. The structure it, plus a form of be, plus the past participle, and then a that clause, a noun clause, is a formal structure used to make a statement or an observation. With this structure, the author creates some distance between the statement and himself or herself. It sounds more objective, although it may not be completely objective. The author is not claiming that they hold this belief, nor are they identifying who believes this or who claims this. It's a rather careful and safe way of reporting things. You may see these variations. It has been rumored that. It has been said that. It has long been believed that. It is alleged that. These are all passive structures for reporting things. 15. Which statement creates the greatest emphasis or focus on the premise being flawed? A. The premise was flawed, but no one ventured to say that. B. No one ventured to say that the premise was flawed. Or C. What no one ventured to say was that the premise was flawed. The answer is C. What no one ventured to say was that the premise was flawed. This sentence has a WH cleft. A WH cleft creates a strong focus on what follows the linking verb. The attention is on that the premise was flawed. B comes close because the important information is at the end, but the WH cleft creates more emphasis. Congratulations, you finished the test. Did you keep track of your score? Please remember that mistakes are part of learning. Where are you right now? What do you need to learn? What do you need to study in order to get where you want to be? Your final score is only a possible indicator of your current English level. Here are my suggestions. If you made nine mistakes or more, your level is probably B2 or lower. Watch my intermediate grammar lessons. Together we can study verb tenses, prepositions, adjective clauses, conditionals, reported speech, and more. If you made two or three mistakes, your level is probably B2 or C1, high intermediate or low advanced. Continue to watch my intermediate and advanced grammar lessons. If you made only one mistake or no mistakes, your level is probably C1 or C2. You're advanced. You can review topics as needed in my grammar playlists. Please also watch my lessons on vocabulary, pronunciation, and conversation to work on other skills. For more interaction and feedback, high intermediate and advanced students can join my English with Jennifer community on Patreon, where we practice all skills for confident, effective communication. The link is in the the video description. Thanks for watching and happy studies!