English Tenses and Articles Quiz

Grammar - Continuous Aspect

• Use the continuous aspect to describe actions or situations in progress at a specific time
• Used for unfinished actions or temporary situations
• Present continuous describes ongoing current actions or future arrangements
• Past continuous describes ongoing past actions, often unfinished
• Present perfect continuous describes ongoing past actions continuing to the present or just finished, with present result
• Past perfect continuous describes ongoing past actions up to another point in the past
• Future continuous describes actions in progress at a specific future time

Grammar - Perfect Aspect

• Use the perfect aspect to look back from one time to another
• Present perfect: looks back from now to a time before now, often focuses on completed actions or situations
• Present perfect continuous: focuses on the duration of an action
• Past perfect: looks back from a past time to another earlier time in the past
• Past perfect continuous: focuses focusing on the duration of an action in the past
• Future perfect: looks back from a future time to an earlier time
• Future perfect continuous: focuses on the duration of an action in the future

Key Language - Stating Requirements

• Essential: Absolutely essential, must have, have to, pre-requisite
• Desirable: Helpful, good thing, advantage, give them an edge

Key Language - Reporting What Others Say

• Verbs like: argue, claim, comment, conclude, deny, point out, suggest

Vocabulary - Issues in Education

• assessment, critical thinking, curriculum, dumbing down, elitism, informed decisions, interpersonal skills, knowledge base, plagiarism, rote learning, streaming, traditional teaching

Vocabulary - Reporting Verbs (Suffixes)

• affectionate, allergic, ambitious, analytical, educational, empathetic, famous, fictional, infectious, influential, logical, passionate, persuasive, powerful, speculative, successful, toxic

Vocabulary - Abbreviations

• BA, BULATS, CV, IELTS, MBA, MSc, PhD, TOEFL

Grammar - Articles

• Indefinite article (a/an): introducing something for the first time, common with singular countable nouns
• Definite article (the): referring to something mentioned before, common knowledge, unique items, superlative phrases, countries, geographic features etc.
• Zero article (no article): used with plural/uncountable nouns, general concepts, abstract ideas, people's names, continents, countries, cities, mountains and lakes

Grammar - Modal Verbs

• Ability/Possibility: can, be able to
• Permission/Requests/Refusal: can, could, may, won't
• Likelihood/Deduction: can, could, may, might, must, can't
• Advice/Obligation/Prohibition: should, ought to, must, have to, don't have to, don't need to, can't, mustn't

Key Language - Stating your Position

• Phrases like "I'd like to make my position very clear"
• X is an absolute priority or is not negotiable.
• It's vital to have X if you want to...
• It simply isn't possible to...

Key Language - Clarifying

• Phrases like "If I understand you correctly"
• It seems...
• What exactly do you mean?
• I understand where you're coming from...
• OK, you've been very clear about....

Vocabulary - Travel Collocations

• ancient monument, baking temperatures, boutique hotel, budget airline, carbon footprint, last-minute deal, local delicacy, organised excursion

Vocabulary - Multi-Word Verbs

• avoid getting ripped off, get away from it all, get back to nature, go off the beaten track, let your hair down, live it up, lounge around by the pool, soak up the atmosphere, steer clear of the tourist traps, take in the sights

Vocabulary - Natural World

• archipelago, biodiversity, ecosystem, endemic, feral, lava, reserve, tectonic plate

Vocabulary - Independent Prepositions

• ability to, fascination with, great at, love of, obsession with, passion for, proud of, reluctance to

Vocabulary - Adjectives of Character

• aloof, charismatic, cultured, devious, dogmatic, emotional, hospitable, meticulous, pragmatic, self-effacing

Vocabulary - Describing Technology

• a museum piece, behind the times, cutting-edge, had its day, innovative, new-fangled, obsolete, outdated, redundant, retro, revolutionary, state-of-the-art, superseded, the last word in

Vocabulary - Collocations

• academic assessment, code sequence, complex data, diagnostic test, false results, health system, quality control, research subject, test tube

Grammar - Subordinate Clauses

• Sentences with one or more clauses
• Main clause and subordinate clause joined by subordinating conjunctions (e.g., when, because, although, if)
• Subordinate clauses express explanation, reason, condition, purpose, time, relative, reported speech

Grammar - Modal Perfect

• Use must/can't/couldn't have + past participle to express certainty about something in the past
• May/might/could have + past participle expresses possibility in the past
• Should/ought to have + past participle express past necessity or criticism, or regret
• Needn't have + past participle expresses something done unnecessarily

Key Language - Stating Objectives

• Phrases like "Our main objective is to..."
• "One of our main goals will be to..."
• "Your priority is to..."

Key Language - Giving Strong Advice

• Advisable, ought to, essential, vital, strongly advise, urge

Key Language - Critiquing

• Phrases like "What about...?"
• It's a major disadvantage...
• Since when have... ?

Key Language - Accepting Criticism

• Phrases like "That's a fair point."
• I have to agree with you there...

Key Language - Offering Counter-Arguments

• Phrases like "But really..."
• "That's a fact of life..."