SECTION II.

THE ASSESSMENT OF LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the word or with the correct form of the verb in
brackets.

Travel blog
Moira in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
The driving
I think people drive quite 1. (dangerous/dangerously) __________________________, which
surprised me because I thought they were 2. (careful/ carefully/ carefuly) _________________
drivers here. They don’t drive 3. (fast/ fastly/ faster) ________________________, but people
4. (are always/ always are) _____________________ on the phone in the car, which you 5.
(don’t often see / don’t see often) _______________________ in 6. (the/-) ____________ UK
nowadays.
The food
The food can be delicious, but I think people eat very 7. (unhealthy/ unhealthily/ unhealthily)
______________________________. In restaurants they 8. (are often adding / often add / are
often added) ____________________________salt to their food. And they 9. (are drinking / is
drinking / drink) _______________________ litres of Coke! The headquarters of the Coca Cola
company is based here, and they even have a Coca-Cola museum. Once I went to a coffee shop
and asked 10. (- / about / for) a double espresso, no milk, no sugar. I had 11. (repeating / to
repeat) _________________________ my order three times because the waitress couldn’t 12.
(understood / understand / understanding) ________________________ me. She said people
here only ask 13. (- / about/ for) __________________ lattes and cappuccinos with lots of
sugar.
The people
In general, people are very friendly. The people 14. (I’m stay/ I’m staying / I’m staing)
_______________________________ with, 15. (who / which) ______________________live
just outside the city, know all their neighbours really 16. (well / good / better)
____________________. They don’t lock 17. (theirs / them / their) __________________doors,
which surprised me because people say it’s a dangerous city. They speak 18. (incredibly slow/
incredibly slowly / incredible slow) __________________________, with a strong accent and
sometimes I have a problem understanding them.
Mark in Malmo, Sweden
The weather
It’s December – and it gets dark at about 3 p.m., which is 1. (depress/ depressed/depressing)
________________________! There is a lot of snow at the moment, but all the buses and trains
are running 2. (perfect / perfectly/ more perfectly) ________________________, not like in
Britain 3. (where/ when/ which) ______________________ everything stops when it snows!
The houses
All the houses 4. (paint / painted / are painted) _______________________ in pretty colours,
like red, green and blue, and many houses have a yellow and blue flag. Inside the houses 5. (are
decorating/ are decorated/ decorated) _____________________________ beautifully with lots
of flowers and modern wooden furniture.
The people
People are friendly and 6. (polite / politely), but quite formal. They dress 7. (fashionably /
fashionable / at fashion) _________________________, and of course you see a lot of very
blonde women here. You also see a lot of men who are looking 8. (after / for / at)
_______________________ very young babies. Everybody speaks English really 9. (good /
best / well) __________________, maybe because a lot of the TV is in English with subtitles.
Amy Johnson is an American who lives and works in England. We asked her to tell us about
her first impressions of the UK.
One of my first 1. (impression/ impressions) __________________________ was that the UK is
2. (more expensive / most expensive/ expensiver) _____________________ than the US. I live in
Oxford and the cost of living (rent, bills, food, etc.) is 3. (more high / more higher / higher)
____________________________ than in Ohio, where I’m from the US. The only thing that is
4. (a lot cheaper / more cheaper) _____________________ here is the healthcare – it’s free to
go to the doctor’s or to hospital, whereas in the US it isn’t, so you need 5. (to have / having /
have) ____________________ health insurance, which can be very expensive.
I think you can 6. (eat very well/ eating very well/ eat very good) _____________________ in
England – there is a wide variety of food from all around the world – Chinese, Japanese, Italian,
Turkish, etc. – but eating out is 7. (more expensive then/ more expensive than / the most
expensive) ________________________ in the US, and the service is 8. (badly / worse / worst)
_______________________. Generally, I’d say British food is healthier than American food, and
the portions are a lot smaller, too.
As for the people, I find British people quite pessimistic 9. (comparing with / compared to /
compared with) _______________________ Americans who are usually very positive and
optimistic about the future. Also, when I’m in Ohio I talk to everybody: shop assistants, the
person behind me in the supermarket queue, the person sitting next to me in the restaurant,
but I can’t do that in the UK – people are much more reserved. But, on the other hand, I think it
is 10. (easy / easier / easiest) ________________ to make real friends here than in the US. I also
find British people are not very good at 11. (tell/ to tell / telling) ____________________ you
what they really think. Americans just say things as they are!
Should adverts for junk food be allowed on TV?
People see adverts for junk food such as burgers and chocolate bars on their TV screens every
day. Although there are problems with people eating too much junk food, banning adverts for it
is not necessarily the answer.
It is true that 1. (eat / eating / have eaten) _________________ junk food 2. (can / must /
should) ________________________ have a bad effect on people’s health. 3. (Eat / Eating/ To
eat) __________________ food that contains a lot of fat or sugar can make people overweight
and cause health problems such as heart attacks. Moreover, advertising can have a very strong
effect on children, especially if adverts use popular cartoon characters. This can encourage
them to develop unhealthy eating habits.
On 4. (the other/ another/ other) ___________________ hand, eating junk food from time to
time is not bad for your health, and can be nice on special occasions. Imagine a day at the
seaside without an ice-cream or a birthday celebration without a box of chocolates! Without
advertising, people 5. (don’t have / wouldn’t have / didn’t have) ________________ good
choices for these products.
In my view, the most important thing is to educate children about the importance of a healthy
diet. In this way, they can enjoy junk food occasionally, but also stay fit and healthy.
Individuals can do a lot to help the environment. Do you agree?
The environment is a very important problem in the world today. While governments clearly
need 1. (to take / take / taking) ___________________ action to protect the world we live in,
individuals can also 2. (make/ do) ________________ a big contribution to improving the
environment.
Firstly, people can buy products that can 3. (recycle / be recycled / recycling) _______________.
When we throw things away, they 4. (often end up / end up often / end often up) ___________
in the environment and cause a lot of pollution. If everyone recycled as much as possible, there
5. (will be / would be / would have been) _______________a lot 6. (fewer / less / more)
_________________ rubbish in our seas and under the ground.
Secondly, people can think about how they travel to school or work. Cars have a very bad effect
7. (to / on / at) _______________ the environment, so individuals can help by 8. (walk or cycle,
or use / to walk or to cycle, or to use / walking or cycling, or using) ________________ public
transport.
However, individuals 9. (can not / cannot) _______________solve all our environmental
problems. There are some things that only governments can do, such as deciding which forms
of energy the country should invest in, or deciding 10. (whether/ weather/ wether) __________
to build new airports.
Both individuals and governments can play an important role in 11. (protect / protected /
protecting) the environment, and both 12. (can / should / may) ___________________ take this
problem seriously and do what they can to help. If this happens, I believe that in the future the
world 13. (will be / would be / would have been) ____________ a cleaner and safer place to live
in.
Choose the correct alternative to complete the article.
A trip to a different world
Are you looking 1. (at/ after/ for) __________________ somewhere different to go on holiday?
Why not try India? I went there last year and had an amazing three weeks!
2. (As soon as/ At first) __________________ we drove out of the airport, I felt as though I was
in a different world. There were so many people and so many interesting things to look 3. (for /
after/ at) ___________________. I couldn’t speak 4. (after / for) _________________ some
time because I was so busy 5. (looking/ to look / look) ____________________ around me. Half
an hour 6. (later / longer) _________________ we arrived at our hotel, left our bags there and
decided to go out and explore. 7. (Immediately/ At first) ___________________, everything felt
8. (strange / strangely) ____________________. Seeing cows on the streets of busy towns and
cities was certainly new to me! But 9. (before long/ at the same time) __________________ I
started to feel more at home in this 10. (fascinating/fascinated/ fascinate) ________________
and colourful country. We saw many beautiful sights 11. (as/ between) ___________________
we travelled around. One day we watched some people riding camels through a town centre,
while 12. (finally / at the same time) ____________________ normal life went on around them!
Everyone we met was really friendly. I felt ill one day when we were out sightseeing, and
people 13. (at first/ immediately) ___________________ came to offer me help. When it was
14. (lastly/ finally) ________________________ time for us to go home, I was 15. (surprised
/surprising / surprise) ____________________________ at how upset I felt. I can’t wait to go
back!