UNIT 1

Grammar:
1 Are the underlined verbs state or action verbs? Put the verbs under the correct headings.

It 1 feels strange when someone 2 gets in touch with you after a long time. The worst is when
they do this by phone and you 3 don’t remember who they are. You 4 hear a strange voice

saying your name and you 5 want to ask, ‘Why 6 are you calling me?’ But you don’t because
you’re too polite. They 7 don’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable, and it is nice that

someone 8 is making the effort to contact you. But nowadays, I 9 think it’s much better if you
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share something on social media first, to break the ice.

State verbs Action verbs

(10 marks)

2 Put the words in the correct order to make questions.

1 do / living / a / they / do / what / for / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2 Leo / at / address / live / does / what / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3 who / friend / to / Vanda’s / talking / is / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 something / Tom / for / is / looking / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 with / share / did / a / who / you / flat / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Personal Best B1+  Richmond 2018
 UNIT 1

6 to / am / do / going / I / what / ?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 city / in / live / part / the / of / do / they / what / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 me / for / you / here / will / wait / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 which / support / he / team / does / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 that / hair / woman / blonde / is / with / who / ?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(10 marks)

(Total marks: 20)

Writing:
Are you addicted to your mobile phone, smartphone or tablet? Why/Why not? Write a paragraph
describing your technology habits. Write about 130 words.

 Say how much you use your phone or tablet.

 Describe how you use it to keep in touch with people.
 Explain what else you use your phone or tablet for.
 Use actually and in fact when you give surprising or unexpected information.

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Personal Best B1+  Richmond 2018
 UNIT 1

Reading:

Letters you’ll love reading

1 Shaun Usher really loves letters. In 2009, he started the blog Letters of Note, a kind of online museum
of letters from the past. Usher aims to write a new post every weekday. Each of the posts includes the
text of a letter and, when possible, a picture of it, too. It might sound like an unusual topic, but the blog
is very popular. In fact, more than 1.5 million people visit the website every week and Usher has
thousands of followers on Twitter.

2 Usher has also published a book containing 125 of the most interesting letters from his collection.
Some of the letters are incredibly old (the oldest one is actually from the 14th century BC) and many
tell us about important moments in history. In others, the writers talk about their feelings and
experiences – there are beautiful love letters and letters from fans to famous musicians and film stars.
There are some very funny letters, too. I really enjoyed reading a letter from the Campbell’s Soup
Company to the artist Andy Warhol. The company actually sent the artist several tins of soup along
with the note!

3 The book includes lots of great photos, showing both the people the letters are about and some of the
letters themselves. I think this is one of the best parts of the book, as it means you can see the
handwriting of many of the writers. For example, you can see Leonardo da Vinci’s handwriting in a job
application letter from the 1400s. The first letter in the book is a note from Queen Elizabeth II to Dwight
D. Eisenhower, the 34th US President.

4 Usher’s book has become just as popular as his blog and

now Usher also organizes events called Letters Live. Recent
Letters Live events have taken place in cities like Edinburgh,
London and Los Angeles, as well as at book and music
festivals around the UK. They include performances from
different musicians and the audience can hear famous actors
such as Benedict Cumberbatch, Gillian Anderson and
Thandie Newton read letters from Usher’s collection out loud.

5 So what does Usher think about the methods of communication we use today? Does he hate emails
and text messages? No, he doesn’t. Actually, he uses these new kinds of communication a lot, but he
also tries to write letters whenever he can. He argues that, when we read an email, we’re often thinking
about something else at the same time. But when we read a letter, we really concentrate. He also
believes that letters are more honest than emails. Usher knows that he can’t stop people from using
technology, but he hopes that his projects will encourage people to write more letters. After reading
Usher’s excellent book, I hope so too.

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Personal Best B1+  Richmond 2018
 UNIT 1

1 Read the text quickly. Match the topics a–e with paragraphs 1–5.

a the letters in Shaun Usher’s book _______

b events organized by Shaun Usher _______

c Shaun Usher’s view of modern communication _______

d Shaun Usher’s blog _______

e the pictures in Shaun Usher’s book _______

(5 marks)

2 Read the text. Are the sentences true (T), false (F) or is there not enough information in the text to
decide (N)?

Shaun Usher shares a post on his blog every day. _______

Eight thousand people follow Usher on Twitter. _______

Usher’s book includes more than 100 letters. _______

There is a letter from Andy Warhol in the book. _______

The writer of the text thinks the photos of the letters are interesting. _______

Usher’s book has been a lot more popular than his blog. _______

Usher has organized Letters Live events in several different cities. _______

At Letters Live, people read out letters written by famous actors. _______

Usher never sends emails or text messages. _______

Usher thinks it’s harder to write a letter than an email. _______

(10 marks)

3 Choose the correct options to complete the sentences. Look at the text again to help you.

We use actually and in fact to emphasize that something is true or surprising / a personal opinion.
We can use actually / in fact at the start of a phrase, before a main verb or after be.
We usually use actually / in fact at the start of a phrase.

(3 marks)

(Total marks: 18)

Reading:

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Personal Best B1+  Richmond 2018
 UNIT 1

Vocabulary:

1 Choose the correct options to complete the sentences.

1 It’s good to speak / get to someone face to face. It’s more friendly that way!
2 Did you get / reply the text message from Francesca?
3 At work, it’s important to check / comment on your emails regularly.
4 It can be difficult to access / share the internet in the countryside.
5 Lots of people like to go / share photos on social media. They think everyone is interested!
6 We should try and keep / speak in touch with people we don’t see very often.
7 Why don’t you go / give Miguel a call? He would love to hear from you.
8 It’s good when friends comment / share on your blog posts, but sometimes people write rude things!
9 I always reply / go to text messages from my mum. She worries if she doesn’t hear from me.
10 You can find the train times if you access / go online and look at the website.

(10 marks)

2 Complete the conversations with the correct forms of say, tell, speak or talk.

A: Davide’s very angry. What did you 1 ________________________ to him?

B: I 2 ________________________ him that he couldn’t go out this evening.

A: Mrs Brown 3 ________________________ us to be quiet in class, but Jade didn’t listen.

B: I’m not surprised. She’s always 4 ________________________ in class.

A: I 5 ________________________ to the football coach about how good you are.

B: Thanks. So, did he 6 ________________________ I can play next Saturday?

A: I need to 7 ________________________ to my boss today.

B: Are you going to 8 ________________________ him that you’re leaving your job?

A: My dad always 9 ________________________ the most terrible jokes.

B: So does mine – but he does always 10 ________________________ sorry afterwards.

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Personal Best B1+  Richmond 2018