Choose the correct item.
(Same warning as here
)
1. Gavin will to the challenge of his new promotion.
2. I found the information for the project in the encyclopedia but I couldn't give and verse on it.
3. Mr Simkins is the big in the company as he has just been promoted to the position of Managing Director.
4. Speaking about his long battle with illness struck a with the audience.
5. Whether you attend the lecture or not is of little to me.
6. Having seen the film that won the Oscar, I was disappointed as it wasn't all that it's up to be.
7. I prefer to practice the violin alone in my bedroom as having other members of the family listen really my style.
From: Evans, V. (2002) CPE Use of English 1 for the Revised Cambridge Proficiency Exam: Student's Book. Express Publishing.
(Same warning as here
)1. Gavin will to the challenge of his new promotion.
2. I found the information for the project in the encyclopedia but I couldn't give and verse on it.
3. Mr Simkins is the big in the company as he has just been promoted to the position of Managing Director.
4. Speaking about his long battle with illness struck a with the audience.
5. Whether you attend the lecture or not is of little to me.
6. Having seen the film that won the Oscar, I was disappointed as it wasn't all that it's up to be.
7. I prefer to practice the violin alone in my bedroom as having other members of the family listen really my style.
From: Evans, V. (2002) CPE Use of English 1 for the Revised Cambridge Proficiency Exam: Student's Book. Express Publishing.
1 2
As a (British) native-speaker of English, I found both this exercise and the previous one relatively straightforward, but I'd imagine that learners of English will find both of the tests a considerable challenge.
However, I don't think they should be too discouraged if they score poorly in these tests; I reckon you'd need a near-native fluency in the language (or a lottery winner's luck
) to get all the questions right.
That said, I guess the tests do at least provide a useful gauge for advanced learners of English, to measure themselves against a native-speaker's fluency (although I guess too that we have to allow for some degree of Anglo-American cultural bias in the fixed phrases; I suspect that some of them are not universally used in other parts of the English-speaking world).
However, I don't think they should be too discouraged if they score poorly in these tests; I reckon you'd need a near-native fluency in the language (or a lottery winner's luck
) to get all the questions right.That said, I guess the tests do at least provide a useful gauge for advanced learners of English, to measure themselves against a native-speaker's fluency (although I guess too that we have to allow for some degree of Anglo-American cultural bias in the fixed phrases; I suspect that some of them are not universally used in other parts of the English-speaking world).
Hi Yizhivika,
I agree with you on all counts!
As for the difficulty (as I wrote in the other post) these exercise are meant for students who are sitting for the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) . This exam is made up of five papers (reading, writing, English in use, listening and speaking), so students are required a high level ("near-native", as you say) of fluency in all of the four skills + an excellent command of grammar. In fact, if we look at the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) , the level of the CPE is C2, which means that successful candidates ...
That said, as a learner I must recognise they are challenging!!! I didn't mean to discourage anybody... just to give a flavour of the abilities required to pass this exam, really useful for those who want to study abroad, although less focused on academic language and skills than the TOEFL and the IELTS.
I agree with you on all counts!
As for the difficulty (as I wrote in the other post) these exercise are meant for students who are sitting for the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) . This exam is made up of five papers (reading, writing, English in use, listening and speaking), so students are required a high level ("near-native", as you say) of fluency in all of the four skills + an excellent command of grammar. In fact, if we look at the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) , the level of the CPE is C2, which means that successful candidates ...
As for the cultural bias, since this exam is organised by the University of Cambridge, it focuses especially on British English. However, in the listening paper candidates are exposed to a reasonably large variety of accents; these include AmE and Australian English, as well as many regional accents from the UK.
... can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.
That said, as a learner I must recognise they are challenging!!! I didn't mean to discourage anybody... just to give a flavour of the abilities required to pass this exam, really useful for those who want to study abroad, although less focused on academic language and skills than the TOEFL and the IELTS.
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Hi Tanit,
I'm glad to find that we are both singing from the same hymn sheet (there you go, yet another English idiom to bemuse learners of the language
).
Anyway, thanks for providing some background to the CPE exam, which I found interesting reading.
I look forward to testing myself against Tanit's Fixed Phrases - 3 in due course.
I'm glad to find that we are both singing from the same hymn sheet (there you go, yet another English idiom to bemuse learners of the language
).Anyway, thanks for providing some background to the CPE exam, which I found interesting reading.
I look forward to testing myself against Tanit's Fixed Phrases - 3 in due course
. This was difficult you"re right.
I got 6 out of 7. Although English is technically my second language but I've been learning from the age of 4. That combined with the exposure to international media does the trick I guess
I wasn't familiar with the expression "big cheese". Learned something new today! Thanks!
I wasn't familiar with the expression "big cheese". Learned something new today! Thanks!
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i like it. please update more.
You scored 1 out of 7
Oh... It's been for sure a big challenge for me. I didn´t know my English was that bad.
Oh... It's been for sure a big challenge for me. I didn´t know my English was that bad.
I also scored 1 out of 7, and yet i think mine is not so bad! 
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