Practice and Application Flashcards
7 cards from real C2 practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Practice and Application flashcards as text
A researcher is writing a literature review and wants to attribute a finding to a source while subtly distancing herself from it. Which phrasing best achieves this?
Answer: Smith (2020) claims that caffeine improves cognition.
The verb 'claims' signals epistemic distance and invites the reader to evaluate the assertion critically, unlike 'proves' or neutral attribution.
Which of the following sentences contains a dangling participle?
Answer: Having read the report, the decision was made.
In 'Having read the report, the decision was made,' the participial phrase wrongly modifies 'decision' rather than the committee that did the reading.
In discourse analysis, what is the primary function of a 'hedge' in academic spoken English?
Answer: To qualify a claim and signal the speaker's epistemic uncertainty or caution.
Hedges such as 'it seems,' 'arguably,' and 'to some extent' calibrate the degree of certainty the speaker commits to.
Which sentence most effectively uses parallel structure in a formal speech?
Answer: We came, we saw, we conquered.
Julius Caesar's tricolon 'veni, vidi, vici' pattern ('we came, we saw, we conquered') demonstrates perfect grammatical parallelism.
A journalist wants to write a sentence that conveys inevitability using a modal. Which choice is most precise?
Answer: The treaty is bound to collapse.
'Is bound to' is a semi-modal expressing strong inevitability, stronger than 'will' (prediction) and clearer than the vague modality of 'should' here.
Which rhetorical device is used in: 'The silence spoke volumes; every unspoken word echoed through the room'?
Answer: Personification combined with hyperbole
Personification grants human speech to silence, while hyperbole exaggerates its impact; both devices work together in this sentence.
A C2 learner editing a business email replaces 'get in touch' with a more formal equivalent. Which is most appropriate?
Answer: contact the undersigned
'Contact the undersigned' is the highest-register formal alternative, suitable for official business correspondence requiring maximum formality.