CAE CAE Grammar 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sentence correctly uses an inversion for emphasis?
- Never I have seen such dedication.
- Never have I seen such dedication. (Correct answer)
- I never have seen such dedication.
- Such dedication never have I seen.
Correct answer: Never have I seen such dedication.
Fronting a negative adverb like 'never' requires subject-auxiliary inversion: 'Never have I seen...' mirrors the question word order.
Question 2: Choose the correct conditional form: 'If I _______ harder, I might have passed the exam.'
- study
- studied
- had studied (Correct answer)
- would study
Correct answer: had studied
This is a third conditional (past hypothetical): 'If I had studied harder, I might have passed' — past perfect in the if-clause, would/could/might + have + past participle in the main clause.
Question 3: Which sentence is grammatically correct?
- Despite of the rain, they continued playing.
- Despite the rain, they continued playing. (Correct answer)
- Despite that the rain, they continued playing.
- Despite to the rain, they continued playing.
Correct answer: Despite the rain, they continued playing.
'Despite' is a preposition followed directly by a noun phrase, not by 'of' or 'that'; 'despite the rain' is the correct structure.
Question 4: Identify the correct use of the passive voice: 'The report _______ by the committee last Monday.'
- was submitted (Correct answer)
- submitted
- has submitted
- submitting
Correct answer: was submitted
The past simple passive 'was submitted' is correct here: subject (the report) + was + past participle (submitted).
Question 5: Which sentence demonstrates a correct use of a participle clause?
- Having finished the essay, the laptop was closed.
- Having finished the essay, she closed the laptop. (Correct answer)
- The essay having finished, it closed the laptop.
- Finished the essay, the laptop closed.
Correct answer: Having finished the essay, she closed the laptop.
The subject of the participle clause must match the subject of the main clause; 'she' finished the essay and 'she' closed the laptop, making option B correct.
Question 6: Which option correctly uses a reported speech structure? Original: 'I will finish the project by Friday,' she said.
- She said she will finish the project by Friday.
- She said she would finish the project by Friday. (Correct answer)
- She said she finishes the project by Friday.
- She said she has finished the project by Friday.
Correct answer: She said she would finish the project by Friday.
In reported speech, 'will' shifts back to 'would'; the tense backshift follows the sequence-of-tenses rule in indirect speech.
CAE CAE Grammar 1
Which sentence correctly uses an inversion for emphasis?