CAE Grammar Flashcards

Which sentence correctly uses an inversion for emphasis?

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.

Choose the correct conditional form: 'If I _______ harder, I might have passed the exam.'

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.

Which sentence is grammatically 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.

Identify the correct use of the passive voice: 'The report _______ by the committee last Monday.'

Answer: was submitted

The past simple passive 'was submitted' is correct here: subject (the report) + was + past participle (submitted).

Which sentence demonstrates a correct use of a participle clause?

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.

Which option correctly uses a reported speech structure? Original: 'I will finish the project by Friday,' she said.

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.