ELTIS - English Language Test for International Students Grammar and Sentence Structure 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: By the time the professor arrived, the students _____ waiting for over an hour.
- had been (Correct answer)
- have been
- were
- are being
Correct answer: had been
The past perfect continuous 'had been waiting' is correct because it describes an action that was ongoing up to a specific point in the past ('by the time the professor arrived'). The past perfect continuous emphasizes duration before another past event.
Question 2: The news from the overseas campuses _____ usually delivered by email.
- are
- were
- is (Correct answer)
- have been
Correct answer: is
'News' is an uncountable noun that always takes a singular verb, even though it ends in 's'. Therefore, 'is' is the correct choice. This is a common irregular noun that students often treat as plural.
Question 3: The scholarship was awarded to both the top student and _____ for our research contributions.
- I
- myself
- mine
- me (Correct answer)
Correct answer: me
'Me' is correct because it is the object of the preposition 'to'. Object pronouns (me, him, her, us, them) must be used after prepositions. 'I' is a subject pronoun and cannot follow a preposition.
Question 4: The instructor asked the class to review the lesson, _____ the vocabulary list, and complete the exercises.
- to memorize
- memorizing
- memorize (Correct answer)
- memorized
Correct answer: memorize
'Memorize' is correct because parallel structure requires all items in a series to share the same grammatical form. Since 'review' and 'complete' are bare infinitives following a single 'to,' the middle verb must also be a bare infinitive.
Question 5: If the students _____ the study guide, they would have scored higher on the placement test.
- used
- had used (Correct answer)
- would use
- have used
Correct answer: had used
'Had used' is correct for the third conditional, which describes an unreal situation in the past. The structure is: If + past perfect, would have + past participle. This tense combination signals a hypothetical past condition and its imagined result.
Question 6: She proved to be _____ exceptionally hard-working student throughout the entire academic year.
- a
- an (Correct answer)
- the
- no article needed
Correct answer: an
'An' is correct because the word that follows — 'exceptionally' — begins with a vowel sound (the short 'e'). The choice between 'a' and 'an' depends on the sound of the following word, not just the letter. Since 'exceptionally' starts with a vowel sound, 'an' is required.
ELTIS - English Language Test for International Students Grammar and Sentence Structure 1
By the time the professor arrived, the students _____ waiting for over an hour.