ELTIS - English Language Test for International Students Grammar and Sentence Structure 1

Question 1

By the time the professor arrived, the students _____ waiting for over an hour.

Accepted Answer

had been

Answer

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.

Accepted Answer

is

Answer

'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.

Accepted Answer

me

Answer

'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.

Accepted Answer

memorize

Answer

'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.

Accepted Answer

had used

Answer

'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.

ELTIS - English Language Test for International Students Practice Test

ELTIS - English Language Test for International Students Practice Test

ELTIS - English Language Test for International Students Grammar and Sentence Structure 1