Basic Flashcards

Which sentence uses the present simple correctly to describe a habitual action?

Answer: They don't go to the market on Sundays.

Option C is correct. 'They don't go to the market on Sundays' correctly uses the present simple for a habitual action. Options B and D use stative verbs ('know', 'need') in the continuous form, which is grammatically wrong. Option A, while sometimes acceptable in informal speech with 'always', is less standard and uses the continuous form unnecessarily.

Choose the sentence where the article usage is correct.

Answer: We went to the cinema and then had a meal.

Option D is correct. 'The cinema' uses a definite article for a specific, shared place, and 'a meal' correctly uses the indefinite article for a non-specific instance. Option A should be 'the piano' (instruments use 'the'). Option B should be 'the class' (not 'a'). Option C should be 'a one-hour' — 'one' starts with a /w/ sound, so 'a' not 'an' is correct — but wait, 'an one-hour' is already marked wrong because 'one' sounds like /wʌn/, requiring 'a'.

A student writes: 'Yesterday, I have seen a good film.' What is the error?

Answer: The present perfect ('have seen') cannot be used with a finished past time reference like 'yesterday'.

The error is the use of present perfect ('have seen') with 'yesterday,' a specific finished time marker. The present perfect connects past actions to the present and cannot be used with definite past time expressions. The correct form is simple past: 'Yesterday, I saw a good film.'

Which question form is grammatically correct?

Answer: What time do the shops close on Sundays?

Option D is correct. It properly uses 'do' as an auxiliary verb with 'the shops' (plural subject) and the base verb 'close.' Option A incorrectly uses 'went' instead of 'go' after 'did.' Option B uses 'does' with a plural noun 'shoes' (should be 'do'). Option C incorrectly adds '-s' to 'like' after 'does' (should be base form 'like').

Which sentence correctly uses a preposition of time?

Answer: They usually go on holiday in August.

Option C is correct. 'In August' correctly uses 'in' for months. Option A should be 'on 15th March' (use 'on' for specific dates). Option B should be 'in the morning' (use 'in' for parts of the day, not 'on'). Option D should be 'at the office on Monday' — 'at' is for locations, and 'on' is for days of the week.

Read this short exchange: A: 'Is there any milk left?' B: 'No, there isn't ___.' Which word correctly completes B's reply?

Answer: none

'None' is the correct answer. When responding to a question about quantity with a short negative answer without repeating the noun, 'none' is used (e.g., 'No, there isn't any' or 'No, there's none'). However, since the sentence already contains 'isn't' (a negative), adding 'no' would create a double negative ('there isn't no milk'), which is non-standard. 'None' can stand alone: 'No, there's none' or replace the noun in 'there isn't any [milk]' — but here 'none' works because it functions as a pronoun replacing 'any milk'.