English Language & Comprehension Flashcards

Choose the correctly reported speech for: He said, 'I am going to school.'

Answer: He said that he was going to school.

In indirect speech, 'am going' changes to 'was going' and 'I' changes to 'he'.

Select the correct meaning of 'Cacophony':

Answer: Loud harsh sound

Cacophony refers to a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.

Fill in the blank with the correct form: 'If I _____ a bird, I would fly away.'

Answer: were

In hypothetical or subjunctive clauses with 'if', use 'were' for all persons regardless of number.

Choose the correct word order: 'He / slowly / the book / read'

Answer: He read the book slowly.

Standard English word order is Subject + Verb + Object + Adverb: 'He read the book slowly.'

Identify the error in: 'The committee have reached their decision unanimously.'

Answer: No error

When a collective noun like 'committee' acts as a unified body, either singular or plural verb can be used; in British English, plural is acceptable, so there is no error.

Which phrase best replaces the underlined part: 'He is too weak to lift the box.'

Answer: so weak that he cannot

'Too...to' can be rewritten as 'so...that...cannot/couldn't': 'He is so weak that he cannot lift the box.'