Complete the missing word.
Many desert plants store water in their thick leaves. During long dry periods, they slowly u__ this stored water to stay alive.
Which word correctly completes “u__”?
use The subject is “they” and the sentence describes something that happens in general, so it needs the simple present verb: “they slowly use”. The other choices start with the same letters but don’t fit the grammar of the sentence.
Complete the missing word.
The city library will be clo___ on Monday because of the public holiday. Books can still be returned in the drop box outside the main door.
Which word correctly completes “clo___”?
closed After “will be”, you need a past participle that describes the library’s state: “will be closed”. “Closely” is an adverb, “closes” can’t follow “will be”, and “closure” is a noun.
Complete the missing word.
Scientists have found that some birds, such as crows, can recog___ individual human faces and remember them for years.
Which word correctly completes “recog___”?
recognize After “can”, English always uses the base form of the verb: “can recognize”. “Recognized” is past tense, and “recognition” and “recognizable” aren’t verbs at all.
Complete the missing word.
Roman roads were built in several layers of stone, sand and gravel. This made them both strong and dur___, and some are still used today.
Which word correctly completes “dur___”?
durable “Both strong and ___” joins two describing words, so the gap needs an adjective like “strong”: “durable”, meaning able to last a long time. The rest of the sentence, “some are still used today”, supports that meaning.
Read the notice.
Riverside Apartments: Water Shut-Off
Water will be turned off in Building B on Thursday, March 12, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. while pipes are repaired. Buildings A and C are not affected. Please store some water the night before.
Building Management
Who needs to prepare for the water shut-off?
Residents of Building B The notice says the water will be off “in Building B” and that “Buildings A and C are not affected”. So the advice to store water is for people in Building B.
Read the email.
Hi Marta,
Thanks again for offering to help at Saturday’s book sale. We have plenty of people for the morning, but we’re short of volunteers after lunch, when we pack up the unsold books. Could you come from 1 to 4 instead of 9 to 12? Let me know by Thursday.
Dev
What is the main purpose of the email?
To ask Marta to change her volunteer hours The key sentence is the question: “Could you come from 1 to 4 instead of 9 to 12?” Dev explains that the afternoon is short of helpers and asks Marta to switch her time.
Read the sign.
Campus Café: Summer Hours (June 1 to August 15)
Monday to Friday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: Closed
Regular hours return when classes begin on August 20.
A student wants to buy coffee at the café on Saturday, July 10. What will happen?
The café will be closed that day July 10 falls between June 1 and August 15, so summer hours apply. The sign says the café is closed on Saturday and Sunday during that time.
Read the post.
Lost: black umbrella with a wooden handle, left on the No. 14 bus around 6 p.m. yesterday. It was a gift from my grandmother, so it means a lot to me. If you found it, please send me a message. I’m happy to pay you for your trouble!
Why does the writer especially want the umbrella back?
It has personal value to the writer The writer says the umbrella “was a gift from my grandmother, so it means a lot to me”. That is personal, emotional value, not a matter of price or need.
Read the passage.
When a honeybee finds a good source of food, it returns to the hive and performs a movement known as the waggle dance. The bee runs in a straight line while shaking its body, then circles back and repeats the pattern. The angle of the straight run, compared with straight up, shows the direction of the food relative to the sun. The length of the waggle run shows how far away the food is. Other bees follow the dancer closely and then fly out to find the food themselves. In this way, a colony can quickly send many workers to the best flowers nearby.
What is the passage mainly about?
How honeybees use a dance to share where food is Every sentence explains the waggle dance: what it looks like, how its angle shows direction and its length shows distance, and how other bees use it. So the main idea is how bees communicate the location of food.
Read the passage.
Reef-building corals get much of their energy from tiny algae that live inside their tissues. The algae use sunlight to make food, and they share much of it with the coral. When ocean water stays unusually warm for weeks, this partnership breaks down and the coral expels the algae. Because the algae give many corals their color, the coral turns white, a process called bleaching. A bleached coral is not dead, but it is starving. If water temperatures return to normal soon enough, the algae can return and the coral may recover.
According to the passage, why does a bleached coral turn white?
It has lost the algae that give it its color The passage says the coral expels the algae, and “because the algae give many corals their color, the coral turns white”. The white color comes from losing the algae.
Read the passage.
Cities are often several degrees warmer than the countryside around them, an effect known as the urban heat island. Dark roofs and roads absorb sunlight during the day and release the heat slowly at night. Tall buildings can also block winds that would otherwise carry warm air away. In addition, cities usually have fewer trees and plants, which cool the air by releasing water through their leaves. Some cities now paint roofs white or plant trees along streets to reduce the effect.
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
Adding trees to a city could help lower its temperature The passage says trees and plants cool the air and that cities have fewer of them. It also says some cities plant trees to reduce the effect. So you can infer that more trees could help cool a city.
Read the passage.
For centuries, sailors had no reliable way to measure longitude, their east-west position at sea. Latitude could be found from the height of the sun or stars, but longitude depended on knowing the exact time at the home port. Pendulum clocks, the most accurate clocks of the day, could not keep good time on a rolling ship. In the 1700s, the English clockmaker John Harrison spent decades building sea clocks that stayed accurate through storms and changes in temperature. His work made long ocean voyages much safer.
Why does the author mention pendulum clocks?
To show why keeping accurate time at sea was a hard problem Pendulum clocks were the best clocks available, yet they couldn’t keep time on a moving ship. Mentioning them shows how difficult the problem was, which makes Harrison’s achievement clear.
Read the passage.
Many animals in cold places survive winter by hibernating. During hibernation, an animal’s heart rate and breathing slow down sharply, and its body temperature drops. This saves energy at a time when food is hard to find. However, not every animal that sleeps through winter behaves in the same way. Black bears, for instance, can sleep for months, but their body temperature stays much closer to normal than that of ground squirrels, so they can wake quickly if disturbed.
The word “they” in the last sentence refers to
black bears The sentence is about black bears: they sleep for months, their temperature stays close to normal, “so they can wake quickly”. Ground squirrels are only a comparison inside the sentence.
Build a sentence.
A classmate asks: “Did you finish the reading for tomorrow’s class?”
Put the words in the right order to answer: started / I / yet / haven’t / it
Which order is correct?
I haven’t started it yet. A normal English statement goes subject, then verb, then object: “I haven’t started it”. “Yet” usually goes at the end of a negative sentence in the present perfect.
Build a sentence.
A new student asks: “Excuse me, where is the science building?”
Put the words in the right order to answer: to / is / it / next / the main library
Which order is correct?
It is next to the main library. The answer is a statement, so the subject “it” comes first, then the verb “is”, then the place phrase “next to the main library”. “Next to” stays together as one phrase.
Build a sentence.
You are at the campus information desk and want to know the bookstore’s opening time.
Put the words in the right order to make a polite question: me / you / opens / can / the bookstore / when / tell
Which order is correct?
Can you tell me when the bookstore opens? Inside a polite question like “Can you tell me…?”, the second part keeps normal statement order: “when the bookstore opens”. You don’t add “does” or move the verb before the subject.
Write an Email.
You are writing to your professor, Dr. Lee, to ask for two extra days to finish an essay because you were sick.
Which is the most appropriate first sentence after “Dear Dr. Lee,”?
I am writing to ask whether I could have two extra days to finish my essay. An email to a professor needs a polite, clear and complete opening. “I am writing to ask whether I could…” states the purpose straight away in a respectful, indirect way, which suits the relationship.
Write for an Academic Discussion.
Your classmate Mia posted: “Online classes are better because students save time on travel.”
You want to agree with her point and then add a disadvantage. Which word best fills the blank?
“I agree with Mia that online classes save travel time. ____, they can make it harder for students to ask questions during the lesson.”
However The second sentence introduces a contrast: a disadvantage after an advantage. “However” is the linking word for contrast. The others signal a result, an example or a similar idea.
Read the sentence.
The results of the first study were inconclusive, so the research team decided to repeat the experiment with a larger group.
What does “inconclusive” mean in this sentence?
Not clear enough to support a decision “Inconclusive” means not leading to a firm conclusion. The rest of the sentence supports this: the team repeats the experiment with more people because the first results didn’t settle the question.
Read the sentence.
Since it opened in May, the museum’s new exhibit has attracted a steady stream of visitors.
What does “steady” mean in this sentence?
Continuing at a regular rate A “steady stream” of visitors means people keep coming at a fairly even rate over time. “Since it opened in May” supports the idea of something continuing.
United States · English test