5 February 2025 · Shift 3

Spelling The correct spelling is 'Across' - with a single 'c', not 'Accross'. The word is built from the prefix a- + cross, and nothing in that formation doubles the c. Grateful (feeling thankful), Navigate (to steer or find the way) and Persuade (to convince someone) are all spelt correctly. Hence the correct option is (b).

Antonym Snug means warm, cosy and closely fitting - a snug room, a snug jacket. Its opposite must therefore deny that comfort: Uncomfortable, causing discomfort or unease. Aromatic = having a pleasant smell; Persistent = continuing firmly without giving up; Ample = more than enough. None of those three touches the idea of comfort at all, so none can be the antonym of 'snug'. Hence the correct option is (b).

Contextual vocabulary The blank describes research that 'is expected to revolutionize the industry', so the adjective must be one of praise, not of blame. Meticulous = showing extreme care over every detail; such painstaking work is exactly what produces a breakthrough. Hasty = done too quickly; cursory = done rapidly with little attention; superficial = touching only the surface. All three describe careless work and would flatly contradict the result the sentence promises. Hence the correct option is (a).

Adverb placement An adverb of manner tells HOW an action is done, and English places it after the main verb, or after the verb together with its object - never between the subject and the verb. Segment (d) reads 'reluctantly rustled the branches', which puts the adverb of manner in front of the verb; it should be 'rustled the branches reluctantly'. Segments (a) and (b) are only a name and the appositive that renames it, and (c) 'told us that the wind' is a correct reporting structure, so the error cannot lie in them. Hence the correct option is (d).

Synonym in context Eerie means strange in a way that makes one uneasy or frightened - exactly the quality of a silence that settles over a room after an announcement. Mysterious (strange and difficult to explain) carries that same sense of the unknown, so it is the synonym. Soothing (giving comfort) and Comfortable (giving ease) are opposite in feeling. Tense is the tempting choice, but it names the nervous state of the people, not the uncanny quality of the silence itself. Hence the correct option is (a).

Antonym Establish means to set something up so that it lasts - to establish a school, a company, a rule. The opposite is to pull down what has been set up: Demolish, to destroy or tear down completely. Enlarge = to make bigger; Charge = to demand a price or to accuse formally; Alert = to warn or make aware. Each of those three acts on a thing that already exists instead of undoing its existence, so none is the antonym. Hence the correct option is (d).

Prepositional verb 'Refrain' is a fixed prepositional verb: one always refrains FROM something, that is, holds oneself back from it. So the sentence reads 'You must refrain from unpleasant conversations.' 'To' is the tempting distractor because so many verbs take a to-infinitive, but 'refrain' is followed by from + noun or from + V-ing. 'By' and 'with' express means and accompaniment and never follow 'refrain'. Hence the correct option is (b).

Idiom completion The fixed idiom is 'to be / sail in the same boat', meaning to be in the very same difficult situation as someone else. An idiom is fixed word for word, so no synonym may be substituted for 'same'. The sense agrees too: the sentence contrasts different backgrounds with one shared situation. 'Different' is the trap - it repeats what the first clause has already said and kills the contrast; 'biggest' and 'old' belong to no idiom here. Hence the correct option is (d).

Present perfect continuous 'Since' marks the point of time at which an action began and shows that it is still going on, and that duration is expressed by the present perfect continuous: has/have been + V-ing. The subject 'The boy' is singular, so the auxiliary is 'has': The boy has been playing football since he has come from school. 'Plays' is the simple present and states a habit, while 'was playing' is the past continuous and shuts the action off in the past - neither can carry an activity that began earlier and continues now. Since the highlighted 'play' is therefore wrong, 'No correction' is not available. Hence the correct option is (a).

Spelling in a sentence 'Incredulus' is the misspelt word; the correct form is 'incredulous', meaning unwilling or unable to believe something. Adjectives of this family end in -ous, like famous, dangerous and marvellous - never in -us. Vicissitudes (the changes of fortune that life brings), unyielding (not giving way under pressure) and indomitable (impossible to subdue) are all spelt correctly here. Hence the correct option is (b).

Word meaning Ambiguous describes anything that can be taken in more than one way - an ambiguous reply, an ambiguous clause in a contract. Its meaning is therefore 'Uncertain or open to interpretation'. 'Clear and straightforward' is its exact opposite, which English calls unambiguous. 'Harsh and severe' means stern or unsparing, and 'Funny and humorous' means amusing; neither has anything to do with double meaning. Hence the correct option is (a).

Collocation A collocation is the partner word English habitually uses, and the noun 'failure' habitually pairs with 'fear' - the fear of failure. The sense demands it too: courage is shown only when something unpleasant threatens, and what threatens here is failure. 'Hope of failure' and 'love of failure' contradict that sense outright. 'Hate' is the near miss - English does not say 'the hate of failure'; the noun used with 'of' is 'hatred', so it fails as a collocation. Hence the correct option is (d).

Synonym Uncharted means not recorded on any chart or map, and therefore not yet explored or known. Undiscovered (not yet found or known) carries the same idea and suits an explorer who goes 'in search of adventure'. Familiar = well known and easily recognised; Explored = already examined or travelled through; Mapped = already recorded on a map. All three say the territory is already known, so each is an antonym of the underlined word rather than a synonym. Hence the correct option is (b).

Relative pronoun case The whole clause after 'to' is the object of that preposition, but inside the clause the pronoun must still serve as the SUBJECT of 'asks'. A subject needs the nominative form, and for a person that form is 'whoever': Give the cake to whoever asks for it first. 'Whomever' is the objective form and cannot be the subject of a verb; 'whom so ever' is the same objective form written non-standardly. 'Whichever' points to a thing chosen out of a set, whereas the one who asks for the cake is a person. Hence the correct option is (a).

Error spotting: verb form The sentence narrates one completed night's events, so every verb in it must stand in the simple past - strayed, entered, killed. Part (b) reads 'A tiger be strayed into a village'. 'Be' is a bare infinitive and cannot stand before a finite past verb; there is no passive here either, since the tiger acts. Removing it gives the correct part: 'A tiger strayed into a village'. Parts (a) and (c) simply continue that past sequence without fault, so 'No error' cannot be chosen. Hence the correct option is (b).

Cloze: adjective choice The blank is the complement of 'is' and must say what effective time management amounts to for success. The passage goes on to praise time management throughout, so the word has to be strongly positive: crucial, meaning extremely important. 'Trivial' (of little importance) and 'optional' (not compulsory) say the very opposite of the passage's argument. 'Desperate' describes a person driven by despair and cannot describe a skill at all. Hence the correct option is (b).

Cloze: precise noun The blank is the object of 'enhance' and is balanced against 'reduce stress', so it must name a gain that an individual makes by prioritising tasks. Productivity is the amount of useful work a person gets done in a given time - prioritising tasks enhances productivity. 'Production' is the near miss: it means the quantity of goods manufactured, which belongs to a factory, not to a person ordering their day. 'Capacity' is the maximum a thing can hold or do, and 'fertility' is the power to bear offspring or crops; neither fits the sentence. Hence the correct option is (b).

Cloze: preposition A balance is always struck between the two things being weighed against each other; here they are named at once - 'work' and 'personal life'. 'Between' is the preposition English uses for exactly two items, giving 'a balance between work and personal life'. 'Around' (on all sides of) and 'beyond' (further than) are prepositions of place and state no relation between two items. 'Balance with' would set one thing against a single other thing, which does not suit the pair joined by 'and' here. Hence the correct option is (b).

Cloze: adverb The blank modifies the verb phrase 'manage their time', so the part of speech required is an adverb. 'Efficient' is an adjective and is ruled out on that ground alone, however close its meaning may look. 'Effectively' means in a way that produces the desired result - those who manage their time effectively are the ones who reach their goals. 'Excitedly' (with excitement) and 'strongly' (with force) describe feelings and physical power, neither of which can describe how time is managed. Hence the correct option is (c).

Cloze: relative pronoun The blank has to join the noun 'a skill' to the clause 'positively impacts…' and to act as the subject of that clause, so a relative pronoun is needed. 'Which' is the relative pronoun used for a thing, and a skill is a thing: It is a skill which positively impacts both professional and personal aspects of life. 'What' is a relative that carries its own antecedent inside it and so cannot follow the stated noun 'a skill'. 'Those' is a plural demonstrative, not a relative at all, and 'whereby' means 'by means of which', which the clause does not express. Hence the correct option is (d).