6 February 2025 · Shift 1

Idiom substitution The underlined words 'making wrong choices' must be replaced by an idiom carrying the same sense. 'To bark up the wrong tree' means to follow a mistaken line of thought or action - to pursue the wrong person, place or idea. The picture behind it: a dog stands baying at the foot of a tree while the animal it chased has escaped up another one. (b) blends it with 'beat about the bush' (avoid the main point), which is about evasion, not about being mistaken. (a) 'barking at the sky' and (c) 'barking her arms off' are not English idioms at all. Hence, option (d) is correct.

Antonym in context The instruction is to reverse the sense of the sentence, so the blank must take the OPPOSITE of the underlined word. Fastidious - excessively attentive to detail, fussy and hard to please. Lackadaisical - careless, listless, lacking enthusiasm or effort; this is the true opposite and still fits 'is making her erratic'. Impeccable - faultless: a near-synonym of fastidious in spirit, so it does not reverse the meaning. Sincere - genuine and honest; Serious - earnest and not playful. Both are unrelated to fussiness rather than opposed to it. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Adjective vs adverb 'Out of service' is the complement telling us the state of the elevator; the word that qualifies it must therefore be an ADVERB. 'Temporary' is an adjective; the adverb form is 'temporarily'. Correct sentence: The elevator in the mall is temporarily out of service. The other three segments are sound - 'The elevator' (subject), 'in the mall' (prepositional phrase modifying it), 'out of service' (the idiomatic complement). Hence, the segment containing the error is (d).

Antonyms Hostile - unfriendly, aggressive, showing enmity. Hospitable - warm and welcoming towards guests or strangers; this is the direct opposite. Antagonistic - actively opposed and hostile: a SYNONYM, the trap in this item. Frigid - icy cold, or coldly unemotional; Icy - freezing, or unfriendly in a cold way. Both stay on the unfriendly side. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Vocabulary in context The blank is praised as 'commendable' and it 'inspired everyone', so it must name a positive quality shown in adversity. Resilience - the power to recover quickly from difficulty and keep going. It fits 'in the face of adversity' perfectly. Cowardice (lack of courage), negligence (careless failure of duty) and indifference (total lack of concern) are all negative traits; none of them could be called commendable or inspiring. Hence, option (b) is correct.

One-word substitution 'Amazed' is an extreme (ungradable) adjective, so it is not modified by 'very'; the phrase is replaced by one strong word of the same meaning. Astonished - greatly surprised, amazed. It carries the force of 'very amazed' by itself. Accurate - exact and correct; Swamped - overwhelmed with work; Worried - anxious. None of them means 'surprised'. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Synonyms Blissful - filled with perfect happiness and calm delight. Joyful - full of joy and gladness; this matches blissful most closely. Frightful - causing fear or shock; Wishful - longing for something that is unlikely; Bountiful - plentiful, or generous in giving. The other three merely rhyme with 'blissful' in the -ful ending; none shares its meaning. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Contextual synonym 'Firm' here means resolute - holding fast to a purpose. The blank needs that sense. Determined - having one's mind firmly made up and refusing to give up; it also matches 'Despite facing numerous obstacles'. Confused - unable to think clearly; Cautious - careful to avoid risk; Exhausted - completely tired out. 'Despite' signals a contrast with the obstacles, so the blank must be a strength, not a weakness - which rules out all three. Hence, option (c) is correct.

Spelling 'Inacuracies' is misspelt; the correct spelling is 'inaccuracies'. Rule: the prefix in- keeps its n and the base word 'accurate' begins with ac-c-, so the double c must survive - in + accuracy = inaccuracy, plural inaccuracies. Critiqued (reviewed critically), Numerous (many) and Inconsistencies (contradictions) are all spelt correctly. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Prepositions A deadline - the latest point by which something must be finished - takes 'by'. 'By the end of the week' = not later than the end of the week, which is what 'must be completed' demands. 'At' is used for a point of time (at 5 o'clock), 'on' for a day or date (on Monday), 'in' for a period within which something happens (in a week). 'In the end of the week' is ungrammatical, and 'at the end of the week' would merely fix a moment, losing the sense of a deadline. Hence, option (d) is correct.

Adverb placement An adverb of manner normally stands AFTER the verb, and when the verb takes an object it goes after the object - never between verb and object. 'Beautifully entered the competition' puts the adverb before the verb and its object; it should read 'entered the competition beautifully'. The other segments are fine: 'Dravid and' + 'his team' form the compound subject and 'the competition' is the object. Hence, the segment with the adverbial error is (c).

Tense agreement The subordinate clause 'As the news ... reached Einstein' is in the simple past, so the main clause must also be in the past. 'Is becoming' is present continuous and clashes with 'reached'; the past form 'became aware of' restores the agreement. (a) 'will be aware of' shifts the whole sentence to the future; (d) 'become the awareness' is not English - 'aware' is the adjective needed here. (c) cannot be right because the sentence as printed is ungrammatical. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Spelling 'Acommodation' is misspelt; the correct spelling is 'accommodation'. Memory aid: accommodation is roomy enough for two c's AND two m's - ac-com-mo-da-tion. Spacious (having plenty of room), entire (whole) and enough (sufficient) are all spelt correctly. Hence, option (a) is correct.

Vocabulary in context The blank follows 'deeply' and is caused by 'a gesture of kindness', so it must express being emotionally moved. Touched - filled with warm gratitude or tenderness; 'deeply touched' is the fixed collocation for exactly this feeling. Alerted - warned of danger; Disheartened - discouraged, which contradicts kindness; Raised - lifted up, which does not collocate with 'deeply'. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Antonyms Prostration - a state of utter exhaustion, physical or mental collapse. Refreshment - the restoring of strength and freshness; the exact opposite of being drained. Counterpart - a person or thing that corresponds to another; Acridness - a bitter, pungent smell or taste; Impression - the effect something leaves on the mind. None of those three has anything to do with energy, so only (c) can reverse the meaning. Hence, option (c) is correct.

Cloze: affect vs effect The blank comes after the auxiliary 'will', so it must be a VERB meaning 'to influence'. Affect (verb) = to have an influence on: climate change will affect every aspect of our health. Effect is normally a NOUN ('the effect of'); as a verb it means 'to bring about', which cannot take 'every aspect of our health' as its object here. Offend = to hurt someone's feelings, and afflict = to trouble with illness; both need a person or a body as object, not 'every aspect'. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Cloze: prepositions 'Go ___ the body's ability' needs a preposition of exceeding a limit. Beyond = outside or past the limit of something: the harms go further than what the body can handle. Before = earlier than; between = in the space separating two things, and needs two items joined by 'and'. Besides = in addition to, which would say the harms exist alongside that ability - not that they exceed it, which is what 'important as this is' implies. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Cloze: adjective choice The blank qualifies 'heat' that the body must struggle to handle, so it needs an adjective of high degree. Extreme = of the highest degree, far beyond the normal; 'extreme heat' is the standard climate-science phrase, and the next sentence echoes it with 'Extreme weather events'. Calm reverses the sense; strange (odd) says nothing about intensity; farther is a comparative of distance and cannot describe heat. Hence, option (b) is correct.

Cloze: adjective choice 'Are becoming more ___ and severe' pairs the blank with 'severe', so it must describe how the events are increasing. Frequent = happening often; events becoming more frequent and more severe is the natural pairing - greater number, greater intensity. Marginal (slight) contradicts 'severe'; selected (specially chosen) makes no sense of natural events. Pertinent means relevant to the matter in hand - a judgement about arguments, not a property that floods and storms can have more of. Hence, option (c) is correct.

Cloze: noun collocation 'Increase the ___ of harmful substance use' needs a noun that can be increased and that takes 'of' before a danger. Risk = the chance of something harmful happening; 'increase the risk of' is the fixed collocation, and harmful substance use is precisely a harm. Plan and task are things one carries out, not things a stress increases the likelihood of. Track does not collocate with 'increase the ... of' at all. Hence, option (c) is correct.