7 February 2025 · Shift 1

Antonym of 'offer' 'Offer' means to hold something out for someone to accept or refuse. The opposite action is to keep it back and refuse to give it - 'Withhold'. Open - not shut or not blocked; Hurt - to cause pain or injury; Select - to pick one out of several. 'Select' tempts because it belongs to the same situation, but it is what the receiver does, not the reverse of offering. Hence the correct option is (d).

Spelling: languid The sentence needs the adjective meaning 'showing no energy or enthusiasm' - her response was slow and listless. That word is spelt l-a-n-g-u-i-d: one 'a' in the first syllable and the ending '-uid'. The sentence prints 'laanguid' with a doubled 'a'; option (a) 'Languied' inserts an extra 'e', while (b) 'Langued' and (d) 'Langud' drop the 'i' altogether. Hence the correct option is (c).

Incorrect spelling 'Quarentine' is the misspelt word; the correct spelling is 'quarantine' - an 'a', not an 'e', in the middle syllable. Memory hook: it comes from Italian 'quaranta' (forty), the forty days a ship was once kept in isolation - so 'quar-an-tine'. Elicit (to draw out a reply), Practice (the noun form) and Concentrate are all spelt correctly. 'Practice' tempts students who expect 'practise', but both spellings exist and the noun is 'practice'. Hence the correct option is (b).

Idiom: fair weather friend 'Fair weather friend' means a person who stays with you only while things go well and disappears the moment trouble starts. That is exactly the false and selfish friend of the sentence, who will never be by your side in times of difficulty. Past master - an expert at something; great hand - a person very skilful at a task; good samaritan - someone who helps a stranger in need. 'Good samaritan' tempts because it too describes a person's conduct towards others, but it names a helper, not a fake friend. Hence the correct option is (b).

Antonym of 'abscond' 'Abscond' means to run away secretly, usually to avoid arrest or after taking something. Its opposite is to stay on and face the situation instead of escaping - 'Endure' (to remain, to hold out). Flee - to run away from danger; Hide - to conceal oneself; Withdraw - to draw back or retire from a place. Flee is a plain synonym, and both Hide and Withdraw keep the idea of getting away, so only Endure reverses the meaning. Hence the correct option is (a).

Adverb error: rather than The sentence states a preference: the bus is chosen over walking. Rule: a preference is expressed with 'rather than', never with 'seldom'. 'Seldom' is an adverb of frequency meaning 'rarely'; it takes no 'than' at all, so 'Seldom than walking' is not English. Corrected: Oliver told Mia, 'Rather than walking, she prefers to take the city bus.' The faulty segment is therefore (b).

Synonym of 'persiflage' 'Persiflage' is light, teasing talk - joking that is not meant to wound anyone. 'Banter' carries exactly that sense of playful, good-humoured give and take. Criticism - the act of pointing out faults; Seriousness - the quality of being grave and earnest; Argument - an exchange of opposing views. 'Argument' tempts because persiflage is also talk between people, but banter is friendly while an argument is a dispute; and Seriousness is its plain opposite. Hence the correct option is (c).

Idiom: step on toes 'Step on someone's toes' means to offend or upset someone, usually by interfering in what they regard as their own area. It fits the underlined words exactly - she did not want to step on anyone's toes at work, which is why she handled the office politics carefully. Bite the bullet - to accept something painful bravely; steal the show - to attract all the attention; 'scratch anyone's heads' is not an idiom at all (the real one is 'scratch one's head', to be puzzled). 'Bite the bullet' tempts as the other workplace-sounding idiom, but it is about enduring hardship, not about avoiding offence. Hence the correct option is (c).

Article a / an Rule: 'a' or 'an' is decided by the SOUND that follows, not by the letter. 'United' begins with the consonant sound /juː/ (yoo-nited), so it takes 'a' - just like a university, a European, a one-rupee coin. 'An' is used only before a vowel sound, so 'an united' is wrong however the word is spelt. 'Any' and 'no' are determiners of quantity and would change the sense of the sentence, which is about showing strength, not about how much of it there is. Hence the correct option is (c).

Passive voice: simple past The road does not repair anything - it receives the action, and the doer appears in a 'by' phrase, so the sentence must be passive. Rule: simple past passive is 'was/were + V3'; the continuous passive would need 'was being repaired'. 'was repaired' gives the correct structure: The road was repaired by the workers. 'been repaired' needs 'has/had' before it, and 'repairs' leaves the verb active and clashes with the past tense, so no correction cannot be right either. Hence the correct option is (b).

Collocation: quick shower A collocation is the partner word English habitually uses; with 'shower' the natural pair is 'a quick shower'. The reason given - 'I was running late' - demands a short, hurried wash, so only 'quick' agrees with it. Luxurious, relaxed and long all describe an unhurried shower and therefore contradict being short of time. Hence the correct option is (a).

Antonym of 'frugal' 'Frugal' means careful with money and resources, spending as little as possible. Its opposite is reckless, wasteful spending - 'Prodigal', the word behind the parable of the prodigal son who squandered his inheritance. Prudent - wise and careful in judgement; Right - correct or morally good; Sparing - using only a little of something. Prudent and Sparing tempt because they sit beside frugal in meaning, not against it, so neither can be the antonym. Hence the correct option is (c).

Adverb of manner The adverb in this sentence has to say HOW the suitcase was packed, so it must be an adverb of manner. 'Clearly' means in a way that is easy to see, hear or understand - one speaks or explains clearly, one does not pack clearly. The sense the sentence needs is 'carefully': Evelyn carefully packed her suitcase for the trip to Malaysia. Segments (a), (b) and (d) contain no adverb at all, so they cannot hold an adverbial error. Hence the faulty segment is (c).

Tense and infinitive The first clause 'led to trade disruptions' is in the simple past, and 'but' joins two clauses of the same time, so the second verb must also be simple past - 'proved'. Rule: the verb 'prove' takes the infinitive 'to be' before a complement - prove to be useful, prove to be resilient; the given segment has dropped 'be'. 'proved to be more resilient' repairs both faults at once. 'proving' has no auxiliary to support it, 'proved to been' is not a valid form (the infinitive is 'to be', never 'to been'), and 'prove' keeps the present tense. Hence the correct option is (a).

Synonym of 'frivolous' 'Frivolous' means not serious, carrying little weight or value - a frivolous excuse, a frivolous remark. 'Trivial' means unimportant, of no real consequence, which is the same idea. Momentous - of great importance; Eventful - full of notable happenings; Substantial - large in size, amount or importance. All three distractors point towards weight and importance, that is, towards the opposite of frivolous. Hence the correct option is (d).

Cloze: adjective choice Blank (76) describes the weather we spend all year looking forward to, listed beside 'long, hot days'. It must therefore be a pleasant word: 'cool' weather is what a reader longs for, and 'cool' also sits naturally with the summer picture the writer is building. 'Cold' would repeat the winter that the next sentence introduces, so it works against the passage. 'Mean' and 'ugly' are negative words for behaviour and looks, and nobody looks forward to them. Hence the correct option is (c).

Cloze: collocation Blank (77) stands immediately before 'cold' and must intensify it, matching the 'dreary grey days' of winter beside it. 'Bitter cold' is the fixed English collocation for a sharp, biting, unpleasant cold. 'Warm' and 'sweet' contradict the very word 'cold' that follows the blank. 'Loving' describes feeling towards a person and cannot describe cold at all. Hence the correct option is (a).

Cloze: adjective choice Blank (78) describes the beach days we dream of all through winter, and a dream stretches such days out without limit. 'Endless' carries exactly that sense of going on and on. Definite, confined and restricted all put a boundary on the days, which is the opposite of what a winter daydream does. Hence the correct option is (c).

Cloze: parallel verb form The structure is 'laying on the sand and ____ in the sun', so the blank needs an -ing form parallel to 'laying'. 'Soaking in the sun' means lying in the sunshine and absorbing its warmth, which completes the beach picture. 'Dry' and 'arid' are adjectives, not -ing verbs, and 'arid' is used of land, not of people. 'Walking' is an -ing form but it contradicts lying on the sand. Hence the correct option is (c).

Cloze: adjective choice Blank (80) is joined by 'and' to 'burning', so it must be another quality of strong summer sunshine. 'Bright and burning sun' pairs light with heat and keeps the longed-for summer picture intact. 'Dull' and 'unpleasant' fight the word 'burning' and spoil the pleasure the passage is describing. 'Solemn' describes a grave mood or occasion and cannot describe sunlight. Hence the correct option is (b).