17 February 2025 · Shift 2

Antonym in context The word in brackets is the one whose OPPOSITE must go in the blank. 'Feeble' means weak, lacking strength or force, so the blank needs a word meaning 'strong'. 'Robust' means strong, sturdy and vigorous - the exact opposite of feeble. 'Spindly' (thin and weak) and 'vulnerable' (easily harmed) repeat the idea of weakness, so they are synonyms of feeble, not antonyms. 'Bungling' means clumsy and incompetent; it is a criticism, but not the opposite of 'feeble'. Hence option (a) is correct.

Antonym 'Forward' means directed towards the front - ahead in position or in progress. Its direct opposite is 'Backward' - directed towards the back, or behind in progress. 'Leading' means going in front, so it is close in sense to forward and cannot be its antonym. 'Mean' (unkind) and 'Wise' (having good judgement) describe character, not direction. Hence option (b) is correct.

Spelling correction The misspelt word is 'continuos'; the correct spelling is 'continuous'. Remember the shape of the word: continu + ous, the ordinary adjective suffix -ous (as in famous, dangerous, various). The other three options damage either the stem 'continu-' or the suffix, so none of them is a real English word. Hence option (a) is correct.

Incorrectly spelt word 'Iminent' is the misspelt option; the correct form is 'imminent', with a double 'm'. 'Imminent' means about to happen very soon, as in 'an imminent danger'. 'Colloquial', 'Exuberant' and 'Dinner' are all spelt correctly, so they cannot be the answer. Hence option (a) is correct.

Antonym 'Idle' means inactive - not working, doing nothing. 'Active' means busy and energetic, engaged in doing things, which is the exact opposite. 'Brave', 'Rude' and 'Lucky' describe courage, manners and fortune; none of them is about activity. Hence option (b) is correct.

Tense and preposition 'Over two hundred years ago, early in the eighteenth century' fixes one finished point of past time, and such a marker takes the simple past, not the past perfect. The past perfect 'had come' needs a second, later past action for it to be earlier than; the sentence gives none. Movement away from a place is expressed by 'down from', and a place that far back in time is referred to as 'that', not 'this'. So the segment becomes 'came down from that mountain valley'. Option (a) keeps a perfect form and (c) shifts to the present tense, so both clash with the past time marker; the sentence is not correct as it stands, so (b) is ruled out. Hence option (d) is correct.

Adverb usage error An adverb of manner must describe the way the action is actually performed. 'Brightly' means in a shining or glowing way; it describes light, not the manner in which a person accepts an award. So the error lies in the segment 'Elizabeth brightly' - the sense required is 'happily' or 'graciously'. The other three segments are sound: 'accepted the award' is verb + object, and 'given by' + 'the President' form a correct participle phrase. Hence option (d) is correct.

Adverb placement An adverb of indefinite time such as 'soon' is placed after the first auxiliary verb: 'She will soon finish the project.' Option (a) puts 'soon' before the auxiliary 'will', which breaks that order, so this is the sentence with the adverb error. In (b), (c) and (d) the time expressions 'on Friday', 'tomorrow' and 'last weekend' stand at the end of the sentence, which is their normal and correct position. Hence option (a) is correct.

Vocabulary in context The blank must explain WHY the proposal 'led to extensive discussions and debates'. 'Contentious' means likely to cause argument or disagreement - exactly the quality that produces debate. 'Transparent' (clear and open), 'agreeable' (pleasant, easy to accept) and 'simplistic' (over-simplified) would all reduce argument rather than create it. Hence option (d) is correct.

Idiom meaning 'Face the music' is an idiom meaning to accept and deal with the unpleasant consequences of what one has done. You are hesitant to confess a mistake, so the friend is telling you to own it up instead of avoiding it - option (c). Options (a) and (b) take 'music' literally, which is exactly what an idiom must not be taken as. Option (d) says the opposite of the idiom: facing consequences is the reverse of avoiding the situation. Hence option (c) is correct.

Collocation and tense The fixed collocation is 'feel free (to do something)' - the adjective 'free', never the past participle 'freed', follows 'feel' here. That rejects (a) 'feel freed' and (d) 'has been felt freed' straight away. The subject 'The residents' is plural, so the singular auxiliary 'has' in (b) and (d) does not agree with it. Only 'felt free' is left, and the past form suits a change that has already come about: 'The residents felt free now to just go about their lives.' Hence option (c) is correct.

Passive with modal After a modal, the passive is formed as 'modal + be + past participle', so 'can be source' must become 'can be sourced'. The feeds are obtained OUT OF byproducts, waste streams and novel crops, and the preposition that marks the origin of something is 'from'. Option (b) drops 'be', so it has no passive form at all; (c) 'along' and (d) 'near' express position beside or close to something, not origin. Hence option (a) is correct.

Idiom substitution 'Turn a blind eye (to something)' means to deliberately ignore something one knows is wrong. That is precisely 'ignoring problems intentionally', so the underlined segment is replaced by 'turning a blind eye'. 'Turning point' is a moment of decisive change, and 'turning a corner' means beginning to improve after a bad period - neither is about ignoring anything. The real idiom in (d) is 'turn over a new leaf' (to reform oneself); 'turning a leaf' is not an idiom at all. Hence option (a) is correct.

Antonym 'Lethargic' means sluggish - lacking energy, enthusiasm and drive. 'Dynamic' means full of energy, force and activity, which is the exact opposite. 'Sluggish', 'Dull' and 'Sleepy' all repeat the idea of low energy, so they are synonyms of lethargic, not antonyms. Hence option (c) is correct.

Antonym 'Adversary' means an opponent - someone ranged against you in a contest or a conflict. 'Ally' means a person or country that stands with you and supports you, which is the opposite side of that same relationship. 'Competitor', 'Rival' and 'Enemy' all describe someone working against you, so they are near-synonyms of adversary and cannot be its antonym. Hence option (a) is correct.

Cloze: adjective choice Blank (76) must say how large a 'source of environmental pollution' transportation is. 'Major' means great in size or importance, and the clause that follows - fossil fuel-powered vehicles emitting carbon dioxide - is offered as proof of that scale. 'Different' and 'rare' would weaken the very claim the passage goes on to support, and 'cautious' (careful) can describe a person, never a source of pollution. Hence option (b) is correct.

Cloze: preposition The noun 'shift' takes 'to' or 'towards' for the thing being moved to: 'the shift towards green cars'. 'Towards' marks the direction of a change, and a shift is precisely a change of direction. 'Across' (from one side to the other), 'around' (on every side) and 'through' (in at one end and out at the other) describe kinds of movement in space and do not collocate with 'shift' here. Hence option (d) is correct.

Cloze: adjective choice The passage is praising green cars as 'hope for a cleaner future', so blank (78) needs a positive word for an innovation. 'Remarkable' means striking and worth noticing, which fits 'another remarkable green technology innovation'. 'Sober' means serious and restrained, 'fancy' means decorative and showy, and 'elevated' means raised in height or rank - none of these measures the worth of an innovation. The word 'another' also shows the writer is adding a second impressive example, which only 'remarkable' supports. Hence option (b) is correct.

Cloze: adjective choice Blank (79) sets electricity against 'gasoline or diesel' as the fuel an EV chiefly runs on. 'Primary' means main or chief, so 'primary power source' states exactly that contrast. 'Neutral', 'hard' and 'internal' describe charge or attitude, texture and position; none of them can rank one power source above another. Hence option (b) is correct.

Cloze: adjective choice The blank is joined by 'and' to 'accessible', so it must give a second advantage of the same kind - one about everyday use. 'Practical' means suitable and useful in real situations: 'more accessible and practical for everyday use'. 'Harmless', 'competent' and 'neutral' speak of safety, ability and impartiality; 'competent' in particular is used of people who can do a job, not of vehicles. Hence option (d) is correct.