25 February 2025 · Shift 1

Idiom meaning 'Spill the beans' means to reveal secret or private information, usually before it was meant to come out. Option (c) 'To tell people secret information' states exactly that, so (c) is correct. The other three options read the words literally - dropping something, cooking, cleaning up - but an idiom never carries its literal sense. Example: He spilled the beans about the surprise party.

Antonym in context The instruction asks for the ANTONYM of the bracketed word 'composed', so the blank needs a verb opposite in meaning. As a verb 'composed' here means calmed or settled; its opposite is 'agitated' = stirred up, disturbed. So the sentence reads 'The events agitated beautiful thoughts in her memory.' Option (b) is correct. 'Rectified' (put right), 'focused' (concentrated) and 'secured' (made safe) are none of them opposites of 'composed'.

Vocabulary in context The clause 'when she pointed out the discrimination against women to her manager' describes someone who spoke out openly and honestly. 'Candid' means frank and outspoken, which matches that behaviour exactly, so (c) is correct. 'Reticent' (unwilling to speak), 'inhibited' (held back) and 'laconic' (using very few words) all describe holding back - the opposite of pointing something out to a manager.

Adjective-noun collocation A collocation is the word English habitually pairs with another; here we need the adjective that regularly goes with 'pain'. 'Excruciating pain' is the established collocation for pain that is intense and almost unbearable, so (b) is correct. 'External', 'quick' and 'awkward' are all grammatical before a noun, but none of them is the word English pairs with 'pain' in this sense.

Spelling correction Read the sentence word by word and find the misspelt one: 'gentel'. The correct spelling is 'gentle' - the ending is -le, as in 'simple', 'candle', 'subtle'. So option (d) rectifies the error. Options (a) 'sprewled', (b) 'enjoyeing' and (c) 'breaze' are themselves misspellings of words the sentence already spells correctly (sprawled, enjoying, breeze).

Advanced vocabulary The analysis in the sentence 'challenged the traditional notions of narrative structure and authorial intent', so the blank needs an adjective describing deep interpretation of texts. 'Hermeneutic' means relating to interpretation, especially the interpretation of literary texts, which is precisely that, so (b) is correct. 'Prosaic' (dull, ordinary) and 'facile' (shallow, too easily arrived at) describe weak analysis, which could not challenge established notions. 'Pedantic' (fussy about small rules) describes a manner of writing, not the interpretive depth the sentence needs.

Word meaning in a sentence 'Incorrigible' describes a person whose bad habit is so fixed that it cannot be corrected or reformed. Option (c) 'He is a very bad liar beyond correction' carries exactly that sense, so (c) is correct. (a) is about the durability of paints, (b) about taste, and (d) about weather that shows no sign of 'abating' (lessening) - none of them involves a person being beyond reform.

Word definition 'Jovial' means cheerful, friendly and full of good humour. Option (c) 'Friendly and in good mood' gives that definition, so (c) is correct. 'Pensive mood' (a) means thoughtful and a little sad, which is nearly the opposite; 'very cautious' and 'angry' are unrelated to good humour.

Word meaning 'Resilient' describes a person or material able to spring back into shape or spirits quickly after a shock or difficulty. Option (d) 'Able to recover quickly' is exactly that meaning, so (d) is correct. 'Weak and fragile' (a) and 'overly sensitive' (c) describe the opposite quality, and 'easily distracted' (b) is about attention, not recovery.

Spelling of adverbs Check each option against the standard rule for forming an adverb from an adjective by adding -ly. The adjective is 'reluctant', so the adverb is 'reluctantly' with -ant-; the printed 'Reluctently' is therefore misspelt. 'Irritably' (from irritable), 'fatally' (from fatal) and 'sternly' (from stern) are all correctly spelt, so the answer is (b).

Adverb of frequency Rule: an adverb of frequency (always, often, usually, never) is placed BEFORE the main verb, and after the verb 'be' or an auxiliary. Option (a) puts it after the main verb - 'He goes always for a run in the morning' - which breaks the rule; it should be 'He always goes ...'. Options (b), (c) and (d) each place 'always', 'often' and 'usually' before the main verb 'goes', so they are correct. Hence the sentence with the incorrect adverb usage is (a).

Present perfect tense The second half of the sentence, 'and has given presentations on his research', is in the present perfect tense. The two verbs are joined by 'and', so the underlined part must match it: 'has' + past participle, i.e. 'has written'. 'Most articles' also mis-states the quantity; 'several articles' is the natural partner here, so (d) 'has written several articles' is correct. (a) shifts to the past perfect and (b) to the future, both breaking the parallel with 'has given', and (c) 'was write' is not a possible verb form at all.

Antonym The question asks for the ANTONYM of the bracketed word 'Ameliorate', which means to make or become better. Its opposite is 'Worsen' = to become worse in condition, so (b) is correct: 'His condition began to worsen after the trip.' 'Improve' (c) is the trap - it is a synonym of 'ameliorate', not its antonym. 'Explode' (burst suddenly) and 'Detach' (separate) have no relation to getting better or worse.

Preposition usage 'Be about something' is the fixed expression for 'have something as its point, essence or subject'. 'Health is not just about not being sick' therefore says that freedom from illness is only one aspect of health, so (a) is correct. 'In' and 'on' do not follow 'is not just' in this sense, and 'but' is a conjunction, not a preposition, so it cannot introduce the phrase 'not being sick' here.

Simple future tense Rule: the simple future is formed with 'will' + the BASE form of the verb (will meet, will go, will look). Option (d) has 'will meeting' - 'will' followed by an -ing form, which is not a valid structure; it must be 'will meet' (or 'will be meeting'). Options (a), (b) and (c) all use 'will' + base form ('will like', 'will pass', 'will look') and are correct. Hence the grammatically incorrect sentence is (d).

Cloze: word choice Blank (76) follows 'the art of', so it needs an -ing form naming what persuasion does to someone. The clause continues 'someone to agree with your point of view', and getting someone to agree is exactly what 'convincing' means, so (c) is correct. 'Motivating' is about spurring someone to act rather than to agree, 'evaluating' means judging, and 'captivating' means charming - none of them defines persuasion.

Cloze: word choice The sentence explains ethos: the speaker's way of convincing the audience about herself as a source. If the audience is being convinced, the source must be one they can believe - 'credible' means able to be trusted or believed, so (b) is correct. 'Confusing', 'misleading' and 'unreliable' all describe a source an audience would reject, which contradicts 'convincing the audience'.

Cloze: word form The blank follows the preposition 'of' in 'a speaker's way of ____ with', so it must be an -ing verb form; only 'connecting' is one, the other three are adjectives. The sense confirms it: pathos is the appeal to feeling, and 'connect with someone's emotions' is the standard collocation. Hence (a). 'Disparate', 'unlike' and 'distinct' all mean different or separate and cannot follow 'way of'.

Cloze: word choice Logos is the appeal to logic, so blank (79) must name the hard material a logical case is built on. The blank is joined to 'information' by 'or', so the two words should be a natural pair of countable, verifiable items: 'the use of facts or information'. Hence (d). 'Clue' would need an article ('a clue') and means only a hint, and 'theory' is unproven, so neither strengthens a logical appeal. 'Evidence' is close in sense, but it already covers supporting information, which makes 'evidence or information' redundant - 'facts or information' is the pairing the passage uses.

Cloze: word choice The blank is what facts and information are used to make 'more convincing' - that is, the case the speaker is putting forward. 'Argument' means the set of reasons offered in support of a claim, which is exactly what evidence strengthens, so (c) is correct. A 'question' is asked, not made convincing. 'Theory' and 'hypothesis' belong to scientific method - they are tested by evidence rather than made persuasive by it, and neither is what a speaker presents to an audience in the passage.