Pre-intermediate test

Choose the correct pronoun:

• "___ is raining outside."

• It

• She

• He

• They

Answer explanation

"It is raining outside."

• Explanation: We use 'it' when talking about the weather because the weather isn't a person or a specific thing that we can point to.

Complete the sentence using the right pronoun:

• "___ is the book I was telling you about."

• These

• They

• This

• Those

Answer explanation

"This is the book I was telling you about."

• Explanation: 'This' is used when we are talking about something that is close to us. If I'm showing you the book, it's close to both of us, so we say 'this'.

Choose the correct pronoun to complete the sentence:

• "___ are my friends, and I love hanging out with ___."

• They / they

• They / them

• It / them

• It / they

Answer explanation

"They are my friends, and I love hanging out with them."

• Explanation: 'They' is used when we are talking about more than one person. So if there are multiple friends, we use 'they'. And when we say 'hanging out with', we use 'them'.

• Choose the correct possessive adjective to complete the sentence:

  • "___ cat is black and white."

• He

• Herself

• Them

• My

Answer explanation

"My cat is black and white."

• Explanation: Possessive adjectives are used to show ownership or relationships. In this sentence, "my" is the correct answer because it shows that the cat belongs to the speaker.

• Choose the correct form to complete the sentence:

  • "I saw two ___ in the park."

• deers

• deer

• deerers

• dees

Answer explanation

"I saw two deer in the park."

• Explanation: The word 'deer' stays the same in its singular and plural form.

• Select the correct plural form:

  • "She bought three ___ from the market."

• box

• boxen

• boxes

• boxs

Answer explanation

"She bought three boxes from the market."

• Explanation: The correct plural form of 'box' is 'boxes'. In English, when a word ends with "x", "ch", "s", "sh", "z", we add "es" to make it plural. Hence, 'box' becomes 'boxes'.

• Choose the correct form to complete the sentence:

  • "We have ___ sugar left in the jar."

• some

• a

• an

• many

Answer explanation

"We have some sugar left in the jar."

• Explanation: 'Sugar' is an uncountable noun, so we use 'some' to talk about an unspecified amount. 'A', 'an', and 'many' are not used with uncountable nouns.

• Choose the countable noun

• homework

• luggage

• information

• glass

Answer explanation

Glass

• Explanation: When we're talking about the material, 'glass' is uncountable. But when we're referring to a drinking container, it's countable ("There are three glasses on the table").

• Choose the correct articles:

• "At ..... park, ..... boy threw ..... orange ball to ..... dogs running around."

• x / a / an / a

• the / the / a / x

• the / a / an / x

• a / the / an / the

Answer explanation

"At the park, a boy threw an orange ball to dogs running around."

• Explanation:

• 'The' (definite article) is used before 'park' because it is a specific park that the listener/reader is expected to know about.

• 'A' (indefinite article) is used before 'boy' to introduce a new entity that the listener/reader is not aware of.

• 'An' (indefinite article) is used before 'orange ball' because 'orange' starts with a vowel sound.

• 'Dogs' uses the zero article because we are talking about dogs in a general sense, not specific dogs.

• Choose the correct articles:

• "..... famous band from ..... London is going on a major tour across .....USA, exciting fans in cities from coast to coast."
  

• a / x / the

• the / an / the

• a / the / the

• the / x / a

Answer explanation

"A famous band from London is going on a major tour across the USA, exciting fans in cities from coast to coast."

• Explanation:

• 'A' (indefinite article) is used before 'famous band' to refer to any famous band, not a specific one. It's also used before 'major tour' because it's a singular, countable noun and we're talking about one tour.

• 'London' and 'cities' use the zero article. We don't typically use an article before the names of cities or when referring to cities in general.

• 'The' (definite article) is used before 'USA' because it's customary to use 'the' before the names of countries that are plural or include words like 'states', 'kingdom', 'republic', etc. We also use 'the' before 'coast to coast' because we're referring to specific coasts (those of the USA).