NAME: ____________________________________________ punteggio: (_____/ 60) = ___/30
FACOLTA’ DI LINGUE
2ND YEAR ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEST- Jan. 2009
CORSO DI LAUREA 4
Time allowed: 1 hour
WRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS ON THIS EXAM PAPER ! DO NOT USE OTHER
SHEETS OF PAPER.
1. Complete the following passage by inserting an appropriate article (a, an, the); if no
article is necessary, put an X in the gap.
(1)__________ century ago, Europeans and their cultural offspring (including, for example,
Americans, Canadians, and Australians) controlled nearly 85 percent of (2)__________ earth’s
land mass. European dominance in the modern world was by no means determined five hundred
years ago, but (3)___________ potent mix of geographical, historical, political, cultural and
economic advantages has enabled (4)___________ Europe to influence global development to this
day. Europeans defined (5)__________ meaning of the term modern. European thinkers developed
(6)__________ important ideas that frame global debates today. Are democracy and human rights
universally applicable to all people regardless of ethnicity, culture, gender, or tradition ? Is
(7)__________ capitalist, free-market economic system (8)__________ model for economic
development and human happiness everywhere ? Does (9)__________ free trade serve the interests
of impoverished countries and poor people worldwide ? (10)__________ understanding of
European political and economic development is essential to the study of international affairs today.
____/10
2. Put the verbs in parentheses into the most logical form. You may have to use both
active and passive forms.
Europe (1)________________(HAVE) different and often conflicting geographic, historic,
political, ethnic and cultural definitions. The traditional geographic definition of the continent of
Europe (2)_______________ (DESCRIBE) it as extending from Norway in the north to Gibraltar
in the southwest and the Bosporus in the south-east, and from Iceland in the Atlantic to the Ural
mountains in central Russia. That (3)_____________(LEAVE) over half of Russia in Asia and
(4)_____________(PUT) a part of Istanbul, the largest Turkish city, in Europe.
Europe (5)_______________________(BLESS) by nature with a temperate climate, abundant
rainfall, a long growing season, navigable waterways, and accessible oceans and seas. European
industrialization and modernization (6)_________________(HAVE) many causes, but its
geographical advantages (7)_________________(BE) significant. Europe’s ample timber and coal
resources (8)_____________(PROVIDE) the energy necessary for early industrialization, although
now Europe (9)_____________(BE) largely dependent on petroleum products from outside the
region. Since World War II , the political definition of Europe (10)________________(CHANGE)
with the development first of the European Community, evolving into the E.U. There are three
major language groups: Germanic, Romance and Slavic. English (11)_____________________
(BECOME) the European lingua franca, but it (12)_____________________(NOT REPLACE)
national languages as the mother tongue in the foreseeable future.
______/12
3. Put the verbs given into a suitable form using conditional tenses.
1. If you ________________(USE) your credit card, it _______________(COST) less than
buying foreign currency when you go to India next month.
2. A bank representative has refused your request for a loan. If you _________________ (HAVE)
more money in your savings account, the bank ________________(LEND) you the money.
A friend has offered to make you a partner in her new business. You feel you don’t have
enough experience. If you __________________(HAVE) more experience, you
_______________(ACCEPT) her offer.
4. I’m sorry, the car won’t move. If I __________________(CHECK) the fuel gauge before
leaving for our trip, we _______________________(NOT RUN) out of petrol.
_______/8
4. Complete the second sentence so that it is as similar as possible in meaning to the first.
1.“I may have to leave work early because I’m seeing my doctor later this afternoon,” said Mary.
Mary explained that ____________________________________________________________
2.“Have you seen Mr. Thomas, the Import-Export Manager, today ?” Fred asked.
Fred asked Susan _______________________________________________________________
3. “I can attend the training session in Madrid next month,” said Jason.
Jason said _____________________________________________________________________
4.Janet told Ian she would let him know about the new catalogue for the following summer season.
Janet said ______________________________________________________________________
____8
5. Fill in the blanks with an appropriate preposition or conjunction.
More and more people (1)__________ this country are choosing (2)_________ do their personal
banking on-line. But what can on-line banking offer that other types (3)__________ banking
can’t ? Firstly, (4)__________ banking on-line you are not limited (5)__________ a bank’s
opening hours. You can check your bank account 24 hours a day, whenever it suits you.
Transferring money (6)___________ a savings account to a checking account, opening an account
or seeing how much interest you have earned, will take you just a few seconds. Compare that
(7)_________ the time you need to get to your local bank, queue up and carry (8)_________ your
transaction. All you need is an Internet connection to download financial data (9)___________
your PC. However, you may not be able to do everything you need to on-line. Besides, according
(10)__________ a recent survey, for many people security of personal data is still a concern. Some
people prefer to meet their bank manager when dealing (11)____________ large sums of money, or
when lots of paperwork is involved.
______/11
3.
6. Fill in the blanks with ONE appropriate word.
One of the quickest ways of destroying your brand image is to give (1)_____________product
an unattractive
name—or
one that, though attractive in your
language, does not
(2)_____________ well into another language. When (3)____________ comes to embarrassing
translations, no-one has made as many costly mistakes (4)______________ the car industry. Ford,
for example, (5)_______________ repeatedly got it wrong in Central and South America with its
Ford Pinto and Ford Fiera truck. “Pinto” means “small male organ” in Brazilian Portuguese, and
“fiera” can mean a fierce “dragon lady” in Spanish. Another car was called Nova which if
pronounced as two words took on the meaning “no va”, (doesn’t go). Latin American customers
were understandably reluctant to test-drive (6)______________ particular models until the names
were changed to something (7)______________ acceptable. In Germany even the refined RollsRoyce company blundered with the exotic-sounding Silver Mist.
“Mist” literally
(8)______________“excrement” in German or more idiomatically “rubbish”—either way
(9)_____________ a winner in marketing terms !
Of (10)_____________, the problem works
both ways. Supermarket products (11)_________________ sound fine in their original language
may not sound so good in English.
_____/11