NAME: ____________________________________________ punteggio: (_____/ 60) = ___/30
FACOLTA’ DI LINGUE
2ND YEAR ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEST- May 25, 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.
Since (1)___________ industrial revolution 200 years ago, (2)__________ mankind has
depended on fossil fuel. (3)__________ notion that this might change is hard to contemplate.
Environmentalists may complain, our consciences may nag, we may turn our heating down
(4)__________ notch, but actually stop using the stuff ? It’s impossible to imagine: surely there
isn’t (5)__________ serious alternative ? Such (6)__________ failure of imagination has been at
(7)__________ heart of the debate about climate change. The green message—use less energy—is
not going to solve (8)___________ problem unless economic growth stops at (9)__________ same
time. If it doesn’t, any efficiency saving will soon be eaten up by higher consumption per head.
And when a dire prophecy from environmentalists’ leaders looks as if it is coming true, there is
(10)____________ enormous temptation to believe that the end of the world is near.
______/10
2. Put the verbs in parentheses into the most logical form. You may have to use both
active and passive forms.
In the early 1980s, the Coca-Cola Company (1)_______________ (BE) profoundly nervous
about its future. Once, Coke (2)__________________(BE) far and away the dominant soft drink
in the world. But Pepsi (3)_________________________(ERODE) Coke’s lead gradually and
steadily. In 1972, 18 percent of soft drink users said they (4)___________________(DRINK) Coke
exclusively, compared with 4 percent who called themselves exclusive Pepsi drinkers. By the early
1980s, Coke
(5)__________________ (DROP) to 12 percent and Pepsi
(6)__________________(RISE) to 11 percent – and this despite the fact that Coke was more widely
available than Pepsi and spending at least $100 million more on advertising per year. In the middle
of this, Pepsi (7)________________ (BEGIN) running television commercials around the country,
pitting Coke head-to-head with Pepsi in what (8)________________(CALL) the Pepsi Challenge.
Dedicated Coke drinkers (9)_________________(ASK) to take a sip from two glasses, one marked
Q and one marked M. Which (10)________________________________(they PREFER) ?
Invariably, they would say M, and M would be revealed as Pepsi.
_______/10
3. Choose a suitable phrasal verb for each sentence. (You may have to change the verb form)
break down
call off
deal with
get by
look forward to
take after
take up
get on
give up
1. Susan was having trouble breathing, she finally __________________ smoking last month !
2. They’re having problems with their computers. Yesterday the whole system _______________.
3. It’s been a long winter, I ______________________________ the warm summer weather !
4. My daughter Anna _____________________me whereas Emily resembles her father more.
5. The President of the company is not an easy person _____________________.
6. They have cut our funding, it is going to be hard _____________________on a small budget.
7. These bookshelves __________________too much space. We’ll have to move them somewhere.
8. Yesterday the football match _____________________________ due to ice and snow.
______/8
4. Complete the second sentence so that it is as similar as possible in meaning to the first.
1. I’m so tired ! I went to a party last night and didn’t get any sleep. Now my work will be awful !
If I hadn’t______________________________________________________________________
2. The Chinese government has undertaken a number of reforms to improve business credit access.
Many reforms___________________________________________________________________
3. At the conference yesterday they gave me a nametag and a bag of samples to take home.
At the conference yesterday _______________________________________________________
4.Mary said, “Sam, if I were you, I’d go abroad next year. I had a great time when I did it last year.”
Mary told_______________________________________________________________________
5. Tim said, “ We need to change your schedule, guys. You’ll be working the night shift this week.”
Tim told_________________________________________________________________________
6.I can’t believe it! You forgot to fill up the car with gas, now we are stuck here in the countryside!
If you___________________________________________________________________________
______/12
5. Fill in the blanks with an appropriate preposition or conjunction.
The Mexican president, Felipe Calderòn, has called (1)_____________ sporting events and
concerts, ordered the closure of bars and nightclubs, and introduced general measures to keep
people apart, (2)____________ Friday May 1st to May 5th, (3)__________ order to stop the spread
of swine flu. Just what the economic impact will be (4)__________ Mexico is becoming clearer.
One estimate suggests that, as a result, Mexico City’s retail and service industries are losing
(5)___________ least $55m a day. A ban on restaurants seating customers is likely to double the
cost to the city’s businesses. The capital accounts (6)___________ roughly a fifth of national GDP.
Financial markets have reacted. Since the emergency began (7)____________ April 24th the local
stock market has fallen by 3%. The local currency, the peso, has dipped (8)____________ about
4% against the dollar. Mexico’s tourist industry is also suffering (9)___________ the situation.
So far, America, Canada and some European countries have advised citizens to avoid travel
(10)_____________ Mexico. The European Union is resisting French demands for a suspension of
flights, but more widespread bans could be in the offing. They will hurt the economy directly, as
would any lingering aversion to travel to Mexico once bans are lifted. Mexico welcomed 21.4m
tourists in 2007, from whom it earned $14.1 billion.
_____/10
6. Fill in the blanks with ONE appropriate word
The triumph of entrepreneurship is driven by profound technological change. A trio of
inventions—the personal computer, the (1)________________ phone and the internet—is
democratising entrepreneurship at a fast pace. The world’s governments are now competing to see
(2)_______________ can create the most pro-business environment.
In 2003
(3)________________World Bank began to publish an annual report called Doing Business, rating
countries for (4)______________ business-friendliness by measuring things (5)______________
business regulations, property rights and access to credit. It demonstrated with a wealth of data that
economic prosperity (6)______________ closely correlated with a pro-business environment. This
might sound (7)___________________. But Doing Business did two things that were not quite so
obvious: (8)______________ put precise numbers on things that people had (9)________________
about only vaguely, and it allowed citizens and investors to compare their country with 180 others.
This “naming and shaming” has caused countries to compete fiercely to improve their ratings.
(10)_________________ 2004 various countries have brought in more than 1,000 reforms.
______/10