Pagel
© Dave Allan 1992 Photocopying is illegal
Oxford Placement Test 1
Grammar Test PART 1
Nf me
Total Listening " 7100 Total Grammar Part 2 / fit)
Total Grammar Part 1 / 50 Grand total / 200
Look at these examples. The correct answer is ticked.
a In warm climates people! 4#e likes : are liking sitting outside m the sun.
b If it is very hot, they S i t : at \yff\r ; the shade.
Now the test will begin. Tick the correct answers.
1 Water | is to boil' is boiling boils at a temperature of 100
2 In some countries I there is ; is j it is | very hot all the time.
3 In cold countries people wear thick clothes ! for keeping '• to keep j for to keep warm.
4 In England people are always talking about j a weather i the weather j weather
In some places | it rains ; there rains j it raining j almost every day.
6 In deserts there isn't j the | some any ! grass.
7 Places near the Equator have \ warm ! the warm '. warm ; weather even in the cold season.
8 In hnglarid ' coldest} the coldest j colder j time of year is usually from December to February.
9 ! The most' Most of | Most ' people don't know what it's like in other countries.
10 Very , less little \w ; people can travel abroad. 10
11 Mohammed Ali ! has won won Ms winning i his first world title fight in 1960. I ri_
12 After he: had won i have won i was winning j an Olympic gold medal he became a professional boxer. i 12
13 His religious beliefs! have made him made him to ' made him j change his name when he became i T3_
i ~~
champion.
14 If he ! has I would have i had j lost his first fight with Sonny Listen, no one would have been surprised. U
i
!
15 He has travelled a lot | both I and I or I as a boxer and as a world-famous personality. ; 15
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Page2
- 16 He is very well known i all in all over in all the world ID
17 Many people | is believing are believing i believe ; he was the greatest boxer of all time. 17
19 Like any top sportsman Aii had to must j should i train very hard. 19
20 Even though he has now los: nis title, people ; would ; will | did i always remember him as a champion. 20
The history of j aeroplane the aeroplane | an aeroplane | is 21
! quite a i a quite | quite i sno-r: one. For many centuries men 22
| are trying | try • had tried :o fly, but with 23
: little! few I a little success. In the 19th century a few people 24
succeeded j to fly ' in flying into flying I in balloons. But it wasn't until 25
the beginning o f ; this ! next that century that anybody 26
were | is ! was ' able to fly in a machine 27
who i which i what ; was heavier than air, in other words, in 28
: who j which i what j we now call a 'p^ane'. The first people to achieve 29
'powered flight'were the W r ght brorers. * His Their 1 Theirs ! 30
was the machine which was :he forerunner of the Jumbo jets
and supersonic airliners that are \h : such a ! so \n
sight today. They ] could j should • couldn't , hardly have imagined that in 1969, 32
! not much ! not many : no much more than half a century later. 33
a man will be •: had been would be landed on the moon. 34
Already ; a man i man I the man ; is ta<ing the first steps towards the stars. 35
Although space satellites have existed : since j during j for | less 36
than forty years, we are now dependent j from j of; on j them for all
kinds of j informations : information an information : . Not only 38
' are they i they are i ther-e are • being used for scientific research in 39
space, but also to see what kind of weather j is coming i comes j coming ; . I 40
sy 199S there ! would : must will : have been satellites in space for forty
years and the 'space superpowers' are planning to j have I make } let j 42
massive space stations built. When these i will be j are j will have been 43 '
completed it will be the first time i when | where I that j astronauts will be
able to work in space in large numbers. : Apart! For j Except I all that, 45
in many ways the most rema r <able flight i of j above i at j all was 46
it j that j that one i of the fiying bicycie, which the world saw on television, 47
flying j to fly | fly across the Channel from England to France, with nothing 48
apart but I than a man to power it. As the bicycle-flyer said, 49
'it's the first time I realize i I've realized I am realizing what hard work it is to be a bird!' 50
suototal /35
Page3
Grammar Test PART 2
51 Many teachers ; say to say tell i their students should learn a foreign language. 51
52 Learning a second language is not the same as like than : learning a first language. 52
53 It takes j long time ' long a long time : to learn any language. -5JL
54 It is said that Chinese is perhaps the world's harder hardest more hard : language to master. 54
55 English is oxnte difficult because of ar the exceptions who • which what j have to be learnt 55
56 You can learn the basic structures of a language quite quickly, but only if you
i are wanting ; will to j are willing to make an effort. 56
57 A lot of people aren't used to the study ; to study to studying ; grammar in their own language. 57_
58 Many adult students of English wish t~ey • would start j would have started \d started 58
their language studies earlier.
59 In some countries students have to soend a lot of time working ; on • by ; in j their own. 59_
60 i here aren't • no ' any j some ' easy ways of learning a foreign language in your own country. 60_
61 Some people try to improve their tngi:sh by ; hearing listening : listening to j the BBC World Service. 61
62 i Live j Life ; Living with a foreign family can be a good way to learn a language. 62
63 it's no use : to try '. trying I in trying to learn a language just by studying a dictionary. 63_
64 Many students of English i would rather not; would rather prefer not would rather not to : take tests. 64
65 Some people think > t ' s time we a l l ! learn i should learn learnt | a single international language 65
Charles Walker is a teacher at a comprehensive school in Norwich. He • has joined ! joined joins 66
the staff of the school in 1988 and j has been working | worked works I there ever since. 67
Before I move • to move j moving j to Norwich, he taught in Italy and in Wales, 68
and before thai he i has b e e n ' w a s was being ' a student at Cambridge 69
University. So far he I isn't \t hasn't been i in Norwich for as long 70
as he was in Wales, but he likes the city a lot and \d ; would could 71
iike to stay there for at least another two years, or, i how | which ; as I he 72
puts it, until his two children have will have | will be i grown up a bit. 73
He met his wife, Kate, in 1982 while he; was to live i was living i had been living j 74
abroad for a while, and they got married in 1986.
Their two children, Mark and Susan, are were \e been ! both born in Norwich. 75
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The Walkers' boy, j who which | he :s four, has |ust started 76
at nursery school, but, his ; their i her sister /.'
1 shall stay j stays j will be staying a: home for another couple of years, 7S_
because she is nearly two years j younger j more young ; the younger '• 79
than him. Charles and Kate Walker: are used j use i used ! to live in the 80
country, but now that they have children, they j have moved move ; moved
into the city. Charles wanted a house next | near I close j the 82_
school! in order | for | to i get to work easily. Unfortunately
i the ; a i that i one the two of them really wanted was too expensive,
so they I must should ; had to I buy one a bit further away. By'the time the 85
children j go j will go j will have gone to secondary school,
i that' which ! what i Charles and Kate hope will be in Norwich, the 87
Walkers ! will have been | have been will be living there for at least fifteen years
They can't be sure if they ; stay i do stay j will stay i, but if they 89_
don't; didn't | won't I, their friends won't be too surprised. 90
Look at the following examples of question tags in English. The correct form of the tag is ticked.
a He's getting the 9. 1 5 tram, i isfrt. he j hasn't he wasn't he I ?
b She works in a library, I isn't she ; doe^K't she doesn't h e ; ?
c Tom didn't tell you, j hasn't he I didn't he I di^he i ?
d Someone's forgotten to switch off the gas, didn't one didn't they j hav^j/t they ; ?
Now tick the correct question tag in the following 10 items:
91 John's coming to see you, i hasn't he > wasn't he isn't he 7 91_
92 It's been a long time since you've seen him, I hasn't it isn't it : haven't you j ? 92
93 He's due to arrive tomorrow, : won't he ' isn't he ! will he [ ? 93_
94 He won't be getting in till about 10.30, isn't he ! is he ! will he ; ? 94
95 You met him while you were on holiday, , didn't you : weren't you \t you : ? 95
96 I think I'm expected to pick him up, i aren't 1 don't I i are you
97 No doubt you'd rather he stayed in England now, didn't you j wouldn't you j shouldn't you ? 7
98 Nobody else has been told he's coming, , is he ! has he '• have they 98
99 We'd better not stay up too late tonight, '; didn't we | have we i had we 99
100 I suopose it's time we called it a day,; didn't we j isn't it | don't I I ?
subtotal 725
