Showing posts with label C1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label C1. Show all posts

Saturday 21 October 2017

VOCABULARY: Vague Language (C1)

To sound as natural as native speakers there are certain expressions and phrases we can use as fillers to gain time to think and to be vague, in case we need to.

Have a look at all the possibilities the language holds for us.


VOCABULARY: Personality Idioms (C1)








Saturday 30 September 2017

GRAMMAR: Describing Habits (C1)

Have a look at the notes below and check all the structures you can use to talk about your habits either in the present or in the past.

Note that you can also talk about someone else's habits and you can even express your annoyance.











Now complete the sentences with ONE word.


1. I have a _____________ to forget people's birthdays.

2. As a child I _____________ to be very mischievous.

3. As a _____________, I never make arrangements for Sunday morning because we like to sleep in.

4. I _____________ to panic if I don't feel I'll be able to hand in the projects by the deadline.

5. She _____________ talk incessantly for hours and tell you all about her husband and kids.

6. He _____________ on making the same mistakes, he's a lost cause.

7. After school, I _____________ get home, have something to eat and do my homework.

8. She _____________ always texting me silly things. I'm fed up!

9. He had always been _____________ to headaches, even as a child.

10. Nine _____________ out of ten, she would get it wrong. She can't be trusted!





ANSWER KEY
1. tendency
2. used
3. rule
4. tend
5. will
6. keeps
7. would
8. is
9. prone
10. times

Wednesday 17 February 2016

VOCABULARY: Phrasal Verbs with "look" (B2/C1)



1. Match the phrasal verbs with the definitions.

1. Look for
2. Look after
3. Look forward to
4. Look up
5. Look up to
6. Look down on
7. Look like
8. Look into

A. to regard with a feeling of superiority
B. to investigate
C. to resemble OR to be probable
D. to take care of
E. to look for information in a reference book
F. to regard with admiration or respect
G. to seek 
H. to wait or hope for something with excitement


ANSWER KEY:
1.G
2.D
3.H
4.E
5.F
6.A
7.C
8.B

2. Now complete the sentences with the correct phrasal verb. Put the verbs in the correct form.

1. I'm __________ to my holidays, I've already made all the necessary arrangements.
2. I don't want to have children, but I don't mind __________ my nephew.
3. I can't be bothered to __________ the new words when I'm watching my favourite TV series in English.
4. Thank you for the present! It's exactly what I was __________.
5. It __________ it's gonna rain tomorrow.
6. He's so arrogant I can't stand him. He's the kind of person who's always __________ others.
7. You should be proud of your achievements, a lot of people __________ you!

8. I can't come up with an answer now, but I'll __________ it and I'll call you back later.



ANSWER KEY:
1. I'm looking forward to my holidays, I've already made all the necessary arrangements.
2. I don't want to have children, but I don't mind looking after my nephew.
3. I can't be bothered to look up the new words when I'm watching my favourite TV series in English.
4. Thank you for the present! It's exactly what I was looking for.
5. It looks like it's gonna rain tomorrow.
6. He's so arrogant I can't stand him. He's the kind of person who's always looking down on others.
7. You should be proud of your achievements, a lot of people look up to you!
8. I can't come up with an answer now, but I'll look into it and I'll call you back later.


Friday 13 November 2015

Personality idiomatic expressions (C2)


In English there are many colourful idioms connected with aspects of people's personality such as a couch potato (a lazy person who spends very long time on the sofa watching television).

Match the expressions with their explanations.

1. a new broom

2. a wet blanket

3. a stuffed shirt

4. a party pooper 

5. an armchair critic

6. a fair weather friend

7. a nosy parker

8. a rolling stone


A. someone who expresses opinions about things they know very little about

B. someone who doesn't like to stay in one place

C. a pompous, self-opinionated person

D. a gossip who wants to know everything that happens to other people

E. someone who stands by you only when things are going well

F. someone who spoils other people's enjoyment

G. a new person in charge who makes changes

H. a person whose low spirits or lack of enthusiasm have a depressing effect on others






ANSWER KEY:
1. G
2. H
3. C
4. F
5. A
6. E
7. D
8. B




Tuesday 3 November 2015

READING: Single-sex schools are more likely to produce high-flying career girls (B2 / C1)

Read the newspaper article and fill in the blanks with ONE suitable word. 
There are five words you do not need to use.

Single-sex schools are more likely to produce high-flying career girls
A study claims pupils educated within an all-female environment are much more likely to take chances than their coed peers

Jamie Doward
The Observer, Sunday 8 January 2012
If you want your daughter to be a high-flying businesswoman or banker, send her to a single-sex school. This is the startling conclusion drawn from new research charting the complex relationship between gender and risk-taking.

Next month's edition of the Economic Journal (1)__________ the results of an experiment by two economists at the University of Essex. Alison Booth and Patrick Nolen devised a series of questions for 260 male and female pupils that were designed to (2)__________ their appetite for risk. The pupils, from eight state single-sex and coeducational schools in Essex and Suffolk, were asked to choose between a real-stakes lottery and a sure (3)__________ . Option 1 guaranteed they won £5, while option 2 entered them in a lottery in which they would flip a coin and receive £11 if the coin came up heads or £2 tails.

The economists found that, on average, girls were 16% less likely than boys to (4)__________ for the lottery. But significantly, they found that girls in coed schools were 36% less likely to select the lottery than their male peers. The findings appear to confirm the (5)__________ view that males have a greater appetite for risk than females and go some way to indicating that this may be down to the environment in which a young person grows up.
Girls at single-sex schools were also (6)__________ to invest more in a hypothetical risky investment than coed female and all-male pupils.

The findings have important (7)__________ for the emerging field of experimental economics, which examines why there is an under-representation of women in the City. The economists write: "If the majority of remuneration in (8)__________ jobs is tied to bonuses based on a company's performance... women may choose not to take these jobs because of the (9)__________ ."

Anecdotal evidence suggests the economists may be on to something. Some of the City's most (10)__________ businesswomen went to all-girls' schools. Alison Cooper, chief executive of FTSE 100 company Imperial Tobacco, was a pupil at Tiffin Girls' School, Kingston upon Thames; fund manager Nicola Horlick and financier Baroness Vadera both (11)__________ single-sex – albeit private – institutions.

The economists admit they have (12)__________ to explain their findings fully. However, they suggest that "adolescent females... may be… inhibited by culturally driven norms and beliefs about the appropriate mode of female behaviour – (13)__________ risk." Once they are placed in an all-female environment, (14)__________ , they say, this inhibition is reduced. As Booth and Nolen conclude: "No longer reminded of their own gender identity and society's norms, they find it easier to make riskier choices than women who are (15)__________ in a coed class."



1. assisted
2. attended
3. avoiding
4. bet
5. carries
6. choose
7. despite
8. focuses
9. high-paying
10. however
11.implications
12. long-held
13. measure
14. opt
15. placed
16. succeed
17. successful
18. uncertainty
19. willing
20. yet












ANSWER KEY: 1. carries 2. measure 3. bet 4. opt 5. long-held 6. willing 7. implications 8. high-paying 9. uncertainty 10. successful 11. attended 12. yet 13. avoiding 14. however 15. placed.

Wednesday 28 October 2015

VOCABULARY: Crime and Punishment (B2 / C1)


Below you will find a mindmap with the most common vocabulary related with the topic of "Crime and Punishment". Have a look at all the words there and do the activity below.










1. Match the crimes with the examples.
1. BLACKMAIL
2. BRIBERY
3. BURGLARY
4. DRUG DEALING
5. FRAUD
6. HIJACKING
7. KIDNAPPING
8. MUGGING
9. MURDER
10. RAPE
11. ROBBERY
12. SMUGGLING
13. TERRORISM
14. THEFT
15. VANDALISM

A. A gang took a rich man's son and asked the family for money.
B. She went to her ex-husband's house and shot him dead.
C. A passenger on a flight made the pilot land in the desert.
D. After the party the man made the woman have sex against her will.
E. We came home from holiday and found that our TV had gone.
F. Someone tried to sell me some marijuana during a concert.
G. When the border police searched his car, it was full of cigarettes.
H. Someone threw pain on the statue in the park.
I. He said he'd send the photos to a newspaper if the actress didn't pay him a lot of money.
J. An armed man walked into a bank and shouted, "Hands up!"
K. A man transferred company money into his own bank account.
L. A builder offered the mayor a free flat in return for a favour.
M. Two men left a bomb in the supermarket car park.
N. Somebody stole my car last night outside my house.
O. A man held out a knife and make me give him my wallet.



2. Read the following text and choose the correct alternative in each pair.



Last year my house was broken into and 1 robbed/stolen. I immediately informed the police. A police officer came to the house and asked me to make a list of what had been 2 robbed/stolen. I told him my neighbours had seen someone suspicious at the time of the 3 forgery/burglary, so they had to go to the police station and 4 make/do a statement. About a month later the police contacted me to say they had arrested a 5 defendant/suspect. When the case came to court, I went to 6 give/tell evidence. Of course, the man 7 admitted/pleaded not guilty. The 8 jury/lawyer decided there was not enough proof to 9 try/convict him,and he was 10 let off/let go.











ANSWER KEY:


1)
1.I
2.L
3.E
4.F
5.K
6.C
7.A
8.O
9.B
10.D
11.J
12.G
13.M
14.N
15.H


2)
1. robbed
2. stolen
3. burglary
4. make
5. suspect
6. give
7. pleaded
8. jury
9. convict
10. let off

Monday 26 October 2015

VOCABULARY: Weather Idioms (C1 / C2)



Match the idioms with their definitions:

1.         A: Why does she have a face like thunder??
B: She’s very upset because she didn’t get the promotion.

2.         It’s so unfair! It never rains, but it pours! I didn’t get the promotion and what is more I didn’t even get a pay rise!!

3.         A: I think I’m chasing rainbows. I will never get that promotion…
B: Oh! Don’t be so pessimistic!

4.         A: I just don’t know what I can do… I think I’m going to quit my job!
B: Don’t be silly! That all sounds like a storm in a teacup to me.

5.         Don’t forget he told you he was pleased with your job and gave you the afternoon off. Every cloud has a silver lining!



A.     To make your problems sound worse than what they really are
B.     To be very angry
C.     Even bad situations have positive aspects
D.    To wait for something that will never happen
E.     To have very big problems.







ANSWER KEY: 1. B , 2. E, 3. D, 4. A, 5. C