Grammar
🎄Correct the error: “If Santa would have known earlier, he’d have left sooner.”
The structure of the third conditional is:
Give a high-register synonym for “to worsen”.
to exacerbate (make a problem more severe)
to aggravate (intensify or inflame a negative situation)
to compound (make something worse by adding new problems)
to escalate (increase in seriousness, intensity, or scale)
to deteriorate (decline in quality or condition)
Explain “to brush up on” and give a professional context example.
Brush up on = revise/improve knowledge before use.
“She brushed up on her statistics before the conference.”
Identify the stylistic register of: “Look, I’m not buying that explanation.”
Colloquial / informal spoken English.
Decode this clipped message: “FYI, the board’s pushing the rollout back Q2—keep stakeholders looped.”
“For your information, the board is delaying the product launch to 2nd quarter — keep stakeholders informed.”
Form a reduced relative clause from: “The student who was waiting outside finally got called in.”
“The student waiting outside finally got called in.”
Provide a precise definition of “conundrum”.
Conundrum = a difficult, puzzling problem with no obvious solution.
🎄Interpret “to wrap something up” as a metaphor in a festive business email.
Wrap something up = finish/close a task.
“Let’s wrap things up before the holiday break.”
Explain why this headline uses inverted structures: “Only after the scandal erupted did the minister resign.”
Inversion used for emphasis and stylistic dramatic effect.
Interpret the pragmatic meaning of: “Well, that was… bold.”
Pragmatic meaning: Criticism masked as politeness; the speaker disliked it.
Rewrite using an emphatic do: “I think he understands.”
“I do think he understands.”
Paraphrase “to take something at face value” in C1 academic style.
“To accept something without questioning its deeper meaning or validity.”
Provide a near-synonym for “to skirt around (an issue)”.
*To sidestep (an issue).
Skirt around (an issue)
“The spokesperson kept skirting around the question, refusing to confirm the company’s role in the leak.”
Sidestep (an issue)
“He tried to sidestep the criticism by shifting the conversation to future plans.”
Analyse the rhetorical effect of the metaphor in: “Her argument built like a gathering storm.”
It creates tension and a sense of emotional build-up.
Give a precise definition of “serendipity” and contrast it with “serenity”.
Serendipity = fortunate accidental discovery.
Serenity = calm, peaceful state.
Transform into a cleft sentence emphasising the object: “Shakespeare wrote that line.”
“It was that line that Shakespeare wrote.”
Give a nuanced difference between “dwindle” and “ebb”.
Dwindle = decrease in number/amount.
Ebb = gradually decline in strength/intensity.
“Attendance at the evening lectures began to dwindle once exam season kicked in.”
“Her initial enthusiasm for the project slowly began to ebb as delays piled up.”
Produce a sentence with “to zero in on” in a research-based context.
“The study zeroes in on the effects of digital fatigue.”
🎄Identify and explain the cultural reference in: “He ghosted the meeting like the office Grinch.”
Reference: The Grinch = Christmas-hating character from Dr Seuss.
Meaning: Someone who spoils the mood.
Reformulate an overly blunt sentence to make it diplomatically indirect: “Your proposal won’t work.”
Diplomatic version: “I’m not sure the proposal would work in its current form.”
Combine with a participle clause: “He walked out of the meeting. He was furious.”
“Furious, he walked out of the meeting.”
🎄Define “yuletide” and use it in a sentence showing connotation and tone.
Yuletide = the Christmas season (slightly old-fashioned, warm tone).
“The village glowed with yuletide cheer.”
Distinguish meaning and register between “to pull off” and “to pull through”.
Pull off = succeed in achieving something difficult (informal).
Pull through = recover from a difficult situation/illness (neutral).
Define “hedging language” and provide two academic examples.
Hedging = softening claims to sound cautious/academic.
Examples: “It seems that…” / “The evidence suggests that…”
🎄Explain the idiom “stocking-stuffer” and give a business-world metaphorical use.
Stocking-stuffer = a small, inexpensive Christmas gift.
Metaphorical: “It’s a stocking-stuffer feature — nice to have, but not central.”