Let’s Take a C1 Grammar Test 📋 and critique it [949] | Luke's ENGLISH Podcast - Learn British English with Luke Thompson

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Welcome back to Luke's English Podcast. In this episode, I'm going to take a C1 English grammar test.

It's a multiple choice grammar test and the typical kind of multiple choice grammar test that you might find if you just went on Google and searched for C1 grammar test or C1 English test, a typical multiple choice grammar test.

For C1 level, C1 means an advanced level, okay?

What I'll do is I'll go through each question.

I'll read out the question, give you the options. let you consider what you think is the right answer.

Then I'll give my answer and explain why I think it's the correct answer. and then I can also give you some mini grammar lessons along the way, okay?

So my reasons for doing this are twofold.

There are two of them. First of all, I just want to teach and discuss grammar on this podcast.

Now, I don't think that grammar is the be-all and end-all word. when it comes to learning English, right?

I mean, that's not to say that it's not important of course, having a good base of grammatical knowledge and being able to control your grammar and use English accurately is obviously very important.

But I don't think it's the be all and end all.

But I do think it's important. And also, I don't really do grammar on this podcast that often. for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is, as I said, it's not necessarily the most important thing.

And a lot of people studied grammar for years at school and didn't necessarily get very far with that approach.

And so I want to offer something different, which is a more of a a kind of communicative sort of approach to doing this where you are able to just listen to English being used and focus on the meaning and expose yourself to a lot of language and maybe pick up vocabulary which arguably is more important than grammar.

So that's one of the reasons I don't do grammar that much. because I prioritise other skills and other language systems in my episodes.

The other reason I don't often do grammar on the podcast is because it can become... a bit boring, let's be honest.

I mean, I personally don't find grammar to be that boring myself.

I think it's a kind of a fascinating thing, exploring the structures of English and the way that the language works, the mechanics of it, I actually find that interesting.

But in my experience as a teacher – and I've been teaching in classrooms to adults – for I think it's about 25 years now, there's always the same thing that kind of happens where you know the students want grammar, because they think, I've paid my money, I'm in a language school, let's do some serious studying of English, and that means studying grammar, so come on, let's do it.

And then you do it and you end up... doing some series of exercises which allows the students to focus on, I don't know what it could be, like verb tenses or sentence structures.

And you get to a point where you are discussing and explaining, let's say, why certain answers are correct, and you get into the so-called rules of grammar. them.

Not that they are rules, really. They're more kind of ways of decoding the patterns of English.

It's not like someone wrote a rule book Instead these are just sort of ways that we understand how grammar works.

And we get into that and it starts to become a bit abstract where you're... using a lot of, let's say, meta language, you're talking about language and sometimes the language you're using to describe the language that you're trying to learn becomes arguably more complicated and you end up sort of splitting hairs.

This means getting into minute details. and making very slight distinctions between things.

And before you know it, You're discussing language almost out of context, away from its meaning.

And when you take language away from its context and its meaning, then it becomes like this abstract, almost meaningless thing.

It can be a bit frustrating. You get to a point where you can't see the wood for the trees. which is an idiom in English just that means that you can't see the bigger picture because you're focused on these tiny details.

So... Those are the two reasons why I don't often do grammar on the podcast, and that might happen in this episode.

But we'll see. When we get there, we'll see.

So I want to teach and discuss grammar on the podcast.

I don't do it often. And also I'd like to talk about the pros and cons of using tests like this to measure your English level. and talk more generally about how we test our level of English and what the difference is between a good test, a bad test, in my opinion, and even a scam test as well.

I think it's completely reasonable for any learner of English, including you maybe, to Google C1 grammar test in order to check their English level. especially if you've got a job interview coming up and they require a C1 level and you want to check to see if you do have that level. or maybe you're applying for a place at university and the course requires a certain level, so you need to check your English level and maybe prove your English level.

So it's completely reasonable that someone would Google C1 grammar test. which is again kind of part of the reason why I want to do this.

I want to get into that area and uncover it.

But an important point here, I think, is that your English level is not just about grammar.

Other skills matter too. And a... You know, a multiple choice grammar test really only tests a very small percentage part of the overall set of, the particular set of skills that you need to be good at English. identifying correct sentences from a list of options is really only a small part of it.

Being good at English really involves a complex interplay of different language systems and different skills so it involves vocabulary your vocabulary range and the way you use vocabulary, your grammar range and your control of grammar,

So range meaning the variety of different grammatical forms you can use, the way you're able to control it, manipulate sentences for various purposes, your accuracy, whether you make mistakes or not,

And just considerations about the pragmatics of English.

It's slightly harder to define this, but... general communicative competence or your interactive ability, just measuring your your ability to cooperate with another person in English and make adjustments and changes to your English to... have certain effects.

Also, of course, your pronunciation, your clarity, the way you organise your ideas when you speak or write.

And of course, the fact that there are receptive skills and productive skills, listening and reading. are receptive skills and there are a variety of different skills under those categories and then speaking and writing of course So just identify correct grammatical sentences is really only a small part of one section in the overall range of different skills that you need for being good at English, right?

But that's not to say grammar is not important.

Of course, you need a good understanding of grammar and the ability to choose from a variety of different forms that you have in your mind to express yourself. fully, but there is a difference between knowing about grammar and being able to use grammar effectively.

Right, having a sort of explicit knowledge of grammar because you've studied it and you know the names of the different grammatical forms. and you know the quote-unquote rules that dictate what is right and what is wrong.

That is an explicit knowledge of grammar.

So you can know about grammar, but sort of knowing grammar... meaning being able to actually use it correctly to achieve different things.

This is a more implicit sort of almost instinctive sense of grammar.

And it's the way that native speakers of any language... understand their own grammar so for example native speakers of English they might not be able to discuss grammar describe it name the different forms that they're using, right?

They don't necessarily have that explicit knowledge of grammar.

These days we don't really study grammar at school in that explicit kind of way, but of course native speakers have that. sense, that intuitive sense about what is right and wrong.

And so that's the difference between knowing about grammar and just knowing grammar, being able to use it instinctively, you see.

And what you really want is that intuitive sense of instinct with grammar.

This is really what you want. Do we get that by studying it explicitly?

Is that how that happens? That's the understanding, right?

That's often the way it's done. Right, I'm going to be good at English, I need to study all the different grammar forms and maybe you go to lessons where they do lessons about different verb tenses or relative clauses or this that and the other and by explicitly understanding it and practicing it, you gain more control.

The other way of looking at it is that you kind of acquire grammar as you slowly absorb English and as it leaves its imprint on you.

Slightly less specific sounding method there, but Anyway, I wanted to point that out also and give that typical example that I've given in the past, which is that I've seen so many learners of English who are good at grammar on paper.

They have excellent explicit knowledge of grammar.

So if you give them a grammar test, they will do really, really well.

But when it comes to actually having an effective conversation or being able to do things in English, they struggle.

And this is that point that I've made in the past, which is that English is not necessarily about what you know, it's about what you can do.

So it's always worth keeping that in mind that we shouldn't put too much value on multiple choice grammar tests because They don't really test your ability to do things in English.

OK, so there you go. But millions of people...

Search for online tests for English level and do them.

But you need to be careful because not all tests are reliable or fair. not all of them will actually tell you anything useful and indeed some of them are only there really to take your money to exploit your need or desire to check your English level and they will just essentially give you something that's not very useful and then they will just take your money from you.

So that's something to be aware of. I just wanted to add at this point, before we start the test, There is an episode PDF for this with notes that I'm using during the episode, the questions and answers from the test and a full episode script as well.

Also, I need to remind myself to take a break to drink some water in about 30 minutes.

Siri, 30 minute timer. Siri apparently is asleep.

Hello? 30 minute timer, please. Okay, no, I'll do it myself.

I'll do it myself manually. Okay, there you go.

30 minute timer has been activated. Okay, I'll talk more about what makes a test good or bad later on.

Let's take the test then. So let's do a generic C1 English grammar test.

So despite all of the stuff I said about typical English tests, which you find online just now, Let's do one of these online tests now, shall we?

So earlier on, I googled C1 grammar test and I looked at the first three or four results on Google, which I think is normal.

I didn't go further than that. I just looked at the first few results.

Now, as we know, it's important to be a bit more rigorous than that when you're Googling something.

You don't just go for the first few things you discover.

You should probably take time to assess your results.

But anyway, I decided to stick with the first links I found.

Not the sponsored links, but the first genuine links. because I wanted to see what most people would find when looking for this kind of thing.

Um, And I was shown some of the proper tests like CAE, like the Cambridge exams, which I do think are very good tests, IELTS and things like CAE. the Certificate of Advanced English on the Cambridge English website, but also found a lot of less reputable tests as well.

One of the results... that I discovered, brought me to a test on a website called testizer.com, testizer.com.

I don't know if you've ever heard of it.

But this is a website which provides tests for English and other languages at various levels and which claims to provide you... with an English certificate as soon as you finish your test saying that this is something you could present to potential employers.

On the front page of Testizer it says this It says, test your skills and analyse your strengths and weaknesses.

Make yourself more noticeable with a certificate of achievement and enhance your professional status.

Add a certificate to your job application or social profile. like LinkedIn and get more job offers.

Now this seems okay, at first glance when you first have a quick look at it but the more I looked at this the more disappointed and even annoyed I became as I will explain later.

So we will kind of critique the test later on.

But for now, let's just take the test and see what it's like.

What grammar points come up? How can I use this to teach you some English?

And does this test have any good points at all?

Okay, so let's get started. Now... The test has a timer, it's got a 25 minute timer, so I won't necessarily have time to discuss each question as I do it.

I'll just give you the questions. We'll go through the 25 questions.

I'll read out the questions and the options.

I'll let you think about what would be the correct answer.

I'll give my correct answer and then later I'll go back through the test and explain everything that came up.

OK, giving you the reasons why each answer, in my opinion, was correct and why others were not correct.

And I'm going to have to take screenshots of each question as well. so that I can go back and find, because I think that each time you do this test, it gives you slightly different questions.

Anyway, let's get started. So, question one.

The thief admitted the money. So it's a gap fill, basically.

The thief admitted, hmm, the money. So is it the thief admitted to steal the money?

The thief admitted stealing the money or the thief admitted steal the money.

Or the thief admitted having steal the money.

Right? Okay, let me just take a screenshot of that.

The thief admitted to steal the money, the thief admitted stealing the money, The thief admitted steal the money.

The thief admitted having steal the money.

Well, it's the thief admitted stealing the money.

Yeah, I suppose this is probably kind of advanced level stuff, is it? um Yeah, it's admit doing, that's the reason.

I'll go through each question again, as I said, and give more specifics.

It's admit doing. After the verb admit, it's one of those verbs that requires an ing, a gerund form of the next verb. if it's followed by another verb, which it probably is.

Admit is normally followed by a verb. Admit doing something.

The thief admitted stealing. So that's why it's not to steal and it's not steal.

The thief admitted having. Now, having is a gerund, but this is what's called a perfect gerund, meaning... the gerund form of the auxiliary verb have, that's having, But of course in perfect forms you need the past participle.

So that would be the thief admitted having stolen the money.

That would be correct. But no, it's the thief admitted stealing the money.

I don't have time actually to give comments like this on every question at this point.

I'll have to wait until afterwards. So anyway, next question, number two.

This time tomorrow, I something lying on a tropical beach.

This time tomorrow, I lying on a tropical beach.

So is it? This time tomorrow I've been lying on a tropical beach.

This time tomorrow I'll be lying on a tropical beach.

Or this time tomorrow, I'm lying on a tropical beach.

Or is it this time tomorrow I'll being lying on a tropical beach?

Okay. I think this is one of those cases where Certainly your instinctive knowledge of grammar kicks in when you just know that I'll being lying on a tropical beach just never sounds right.

So as a learner of English, right, I talked before about how native speakers have this implicit... instinctive knowledge about what's right and wrong.

Things just feel right or they don't feel right.

And it's after you've had that feeling that you're able to then maybe explain it if you have also explicit knowledge of grammar.

That's not to say that learners of English like you, someone who has English as a second language, that you don't have that instinct.

Of course you do. You do have that instinct, and I always want you to develop that instinct of what feels right and wrong. by essentially listening a lot and reading a lot.

And as you do that, you slowly build up a kind of memory bank, a subconscious memory bank of all of the English that you've been exposed to in your life.

And something just feels wrong when you hear or read I'll being lying.

It just feels wrong because you just know from experience that this never happens, that those... that combination of words never happens.

So of course you have certain instincts, which is great, and that's something I want you to build on.

But you'll be using a combination of that instinct and your explicit knowledge of grammar and just knowing, for example, that I'll...

That will is not followed by a gerund like that, I'll being, or followed by a present participle.

So, it's this time tomorrow I'll be lying on a tropical beach.

Now, I would actually argue this time tomorrow, I'm lying on a tropical beach.

I... I think that's not necessarily wrong.

So I would think that's okay too. But this time tomorrow, I've been lying on a tropical beach is certainly not correct.

I'll go through the answers. Uh, I'll go through the answers afterwards as I said, so I need you to just kind of keep moving here.

Okay, I think that is probably fair that it's a C1 grammar. future continuous.

It's the sort of thing you get at an advanced level.

Next question. How are you doing? Did you get the two right?

Question three. It's very dusty here right now because the office next door, hmm. redecorated.

It's very dusty here right now because the office next door, something...

The office next door, something redecorated.

So it's the office next door being redecorated.

Why can't I say that word? The office next door being redecorated, or the office next door is redecorated, or the office next door is being redecorated, or the office next door are being redecorated.

Well, of course, we can instantly cancel out our being because the office is singular.

So that's obviously not our being. The office being redecorated, the office is redecorated, the office is being redecorated.

The answer is the office is being redecorated.

So you've got present continuous, but also passive office.

We'll come back to that. Let me take a screenshot of it so I can go into it in more detail with my comments.

The office next door is being redecorated.

Next. Question four. I something have much longer hair when I was younger.

I something have much longer hair when I was younger.

Okay. And it's, I would have much longer hair when I was younger.

Well, I'd have much longer hair. Or, I would to have much longer hair when I was younger.

I used to have much longer hair when I was younger. or I used to have much longer hair when I was younger.

I think that's not really C1 grammar. I think that's too easy.

I think that's intermediate stuff. And of course, you know the answer, don't you?

It's, I used to have much longer hair when I was younger.

That's used to. I think that's... the sort of thing that comes up in intermediate level English courses normally.

There is something to point out. I mean, obviously would to have is definitely wrong.

And you should have identified that from the beginning, that we'd never have an infinitive after a modal verb like would.

Used, just used without to... is obviously wrong as well.

But there is something to say about the difference between using would and using used to when we're talking about sort of past habits and that's something i'll point out later on do you know that Like I, you know, when I was younger, I'd go into the centre of London and I'd go shopping and I'd buy coffee and then I'd walk around the shopping centre.

I used to do that every weekend. That's correct.

Anyway, we'll come back to that. Let me take a photo.

I have to remember to take photos of every page.

Right, moving on. I don't really like loud music, but Stephen, hmm.

So that hmm is a gap. I don't really like loud music, but Stephen, hmm.

So, I don't really like loud music but Stephen does.

I don't really like loud music but Stephen is.

I don't really like loud music but Stephen doesn't.

I don't really like loud music, but Stephen isn't.

I think that's quite easy. This particular feature of English is not necessarily present in other languages.

This is the point. This is a sort of thing that English does that other languages don't do.

And it's, I don't really like loud music, but Stephen does.

And it's Stephen does because of butt. All right, so we're contrasting what I like and what Stephen likes.

So I don't, but Stephen does. That's why it's does and not doesn't, because that wouldn't make sense.

I don't really like loud music, but Stephen doesn't.

It would be and Stephen doesn't. I don't like loud music, but Steven does.

Okay, right. That's a way of avoiding repetition.

I can't give too many comments or I'll run out of time.

25 minutes, I've got 25 questions, so if I talk for more than one minute per question, I will run out of time.

Anyway... I don't like loud music, but Stephen does.

OK, next. Oh, damn. I forgot to take a photo of that, didn't I?

I knew it. I'll have to survive without that.

Anyway, number six. Please let me... Something I'm sure you have more work to do than I have.

Please let me to help. Please let me helping.

Please let me help. Please let me to helping.

Easy, right? That's surely easy. I mean, you'd never say, please let me to helping.

Please let me helping. I've never heard... learner of English in my life, I think, make that mistake.

Maybe someone might say, please let me to help.

The answer is, please let me help. because of the verb let, right?

Let is followed by what we call a bare infinitive.

That's just help without to. Please let me say something.

Please let me come. Please let me help. Okay, all right, in English, some verbs are followed by, Infinitives with two, some verbs are followed by gerunds, that's the ING form, and some verbs are followed by bare infinitives, that's without two.

Okay, let me take a photo of that, a screenshot.

I'll come back to it, next. Question seven, I can't, hmm, used to my new schedule.

It's so confusing. So I can't be used to my new schedule.

It's so confusing. I can't get used to my new schedule.

It's so confusing. I can't do used to my new schedule.

I can't got used to my new schedule. Okay.

So this is testing you on... I mean, this is supposed to be testing you on a very common...

Sort of structure in English and that's to get used to doing something or to get used to something the answer is get used to and Obviously that's a really common form in English and To be any good at English, you need to be able to use get used to.

For example, I can't get used to this. I don't know if that question really tests your ability to use it.

Yeah, it's just testing your ability to identify a correct sentence, not necessarily use a sentence.

In my experience, learners of English actually struggle to use get used to. because they get distracted by used to, as we saw earlier.

Anyway, it's I can't get used to my new schedule.

That was question seven. Let me take a screenshot.

Okay, moving on. Question eight. We are...

Find a petrol station soon. We've been driving for three hours.

So we're sure find a petrol station soon. or we are must find a petrol station soon, or we are bound to find a petrol station soon, or we are have to find a petrol station soon.

Again, I understand what the test is doing, that there are certain structures in English that you probably should know at an advanced level, like, for example, bound to find.

But I don't know if this is really the way of testing your ability to do it.

It would be better to force you to construct a sentence which meant the same as another one, like sentence reconstructions, where you're forced to use a certain word, but you've got to use the right preposition or the right auxiliary verb in the right forms.

Anyway, we are bound to find a petrol station soon we've been driving for three hours is the correct answer okay yeah Right, I'll come back to that question and give my comments and more details and little grammar lessons. soon.

Let's carry on though. I've only got about 12 minutes.

Question nine. We would rather... On holiday in August, but we had to wait until September.

In the end, we had a great time. We would rather on holiday in August, but we had to wait until September.

In the end, we had a great time. So you've got to use contextual clues here. to make sure you understand the time period for this.

So are we talking about the past, the present or the future?

We would rather on holiday in August, but we had to wait until September.

In the end, we had a great time. So this is someone looking back at their summer holiday.

It may be the autumn, maybe the winter, but we're looking back on our summer holiday and talking about the past.

So we would rather go on holiday in August, we would rather have gone on holiday in August, we would rather that we go on holiday in August, or we would rather went on holiday in August.

So, it's not we would rather go on holiday in August because that's talking about the future.

We would rather that we go is just not grammar in English.

Right. And we would rather went on holiday.

It's also not correct grammar. So if you want to say we would rather, but about a thing that happened in the past, you have to use that perfect form.

We would rather have gone on holiday. Okay.

Oh, I forgot to take a screenshot. I can't go back because if I go back, it resets the test.

All right, gotta keep, gotta remember that.

Question 10. He has a car which he drives much too fast.

He has a car which he drives much too fast.

So he has a big red German car. He has a German red big car.

He has a red German big car, or he has a red big German car.

Right, so this is the order of adjectives.

Hopefully, one of those will just feel right.

So, he has a big red German car. He has a German red big car.

He has a red German big car. Or he has a red big German car.

The answer is, he has a big red German car.

Size, colour, origin. There is an order to adjectives that we use.

If we use multiple adjectives in a line, in a row, they have to go in a certain order.

And if they're not in that order, it just feels wrong.

So size, colour, origin, big red German car.

Yeah, moving on. Ah, damn it, I didn't take a frickin' screenshot.

Big red German car. I wanted to make a note of that because I want to tell you about the order of adjectives.

Let me just write that down. big red German, Car, right, I'll come back to that.

11, we bought something for our flat. So we bought new furniture for our flat.

We bought new furnitures, plural, for our flat.

We bought furnitures new, for our flat or we bought a new furniture for our flat.

So furniture's new is obviously completely wrong because we don't put the adjective after the noun in English, right?

I mean, that's not advanced level. That's basic stuff.

It's obviously new furniture, not furniture's new.

So you can forget that. But... So we have either new furniture, new furnitures, or a new furniture.

Now the answer is new furniture, because furniture is uncountable. right so we don't pluralize the word and we don't use the um you know we don't use our uh a indefinite article, uh, with that word either.

So that's about Words that you might not expect to be uncountable and understanding countable and uncountable nouns.

I've taken a screenshot. Let's move on. Halfway through the test, more or less, the boat sailed across an Pacific Ocean.

This is a question about articles. The boat sailed across Pacific Ocean.

So is it the boat sailed across Pacific Ocean, the boat sailed across the Pacific Ocean, the boat sailed across a Pacific Ocean, or the boat sailed across an Pacific Ocean.

You should all know that it's the Pacific Ocean. right?

The answer to that one should be obvious, but I will come back to it next.

Question 13. I read English newspapers. Forget my English.

So, I read English... Why do you read English newspapers?

I read English newspapers so as not to forget my English or...

I read English newspapers not to forget my English or, hold on a minute, Let me back up.

So, I read English newspapers so as not to forget my English.

I read English newspapers to not forget my English.

I read English newspapers so as not forget my English. or I read English newspapers to forget my English.

So the last one obviously there is Doesn't make sense.

Why do you read English newspapers? Oh, to forget my English.

Doesn't make sense. The answer is so as not to forget my English.

But I actually would say that to not forget my English is also acceptable and correct, although the test doesn't agree with me.

But I read English newspapers, why? Well, so as not to forget my English.

Okay, take a screenshot. and continue. All right then.

I've got six minutes left. I've got to hurry up.

Question 14. something, so space, I need is four extra hours in the day.

So it's what I need is four extra hours or it's I need is four extra hours or the reason I need is four extra hours in the day. or that I need is four extra hours in the day.

I mean, that should be obvious. Again, I understand what the test is trying to do.

It's trying to test you on the fact that you should be able to form cleft sentences in English.

Sentences that begin with a what, for example. that aren't questions and you have to understand the way that the rest of the sentence works.

I mean, you could get this question right easily without being a master of cleft sentences, just because you know that the other options are complete nonsense.

Anyway, taking a screenshot of question 14, the answer is, what I need is four extra hours in the day.

Question 15. You wouldn't be in a rush now if you earlier this morning.

You wouldn't be in a rush now if you earlier this morning.

Earlier this morning is a big clue. That's in the past.

So it's you wouldn't be in a rush now if you wake up earlier this morning or if you would wake up earlier this morning. or if you will wake up earlier this morning, or if you had woken up earlier this morning.

So it's a mixed conditional sentence. The second part is about the past, so it's if you had woken up earlier this morning.

That's kind of like a third conditional.

It's a bit of a mix of a second and third conditional.

OK. Question 16. The kids promised not... about the surprise party.

So the kids promised not to tell... Sorry.

The kids promised not to tell anyone. The kids promised not to tell anyone.

The kids promised not telling anyone. The kids promised not don't tell anyone.

Obviously that's not correct. It's not to tell.

Right, okay, again, this is kind of like gerunds and infinitives.

In this case, it's an infinitive after the word promise.

Okay, moving on. Question 17. I arrived at school half an hour late after the class.

Hmm. I arrived at school half an hour late after the class was started.

After the class had started, after the class started or after the class has started?

This one is actually debatable and borderline.

I think there's more than one possible answer to this.

But it's after the class had started. I arrived late. past perfect there to make it clear, to make it explicit when the action happened.

I'll go into the details in a bit. Question 18.

As I was something... If we can borrow a DVD player, we'll be able to watch the film.

So, as I was to saying, as I was said, as I was to say, or as I was saying, Again, this is an example of, okay, you should be able to manage your English discourse by saying things like, as I was saying.

But this question really just tests your ability to identify that as I was to saying, as I was said, and as I was to say, are all nonsense, really.

So it's just by process of elimination you get to the correct answer, as I was saying.

Yeah. Okay, moving on. Question 19. We something the bedroom painted at the moment.

So we are doing the bedroom painted at the moment, we have the bedroom painted at the moment, we are having the bedroom painted at the moment, or we are... the bedroom painted at the moment okay so this is Is this causative have?

Is that what you call it? Anyway, it's we are having the bedroom painted at the moment.

I'll explain why in a moment because I've only got two minutes left to do five or six questions.

This is question 20. You can't something left your phone at the hotel.

We used it to call a taxi. You can't. So I think I've left my phone at the hotel.

No, you can't. Left your phone at the hotel.

We used it. just now. So you can't haven't left your phone, you can't have left your phone, you can't had left your phone, or you can't get left your phone.

Obviously you can't have left your phone is correct.

Screenshot. Okay, next. Question 21. I've lost my wallet with the tickets in it.

In other, hmm, we can't go to the concert.

I've lost my wallet with the tickets in it.

In other, hmm, we can't go to the concert.

In other opinions, we can't go to the concert.

In other case, we can't go to the concert.

In other notion, it's obviously in other words.

In other words, we can't go to the concert.

Okay, just another sort of fixed phrase, I think, that is being tested there.

Question 22. It was something weather that we made up our mind to stay indoors.

It was such an awful weather. that we decided to stay indoors, or it was such awful weather that we decided to stay indoors, it was so awful weather that we decided to stay indoors, It was a very awful weather that we decided to stay indoors.

It was such awful weather is the correct answer.

You could be caught out by that one, because I do notice learners making mistakes with that kind of thing.

We'll go through it in a minute. Question 23, we had a good holiday, even it rained quite a lot.

We had a good holiday, even though it rained quite a lot.

I will explain in a minute. Running out of time.

I've got about 18 seconds. Question 24. Something are famous for being friendly.

So the ties are famous for being friendly.

Tie are famous. It's the ties. It's just a way of referring to a nationality.

And question 25, quickly take a photo of it before you run out of time.

Okay, I've run out of time. Okay, so I missed the last question because I ran out of time, which means that I got only 24 out of 25 questions right.

But here's what the website says when you finish.

It says, thank you for taking the test. You've given correct answers to 24. out of 25 questions, because I missed the last one.

This is an excellent result. Your level is likely to be higher than advanced.

Try to take the next level test. If you would like to receive a detailed report on the test results, and a certificate confirming your level, please fill in this form.

Please be careful while filling it in because the certificate is generated automatically. using the submitted personal details and we will be sent to the specified email address blah blah blah blah, blah, blah.

You have to fill in your name, give them your email address.

Oh, oh yes. And you have to pay $10. which I didn't realise when I started.

You know, because it said you can get a certificate, you can use it to attract employers, put it on your LinkedIn profile.

Oh, yeah. So after I've taken the test, I've invested the time and effort in doing the test.

I want to get my detailed results. I want to get my certificate.

Oh, it's $10. Which seems a little bit unfair, doesn't it?

They didn't seem to make that explicitly clear at the beginning.

That's my water reminder. They didn't seem to make that explicitly clear at the start that I would have to pay $10.

It's only until you've actually done the whole test that you realise, oh, I've got to pay $10.

That's a bit dodgy, isn't it? Okay. Right, so let's go through the questions.

There was another one that I... There were a few that I didn't screenshot, including the one about Stephen.

I don't... like loud music, wasn't it? I don't like loud music, but Stephen... does.

Okay, so I'll deal with that. And there's the big red German car as well. to deal with.

Right, so what I'm gonna do now is just put together the questions onto my Google document and then go through them again one by one and do little sort of mini grammar lessons for each one.

Let's do that now, shall we? Oh, drink of water.

Let's have some water first. Let's have a little water break.

When I've finished my water break and I've... collated all of those questions onto the Google document, then we'll take a trip into... grammar hole.

We're going to go down a rabbit hole of English grammar in just a moment.

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OK, then let's go through the questions one by one.

There were, I think, three questions. that I didn't manage to capture with screenshots.

And I can remember two of those. There's just one I can't remember.

So never mind. Question one, was the thief admitted stealing the money?

Right? The thief admitted stealing the money.

So this comes under the category of gerunds and infinitives, which is a big thing in English.

It's not necessarily the same in a lot of other languages, but in English, when one verb is followed by another verb, that second verb, or sorry, the first verb will dictate or define the form of the second one.

So for example, you know that it's want is followed by an infinitive, I want to eat an ice cream.

It's not I want eating an ice cream, it's I want to do something.

So want is when followed by another verb, is in the infinitive form.

And in English we do this rather than, let's say, constructing a whole other clause.

So we don't say, I want that I eat an ice cream.

We don't do that. So I guess it's a mark of the efficiency English.

This is just one case in which English is quite efficient.

So, the thief admitted stealing the money.

This is because admit is followed by a gerund.

That's the ing form of a verb. to admit doing something.

He admitted stealing the money. They admitted Well, they admitted lying about the chocolate.

Okay? Yeah, so there you go. So just the verb admit is followed by ger, and that's it basically.

And... In English, you may have discovered this is one of those tricky things that you just have to basically remember. that certain verbs are followed by certain forms, So you have these verbs are followed by ing forms, these verbs are followed by infinitives,

These verbs are followed by bare infinitives, that's infinitives without to, And then these verbs could be followed by either with the same meaning, and these verbs could be followed by either or but with a different meaning.

So this is the whole area of gerunds and infinitives, which is worth exploring, worth looking at, and certainly... would be worth me doing a few podcast episodes about and it's something I plan to do In premium episodes, I've been preparing some stuff about gerunds and infinitives for LEP Premium.

But anyway, to admit doing something. Question two, this time tomorrow, I will be lying on a tropical beach.

I mentioned also that I think that you could feasibly say, this time tomorrow I'm lying on a tropical beach. which means something slightly different.

But anyway, this time tomorrow, I will be lying on a tropical beach.

This is future continuous. And this time tomorrow tells us the time, that's the time expression, gives us time context.

And that means at this moment, tomorrow, so for me, it's now 11.34 in the morning.

So at 11.34 tomorrow, I will be lying on a tropical beach.

So the second part of that is in a continuous form, because it represents something that will be, let's say, in progress at that particular moment.

Okay? I will start lying on the beach before 11.34 and I will stop lying on the beach after it, so at precisely 11.34. lying on the beach will be in progress.

That's why we use a continuous form. And because we're talking about the future, we use will.

And so the future, the continuous form with will is will plus B plus ING, because, of course, we've got will. which has to be followed by a bare infinitive of a verb.

And we've got a continuous form, which in English is made using an auxiliary verb and an ing verb, right, a present participle.

Okay, not a gerund because it's part of a continuous form.

So that's be plus lying in this case. So we'll be lying.

Okay, in the same way that we say right now, what are you doing?

I'm doing a grammar test. I'm listening to Luke's English podcast.

This time tomorrow, what will you be doing?

Well, of course, I will be listening to Luke's English podcast because I always listen to Luke's English podcast in the morning.

So... definitely at 11.35 tomorrow morning, I will be listening to Luke's English podcast.

In fact, I will still be listening to this episode because it's... potentially that long.

Same thing for the past. If you talk about a specific moment in the past, we would probably use a past continuous form to talk about what was in progress or what the situation was at that moment.

11.36 yesterday. I was, what was I doing at 11.36 yesterday?

At 11.36 yesterday, I was preparing this episode, in fact.

I was preparing. Okay, now I said before, I am lying on a tropical beach.

You could say that, but it doesn't mean that lying on a tropical beach will be in progress.

It just means that that is what you will do at that moment.

Because we do use present continuous. I'm lying on a tropical beach.

We do use that to talk about things you plan to do in the future.

Like, what are you doing tomorrow? Oh, I'm having lunch with my parents.

Okay, what are you doing at the weekend?

Oh my wife and the kids we are We're travelling out of Paris to spend the weekend in the countryside.

We're spending the weekend in the countryside.

Where are you having lunch today? I'm having lunch at home today.

These are all things in the future. So we use present continuous to talk about things we have. arranged to do or plan to do or decided to do in the same way that we would use going to.

I'm going to have dinner at home today or I'm having dinner at home today. today.

That's something you've decided to do. So this time tomorrow I'm lying on a tropical beach but that does mean that at 11.37 you will start lying on a tropical beach so right it's 11.37 time to lie down.

And then you lie down, you know. This time tomorrow, I'm lying on a tropical beach.

That means you intend to start lying on a tropical beach at 11.38 tomorrow.

Hmm. This time tomorrow, I've been lying on a tropical beach doesn't work because I've been is present. perfect, continuous, and we use that to describe the past and the present.

It's not for talking about the future. Maybe you could say, I will have been, I will have been lying on a beach.

But you would use that to talk about how long.

Because tomorrow I'm going to start lying on the beach at nine o'clock.

So at 11.38 tomorrow, I will have been lying on the beach for two hours and 38 minutes.

Why would you say this? I don't know what kind of inane conversation this is.

This is not normally what we say when we're talking about our holiday plans.

What about you? How long will you have been lying on the beach this time tomorrow morning?

Good question. Great conversation. Tomorrow morning, I will have been lying on the beach for three hours at this time.

Anyway, so let's move on. Question two. So far, okay.

I mean, so far, all right, the test is testing grammar points, which are, yeah, okay, probably around a C1 level. you certainly should be able to use this stuff.

I mean, like I keep saying, it's one thing being able to identify the right answer from a series of answers where some of the answers are obviously wrong.

But would you be able to come out with this kind of stuff on your own?

If it's the end of July and you're talking to your friends and you're saying, you know what, I can't wait to go on holiday.

You know, we're leaving in the morning. And you know what?

This time tomorrow, I'll be lying on a tropical beach.

You know. Are you capable of just independently coming up with that?

That's really the real test. And it's hard to test that.

It's really hard to test that, to contrive a situation where you are forced to use... advanced forms of English independently.

And so what tests end up doing is they think that by making you choose the correct answer from a series of incorrect answers, that that's equivalent to you actually... being able to do that on your own, and it's not the same thing.

Recognising something as correct or incorrect is far from being the same as you actually being able to produce it on your own.

These are different skills entirely. So, you know, the test is limited.

Question three, it's very dusty here right now because the office next door is being redecorated.

So there are two things going on here. First of all, it's in present continuous. but also it's passive.

So it's present continuous because this is right now.

This is what is happening right now. The office next door is being redecorated.

It has to be in the passive form because we don't actually know who is doing it, right?

You're familiar with passives. A passive structure is used when we don't actually state the person or thing that does the action of the verb.

Normally we have subject, verb, object. decorators are redecorating the office.

Workers are redecorating the office. So the subject is the one who does the verb.

That is an active sentence. But sometimes, for various reasons, we want to shift things around and put the object of... the one that receives the action of the verb at the beginning of the sentence, right?

Like this, the office next door. is being redecorated.

Now we start with the office next door because this is what we are talking about.

We're not talking about the workers. We're talking about the office next door.

But the office is receiving the action, in this case being redecorated.

So that's why it has to be passive. And we use the verb be and a past participle.

This is how we express this idea. OK, so be and a past participle.

But also, as I said before, we need present continuous because we're talking about something that's in progress. right now, as in the question, it's very dusty here right now.

Okay, so you've got present continuous and you've got a passive form, and you've got to connect them together.

A bit like earlier when we had will and a continuous form, here we've got passive and a continuous form.

The office next door is being redecorated.

So in a continuous form, you need the verb be, in this case, that is, is redecorated.

Right, and you also need, what's the next part of a continuous form?

That's right, a present. Participle, and that's the ING form, okay?

So that's is and being. The reason it's being is because of the passive part, because if you remember, a passive structure requires be as well, and a past participle.

And you put those two forms together, you end up with is being redecorated so is being that's the continuous part And yeah, it seems a bit strange to have is being.

It's like be, the verb be, twice in different forms. but that's because you've got present continuous, which uses B, and passive, which uses B, and you slot them together, overlap them, The B from the passive becomes continuous, becomes progressive with the ING form, and then you've got redecorated, which is the past participle that you need from the passive part.

You see what I mean about talking about grammar?

It starts to twist your head up. Yes, I've said in the past that grammar can stop people in their tracks.

What I find in my lessons is that, you know, the students want grammar and so we do grammar.

And then you get to a certain stage in the lesson where the students have...

It's like their brains have been zombified and they get this kind of look on their face where they're like... everyone's brains have been turned into jelly and you've kind of lost them.

And it's a bit of a tricky one because like I said, they wanted the grammar, that's what they think means like really studying English properly is getting into grammar, but it does tend to melt people's brains.

So if you feel like your brain is being melted, I suppose that's normal.

But it is also an unfortunate side effect of... the explicit studying of grammar rules where things start to get a bit abstract.

The office next door is being redecorated by workers.

We don't need to say it's by workers. because it's obvious.

Of course, workers are redecorating it. Another way of saying this It's very dusty here right now because workers are redecorating the office next door.

You could say that too. It's just inefficient and has redundant parts in it.

Of course, workers are doing it. We don't need to state that.

And also we want to make the office next door the main sort of part of the sentence.

So we had to rejig things and say the office next door is being redecorated.

I agree that you absolutely have to be able to use passive structures across all the different tenses if you want to use English at an advanced level.

I would absolutely agree with that. Because otherwise you're going to end up with these clumsy, inefficient, long-winded sentences with the emphasis in the wrong places. you're going to end up saying it's very dusty here right now because some workers are redecorating the office next door. when you want.

It's dusty here because the office next door is being redecorated. much more efficient, get straight to the point.

Question four, I used to have much longer hair when I was younger.

All right, I would say this is an intermediate bit of English, to be honest.

And if you're talking about a C1 level of English, you need to be able to use used to, you need to talk about past situations or past habits, you need to be able to use would, to talk about past habits.

And you also need to be able to contrast this with get used to doing, which is going to come up later.

So I used to have much longer hair. So this describes a situation in the past, which is not the case today. you must be familiar with used to.

Like, I used to live in London, but now I live in Paris.

I used to smoke, but I don't anymore. You know, things like that.

It's used S U S E D plus two. And then just a standard form of a verb. you could argue it's just plus an infinitive.

If it's in the negative form, you drop the D from used, of course. because you conjugate it with the auxiliary.

I didn't use to. The pronunciation is the same, used to, that's with a D, and didn't used to.

The used to sounds the same because the D at the end of used, used. and the T at the beginning of two kind of combine to make one sound.

So used to, I didn't use to sound the same.

I would to have, I mean, no one's going to do that.

I've never heard a learner of English make a mistake like that.

I would to have. I used to have, yeah, maybe you would forget the two, I suppose, but that's not correct. and I would have much longer hair when I was younger.

So we do actually use would, often contracted, to talk about past habits.

And that can be the same as used to. For example, when I was young, I used to live in London. and at weekends, I used to travel on the underground into the centre of town, and I used to get... myself a cup of coffee and I used to go around the music shops and I used to look at all the records.

Fine. We can also do those things using would, contracted.

When I was younger, I used to live in London, not I would live in London.

I'll give the reason in a moment. and I used to take, I'd get on the underground and I'd travel into the centre of the city I'd get myself a coffee and I'd walk around the music shops and I'd look at records.

Okay, so there it's the same. So Wooden used to both talk about past habits...

Now, we use used to with both action verbs and state verbs.

State verbs include have and like. And live as well.

I used to live in London. I used to like... going shopping and I used to have long hair.

But we wouldn't say, I would have long hair when I was younger.

I would like shopping when I was younger.

And what was the other example? I can't remember now.

Because would is only used with action verbs when we're talking about past habits.

So I'd get the underground, I'd buy myself a coffee, I'd go round the shops and I'd look at records on Saturday mornings.

Or I used to go shopping. I used to get myself a cup of coffee.

I used to walk around the music shops. okay?

Because used to is with action verbs like get coffee, go on the underground, go shopping, look at records.

Those are all action verbs, used to and would for both of those, but for state verbs like have long hair, like going shopping, live in London, only used to can be used with state verbs.

Voila! OK. Next one was question five, which was, I don't like loud music, but Stephen does.

And I think I was saying before that... What's going on here is that in English we use an auxiliary verb as a way of avoiding repetition.

So you could say, I don't like loud music, but Stephen likes loud music.

That's what this sentence means. But in English we consider that to be unnecessary repetition and it sounds clumsy.

I don't like loud music, but Stephen likes loud music.

Okay, so to avoid that repetition, we use an auxiliary verb. as a replacement.

It's called ellipsis. It's cutting the sentence back and replacing like loud music with a simple auxiliary, in this case, does.

The reason it's does is because the main verb is like, and this is just a normal verb, And of course, in English, we conjugate normal verbs with do, okay?

Otherwise, it would be I am a podcaster, but Stephen isn't.

OK, I should. go on a diet, but Stephen shouldn't.

Okay, I have got a laptop, but Stephen hasn't.

I don't like loud music, but Stephen does or I like loud music, but Stephen doesn't.

Okay, I think in other languages, you probably have other ways of doing the same thing.

Like, what is it in French? Can't think actually what the answer... How would you put that in your language?

Right, I don't like loud music, but Stephen likes loud music.

Would you just say it like that or would you change the last part to avoid the repetition?

In which case, how? I'm curious to know.

You probably use pronouns or maybe you use some sort of adverb. or something like that.

Like maybe, I don't like loud music, but Steven, yes.

Which I think in Spanish might be how you do it.

I don't like loud music, but Stephen, si.

You know, that sounded French. But... Maybe you'd do it like that, or maybe you would say something like, I don't like loud music, but Stephen... already or some other thing like that.

Stephen, indeed. But in English, it's an auxiliary verb that we use to do that job.

That's what's going on there. Question six.

Please let me help. Please let me help.

I'm sure you have more work to do than I have.

The second part of that sentence is Please let me help.

And this is, again, gerunds and infinitives.

And that's because we use... After the verb let, we have a bare infinitive, let me help.

And there are other examples of this. Other verbs like make, have, see, hear, feel and watch.

So make, you make me laugh. Have, I'll have... him do it, which is a bit American.

C, especially verbs of the senses. I saw her leave.

I heard him sing. I felt the ground shake, I watched the children play.

And I let it happen. And I made it happen.

Okay. So that's just this particular verb, let. is followed by an infinitive without to, otherwise known as a bare infinitive, along with make, see, hear, feel, I saw it happen.

I heard it happen. I felt it happen. I watched it happen.

I let it happen. I made it happen. all of them also have that object in there too, it in this case, or please let me help.

Mm-hmm, okay, number seven. So sorry, just going back to six.

Again, I need to do a premium episode in which I outline... you know, which verbs are followed by infinitives, which verbs are followed by gerunds, and all the other little complex exceptions and things in there too.

But it is a question of just remembering those patterns.

And if you Google them, if you Google, can you show me which verbs in English are followed by gerunds, which ones are followed by infinitives? and what the exceptions are.

You could ask your favorite AI channel chatbot to help you with that to give you lists to show you examples that can be a way of helping you notice and remember these patterns which we have in English, and again, which you might not have in other languages.

Like, for example, in French, this happens much less, that you tend to find that It's always the infinitive.

It's almost always the infinitive that follows other verbs.

So this is a tricky thing in English for speakers of some languages that you've got learning that certain verbs or certain forms in English are followed by certain other forms, gerunds or infinitives.

Question seven, I can't get used to my new schedule.

It's so confusing. So I talked about used to before and would.

I used to live in London. I used to travel on the underground. and I'd buy coffee and I used to walk around the music shops.

That's used to for talking about past habits.

Here, we also have used to. I can't get used to my new schedule.

I can't get used to working in this new job, for example.

So we have used to here, but beware because this is completely different to the other form.

Okay, so where I used to live in London refers to the past.

It refers to a habit or situation in the past.

I got used to living in London... is completely different in its meaning, and this is more to describe becoming accustomed to something or becoming familiar with something, and as a result, finding it easier and more comfortable, right?

This is get used to something or get used to doing something.

So forget about habits and just think about whether things are difficult or not difficult because of your familiarity.

This is always a really difficult distinction for people to make.

Let me break it down like this so if we're talking about habits habits in the past we use used to Everyone knows this basic intermediate grammar.

I used to live in London. I used to smoke cigarettes.

I used to do this. I used to go out with this girl.

I, you know, whatever. Past habits. Now, if you wanna talk about present habits, things you typically do now, we don't use used to.

We don't use I am used to. We don't use that form.

Instead, we would say usually or often or tend to.

For example, I used to go to the gym but these days I tend to play football at the weekends or these days I usually play football at the weekends. these days I often play football at the weekends.

So we use those adverbs like often, usually or maybe a structure like I tend to, we use those to talk about our present habits.

So then we also have, I am used to doing something, or I get or got used to doing something.

And this is something completely different.

This refers to being familiar and comfortable with something that you weren't familiar or comfortable with before.

Okay, let's try to keep that distinction in mind.

So for example, let's say... I don't know, what's a good example?

I've been teaching English for 25 years, so...

These days, I am very comfortable speaking in front of a class of students.

Right. I'm comfortable with that now. That feels very familiar to me now.

So you could say I am used to. that situation.

I am used to talking to a room full of students now.

If we say get used to, it means become used to.

So you might say... Oh, it was difficult at first, but I'm getting used to it now means it's becoming comfortable now.

So that's why I can't get used to my new schedule.

It's so confusing, meaning I can't get comfortable with it.

It's still taking me time to become familiar with it.

Hmm. So you can think about things which used to... Oh, I don't want to confuse you.

Think about things that were difficult before, but which are not difficult now.

You could say, I am used to doing it now. think about things which are becoming easier.

You could say, I'm getting used to it now.

For example, learning English with podcasts felt a bit strange at the beginning, but I'm getting used to it now, or I have got used to it and now it feels normal.

Or I am used to it now. I'm used to listening to Luke's English podcast now.

It feels totally normal. All right. Let's move on to question eight.

We are bound to find a petrol station soon.

We've been driving for three hours. So the expression bound, and it's to be bound to do something.

This is a block of English, a chunk of English that you have to learn as a whole chunk.

OK. Also, you could say we are sure to find a petrol station soon.

So you've got to be sure to do something, to be bound to do something.

Both of those are used to talk about possibilities.

Okay, possibilities. So let's say you are lost in a new city. and you'd say, let's walk down here, maybe we can ask someone.

We're bound to meet someone if we walk down here, meaning we, I'm sure we will meet someone.

Maybe that's a bad example. We're bound to...

I know. We don't understand a certain grammar point.

What shall we do? Well, let's ask Luke.

He's bound to know the answer, which means I'm sure he knows the answer.

I'm certain he will know the answer. It's very probable, it's very likely he will know the answer.

He is bound to know the answer. He is bound to know, okay?

We're looking for... a coffee place and looking for a place to get a nice coffee.

Let's go down here. We are bound to find a nice cafe down here. means that we have a good chance of finding a nice cafe down here.

Same thing with shore, the same structure.

We are sure to find a nice cafe if we go down there.

The other options here are we are using must and have to, which really express obligations really.

We have to find a petrol station soon. You could say that.

We're like, look, we have nearly run out of petrol.

We have to find a petrol station soon. If we don't, the car will break down.

We must find a petrol station soon means the same thing.

So that's talking about obligation, things that are necessary.

But we are sure to find one soon and we are bound to find one soon.

Talk more about probabilities. And the reason that sure is not correct here is because we need sure to find...

And must, we can never say we are must. It has to be we must find a petrol station.

Same thing with have to. Of course, we would never say we are have to.

It would be we have to find a petrol station soon. but still must and have to, still aren't right there, because we're not talking about obligation, we're talking about probability.

After three hours, I'm sure we will find one soon.

We are bound to find one soon. Questions nine and 10 were missing because I didn't screenshot them, but I know for sure that one of them was about that order of adjectives, a big red German car.

So in English, when we combine adjectives in a list, there is a certain order that they have to follow.

It's known as the order of adjectives. And it's a bit of a funny one because...

This is the sort of thing that, you know, you ask a native speaker to choose.

Is it a red big German car, a German big red car? or a big red German car, they will always say, well, of course it's a big red German car.

But they can't necessarily explain the reason why.

It's not something that we learn. It's just not explicitly.

We just learn it through experience. habit and anything else just doesn't feel right.

It's odd, isn't it? But there it is. So the order of adjectives, let me explain what that is.

But certainly... we would have size, colour, origin, right?

Like a small, pink french dog so that's a bit odd isn't it uh how often do you see small pink dogs i don't know um a small um silver English coin.

To be honest, it's rare that you combine more than three adjectives together in a row.

It's very rare. We almost never do it. But if you did do it, there needs to be a certain order that you follow.

So basically we have opinion, size, age, colour, origin, material, noun.

Okay. Now obviously, when you're actually speaking English, you don't really have the time or the mental capacity to think to yourself, oh, it's opinion size, age, colour, origin, material.

Now, right, so it's a beautiful, small, old, white, French silk scarf.

And anyway, we never put that many adjectives together, but it is correct.

A beautiful, small, old, white, French silk scarf, because it's opinion.

Beautiful Size Small Age Old Colour White Origin French Material Silk scarf or simply a beautiful French silk scarf or a small white silk scarf. an old silk scarf, you see?

If you can remember that, good for you. But again, this is the sort of thing that hopefully you just generate a sort of It's a tricky thing, isn't it?

It's a tricky thing. to develop instincts for English, but this is what we're always trying to go for.

And if you're able to answer these questions, but you don't necessarily know how to explain why, that's fine.

If you just feel it's the right answer. This is great.

This is kind of like using the force, you know, from Star Wars, but for English.

You just feel the English. which is, again, not necessarily useful advice for someone who decides they need to improve their English in a short period of time.

So, you've got to combine explicit and implicit knowledge. and you get that by doing some focused, deliberate study of English, like maybe trying to remember the order of adjectives and using AI to give you some scrambled sentences which you unscramble by putting the adjectives in the right order. and doing that again and again.

But also, you just... You have to consume a lot of English regularly, listen and read a lot, and in doing that... you will train your brain to get an implicit understanding and sense of English.

Let's move on to question 11. We bought new furniture for our New furniture is the correct answer because furniture is an uncountable noun in English.

So when we deal with countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable nouns, we can count... the individual things, like pens or pencils or cups.

There are three cups on the table, one, two, three.

Cups are countable. Uncountable refers to stuff that you can't necessarily count.

For example, if you've got a bowl of ice cream...

You can't count the ice cream in the bowl because it's uncountable.

It's just a mass of stuff. and nouns can be either countable or uncountable.

Some nouns, to be honest, can be either For example, ice cream.

You could say, three ice creams, please.

And then the ice cream seller gives you three ice cream cones.

Three coffees, please. That's three cups of coffee.

But if you've got a big jug of coffee, that's uncountable.

How much coffee is there, not how many coffees are there.

Right. And furniture is uncountable. So the thing about uncountable nouns is that we don't pluralise them and we don't use the indefinite article. a or an with them as well.

So we generally would not say, if you're talking about fresh air, I need to just go outside, I need to get some fresh air.

We would not say I need to get a fresh air. we would not say, I need to get some fresh airs, because air is uncountable.

So we don't pluralise it, and we don't use... indefinite articles with with it the air yes the definite article you can say that the air is so fresh here And furniture is an uncountable noun.

So we don't say furnitures and we don't say a furniture.

It's new furniture, uncountable. Other words which are uncountable, advice is uncountable. information is uncountable.

So we don't say some informations, no, and we don't say some advices, no.

Those are two of the most common errors that I find, I notice with countable and uncountable nouns. people often say, can you give me an advice?

No, it's can you give me some advice? And people say, can you give me some advices?

No. Can you give me some advice? I have an information for you.

No, I have some information for you. I have infos for you or informations for you.

No, I have some information for you. You could make it countable by saying a piece of information, two pieces of information, three pieces of advice. three items of furniture, luggage is another one,

Some luggage, not some luggages and not a luggage.

No, it's some luggage or three items of luggage.

Items of furniture or just furniture. Items of luggage or just... luggage, pieces of advice or just advice, pieces of information or just information.

There you go. Voila. That is countable and uncountable nouns.

Moving on. to question 12. The boat sailed across the Pacific Ocean.

Now, that's basic stuff. You gotta know that the Pacific Ocean, there's only one Pacific Ocean. and we use the definite article with the names of oceans.

The Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Right?

Okay. Names of oceans, they have definite article, the, at the beginning.

Okay. That's with names of oceans. Now, country names, not so much, right?

Unless... So country names, I went to England, I went to France, I went to Spain, you know, I went to Japan.

So they don't have articles. We don't have the. at the beginning, but some of them do.

And it's normally, if it's an island or if it's a collection of things like, the United States, the United States, the United Kingdom.

The United Arab Emirates, you know, or if it's an island, the what?

The island of, you know, the isle of man.

The isle of white. Okay, but oceans and seas, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean.

All right. Question 13. I read English newspapers so as not to forget my English.

Now, you know, right, that we use infinitives to explain why.

Why do you read English newspapers? I read English newspapers to improve my English.

Okay, so, or, in order to improve my English, another way of putting it is so as to.

I read newspapers so as to improve my English.

OK, now the negatives of those, I read English newspapers in order not to forget my English.

I read English newspapers so as not to forget my English.

I actually think you can say I read English newspapers to not forget my English.

That is just a negative infinitive. So I think that's actually fine.

The test disagrees with me. But I think it's totally fine and normal and natural.

So as not to forget my English is perhaps more... sort of formal sounding and a bit proper sounding.

But I think in everyday English, we would just use a negative infinitive there.

I read English newspapers to not forget my English.

I think it's okay. But otherwise, it's in order not to forget my English or so as not to forget my English.

So that is just a sort of... I sort of I don't know how to put that really in order not maybe a sort of an adverbial phrase, a conjunctive phrase.

I wonder how to put that. Anyway, let's say it's a fixed expression that we use to link that sentence together in order not to... to not or so as not to.

Okay, question 14. What I need is four extra hours in the day.

That I need is four extra hours in the day.

No, the reason I need four extra hours in the day is to get everything done.

All right. Or four extra hours in the day is what I need. but here we've got what I need.

So this is a cleft sentence, which refers to sentences that begin with a WH word, So what I need is actually kind of like a relative clause that makes a clause, but that becomes the subject of the sentence.

Okay, so we can start things with what. For example, what I need is a good lunch.

What I need is an... a long episode of Luke's English Podcast for my train journey.

Here are some more examples of this, right?

So you could start with this, I want a quiet evening.

But another way of putting that is to say, what I want is a quiet evening.

Now what's the difference between I want a quiet evening and what I want is a quiet evening?

Or, I mean, you think about the Spice Girls, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.

Is that a good example? I suppose the point is that it's emphasis.

What I want is a quiet evening. This is different because it just emphasizes that part of the sentence.

What I want is a quiet evening. It emphasises it.

Excuse me. Another example, she bought a new car.

Can you put that another way? How would you do it?

What she bought is a new car. Or what she bought was a new car.

He did his homework. What he did was his homework. he fixed the computer.

What he did was fix the computer. She's doing her best.

What she's doing is her best. So it does make it more emphatic.

It makes it more action packed. Right. For example, I'm recording an episode of Luke's English podcast.

What I'm doing, what I'm really doing. is recording an episode of Luke's English Podcast.

You know, that's much more emphatic. I put the keys on the table.

Where I put the keys was on the table. Emphasising a reason.

They cancelled the picnic because of the rain.

Why they cancelled the picnic was because of the rain. emphasising a time.

I leave for vacation next week. When I leave for vacation is next week.

Right, so you can just see that making sentences like that affects the emphasis in the sentence, okay?

I want an ice cream. How would you put that?

What I want is an ice cream. I want an episode about grammar.

I really want an episode about grammar. What I really want is an episode about grammar.

See if you can use a cleft sentence like that in the comments section.

What I really enjoyed was... What I found interesting was... What I learned from this episode is...

Okay, all right, let's move on to question 15.

You wouldn't be in a rush now if you had woken up earlier this morning.

Okay, so this is a conditional sentence.

It's actually a mixed conditional. I suppose it's not bad in terms of the range of different grammar forms in this test.

Maybe I was a bit unfair and disparaging about the test earlier.

I think it's overall not a bad range of grammar forms.

Some of them I think are a bit basic for a C1 test, but this one is a good example of understanding conditional sentences, and you need to be able to form mixed conditional sentences.

So it's mixed conditional because it's a combination of a second conditional and a third conditional.

The second conditional is the first part of the line.

You wouldn't be in a rush now. So... This is talking about an alternative present.

The fact is, in reality, you are in a rush now. but you would not be in a rush.

So this is a hypothetical present. about an imaginary present and that's expressed by using would in this case wouldn't you wouldn't be in a rush now if you And the next clause here refers to the past. but it's not talking about real past because the fact is the person woke up late. but we're imagining a different past and imagining how that would cause a different present.

The different present being you wouldn't be in a rush now, using would to express that hypothetical.

But in the next clause, in the if clause, we don't use would.

And we're talking about the past, so we have to use what looks like past perfect to express this alternative past. if you had woken up. okay now if you let's go through let's go through some conditional sentences first conditional is talking about the future, talking about real things.

If you wake up early you will not be late.

If you wake up early you won't be late. Second conditional is also talking about the future or the present, but it's like... imagining something we think is unrealistic.

If you got abducted by aliens, you would be delighted, wouldn't you?

I would be delighted if I got abducted by aliens.

So it's talking about the future. but hypothetical future.

So we use would, and in the other clause, in the if clause, we use a past tense.

But it's not referring to the past. It's just referring to a hypothetical present or future.

This one refers to the past, if you had woken up earlier this morning.

We use had woken up, we use past perfect, the tense is changed from the past, so you woke up becomes you had woken up, And that shift is done in order to express a sense of unreality.

We're talking about things that didn't happen, but we're just imagining a different past. if i had never discovered luke's english podcast my english would be worse than it is now So that's past and present.

If I hadn't discovered Luke's English Podcast, an alternative past using hadn't discovered to express that sense of alternative hypothetical past.

In reality, you did discover it. But if I hadn't discovered it, I wouldn't, my English would not be good. right, talking about an alternative present.

So these sentences are a would clause, and then an if clause, which has, if you're talking about the past, it has essentially past perfect.

It's not actually past perfect. It's just the same form.

Okay, everybody. I hope I'm not confusing you too much.

Anyway, that's just third conditional structure, isn't it?

I would stop and go into more details on that one, but I won't.

I have done many times in the past. But we're just going to move on now.

Mini grammar lessons, what we're doing here.

Question 16. The kids promised not to tell anyone.

So this is basically just... Again, gerunds and infinitives, proving that gerunds and infinitives are an important part of English.

The kids promised to tell. Promise... is followed by an infinitive, I promise to help you, I promise...

Not to tell anyone. The kids promised not to tell anyone.

So it's promise plus an infinitive. That's why negative infinitive, not to tell.

So there you go. Pretty simple. Question 17.

I arrived at school half an hour late after the class had started.

I arrived at school half an hour late after the class started.

I think you could probably get away with saying...

I arrived at school half an hour late after the class started.

I think you could get away with that because the context shows you when everything happened. but it's better technically to be clear and to use had started to show that the started thing happened before you arrived at class.

The other two, I'm not even going to bother mentioning because there's just no way.

Wait a minute. Actually, having said that, I arrived at school half an hour late after the class was started. do that it would mean something different after the class was started by the teacher So it could be like a passive form.

So I can imagine a situation where that sentence could be correct.

But obviously, we're looking for past perfect to emphasise that the class started before you arrived at the school, even though the verb arrives after school. in the sentence.

Past perfect, okay. Question 18, as I was saying, So, I mean, this is basically just past continuous.

As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.

I was saying this before, then I stopped, now I'm continuing as I was saying.

So this is just, you could consider this to be just like a fixed expression of which we use to continue talking after an interruption. which is probably the best way to teach this kind of language, functional language for doing certain things.

For example, in a meeting. You're talking about, you're saying something like, so we need to raise the budget for biscuits. and then someone says, oh, before we talk about biscuits, can we just deal with this pricing issue?

Yeah, sure. Okay, we dealt with that. Anyway.

As I was saying, if we can raise the budget for the biscuits, blah, blah, blah.

So as I was saying, just a fixed phrase for talking about... what you were talking about before you were interrupted.

All right. Where was I? What was I saying?

What were we talking about? Where were we?

That's it. As I was saying, let's talk about biscuits.

Moving on, question 19. We are having the bedroom painted at the moment.

Okay, so this again is a combination of two different bits of grammar.

So we are doing something at the moment.

So it's basically present continuous, which is pre-intermediate stuff.

We are painting the bedroom, right? We are painting the bedroom at the moment.

But that's not actually what's going on here.

Someone else is painting the bedroom. And this is a bit like a passive form But the expression is to have something done, to have something done, to have the bedroom painted, by someone else.

We use this expression to talk about when you make something happen, but someone else does it.

So the classic example I always use whenever I teach this kind of thing is, when I have a haircut, when I have my haircut and I go into class and my students notice my short hair, and someone says, oh, you cut your hair.

And I say, no, I didn't. Because I did not cut my own hair.

Because if I had cut my own hair, my hair would look even worse.

So no, I didn't cut my hair. I would say I had my hair cut.

That's my way of teaching that bit of English, to have something done.

I had my hair cut. Now, if you put that in a continuous form, I am having my hair cut. or we are having the bedroom painted at the moment, which is the same as saying, Someone is painting our bedroom at the moment.

Or we are paying someone to paint our bedroom.

We're having the bedroom painted while I'm having my car cleaned.

I'm having my teeth fixed. I'm getting my hair cut.

Okay? When you don't do it, and that's in the continuous form, we're having the bedroom painted at the moment.

What about you? Are you having anything done in your house at the moment?

Yeah, we're having the drains fixed. We're having the kitchen redecorated.

We're having the house cleaned. Number 20.

You can't have left your phone at the hotel.

We used it to call a taxi. So, modal verbs of past speculation.

Modal verbs of past speculation. Let's put these into three categories, and it's very simple if you just let me put it very clearly.

Right? So modal verbs of past speculation.

Modals of... Past speculation. I've dealt with this on the podcast before, but here we go again.

So let's put it into three categories. and there are just five forms you need to know.

The first thing is you've got the modal verb, then you've got have done.

And this is because we are talking about the past.

Okay, for example, where is my phone? What did I do with my phone?

I've lost it. Oh, and then you think, oh, what learners of English might do if they don't use this grammar?

They would say things like this. Oh, maybe you left it at the hotel.

Maybe you left it at the hotel. But it would be better, it would be more advanced, it would be more... more sophisticated and would demonstrate a wider range and a greater control over English if you said, you might have left it at the hotel.

You could have left it at the hotel. you may have left it at the hotel.

Okay, so might have left it, may have left it, could have left it, This is when you're not sure.

Possible, but not sure. Like maybe you left it at the hotel.

You might have left it there. You may have left it there.

You could have left it there, right? Okay, another thing that a learner of English who hasn't learnt to use this grammar yet, they might say...

Oh, you definitely didn't leave it at the hotel.

I'm sure you didn't leave it at the hotel.

It's impossible that you left it at the hotel.

And to use modal verbs, as we do, you would say, you can't have left it at the hotel.

Okay, or you couldn't have left it at the hotel.

They both mean the same thing. Sure that it didn't happen.

Right, that's what this is. For example, you definitely didn't... leave it would be you can't have left it at the hotel and you couldn't have left it at the hotel.

That have left, have plus a, past participle is really important because this shows that the action happened before the time when we're speaking.

Okay? You know, these modal verbs don't have past forms.

You've got to consider can and could to be separate modal verbs.

Could is not just a past form of can. It's a separate modal verb in its own right.

OK, and so we can use can't and couldn't plus have and a past participle to show that we're talking about the past.

We didn't say you couldn't leave it at the hotel.

That's not what we'd say. You couldn't leave it at the hotel means that that's not allowed.

Right. So you might have left it at the hotel.

You may have left it at the hotel. You could have left it at the hotel.

Could have, might have, may have. It's possible.

If you're sure that it didn't happen, you can't have left it at the hotel.

That's impossible. You couldn't have left it at the hotel.

That's impossible. And then the third option is you are sure... you're sure for example you definitely left it at the hotel Right, and there you've only got one option and it's must.

You must have left it at the hotel. Okay.

You stupid idiot, you must have left at the hotel.

Why don't you call them and find out? So you're sure you must have done that.

You're sure, but the other way, you can't have done that.

You couldn't have done that. And then you're not sure, but it's possible.

You might have done that. You may have done that.

You could have done that. Voila, that is that.

Modal verbs of past speculation summed up in just a couple of minutes.

Moving on to number 21. I've lost my wallet with the tickets in it.

In other words... We can't go to the concert.

Again, I would say this is a fixed phrase, really sort of, again, pragmatic English.

It's just another way of saying. If you want to say the same thing or summarize, it's kind of an expression for summarizing.

It's a bit like saying basically. I've lost my wallet with the tickets in.

Basically, this means that we can't go to the concert.

I've lost my wallet with the tickets in, so in other words, we can't go to the concert.

In other words, it's just a way of summarising. what you've just said, but in different words.

So in other words, what's that? Fly me to the moon and make me hear the stars.

Let me see what life is like on Jupiter and Mars.

In other words, in other words, I love you.

Okay, you can think of that Frank Sinatra song, maybe, if you want to remember that phrase.

Um... Right, question 22. It was such awful weather that we made up our mind to stay indoors.

Okay, right. Such an awful weather. No, because weather is uncountable.

Just like we had before with furniture, we wouldn't say a-weather. or anwether, a weather or an awful weather.

No, because weather is uncountable. So we don't use the indefinite article with it.

So that's why it's not such an awful weather.

Such awful weather is correct. It was a very awful weather that.

It doesn't work. We need so or such that.

Okay, so not very, because of this structure.

It was so awful that we stayed at home. It was...

It was so awful that we stayed at home. It was such awful weather that we stayed at home.

Right, so the difference between so and such here.

Such... plus noun. In fact, such plus adjective plus noun.

It was such an interesting episode that I listened all the way to the end.

It was such an insightful experience that I had to listen to it again.

OK. He was such a good teacher that I decided to send him a million pounds.

All right, and then so is just followed by an adjective without a noun.

Right, the episode was so interesting that I listened to the entire thing.

The episode was so useful that I listened to it twice.

So it was so adjective that I did something.

It was such an adjective noun that I did something.

It was so interesting that I listened to it twice.

It was such an interesting episode that I listened to it twice.

The weather was so awful that we stayed at home.

It was such awful weather. We had such awful weather that we stayed at home.

And not such an awful weather, because weather is uncountable.

Okay, moving on to question 23. We had a good holiday, even... even though it rained quite a lot.

Even though it rained quite a lot. So we had a good holiday, yet it rained quite a lot.

We want to use but. We want to use but. Oh, no, we wouldn't say even yet.

That's the problem. We had a good holiday, even yet.

No, we don't say even yet. You could say, we had a good holiday, yet it rained quite a lot.

You could say that. You could also say, we had a good holiday, but it rained quite a lot.

We had a good holiday, although it rained quite a lot.

But even is only even though, because that is a fixed phrase.

Even though is equivalent to although. Even though it rained quite a lot, we had a good holiday.

Although it rained quite a lot, we had a good holiday.

And it wouldn't be even if, because that would be, we had a good holiday, even if.

Right. So you could say just even if we had a good holiday, even if it rained quite a lot. even as is just not correct.

So there you go. We had a good holiday, even though it rained quite a lot.

Question 24. The Thais are famous for being friendly.

I find this to be a strange question. I think we would say Thai people.

I think that's more common than using an indefinite article like that.

You know, the English... Maybe you could say that the English are... considered to be reserved.

The Americans are known for being friendly.

The Thais Unknown for being friendly fine.

I think it's just normal and sort of easier just to say adjective noun Thai people American people, English people, Scottish people.

But otherwise you could say the Americans, the Scottish, the English.

The ties. But you've got to remember if it's plural or if it's not.

The English, not the Englishes. The British.

The Americans. Otherwise, just say English people, Thai people, American people.

That's easier. Okay. And question 25. So the answer is, we didn't do this one, but it's, nobody went to Paris, we all stayed at home.

So nothing went to Paris. We all stayed at home.

We don't use nothing to refer to people.

Anybody went to Paris, we all stayed at home.

Doesn't make sense because we all stayed at home.

So nobody went to Paris. Somebody went to Paris, we all stayed at home.

Also doesn't make sense, because how could somebody go to Paris if we all stayed at home?

Nobody went to Paris, we all stayed at home.

That was pretty easy, that. So there you go.

That's the whole test. I wonder what you got.

I wonder how many you got right and... Did you pick up some bits of English from this?

Maybe there were some bits that went over your head.

Maybe there were some moments that you kind of fell asleep a little bit.

Some things might have been lost on you.

Again, when you learn English and you, let's say, do a certain page from a book or you listen to an episode about something, or you try to learn a vocab list or something, you might think to yourself, right, I've got to get 100%. or it's a total failure.

Not the case. You pick up whatever you can get from each thing, each moment that you learn this language.

Anything you get is a victory. So if you picked up even just one thing from this episode that I consider that to be a victory.

Hopefully you got more than just one thing.

Hopefully you sort of got a bit more of a sense of how English grammar works.

And you do that bit by bit. That's kind of how that goes.

You do it bit by bit. What you could do is, if there are any things in here which you felt a bit unsure about, you could use, you could Google them, look for practice exercises, you could look in good old-fashioned grammar books like you've got Swan and Walter's How English Works or you've got English grammar in use by Raymond Murphy, you know, do it old school style.

Or you could... If you can use the right prompts, you could use AI. tools you could go in and say, could you explain this grammar point and explain how, why is even though used in this sentence, And can you give me some practice exercises to help me do it?

That is a very important step. You've also got to be able to produce. sentences, meaningful sentences using this language.

So you could stick some of these things into whatever Google Gemini or something.

Say, can you explain this in this sentence and explain how it's used and why?

And then can you give me a bunch of practice exercises to help me produce this language on my own? and see what it does, and that could really help you.

I'm going to go back to the point I started with and end the episode with this.

I wanted to... I wanted to talk about tests and the value of these sorts of tests.

I think the value of doing this really is a way of perhaps identifying issues specific items of grammar that you can become more familiar with, with the understanding that that by explicitly studying grammar, you then develop a sort of implicit... sense of what's right and wrong, that you start with explicit study and it becomes implicit knowledge or instinct.

That's the idea. or at least you speed up the process of getting an instinctive feel for English. by looking at the language from the top down in this way.

And doing these tests for me, I don't think they're that valuable as a genuine test of someone's English level.

We'll explain why in a moment. But they can be a good way of identifying bits of grammar that you can work on, which will then allow you to be more fluent or allow you to be a better writer because you're able to use structures and emphasise things and understand how the language works and Ultimately, it gives you more control over English, which is a really important part of... you know, being good at the language.

But you've got to go from recognizing what's right and wrong to being able to actually do it.

Always remember that. English is not just about what you know, it's about what you can do.

And you should always be shifting, pushing your... knowledge of English towards being able to do things.

So... That's your homework is to pick out some bits from this test that you perhaps weren't so familiar with and work towards being able to produce good sentences containing that grammar, not just identifying what's right and wrong, but being able to do it yourself.

OK, right. So now that I've done the test, let's critique it a little bit.

So first of all, this test is not completely worthless, as I've said.

Of course, it's important to know the correct answers in this test because the more you know grammar, the more control you can have over the language, which is obviously important for a variety of reasons.

You know, knowledge is power, Francis Bacon.

And even though the test doesn't actually test your use of grammar, that is not nothing. and hopefully I've helped you with your general grammatical knowledge a bit with this.

But surely you can see that the knowledge you need to get these questions right is only a small part. of what is actually involved in being able to use English effectively.

Now, it's not a great of your English level, but is this test a scam?

Well, I'm not sure I would be as so bold as to call it a scam. but it does seem a bit dodgy.

It seems to be a bit dodgy. First of all, this test doesn't really show your level of English because it's far too narrow in its focus.

It's a bit like a driving test in which you have to answer multiple choice questions about driving rather than a test that involves actual driving, if you see what I mean.

But also, the website says very clearly on the front page, free online certificate...

Free online certification exams get your certificate now, but they don't make it very clear that the certificates are in fact not free. and that you do need in fact to pay some money before you can get your certificate or full feedback which I suppose is just the right and wrong answers, but I'm not sure because I don't want to give them my card details or any money for that matter.

And this is revealed to you at the end when you've taken the test.

So after investing all that time in going through all the questions. you are then told that you have to pay for your certificate.

That seems pretty bad faith to me. I think it would be more fair if they were clear about that from the start.

Don't get me wrong, I don't see any problem with actually having to pay money for your certificate.

CAE costs money, IELTS costs money, because there are a lot of people involved in carrying out the tests. marking them, doing the admin, and so on.

Paying money to do the test, fair enough.

But with this one on Testizer, It seems a bit dodgy.

They seem to bait you in with the promise of a free instant test plus certificate. which you can use to attract employers.

But then just at the last stage, you have to pay to get the certificate, which is not done in good faith, I think.

Also, you can do the test as many times as you like.

And of course, none of this is done in proper test conditions.

So anyone doing it can cheat incredibly easily So for these reasons and others I think the certificates are not really worth anything from this website. in my professional opinion.

What do other people think of Testizer? Well, I checked it out on Trustpilot, which is a website for reviews of different services online, Trustpilot.

There are quite a lot of one-star reviews there for Testizer. which point out the payment issue I just mentioned.

And some people claim that other more positive reviews, which you can find on Trustpilot, are fake.

One review does go as far as to call the website a scam.

It says, this is from Daniel... Sarah Panov, who said, scam web warning, not warning that user need to pay money for certificate, scam website. test eyes a reply by saying there's no fraud here taking tests it is free you can take the test and practice for free as many times as you want the certificate however costs ten dollars but they just don't tell you that in the beginning Also, Niek Kramer said fake reviews.

Sad stuff. You can look at the reviews here on Trustpilot.

Most of them are fake. That is the problem.

Also, you tried to get my review removed by flagging it before responding.

However, Trustpilot didn't like that either.

I hope they will take action against scammers on here soon.

Some of the scam reviews don't even know that they're supposed to do a fake review for your website, so they fake reviewed Trustpilot itself.

The certificates from TestEyes are not generally recognised or respected by any organisations or academic institutions as far as I know.

And this is coming from someone who's been working in English language teaching and assessment for about 25 years.

But I have to say that this kind of thing is quite typical of what you find when you Google C1 grammar test or C1 English test or something, which I suppose we should all know, but still.

But anyway, let's leave Testizer alone for a moment and just talk at the end now about what... what good English-level tests should do.

So what should good English-level tests actually do?

So at a fundamental level, good tests of language level should do more than just assign a label like B2 or C1.

They should accurately reflect a learner's real ability to use English in meaningful ways.

If they do this properly, the results should align with properly researched level indicators, such as the CEFR.

And Testizer does say we are aligned with CEFR.

But if you look at CEFR level indicators, they explain in a lot of detail all the wide range of factors that are involved.

And being able to identify correct sentences from multiple choice lists is a tiny fraction of all of those different things.

Here's a rundown of what good tests should do.

So they should accurately assess communicative ability.

They should test the learner's ability to understand and use language in real situations, not just knowledge about language.

I've said it before and I've said it again, English isn't about what you know, it's about what you can do, so a proper test should test what you can do.

They should include tasks that reflect the four skills, listening, reading, speaking and writing.

Language systems are involved in English too, of course.

Grammar, vocab, pronunciation. But these things serve as the aforementioned...

They serve the aforementioned four skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking. and therefore it's the skills that should be tested.

For example, can you compare life in the city and life in the countryside? rather than do you know how to form comparative sentences.

So they should test real world skills, test that you can actually do things in English, not that you just know about grammar.

They should match recognised proficiency frameworks like the Common European Framework of Reference, They should use clearly defined levels that correspond to the can-do statements in those level systems.

For example, I can write a clear detailed text on a wide range of subjects.

They should help learners and teachers understand what the level means and what the learner can do at that level. what is a test for a lot of the time it's for people who want to confirm what you are able to do in English future employees for example want to know what you can do The test should help them to know this, and the easiest way is to provide measurable descriptions, probably using previously designed... previously defined descriptors such as the CEFR, which is well respected and written by people who know what they're talking about.

So the range of skills and sub-skills, we're talking about receptive skills of reading and listening, productive skills of speaking and writing.

None of those things were included in this.

Test, Isa, test. There was no listening, no reading, no understanding of language in context, no guessing the meaning of unknown words. no understanding the feeling or intentions of the writer, no reading between the lines.

And no productive skills. You don't actually have to write anything.

No construction of sentences. No putting together words to form sentences, paragraphs and everything. linguistic control and accuracy.

This means being able to use the language accurately, not just recognising when it's right or wrong. pragmatic competence, knowing how the things you say have certain effects.

I could go on and on and on, but we also include things like using authentic or meaningful tasks. tests should mirror real-world use of English which is why you know in Cambridge exams you have speaking tasks where you have to have a discussion or describe something or work together with a partner to achieve something.

In the writing part, you have to write an essay, you have to describe some data, you have to write an email, you know, All of this increases validity of a test.

You're actually testing what matters. How often do we actually use multiple choice when using English in the real world?

Never, actually. I don't think our brains operate in that way.

Good tests should offer a clear, consistent scoring system.

They should be fair and accessible. They should produce useful outcomes that are actually useful for the people using them.

And they should encourage positive backwash.

This means that they should influence... teaching and learning in a constructive way.

So a good test motivates learners to improve communicative ability, not just memorize rules or tricks.

So the Testizer test doesn't really encourage that.

In fact, really, it allows learners to just take shortcuts and do the test multiple times and just remember the answers. rather than actually improve their communicative ability.

Whereas IELTS, if you wanna get a good score in IELTS, you do genuinely have to improve your English.

So this is beneficial in the world of English language learning and teaching because the test itself encourages the... people in general to improve their English level rather than just finding tricks and shortcuts.

Um, So there you go. I think that's probably all I need to say at this point, but I'm curious to know your comments.

What did you think of the test? Did you pick up some bits of English from this?

Could you use any of the grammar? in the comments section.

Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening.

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[Analyzing a C1 Grammar Test: Insights, Limitations, and the Reality of English Proficiency]-[Let’s Take a C1 Grammar Test 📋 and critique it [949]]

📋 Summary

The Limitations of Multiple-Choice Grammar Tests

The "Grammar Hole": Explicit vs. Implicit Knowledge

Key Grammar Points Covered

Critiquing Online Proficiency Tests

Conclusion

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

[Analyzing a C1 Grammar Test: Insights, Limitations, and the Reality of English Proficiency]-[Let’s Take a C1 Grammar Test 📋 and critique it [949]]

📋 Summary

The Limitations of Multiple-Choice Grammar Tests

The "Grammar Hole": Explicit vs. Implicit Knowledge

Key Grammar Points Covered

Critiquing Online Proficiency Tests

Conclusion

Deep Learning with ListenLeap

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript

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