Advanced English Grammar Test

If we want to say that we are 95% sure that something happened, we use must have + past participle. We normally use should have + past participle to talk about criticism and regrets. For more information, see this guide to past modals. For practice, try this past modals practice activity.

Exhausting and exhausted are not interchangeable. We use exhausting to talk about the cause of the exhaustion, and we use exhausted to talk about the receiver of the exhaustion. This rule applies for words like boring/bored, interesting/interested, exciting/excited, terrifying/terrified, etc.

This is a third conditional (also called the past unreal conditional). See this conditionals guide for more information.

We need the subjunctive form here. Check out this explanation of the English subjunctive.

We can use the verb stop with both the gerund and the infinitive. When we use stop with the gerund, it means that someone was doing something and then stopped doing that action. When we use stop with the infinitive, it means that someone stopped doing something in order to start doing something else.

For more verbs that can be used with both the infinitive and the gerund, see this link.

Also, we need the preposition to between respond and emails. We say respond to (something).

We use even though or although for something that is true. We use even if to talk about a hypothetical condition.

In this example, we’re talking about something hypothetical, so we need even if. Despite and in spite of are incorrect because they must be followed by a noun or gerund, not a subject and a verb.

Using used to can be a challenge. See this lesson on using used to correctly.

This is a mixed conditional. See this conditionals guide for more information.

We need the subjunctive form here. Check out this explanation of the English subjunctive

Let is followed by an object and the base infinitive (infinitive without to). Other verbs that follow this pattern include help, make, and have (when have is used to communicate obligation). For more information, see this guide on using two verbs together.

We can use supposed to to talk about something that is planned or expected. The correct form is subject + to be + supposed to + base infinitive.

Also, this is a statement and not a question, so we do not invert the subject and verb.

We need to invert the subject and verb here. For an explanation, see this list of 18 types of subject/verb inversion.

We need to use nor here, not neither. We also need to invert the subject and the verb. For an explanation, see this list of 18 types of subject/verb inversion.

We need the second conditional here (also called the unreal conditional). See this conditionals guide for more information.

We can use was/were supposed to + base infinitive to talk about something that was planned or expected but didn’t happen.

We use the past perfect to communicate that an action happened before a specific time in the past. For more information, see this explanation. The adverb already can be placed between had and the past participle.

Due to and because of are followed by nouns. Because and since are followed by a subject and a verb. For would also be incorrect as we don’t normally use for to talk about the cause of something.

There are rules regarding the word order of adjectives. See this adjective word order guide/practice activity from the British Council.

We say responsible for + gerund.

We use couldn’t have + past participle to communicate that a past action was impossible. For more information, see this guide to past modals. For practice, try this past modals practice activity.

We often use for example or for instance followed by a full sentence. We use use such as in the middle of a sentence before giving an example or examples.

To is a preposition in this sentence, not part of the infinitive. Therefore, we need the gerund after the preposition to. We don’t say I’ll look forward to…

Unless can be used instead of if…not. For more information, see this explanation. Pending is incorrect here because we use pending before nouns.

We need the subjunctive form here. See this explanation of the English subjunctive. Deal is an irregular verb. The simple past and the past participle is dealt.

We need to invert the subject and the verb here. For an explanation, see this list of 18 types of subject/verb inversion. We don’t use the expression for no circumstances…

We use this form to express that two things are connected and vary together. For more information, see this explanation.

Despite and in spite of must be followed by a noun or gerund. Although, even though, and though (when though is used to mean although) must  be followed by a subject and a verb.

For wish statements about the present, we use the past tense (I wish I had more money). For wish statements about the past, we use the past perfect (I wish I’d had the opportunity…).