CAE Grammar Flashcards
6 cards from real CAE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 CAE Grammar flashcards as text
Which sentence correctly uses an inversion for emphasis?
Answer: Never have I seen such dedication.
Fronting a negative adverb like 'never' requires subject-auxiliary inversion: 'Never have I seen...' mirrors the question word order.
Choose the correct conditional form: 'If I _______ harder, I might have passed the exam.'
Answer: had studied
This is a third conditional (past hypothetical): 'If I had studied harder, I might have passed' — past perfect in the if-clause, would/could/might + have + past participle in the main clause.
Which sentence is grammatically correct?
Answer: Despite the rain, they continued playing.
'Despite' is a preposition followed directly by a noun phrase, not by 'of' or 'that'; 'despite the rain' is the correct structure.
Identify the correct use of the passive voice: 'The report _______ by the committee last Monday.'
Answer: was submitted
The past simple passive 'was submitted' is correct here: subject (the report) + was + past participle (submitted).
Which sentence demonstrates a correct use of a participle clause?
Answer: Having finished the essay, she closed the laptop.
The subject of the participle clause must match the subject of the main clause; 'she' finished the essay and 'she' closed the laptop, making option B correct.
Which option correctly uses a reported speech structure? Original: 'I will finish the project by Friday,' she said.
Answer: She said she would finish the project by Friday.
In reported speech, 'will' shifts back to 'would'; the tense backshift follows the sequence-of-tenses rule in indirect speech.