Worksheets Grand Scholar's Education Centre English Section

For use in English private tutorials only.

Name: Date:

Grade: Marks: /100

No part of this worksheet may be reproduced without prior permission from Grand Scholars.

Part 1: Reading comprehension (20 marks, 2 marks each)

It was a cold November morning and a group of old soldiers could be seen walking out of a
church in Alberta, Canada. They were all dressed in their uniforms with neat rows of medals.
They walked past houses, shops, petrol stations and even cattle pens on their way to the
cenotaph.
At the cenotaph, a lone bugler played the ''Last Post'' and this was followed by two minutes
of silence. After that, wreaths were laid as people stood solemnly in the wind, remembering
the brave ones who answered the call of duty and died in wars or peace-keeping missions.
Elsewhere in Canada, the same ceremony was conducted. At the eleventh hour of the
eleventh day of the eleventh month of each year, Canadians everywhere observe
Remembrance Day.
Although Remembrance Day is not a holiday in most schools, students and teachers still set
aside part of the day to remember and honour those who died. Some of them display items
such as wartime postcards, telegrams, gas masks and uniforms in schools while others do
research on Canadian war heroes.
One of the Remembrance Day traditions is wearing a red poppy. This flower can be seen on
the lapels of men, women and children about a week before the arrival of Remembrance
Day. The poem ''In Flounders Fields'' written by a Canadian doctor who served in the
battlefield in 1915 inspired the Canadians to adopt the poppy as the symbol of
remembrance.
Answer the following questions:
1. Do you think the passers-by could tell that the men walking out of the church were
soldiers? Give a reason for your answer.

2. Where was the group of men going?

3. What did the people do after the bugler played the ''Last Post''?

4. What were placed on the ground at the cenotaph during the ceremony?

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5. Who are honoured on Remembrance Day?

6. How often is Remembrance Day observed?

7. Do the pupils in Canada go to school on Remembrance Day? How do you know?

8. Which sentence in the last paragraph tells you that wearing a red poppy on
Remembrance Day is a practice which has been passed down for many years?

9. When do people begin to wear a red poppy on their lapels?

10. Who wrote the poem ''In Flounders Fields''?

Part 2: Fill in the blanks (15 marks)

The mass media nowadays are our main source of information about what's happening in
the world and the impression one (1) from them about human (2) is pretty depressing.
My blood (3) rises every time I switch the television on. Apart from the gossip about (4)
personalities, the picture they paint of human (5) is that they are violent and bloodthirsty.
They just report crimes, violations of human rights and the way we are destroying our
natural (6) . They rarely report (7) in science or medicine; it's a bleak picture. Last night,
there was a report about a mass (8) from a prison in Chicago during which five prison
guards (9) dead as the prisoners were (10) their getaway. Then there was the story of
someone who (11) gunned down by police when he went berserk and massacred ten
innocent (12) in a shopping centre somewhere – again – in the United States. I see now
where Hollywood (13) get their ideas from. They just turn on the news and they've got
themselves a (14) scenario. It seems to me that news (15) have become a form of
entertainment.

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Part 3: Proofreading (17 marks)

1. George came round to see me yesterday because he said he ____________
2. wanted to discuss about the problems he was having at work. He ____________
3. explained that because he had only recently started to work ____________
4. in the office everybody was taking advantage of him. He ____________
5. complained that they kept up asking him to do things which he ____________
6. says are not his job to do it. Senior members of staff ____________
7. asked him to make a coffee and one of them even told him ____________
8. to buy him a newspaper. The assistant director asked of him ____________
9. whether he would mind to getting him some cigarettes. ____________
10. I asked George how long had this had been going on and he said ____________
11. it had started on his first day in the office. I advised him to go and ____________
12. talk to his boss. He replied that he has already had a ____________
13. word with the manager but he refused to get involved and even ____________
14. suggested whether it was George's fault if there was tension at ____________
15. work. I wondered whether we should to persuade George to apply ____________
16. for a job with us but I don't know about whether he would agree ____________
17. to work on a much lower salary than he's getting at the moment. ____________
Part 4: Grammar: Speech and transformation exercise (8 marks)
Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the bracketed word
I've been a professional writer for most of my adult life and I've been writing
________________(scientist) fiction for at least twenty years now. My real name is Herbert
Smith but I use the pen name 'Al Macintyre' because I think a _____________(novel) should
have a more exciting name than 'Smith'. I used to have enormous problems writing
manuscripts for________________(publish). First, I would start scribbling on a huge wad of

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Worksheets Grand Scholar's Education Centre English Section

ordinary_________________(write) paper. Then I would jot down a few ideas in a

notesheet before I started to write my first draft on the____________(type). This went on
till a couple of years ago when I bought my first_______________(person) computer. I was
only interested in the word_____________ (process), actually, and when I saw the first
neat_______________(print) of my efforts on the computer, I knew it would change the
way I wrote novels forever.
Part 5: Writing (40 marks)
Your friend Kenneth like singing a lot. Write a letter to persuade him to take part in The
Voice, a popular singing contest on television, in which you once took part. In your letter,
you should share your experience with him and tell him how he can benefit from entering
the singing contest. Sign your name ''Chris''.

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Answers:
Part 1 reading:
1. Yes they could because they were dressed in their uniforms.

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Worksheets Grand Scholar's Education Centre English Section

2. They were going to the cenotaph.

3. They kept quiet for two minutes.
4. Wreaths were placed on the ground.
5. People who died in wars or on peacekeeping missions are honoured.
6. It is observed once a year.
7. Yes, as it is not a holiday in most schools.
8. The sentence is ''One of the Remembrance Day traditions is wearing a red poppy.''
9. They wear a red poppy about a week before the arrival of Remembrance Day.
10. It was written by a Canadian doctor who served in the battlefield in 1915.
Part 2 Fill in the blanks:
1. C 2. A 3. D 4. D 5. A 6. D 7. D 8. B 9. D 10. B 11. C 12. B 13. D 14. A 15. A
Part 3 Proofreading:
1. Correct 2. Delete ''about'' 3. Correct 4. Correct 5. Delete ''up'' 6. Delete ''it''
7. Correct 8. Delete ''of'' 9. Delete ''to'' 10. Delete second ''had'' 11. Correct
12. Correct 13. Correct 14. Delete ''if'' or replace ''if'' with ''that'' 15. Delete ''to''
16. Delete ''about'' 17. Correct
Part 4 Fill in the blanks:
1. Science 2. Novelist 3. Publishers 4. Writing 5. Typewriter 6. Personal
7. Processor 8. Printout