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Advanced Grammar Review – Test 1

C2 Proficiency GrammarEnglish

This C2 grammar review tests the structures that set proficient users apart, including inversion, the subjunctive, mixed conditionals, cleft sentences, participle clauses and ellipsis. It suits advanced learners preparing for proficiency-level exams and teachers who want a quick, rigorous check of form, meaning and use.

Questions
30
Time
35 min
PDF
5 pages
Answer key
Included
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Choose the one correct option for each question. Choose your answers, then press “Check my answers”.

Part 1: Advanced structures in context

Choose the option that best completes each sentence.

  1. Not until the final results were published _____ how close the vote had been.

  2. The committee insisted that every applicant _____ proof of address.

  3. If she hadn't turned down that job in Lisbon, she _____ in Portugal now.

  4. _____ the storm, the ferry would have arrived on schedule.

  5. _____ was the demand for tickets that the organisers added a second performance.

  6. It's high time the council _____ something about the potholes on this road.

  7. I'd rather you _____ mention this to anyone until it's official.

  8. She can't _____ the email yet — I only sent it five minutes ago and she's in a meeting.

  9. You _____ have booked a taxi — Amir had already offered to drive us, but thanks anyway.

  10. Try _____ she might, she couldn't get the lid off the jar.

Part 2: Accuracy and error spotting

Choose the correct sentence, the correct response, or the part of the sentence that contains an error.

  1. Which sentence is correct?

  2. Which part contains the error? 'Scarcely we had left the house when it started to pour.'

  3. Which sentence is correct?

  4. Which part contains the error? 'The number of students who has applied this year is higher than ever.'

  5. Nobody phoned while I was out, _____?

  6. 'Where did you buy your coat?' she asked me. → She asked me _____.

  7. Which sentence is correct?

  8. 'Will the results be ready by Friday?' 'I'm afraid _____.'

  9. I wish my neighbours _____ their music so loud every night — it's driving me mad.

  10. Which part contains the error? 'Should you require any further information, do not hesitate contacting us.'

Part 3: Grammar in a text

Read the text and choose the best option for each numbered gap.

The Case for Slow Travel

For most of the twentieth century, travel was measured by how far one could go and how quickly. (1) ___ had affordable air fares become widespread than a weekend in a distant city became something many people took for granted. Yet a growing number of travellers are now questioning whether speed is really the point.

Proponents of slow travel argue that it is not the destination (2) ___ matters, but the experience of getting there. Rather than cramming five cities into a week, they recommend (3) ___ a single region in depth. Only by staying in one place for a while, they claim, (4) ___ to understand its rhythms.

Critics, (5) ___, point out that not everyone has the luxury of time. A nurse with ten days' annual leave can hardly be expected to spend three of them on a train. (6) ___ appealing the idea may be, it remains, for many, out of reach.

Even so, the movement has had a measurable effect. Several rail operators have reintroduced night services that (7) ___ decades ago, and booking figures suggest that demand is steadily rising. Had these routes not been revived, many travellers today (8) ___ no realistic alternative to flying.

Perhaps the most valuable lesson of slow travel is not about transport at all. It is a reminder that (9) ___ we hurry, the less we notice. Whether or not we ever board a sleeper train, it is worth asking ourselves how much we (10) ___ by always rushing to the next thing.

  1. Gap (1)

  2. Gap (2)

  3. Gap (3)

  4. Gap (4)

  5. Gap (5)

  6. Gap (6)

  7. Gap (7)

  8. Gap (8)

  9. Gap (9)

  10. Gap (10)

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About this test

This C2 grammar review tests the structures that set proficient users apart, including inversion, the subjunctive, mixed conditionals, cleft sentences, participle clauses and ellipsis. It suits advanced learners preparing for proficiency-level exams and teachers who want a quick, rigorous check of form, meaning and use.

Topics covered

Inversion and frontingSubjunctive and unreal pastMixed conditionalsModal perfectsCleft sentencesParticiple clausesEllipsis and substitutionConcessive structures

How to use this test

  1. Download the PDF and print it, or take the test online below.
  2. Answer every question without a dictionary or time pressure.
  3. Check your answers and note the topics you need to review.

Notes for teachers

Use this test as a diagnostic or as a review before a C2 exam. It targets persistent advanced-level errors: missing auxiliary inversion after negative adverbials, indicative forms after mandative verbs, dangling participles, 'suggest + object + infinitive' and subject-verb agreement with 'the number of'. For follow-up, ask students to rewrite the incorrect options so they become correct, or to transform the reading passage into a more or less formal register.