One of the UK’s biggest exam providers allows you to test your English grammar knowledge (Image: Getty)
The Cambridge English exam is a language proficiency test. Known as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), it is the international benchmark for assessing language skills.
Cambridge University Press and Assessment (CUP&A) is one of the UK’s biggest exam providers and has been testing people’s language skills since the 1850s.
Its English exams have been taken by more than 100 million people around the world, all aiming to test their knowledge.
Back in 1913, three teachers attempted the exam and all failed.
Do you want to know how you would fare? Below you will find one of the questions that were included in the exam.
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English is considered a complicated language largely due to its grammar and similar sounding words (Image: Getty)
Correct or justify four of the following sentences and provide your reasons for it.
(a) I hope you are determined to seriously improve.
(b) Comparing Shakespeare with Aeschylus, the former is by no means inferior to the latter.
(c) I admit that I was willing to have made peace with you.
(d) The statement was incorrect, as any one familiar with the spot, and who was acquainted with the facts, will admit.
(e) It has the largest circulation of any paper in England.
(f) The lyrical gifts of Shakespeare are woven into the actual language of the characters.
The correct answers can be found at the bottom of the article.
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Cambridge University Press and Assessment have been testing people ever since the 1850s (Image: Getty)
Marketing director for higher education Ian Cook told the : “More than 100 million people across 130 countries have now sat our English exams.
“They’re recognised by more than 25,000 organisations from governments – which use them for immigration purposes – to employers and universities.
“Some universities in Germany, Sweden, and East Asia, for example, deliver IT and healthcare courses in English in order to attract the best candidates and so students need to show they have the language skills to cope with the course”.
Dr Evelina Galaczi, director of research at CUP&A added: “At first, it was an exam for a small elite who wanted to study English as an academic subject, like Latin or Ancient Greek.
She added: “But in the Second World War, English became a global language, and so speaking and pronunciation became much more important.”
While the English language has changed over the past century, CUP&A said the correct answers for the above question in 1913 would have been:
(a) This is a split infinitive which would have been considered wrong. It should have said “to improve seriously”
(b) This is a hanging participle. It should have read “Shakespeare is by no means inferior to Aeschylus”. Now we would say “Shakespeare is just as good as”.
(c) Wrong tense. It should be “to make peace”.
(d) “Would admit” not “Will admit”.
(e) Correct
(f) Correct