Cambridge C2 Proficiency (CPE) — All Questions
22 questions
The board insisted that every proposal ___ reviewed by an independent auditor.
- a.is
- b.be✓
- c.was
- d.would be
After the mandative verb 'insist that', the subjunctive uses the base form 'be' for all persons, regardless of the subject. 'Is' and 'was' are indicative and incorrect here.
So ___ that even her critics fell silent.
- a.her delivery was persuasive
- b.was persuasive her delivery
- c.persuasive her delivery was
- d.persuasive was her delivery✓
Fronting 'So + adjective' forces inversion of verb and subject: 'So persuasive was her delivery that...'. The other orders fail to invert correctly.
It's high time the authorities ___ something about the crumbling roads.
- a.did✓
- b.do
- c.have done
- d.will do
'It's high time' is followed by the unreal past (past simple) to express that action is overdue: 'It's high time they did something.' The present or future is incorrect.
Only after the results were published ___ the scale of the error.
- a.we realised
- b.realised we
- c.did we realise✓
- d.we did realise
The restrictive fronted adverbial 'Only after...' triggers subject-auxiliary inversion in the main clause: 'did we realise'. Plain word order is ungrammatical here.
She speaks as though she ___ there herself, but in fact she only read about it.
- a.was
- b.had been✓
- c.has been
- d.would be
'As though/as if' describing something contrary to past fact takes the past perfect: 'as though she had been there'. This marks the unreal, hypothetical past.
Whether the fee is refundable remains a ___ point among the lawyers.
- a.mute
- b.null
- c.moot✓
- d.void
'A moot point' is one that is debatable or unresolved. 'Mute' (silent) is a common misspelling/confusion but is incorrect here.
By launching a week early, the firm managed to steal a ___ on its rivals.
- a.march✓
- b.lead
- c.step
- d.gain
The idiom 'steal a march on someone' means to gain an advantage by acting before them. Only 'march' completes the fixed expression.
An ___ gambler, he could never resist the promise of one more bet.
- a.eventual
- b.irritable
- c.intimate
- d.inveterate✓
'Inveterate' describes a deeply established, habitual tendency, especially a bad one: an 'inveterate gambler'. The other adjectives do not convey ingrained habit.
He raised the subject delicately, unsure how best to ___ such a sensitive matter.
- a.breach
- b.broach✓
- c.brooch
- d.breech
To 'broach' a subject means to introduce or bring it up. The homophones 'breach' (break), 'brooch' (jewellery) and 'breech' are all incorrect.
They laboured for hours to fix the leak, but all to no ___.
- a.avail✓
- b.effect
- c.result
- d.end
'To no avail' is a fixed idiom meaning without success. None of the other nouns completes this set phrase.
The punishment seemed wholly ___ to the minor nature of the offence. (PROPORTION)
- a.proportional
- b.proportionate
- c.disproportionate✓
- d.proportionately
The context ('minor offence' but heavy punishment) needs a negative adjective: 'dis-' + 'proportion' + '-ate' → 'disproportionate'.
Her ___ in the face of repeated setbacks eventually paid off. (PERSEVERE)
- a.perseverant
- b.perseverance✓
- c.persevering
- d.persevered
A noun follows the possessive 'Her'. The verb 'persevere' nominalises to 'perseverance' (note the internal spelling).
His demands were ___; no reasonable person could take them seriously. (SENSE)
- a.senseless
- b.sensory
- c.sensitive
- d.nonsensical✓
The context needs an adjective meaning absurd. 'Non-' + 'sens' + '-ical' gives 'nonsensical', the precise C2-level form here.
The judge's ___ was never once in doubt throughout the trial. (PART)
- a.impartiality✓
- b.partiality
- c.partition
- d.parting
A judge should be unbiased, so the needed noun is 'impartiality' (im- + partial + -ity). 'Partiality' means bias, the opposite meaning.
The two departments have been ___ loggerheads for months over the budget.
- a.in
- b.at✓
- c.on
- d.under
The idiom 'at loggerheads (with)' means in strong disagreement. The fixed preposition is 'at'.
In terms of raw talent, the newcomer is very much ___ a par with the veterans.
- a.in
- b.at
- c.on✓
- d.to
'On a par with' means at an equal level with. The idiom fixes the preposition as 'on'.
We were ___ no illusion about how difficult the negotiations would be.
- a.in
- b.on
- c.at
- d.under✓
The fixed phrase is 'under no illusion', meaning fully aware of the reality. 'Under' is the required preposition.
When it comes to Renaissance art, she is ___ authority everyone consults.
- a.the✓
- b.an
- c.a
- d.-
The emphatic, stressed 'the' marks her as the single pre-eminent authority. 'An'/'a' would reduce her to merely one of several.
Which sentence is correct?
- a.The whole event turned out to be a damp squid.
- b.The whole event turned out to be a damp squib.✓
- c.The whole event turned out to be a dump squib.
- d.The whole event turned out to be a damp squick.
The idiom is 'a damp squib' (a firework that fails to go off, hence an anticlimax). 'Damp squid' is a widespread but incorrect corruption of it.
Which sentence is correct?
- a.It is imperative that the report is submitted by Friday.
- b.It is imperative that the report will be submitted by Friday.
- c.It is imperative that the report submits by Friday.
- d.It is imperative that the report be submitted by Friday.✓
After 'It is imperative that', formal English uses the mandative subjunctive 'be submitted'. The indicative 'is submitted' is a common but less accurate alternative at this register.
Which sentence is correct?
- a.Reviewing the data, I noticed several anomalies.✓
- b.Reviewing the data, several anomalies were noticed.
- c.Reviewing the data, there were several anomalies.
- d.Reviewing the data, the anomalies became noticeable to me.
The introductory participle 'Reviewing the data' must attach to the person doing the reviewing. Only 'I noticed' supplies that subject; the others leave the participle dangling.
Which sentence is correct?
- a.Hardly I had sat down when the phone rang.
- b.Hardly had I sat down than the phone rang.
- c.Hardly had I sat down when the phone rang.✓
- d.Hardly I had sat down than the phone rang.
'Hardly' fronted requires inversion ('had I sat down') and is completed by 'when', not 'than': 'Hardly had I sat down when...'. Both the inversion and the correlative must be right.