English Advanced Grammar Exercises – Copular verbs

A. Match the sentence beginnings to the correct endings.

a   warm.

b   a disaster – everything went wrong.

c   tall very quickly.

d   captain of the team.

e   red in the autumn.

f   normal, but there’s something strange about it.

g   disgusting. I can’t eat it.

i   a very rich man.

h   an idiot.

j   really difficult.

B. Write at least two possible adjectives to complete each sentence. Use the words in the box and your own ideas.

1   This soup tastes really …………………………………. .

2   He’s dyed his hair …………………………………. .

3   I’m worried about our dog. She seems very …………………………………. .

4   A:   I’m going to spend a month climbing in the mountains.

     B:   That sounds really …………………………………. .

5   When you forgot my birthday, it made me really …………………………………. .

6   They bought an old house and made it really …………………………………. .

7   These old clothes smell …………………………………. .

8   You look so fit. How do you stay so …………………………………. .

9   A:   Could you get me a free ticket to the concert?

     B:   That could prove …………………………………. .

10   Can I lie down? I’m feeling a bit …………………………………. .

C. Underline the correct option.

1   Last night I dreamt I had an accident – I hope it doesn’t get / come / turn true.

2   Take a map if you don’t want to end up / turn up / go lost.

3   This party’s too quiet. I hope it gets / becomes / comes alive soon.

4   It’s a really important day for me. I hope nothing turns / goes / gets wrong.

5   I’m afraid Julie has gone / turned / fallen ill and can’t come today.

6   Make sure you don’t end up / fall / find victim to an Internet trick to steal all your money.

7   The apples on the tree are slowly turning / turning out / staying red.

8   Suddenly, the room went / turned up / proved very quiet.

9   I thought the book would be boring, but it went / kept / turned out very interesting.

10   It makes / turns / finds me very sad when you laugh at my work.

D. Put the lines of the story in the correct order 1-10.

___ a   On our first day in Spain, by lunchtime we were really hungry, so we looked for a restaurant that didn’t look

___ b   green when she saw it! But it turned out

___ c   ‘quite nice’!

___ d   me crazy when people only eat the food they know. She told me last time she ate Spanish food it made

___ e   a nice little restaurant in a quiet square away from the tourists. It looked

___ f   her very ill. Anyway, we found

___ g   too expensive. Jackie said she wanted a burger, but 1 said we should eat Spanish food in Spain. It drives

___ h   delicious on the menu. But when it came to our table, it looked awful – lots of shellfish and crabs’ legs and things. Jackie’s face turned

___ i   really friendly and nice. We ordered the speciality, paella, which sounded

___ j   much better than it looked. Even Jackie said she found it

E. Complete each sentence b so that it means the same as sentence a, using the word in brackets.

1   a   Monica was the best player in the club, and she still is. (remains)

      b   Monica ………………………… in the club.

2   a   The other players elected him president of the club. (by)

      b   He ………………………… players.

3   a   I know it may be hard to believe, but it’s true. (find)

      b   You …………………………, but it’s true.

4   a   It made her angry when they refused to say sorry. (got)

      b   She ………………………… they refused to say sorry.

5   a   Some people consider it rude to talk and eat at the same time. (considered)

      b   It ………………………… to talk and eat at the same time.

6   a   You may think I’m crazy, but I’ve decided to give up my job. (call)

      b   You …………………………, but I’ve decided to give up my job.

7   a   Your trousers are too long. You need to shorten them. (shorter)

      b   Your trousers are too long. You need to ………………………… .

8   a   He was so shocked that his hair went grey. (turned)

      b   The ………………………… .

F. In your notebook, write a list of four things you could do to change your appearance and four things you don’t want to change as you get older.

Examples: I could dye my hair pink. I want to stay fit.

………………………………………………….

………………………………………………….

………………………………………………….

………………………………………………….

G. Circle the correct option.

1   It’s getting …………… tonight.

      a dark quickly

      b darkly quickly

      c darkly quick

2   In my opinion, the idea of living to 1,000 …………… terrible!

      a appears     b sounds     c goes

3   When she said I looked older than I am, I …………… really angry.

      a proved     b got     c kept

4   I’m going to …………… .

      a paint black my room

      b paint my room in black

      c paint my room black

5   The man was …………… innocent of the crime and sent home.

      a driven     b made     c found