Unit 1: Exercise 1

Read the information. Then match the words with the definitions.

Prefixes are letters that can be added to the beginning of words to form new words with
different meanings. It is important to learn the meanings of prefixes as this will help you to
better understand the overall meaning of words. For example:

Word Prefix Meaning of prefix

understand misunderstand incorrectly, badly

heading subheading under, below

vitamin multivitamin many, several

cook undercook too little, beneath

charge overcharge too much, above

clockwise anticlockwise against, opposite

pay prepay before

Antisocial mislead multicultural overcrowded preview

Substandard underestimate

1. to cause someone to believe something that is not true:

2. below a satisfactory standard:
3. including people who have many different customs and beliefs:
4. to fail to guess or understand the real cost, size, difficulty of something:
5. containing too many people or things:
6. harmful to society:
7. an opportunity to see something such as a film before it is shown to the public:

Unit 1: Exercise 2
Complete the sentences. Use the words in the box.

antisocial mislead multicultural overcrowded preview

 substandard underestimated

1. She lives with her parents and five sisters. Their one-room flat is
________________ .
2. The building materials they used to build the village hall were of poor quality. In
particular, the roof tiles were _________________ .
3. People from all over the world live in that part of the city. It’s very
________________ .
4. We have very ______________ neighbours who play music all night and leave
rubbish everywhere.
5. We went to see a ________________ of the film a week before it opened to the
general public.
6. Some companies deliberately ______________ people by making false claims about
their products in their advertisements.
7. The builders originally thought the project would cost £4,000, but they
_____________ the price of the equipment, and now they think it will cost £8,000.

Unit 1: Exercise 3
Choose the correct prepositions to complete the sentences.

1. The town will have grown considerably at/by/for the year 2050.

2. He has been living on that farm by/for/since 1998.

3. They went to the local village school at/from/since 2000 to 2005.

4. My grandparents have lived in the same house for/from/since ages.

5. I intend to live in this rural area at/between/for the next two or three years.

6. We rented a house near the lake at/between/for 2012 and 2014.

7. I’m not sure where my friend is. She should be here by/since/until now.

8. We want to stay here between/by/for at least two more years.

Unit 1: Exercise 4
Read the information. Then complete the sentences. Use the words and phrases
in the box.

Conjunctions are linking words that help you to connect your ideas. It is important to use
conjunctions in your written and spoken English correctly as this will improve your Cohesion
and Coherence mark in the IELTS test. Future time phrases such as provided that, as long as
and as soon as are called subordinating conjunctions.

One purpose of a subordinating conjunction is to reduce the importance of one of the clauses
so that the reader knows which of the ideas is more important to the writer. Typically in
English, the less important idea is introduced by the subordinating conjunction. For example:

As soon as the new tramway is built, there will be less traffic on the roads.

In the example, the writer’s aim is to show that less traffic on the roads is more important
than the new tramway being built.

as long as as soon as by the time provided that supposing unless

1. My bank will lend me the money _______________ I agree to pay it back in five
years.

2. I think you will get that job _______________ you don’t do badly at the interview.

3. The police wouldn’t let me park there ________________ I showed them proof that I
lived in the street.

4. I hope to have travelled around Asia _______________ I am 50 years old.

5. ______________ I get home, I will book our tickets for the theatre.

6. ______________ the car park is full when we arrive, will we be able to find
alternative parking?

Unit 1: Exercise 5
Choose the correct tenses to complete the sentences.

1. As soon as the new road is completed, traffic congestion in the city centre was/ will
be/ would be reduced.

2. As long as you continue to cycle to work every day, your fitness and health improved/
improves/ will improve .

3. By the time the shopping centre is open, the multistorey car park was/will/would be
finished.

4. Unless the planning department gives permission for the supermarket to be built soon,
it wasn’t/ won’t/ wouldn’t be built this year.
 5. Provided that we all work together, the project is/will/would be finished on time.

6. Apparently, they are thinking of closing the railway station in my village. If it was
closed, it will/won’t/would cause problems for lots of commuters.
7. Supposing we don’t arrive until late at night, is/will/would the guest house still be
open?

Unit 1: Exercise 6
Match the words and phrases with the definitions.

Affordable budget hotel charge closure commuter congestion

exhaust fumes pollution season ticket

1. overcrowding on the roads: _______________________

2. gases coming from an engine as waste products: _______________________
3. the price you have to pay for something: _______________________
4. when something is shut down or closed: _______________________
5. not expensive: _______________________
6. an establishment that provides accommodation at a reasonable
price: _______________________
7. the contamination of soil, water or the atmosphere by harmful
substances: _______________________
8. something you buy for a number of journeys within a specific time:
_______________________
9. somebody who travels regularly from one place to another for work: 
_______________________

Unit 1: Exercise 7
Complete the sentences. Use the words in the box.

Affordable budget hotels charge closures commuters congestion

pollution season ticket

1. Traffic ______________ has increased dramatically in the city centre. As a result, it

now takes people over two hours to get to work because there are so many cars.
 2. The ______________ caused by exhaust fumes has fallen sharply as fewer people are
driving to work since a new _________________ was introduced for vehicles
entering the city centre.

3. The price of a rail __________________ has risen considerably over the last six
months. As a result, _________________ are finding it very difficult to afford their
travel costs.

4. It is predicted that the population of the town will expand gradually over the next few
years, now that the proposal to construct a small number of ________________
houses has been accepted by the planning department.

5. The number of tourists staying in the area has risen steadily since the recent
construction of two ____________________ offering less expensive accommodation.

6. ___________________ of small shops in the town centre have risen noticeably since
the opening of a new hypermarket with 1,000 parking spaces.

Unit 1: Exercise 8
Read the information. Then complete the table with the adverbs in the box.

Try to use a wide variety of adverbs when describing degrees of change. This will help you to
achieve a higher Lexical Resource mark in the IELTS test.

Sharply considerably steadily gradually dramatically

marginally slowly abruptly significantly

small degree of change large degree of change

Unit 1: Exercise 9
Choose the correct adverbs to complete the sentences.

1. My rail season ticket cost £2,000 last year, and this year I have to pay £4,000. The
price has increased dramatically/ marginally/ steadily .

2. For each of the last ten years, the number of residents in my town has increased by
between 1-2%. The population has risen considerably/ sharply/ steadily.

3. There has been a 50% reduction in the number of vehicles in the city centre this year.
Levels of pollution have fallen sharply/ slowly/ steadily .

4. The police have reported a year-on-year 2% drop in violent crime in the inner cities.
Incidents of crime have been decreasing abruptly/ considerably/ gradually over recent
years.

5. Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain reported a fivefold increase in sales of

crisps and nuts last Saturday prior to the World Cup Final. Sales of snacks increased
significantly/ slowly/ steadily .

6. The number of lambs born this spring was 0.4% below the seasonal average. The birth
rate this year dropped marginally/ significantly/ steadily .

Unit 1: Exercise 10
Read the text comparing rural and urban life. Complete the sentences with the
words in the box.

Affordable antisocial charges gradually commute multicultural

overcrowded pollution provided

One of the biggest differences between rural and urban life is that generally the population in
villages tends to be monocultural, whereas in cities it is ________________ . In many
villages, the cost of housing is __________________ and __________________ that people
have a job, they can live in their own houses and not in __________________ blocks of flats.
There are more employment opportunities in cities, but many workers have to
__________________ because of the high cost of housing. Life in most villages is relaxed
and peaceful. There is little _________________behaviour and the air is clean. However, in
some cities ___________________ is a big problem due to fumes from car exhaust pipes.
New ___________________ introduced for vehicles entering city centres will
______________________ eliminate this problem.