Exam practice

• a.My favorite movie is WALL-E, an animated film by Pixar.
• b.It is an animated science fiction film: a cartoon story set in the future.
• c.I like the little robot WALL-E, who goes on cleaning up an Earth covered in rubbish long after people have left it, and the way the film makes you laugh and think at the same time. Its weakness is that the second half, on a spaceship, moves too fast and is less moving than the quiet first half.

Name the kind of film with words such as action, comedy, drama, horror, romance, thriller, animation, science fiction, documentary, biography.

• a.reluctant: v. hesitating to do something
• b.intriguing: iv. arousing one’s curiosity or interest; fascinating
• c.exquisite: i. extremely beautiful or carefully made
• d.avalanche: ii. a mass of snow, ice and rock that falls down the side of a mountain
• e.overwhelming: iii. very great; so powerful that you cannot resist it
• f.credibility: vi. the quality of being trusted and believed in

• a.climate change
• b.a series of striking and intense video clips of multiple natural disasters (the review never names a place where the film begins; it says what it begins with)
• c.the Extreme Ice Survey
• d.glaciers
• e.scientific facts (and visually appealing images)
• f.bigger screen (“the bigger the screen, the better”)
• g.a glaciologist and a climatologist
• h.theories on the environment

Some answer keys give Los Angeles for b, reading “opens in Los Angeles on Nov. 23” as the place where the film is set. But a film that opens somewhere is first shown in cinemas there; it says nothing about where its story begins.

It is a documentary (and a biography): a film of real events, following the real work of the photographer James Balog.

To show, with real pictures, how fast glaciers are melting because of climate change, so that viewers, even skeptics, see the evidence for themselves and think seriously about the future.

To record the same glaciers over a long time: the cameras took pictures again and again for years in Greenland, Iceland, Alaska and Montana, so the footage would show how much each glacier changed.

Balog’s photographs and time-lapse footage of glaciers calving, breaking apart into icebergs. They let viewers see places most people will never visit.

He combined data and scientific facts with beautiful pictures, and he did not overwhelm viewers with too many scientific details: he explained his methods and results simply, without being boring. Dramatic scenes (disasters, avalanches, calving glaciers, his own risks) keep it exciting too.

Because it combines intriguing theories and exquisite images, it shows real evidence of melting glaciers, and it makes viewers, even skeptics, think critically about climate change and what it means for our future.

1. Use less fossil fuel. Walk or cycle for short trips, share rides, and use public buses and electric vehicles. Almost all the electricity Nepal makes comes from its rivers, so an electric bus or cooker in Nepal adds very little carbon dioxide.
2. Save energy. Switch off lights and fans we are not using, and use LED bulbs and pressure cookers.
3. Plant and protect trees. Community forests have made Nepal’s hills greener since the 1980s; trees take carbon dioxide out of the air and hold the soil on slopes.
4. Waste less. Reduce, reuse and recycle; compost kitchen waste instead of letting it rot in a landfill, where it gives off methane; never burn plastic.
5. Prepare for the changes already coming. Build away from river banks, keep early-warning systems for glacial lakes and floods, collect rainwater, and grow crops that survive drought.

Some answer keys put zoo and zoom in the short column and wool in the long one: it is the other way round. A rule of thumb: -ook words are short (book, cook, look, hook, took), and so are good, stood, wood, foot, wool. An oo at the end of a word is always long (too, zoo). Roof and room are said long in most English; you may hear them short too.

• a.A: When are they coming? B: I’m not sure. They may come tomorrow.
• b.A: Will Dolma pass the exam? B: She might not pass: she isn’t sure herself. (Or: She may pass, but she isn’t sure.)
• c.A: Why is Shishir so excited? B: He has bought a lottery ticket. He might become a millionaire! (A small chance: might, or could.)
• d.A: Where is Rajesh from? B: He might be from France: he looks like a foreigner and speaks excellent French. (Not must: many people learn French without being French.)
• e.A: How is Sambriddhi? B: She has got a job. She must be very happy.
• f.A: Will you finish the project tonight? B: I may finish it tonight, but I’m not sure.
• g.A: Who is at the gate? B: It’s eight o’clock. They must be the road cleaners.

• a.A: My father wasn’t in a good mood when I got home. Why do you think? B: He must have had a hard day at work. Or he might have heard some bad news.
• b.A: My English teacher got a call and rushed out, looking worried. B: Something serious must have happened at home. Someone in his family might have fallen ill.
• c.A: Pratima came back from the principal’s office looking very pleased. B: She must have got good news. She may have won the essay competition!
• d.A: Someone’s stomach growled in class. Why? B: She or he must have missed breakfast. They can’t have eaten anything since morning.
• e.A: My friend was terribly worried after the English test. B: She might have made some mistakes. Or she can’t have finished all the questions in time.

Look for the time words: next year, by, for the next, until, tonight, I think. One of the sentences is about the past: which?

• a.will have (a future fact: next year)
• b.had finished: returned is in the past, so this sentence is about the past, and the homework was done before her parents came: the past perfect. (About the future, it would be Sambriddhi will have finished her homework before her parents return home.)
• c.will have learned (by the time he finishes: finished before then)
• d.will stay or will be staying (until Monday)
• e.will be building (for the next two months: going on over that time)
• f.will find (in an hour from now; or will have found, done within the hour)
• g.will stay or will be staying
• h.will win (a prediction: I think)
• i.will have prepared (by 11 p.m.: finished before then)
• j.will watch (a single future action after another)
• k.will rain (or is going to rain: a forecast)

Some answer keys give will have been building for e. That form needs a point in the future to measure up to (By June, they will have been building it for two months); with for the next two months, the action is simply going on, so will be building. And some give will have finished for b, which doesn’t fit a sentence that ends in the past, returned.

There are fourteen past verbs: travelled, disguised, walked, stepped, surprised, tipped, bowed, delivered, exchanged, talked, showed (twice), traded, kissed. Change each one, and leave everything else as it is.

It begins: I will travel to London to visit the Queen of England. I will disguise myself as a prince and walk into Buckingham Palace. After receiving directions from a chambermaid, I will step into the Queen’s bedroom and surprise Her Royal Highness with a hearty slap on the back.
The rest of the verbs:

Of course and After uncorking a bottle of champagne stay as they are. The British spelling travelled becomes travel in any case.

Use the five parts. Keep the story to one paragraph and give at least as much space to your opinion, with reasons. Remember: present tense for the story, and no spoilers.

Movie Review: WALL-E
Title: WALL-E · Genre: animation, science fiction · Director: Andrew Stanton · Studio: Pixar · Language: English · Released: 2008 · Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes

Seven hundred years from now, the Earth is buried under mountains of rubbish, and the humans have left it to live on a giant spaceship. Only one small robot, WALL-E, is still working, squeezing the garbage into cubes, day after day, with a cockroach as his only friend. Then a sleek white robot called EVE arrives from space to look for signs of life, and WALL-E follows her across the galaxy.

The first half of the film is a small miracle: there is almost no talking, yet you understand every feeling of the lonely robot, through his eyes, his little sounds and the way he collects treasures from the junk. The pictures of the empty, dusty Earth are beautiful and sad at the same time. The film also has a serious message about waste and about people who let machines do everything for them.

Its weakness is the second half: the scenes on the spaceship are busy and noisy, and the humans are drawn as cartoons, so the film loses some of its quiet magic.

Still, WALL-E is funny, moving and clever, and it won the Oscar for the best animated film. I recommend it to everyone from eight to eighty, especially to anyone who has ever thrown a plastic bag on the ground.

• a.He might be in his garden, or in a field near his house.
• b.He must be about forty or fifty years old: he isn’t young, but he is strong enough to dig.
• c.He might be digging a hole to plant a tree or vegetables, or to bury some rubbish. (Read the play to find out what he is really doing!)

a. matter b. disgusting c. row d. gosh e. goldfish f. bury (burying in the text)

NG means the text doesn’t tell you either way. F means the text shows it is wrong.

• a.T. Ramila calls Ramesh Silu’s Papa, so Silu is their child, and Silu is a common Nepali girl’s name, so she is their daughter.
• b.F. The first noise wakes them at half past one, not midnight.
• c.NG. The text doesn’t say how the families get on. (Ramesh’s They never invite us is a hint, but no more.)
• d.F. Ramila says they always have rows after parties, but that is only her guess, and this night shows it wrong: the crash they took for a row was the goldfish tank, knocked over while the Dahals were clearing up together.
• e.F. Ramesh wanted to, but Ramila told him to ask Mr. Dahal first, and they never called.
• f.F. He is burying the fish before the children wake up, so that they won’t see the dead fish: he does not want them to know.

Some answer keys give T for f. But burying the fish before the children wake shows the opposite: he wants to spare them.

Last Tihar, I was woken at about two in the morning by loud bangs and shouting outside. My heart was racing: I was sure someone was breaking into our neighbor’s shop. My brother and I crept to the window. It turned out to be a group of young men from our tole, still playing Deusi and setting off the last of their firecrackers on the way home. The next morning, my mother laughed at us for being so frightened. Like Ramila and Ramesh, we had jumped to conclusions from the sounds alone.

First row: 1. sunny 2. windy 3. cloudy
Second row: 4. snowy 5. foggy 6. rainy

• a.The people in England → C. are always concerned about the weather there. (It is always a big topic, and a little snow stops everything.)
• b.The weather in England → F. is very changeable.
• c.The people in Dubai → A. don’t think about the weather much. (No one really talked about it; he never checked the forecast.)
• d.The weather in Dubai → B. is almost the same the whole year. (Hot, sunny, blue skies, no rain.)
• e.Global warming → D. is changing weather patterns. (It is making it rain in the desert and dry in the rainforests.)

• a.When did they go to Spain?
• b.Where does Mr. Chaudhari live?
• c.What did you finally discover? (I becomes you when you ask the speaker.)
• d.Why does she want to learn the English language?
• e.What are they having now?
• f.How can I send the application?
• g.Whom have they informed about the incident?
• h.Which house did the Smiths sell?

In b and d, lives and wants have no helping verb: does comes in, and the -s moves to it: does … live, does … want.

• a.My new friend asked me where I was from.
• b.The stranger enquired where the nearest bank was.
• c.My mother wanted to know what I had been doing until then.
• d.They asked (me) how long I had been living there.
• e.My brother wanted to know who the Prime Minister of Canada was.
• f.Rohan enquired what my father did.
• g.She asked me where I had been living before I came there.
• h.The old mouse asked who would bell the cat.
• i.She wanted to know what time the train left.
• j.She wondered how I could desert her.

Enquire is the British spelling; American English writes inquire. In e, who is the subject, so the order stays. In j, could doesn’t change: it is already a past form.

1. Bina reads the news every morning. → When does Bina read the news?
2. Our class teacher organized the trip. → Who organized the trip?
3. The bus leaves at 6:30. → What time does the bus leave?
4. Tilak lost his umbrella in the rain. → What did Tilak lose in the rain?
5. The temple is in Bungamati. → Where is the temple?
6. Anju is crying because she hurt her knee. → Why is Anju crying?
7. We have lived here for six years. → How long have you lived here?
8. Rizwan will come by motorbike. → How will Rizwan come?
9. This is Januka’s bicycle. → Whose bicycle is this?
10. They invited the ward chair to the program. → Whom did they invite to the program?

Check: the right wh-word, a helping verb before the subject (or do/does/did added), the plain verb after do, and a question mark.

The important information: Shree Janajagriti Secondary School, Bhanu-10, Tanahun (who it is from) · 14 June 2021 (date) · all the students and parents (for whom) · the school will remain closed (what) · from 15th June 2021 to 15th July 2021 (when) · for the summer vacation (why) · Regular classes will resume from 16th July 2021 (what next) · Head Teacher (signed by).

Answer the reader’s questions: what is happening, for whom, when and where, how to take part (and by when), and any rules or prizes. Then sign it as the head teacher.

Shree Bhanu Secondary School
Bandipur-4, Tanahun
Date: 2 Mangsir 2083

NOTICE
Inter-house Spelling Contest

This is to inform all the students that the school is organizing an Inter-house Spelling Contest on Friday, 11 Mangsir 2083, from 11 a.m. in the school hall.

Each house (Everest, Kanchenjunga, Makalu and Annapurna) will send two students from Grades 6–8 and two from Grades 9–10. Interested students are requested to give their names to their house captain by Wednesday, 9 Mangsir. The words will be taken from the English textbooks of Grades 6–10.

Prizes will be given to the best house and to the three best spellers. All the students are welcome to come and cheer for their houses.

Head Teacher

• a.Only Imja Glacier, covered in rocks: there was no lake.
• b.Small ponds formed on the glacier as its ice melted, and they joined into one lake that kept growing.
• c.They worried that the wall of loose rock and ice might burst and flood the villages below.
• d.It dug a channel with a gate and lowered the lake by about three and a half meters.
• e.tongue

a. will be walking b. will have photographed c. will snow d. will be sleeping e. will have started

• a.How often did the cameras take a photo?
• b.Who led the Extreme Ice Survey?
• c.Which jacket did Sushila buy?
• d.Why was the road closed?

• a.The guide asked where we were staying that night. (or where I was staying)
• b.Pramila asked me what I had eaten for lunch.
• c.Arjun asked his sister how many glaciers there were in Nepal.

• a.must have walked
• b.might have lost … might be
• c.can’t have been (or can’t be, if the party is still going on)

Bhaktapur Municipality, Ward No. 7 Office
Date: 20 Jestha 2083

NOTICE
Tree-planting Program on World Environment Day

This is to inform all the residents of Ward 7 that a tree-planting program will be held on World Environment Day, Friday, 22 Jestha 2083 (5 June 2026), from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. along the banks of the Hanumante River.

Saplings, spades and gloves will be provided by the ward office. Residents, schools and youth clubs are requested to take part and to bring their own water bottles. Those wishing to take part are requested to register at the ward office by 21 Jestha.

Ward Chairperson