Intermediate Quiz 03

[gtranslate]
1. Throughout his life, he has faced _____ and struggle.
hard
hardly
harden
hardship
 
Answer:
Throughout his life, he has faced (hardship) and struggle.
 
Hard is an adjective and adverb.
Hardly is an adverb.
Harden is a verb.
Hardship is a noun.
 
Faced in this sentence is a verb and can be followed by:
  • a noun (as an object)
  • an adverb (to describe the verb)
 
Since there is a coordinating conjunction and which is followed by a noun (struggle), we need another noun (hardship) so that we can achieve a paralled structure (a similar grammatical form within a sentence).
 
Hardship is a noun that means a situation that is difficult and unpleasant because you do not have enough money etc.
 
2. The news was _____ surprising.
hard
hardly
harden
hardship
 
Answer:
The news was (hardly) surprising.
 
Surprising is an adjective and can only be described by an adverb (hardly).
 
Hardly can mean:
  • almost no; almost not; almost none
  • certainly not
 
The news was hardly surprising.
= The news was certainly not surprising.
= The news was not surprising at all.
 
3. _____ the chocolates by putting them in the fridge.
hard
hardly
harden
hardship
 
Answer:
(Harden) the chocolates by putting them in the fridge.
 
The chocolates is a noun phrase.
By putting them in the fridge is a prepositional phrase that can act as an adjective or adverb.
 
This sentence lacks a subject and a verb.
We can just use a verb and an object to form an imperative sentence.
 
Harden is a verb that means:
  • to become firm or stiff, or
  • to make something firm or stiff
 
(Harden) the chocolates by putting them in the fridge.
= You can/need to make the chocolates firm by putting them in the fridge.
 
4. He’d been running and he was breathing _____.
hard
hardly
harden
hardship
 
Answer:
He’d been running and he was breathing (hard).
 
Breathing is a verb and a verb can be followed by:
  • a noun (as the object of the verb)
  • an adverb (to describe the verb)
 
Hardship is a noun, but cannot be used because the sentence doesn’t make sense.
We cannot used the adverb hardly because the sentence doesn’t make sense.
 
He’d been running and he was breathing hard.
= He’d been running and he was breathing with great effort (with difficulty)
 
5. He felt as though he could _____ breathe.
hard
hardly
harden
hardship
 
Answer:
He felt as though he could (hardly) breathe.
 
Breathe is a verb and can only be used after a noun, pronoun or adverb.
He (a pronoun) is already used in the beginning of the clause.
We can only use an adverb (hard or hardly).
 
We cannot use the adverb hard because it cannot be used in front of a verb.
 
Hardly can mean:
  • almost no; almost not; almost none
  • certainly not
 
He felt as though he could hardly breathe.
= He felt as though he almost could not breathe.
error: