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Complete this relationship counselor's notes about a couple's communication issues.
The couple frequently _________________________ arguments about money. Yesterday, they _________________________ their worst argument yet. The husband _________________________ his promise to discuss major purchases first. When I _________________________ them advice about better communication, the wife _________________________ she would try harder. She _________________________ her husband that they needed professional help.

gets into arguments - We "get into" arguments when we start fighting.

had their worst argument - We "have" arguments, especially when describing specific instances.

broke his promise - We "break" promises when we fail to keep our commitments.

gave them advice - Counselors "give" advice to their clients.

said she would try - We use "say" when reporting someone's words without mentioning the listener.

told her husband - We use "tell" when we specify who received the message.

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Verb

A verb is a word that expresses an action, a state, or an occurrence — the engine of every English sentence. Most verbs have five forms: base (go), -s form (goes), past tense (went), past participle (gone), and -ing form (going). The verb be is the major exception with eight forms; modal verbs like can and must have fewer.

Verbs carry tense (when), aspect (how it unfolds), mood (the speaker's attitude), and voice (active vs passive). Mastering them is foundational — virtually every other grammar topic depends on getting verbs right.

Phrasal verb

A phrasal verb is a verb combined with one or two short words — a particle, a preposition, or both — that together carry a meaning you can't predict from the parts: give up (quit), run into (meet by chance), put up with (tolerate). The combination behaves as a single unit even though it looks like several words.

English has thousands of these, and they're everywhere in everyday speech. Learning them as whole units — take off, look after, come across — beats trying to decode them word-by-word, and it's the fastest way to make your English sound less stiff and more natural.

Collocations

Collocations are combinations of words that habitually occur together in a fixed order — make a decision (not do a decision), strong coffee (not powerful coffee), heavy rain (not thick rain). The grammar would allow either pairing, but native speakers consistently pick one and reject the other. Common patterns include verb + noun, adjective + noun, adverb + adjective, and adverb + verb.

Learning vocabulary as collocations rather than isolated words is the single fastest way to sound natural in English. It's the difference between I made a big mistake and I did a big mistake — small, but immediately noticeable.

B2 | Upper Intermediate

B2 is the upper-intermediate level in the CEFR framework, sitting between B1 and C1. At B2 you can read editorials, follow most TED talks without subtitles, and hold extended conversations on abstract topics — including topics outside your everyday life.

Grammatically, B2 means flexible control of mixed conditionals, passive voice across tenses, reported speech with proper backshifting, and participle clauses. B2 is the standard target for university entrance exams (IELTS 5.5–6.5, TOEFL 87–109) and most skilled-migration thresholds — knowing whether you're there shapes your study plan.

Difficulty: Hard

The Hard difficulty tag marks questions and challenges aimed at upper-intermediate to advanced learners — typically B2 and above. Expect interacting rules, edge cases, distractors that look right at first glance, and contexts where the surface meaning and the grammatical answer don't match.

Filter by Hard when you're past the basics and want material that genuinely tests your understanding. These questions catch the gaps your textbook didn't — register-sensitive choices, exception cases, mixed conditionals, the difference between would have been and had been.