We talked about grammar and the English Center Test in the last post. We saw that in the first section we looked at, Part 2, Section A, that what looks like grammar questions, are in fact, testing usage. They do not test grammar.
Next, I will look at the only section that really requires that Center test-takers know some grammar. This is the third section in Part 2, Section C. Here is the first question:
Did you install the computer software you bought last week?
Yes. And _____ __21___ _____ _____ ___22__ use.
1. easy 2. finding 3. I’m 4. it 5. to
This may be a little confusing, but the examinee must put the words in order, then they must choose the two words that go in blanks 21 and 22. A double task, but not all that hard.
This is a simple sentence: S, V, C; Subject, Verb Complement. ”I’m finding it easy to use.” (Never mind that you should never ever start a sentence with ‘and.’) Any student in junior high school should be able to get this. However, is it really testing grammar?
Yes, and no. You need to know how the words should be arranged. That takes a little knowledge of grammar–to know that the subject comes first, then the verb, then the complement. In other words, knowledge of basic sentence structure is necessary, but this is not particularly difficult.
However, I think that, as we saw earlier, this is also really testing how well the student can use the language.
Other questions in this section (there are only two more) focus on using ‘with’ as applied to people (Many students want to use ‘by’), passive voice, and infinitives. The Center Test taker has to show that he or she can use these forms. Knowledge of what they are is not necessary. Hence, as I said earlier, it is more usage practice.
Next post, I’ll talk about translation on the Center Test.