This set mixes the four skills from places, travel and the environment: explaining where a place is, comparing travel, describing an environmental action carefully and reading a notice for exact details. The questions are original and run from easier to harder.
How should I use this set?
- Cover the answers and write your own French first. Several questions ask for your own sentences, so more than one answer is correct.
- Mark each answer sure, unsure or guess before you check it.
- Open the answer. For open questions, compare the features in the model, not the exact words.
- Use the routing section at the end for any error.
Questions
1. Complete: La piscine est ___ ___ la mairie. (The pool is opposite the town hall.)
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La piscine est en face de la mairie. En face de means opposite, and de la does not contract because mairie is feminine.
2. You are outside the school. The pharmacy is in the second street on the left, on the right-hand side. Give directions in two or three sentences.
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One correct answer: Continuez tout droit, puis prenez la deuxième rue à gauche. La pharmacie est à droite. The imperative with vous is polite, and the route runs from the starting point to the destination.
3. Complete with du, de la or des: à côté ___ cinéma, à côté ___ banque, à côté ___ magasins.
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à côté du cinéma (masculine singular), à côté de la banque (feminine singular), à côté des magasins (plural).
4. Complete: Le bus est ___ lent ___ le train. (The bus is slower than the train.)
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Le bus est plus lent que le train. After a comparative the word is que, not de.
5. A flight takes 1 h 20 and costs 120 euros. The train takes 5 h 00 and costs 60 euros. Write three French sentences that compare them and choose one.
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First check the figures. 5 h 00 minus 1 h 20 is 3 h 40, and 120 − 60 = 60 euros.
One model: L’avion est plus rapide que le train : le vol dure une heure vingt, alors que le train met cinq heures. Le train est moins cher, soixante euros au lieu de cent vingt. Je choisis le train parce que la différence de prix est grande pour moi. Any version with correct figures, a comparison and a reason works.
6. Correct the sentence: Le vélo est plus bon de la voiture.
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Le vélo est meilleur que la voiture. Meilleur replaces plus bon with an adjective, and que follows the comparative.
7. Rewrite more carefully: Tout le monde jette du plastique dans la mer.
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One model: Je pense que le plastique est un problème pour la mer, alors j’essaie d’utiliser moins de bouteilles. The sweeping claim about everyone is replaced by an opinion and a personal action.
8. Write three sentences about one thing you or your school do for the environment. Do not use a figure you cannot support.
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One model: Dans ma famille, nous trions les bouteilles et le papier. Je pense que cela aide un peu. Je ne sais pas combien cela change, mais nous continuons. Check that the action is real, the opinion is marked with je pense que and no invented number appears.
9. Read the notice, then answer the four questions in English or French.
PISCINE MUNICIPALE : fermée du lundi 10 au vendredi 14 juin pour travaux. Réouverture le samedi 15 juin à 9 h. Pendant les travaux, les cours de natation sont remplacés par des cours de gymnastique au gymnase Jean-Moulin, le mardi et le jeudi à 17 h 30. Apportez votre carte d’abonnement.
(a) When does the pool reopen? (b) Where do the replacement classes take place? (c) On which days and at what time? (d) What should you bring?
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(a) Saturday 15 June at 9 h. (b) At the Jean-Moulin sports hall (gymnase Jean-Moulin). (c) Tuesday and Thursday at 17 h 30. (d) Your membership card (carte d’abonnement).
10. Using the same notice, can someone swim at the pool on Wednesday 12 June? Give a reason from the notice.
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No. The pool is closed from Monday 10 to Friday 14 June (fermée du lundi 10 au vendredi 14 juin), and Wednesday 12 June falls inside that period. Reading the full range of days is the key step.
11. Write a short message to a French friend: say where the station is in relation to your school (one sentence), then compare coming by bus and by bike and choose one with a reason.
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One model: La gare est en face de mon école, de l’autre côté de la rue. Le bus est plus rapide que le vélo quand il pleut, mais le vélo est moins cher. Je choisis le vélo parce que je pense que c’est meilleur pour moi et pour l’environnement. Check that en face de is used correctly, the comparison has que, and the final opinion is marked as your view.
If you got these wrong
- Questions 1 to 3 and 11 (place and direction phrases). Revisit explain where a place is using an original schematic map.
- Questions 4 to 6 and 11 (comparisons and reasons). Revisit compare travel arrangements in a fictional scenario.
- Questions 7 and 8 (careful claims). Revisit describe an environmental action without unsupported factual claims.
- Questions 9 and 10 (reading exact details). Revisit extract practical details from a short original travel notice.
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