НМТ Use of English

Brain Teaser

Laughter is one of the least               [understand, understood, understanding, to understand]aspects of human behaviour. Scientists have found that during a good laugh, three parts of the brain             [light, lights, is lighting, has lighted]up: a thinking part that helps you get joke, a movement area that tells your muscles to move, and an emotionalregion that elicits the "giddy" feeling. However, it remains unknown      [what, how, why, that]one person laughts at your brother's foolish jokes while           [other, the other, another, others] chuckles while watching a horror movie. Anyway, one thing is clear: laughtermakes us         [feeling, feel, feels, to feel]better.

Complete the text by putting the correct form of the word in brackets into each gap.

If you stop to think about it, the history of housework is the history of everything. Housework ___ (CHANGE)             an amazing amount in only the last hundred years or so. The ___ (INVENT)           of electricity was very important, and it led to the ____ (ARRIVE)         of the washing machine, the vacuum cleaner, the dishwasher and so on. Housework _____ (BE)     much harder without them fifty years ago. It's not just technology that's different - these days most husbands ____ (EXPECTED)              by their wives to share the housework. Overall, then, we can see a great _____ (IMPROVE)             in relation to housework, especially for women - although the environmental cost of modern housework is high.

You and Your Handwriting

According to research, the way someone            [writes, write, is writing, writing] and the size of their handwriting can            [to tell, tell, be told, be telling]you several things about the person. The study, which                    [is conducting, had been conducted, was conducted, has conducted] by the National Pen Company, shows that people with small handwriting tend to be shy and hardworking,         [as, while, because, untill] people who are more outgoing try to gain attention with larger handwriting.       [They, That, Those, These] who take things seriously put more pressure on the pen, and light-handed writers are typically empathetic and sensitive.