BBC Learning English
How to …
react to someone’s bad news
Quiz

How to …

© BBC Learning English 2007

react to someone’s bad news quiz

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bbclearningenglish.com

For each question choose the one correct answer.

1:

A: I haven’t seen her for five days!

B: ___________

a: Awful!
b: That terrible!
c: That’s awful!

2:

You ________________ absolutely awful!

a: must be feeling
b: could be feeling
c: feel

3:

I'm so _____________ about what happened.

a: sorry to hear
b: sorry
c: sorry hearing

4:

Any time you want to talk __________________.

a: just say the word
b: just tell me the word
c: let me know the word

5:

If there’s anything I ______ do, just let me know.

a: would
b: could
c: can

How to …

© BBC Learning English 2007

react to someone’s bad news quiz

Page 2 of 3

bbclearningenglish.com

ANSWERS

For each question choose the one correct answer.

1:

A: I haven’t seen her for five days!

B: ___________

a: Awful!
Wrong – Unlike very positive adjectives, we can’t use words like ‘awful’ on their own
b: That terrible!
Wrong – You need a verb here
c: That’s awful!
Correct – this is a very natural way to react to someone telling you some bad news

2:

You ________________ absolutely awful!

a: must be feeling
Correct – You can use this to guess your friend’s feelings
b: could be feeling
Wrong – You need to express more certainty about your friend’s feelings
c: feel
Wrong – You aren’t describing your friend’s feelings, but making a guess


3:

I'm so _____________ about what happened.

a: sorry to hear
Correct – this is a good way to start talking about a topic
b: sorry
Wrong – This is correct English, but wrong for this situation. You aren’t apologising but
sympathising
c: sorry hearing
Wrong – You need to use an infinitive after ‘sorry’

4:

Any time you want to talk __________________.

a: just say the word
Correct – this is a common phrase
b: just tell me the word
Wrong – You’ve used the wrong verb for this phrase
c: let me know the word
Wrong – ‘let me know’ by itself would be correct, but you need a different verb if you want to
use ‘the word’

5:

If there’s anything I ______ do, just let me know.

a: would

How to …

© BBC Learning English 2007

react to someone’s bad news quiz

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bbclearningenglish.com

Wrong – This isn’t an English phrase
b: could
Wrong – This is in the wrong tense
c: can
Correct – this is a good way to offer help