Stories for Reading Comprehension 4 Unit 11


1. admirers
2. affected
3. ageing
4. ambassadors
5. anathema
6. approached
7. bachelor
8. background
9. basis
10. campaign
11. company
12. contemptuous
13. curtailing
14. deliberate
15. determined
16. detested
17. devoted
18. drawn
19. drily
20. duchess
21. earned
22. effusively
23. engaged
24. exploits
25. extremely
26. fahrenheit
27. flirtatious
28. fumed
29. functions
30. heavily
31. high-ranking
32. household name
33. intolerable
34. obsessed
35. officials
36. perfunctory
37. projected
38. rage
39. rumour
40. scowled
41. seated
42. sipped
43. soirees
44. sought after
45. spotted
46. summoned
47. swept out
48. tended
49. tongue
50. vigorously




1. Transform the voice of the sentences.

1) General Gruff had devoted his entire life to the army.
2) When the General was summoned to a British Embassy garden party, he boiled with rage.


2. Transform the sentence into indirect speech.

She approached him, waving her fan vigorously, and said effusively, "92 today, General Gruff. Imagine that 92, today!" The general affected a thin smile and said, "Many happy returns of the day."


3. Transform the passage into direct speech.

General Gruff exchanged a few perfunctory remarks with officials he knew.


4. Transform the sentence into 'there + to be' pattern.

Нe watched the middle-aged actress, heavily made-up, making her way around the guests.


5. Transform the sentence into state pattern.

The actress had heard a lot about the General.


6. Transform the sentence into action pattern.

An English duchess was one of the General's many admirers.


7. Transform the sentence from Complex Subject pattern.

The actress had been drawn to the strong sense of masculinity that the General's exploits and appearance seemed to convey.


8. Transform the sentence into Complex Subject pattern.

Rumour had it that the General was also a misogynist.


9. Transform the sentence into Complex Object pattern.

At formal dinners and functions the General was seated side by side with ambassadors and diplomats.


10. Transform the sentence into Cleft pattern.

In the 1920's, the General was engaged in a campaign in the Middle East.


11. Change the sentence into Conditional II and III patterns.

The famous British actress eventually spotted General Gruff in the corner and made straight for him.


12. Transform the sentence into inverted emphatic pattern.

On the basis of a number of brilliantly fought battles General Gruff's company was much sought after.


13. Transform the sentence into what + subject + predicate + to be + to inf pattern.

The general found the social situations into which his fame projected him tiresome and intolerable.


14. Change the verb into an analytical one.

He sipped his drink and glanced frequently at his watch.


15. Transform the part of the sentence into Causative pattern.

When the General was summoned to a British Embassy garden party in Cairo to honour the visit of a famous British actress, he fumed with rage.