Help the detective finish her official report about the mysterious cat burglar by selecting the correct words for each gap.
The suspect claimed he was relaxing _________________________ home _________________________ exactly midnight, but a witness saw him climbing _________________________ roof of the city museum. Interestingly, he was carrying _________________________ unusually large sack of tuna.

The correct answers are at, at, the, and an.

at home / at midnight: In English, we use "at" for specific locations like home or work, and for specific clock times like midnight. (Turkish speakers often use the locative suffix -de/-da for all of these, which can make choosing between in, on, and at tricky!)

the roof: We use "the" because we are talking about a specific roof (the roof of the museum).

an unusually: We use "an" instead of "a" because the next word (unusually) starts with a vowel sound.

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Preposition

  • interested in — ❌ interested on
  • good at football — ❌ good in football
  • depend on — ❌ depend of
  • arrive at the station — ❌ arrive to the station

Prepositions link nouns to the rest of the sentence: time (at 5pm), place (in London), manner (with care), abstract (afraid of). Most are idiomatic — the "correct" preposition must be memorised with each verb/adjective combination.

Rule: there is no universal rule. English prepositions are learned by combination: interested IN, good AT, depend ON, afraid OF. Your native language's equivalent will often mislead.

Article

  • an hour — ❌ a hour (vowel soundan)
  • a university — ❌ an university (consonant sound /j/ → a)
  • I love coffee — ❌ I love the coffee (generic uncountable → zero article)
  • the sun — ❌ a sun (unique referent → the)

Articles (a/an, the, and the zero article) signal whether a noun is specific or general. A/an introduces something new; the points to something already known or unique.

Pattern: a/an = "one of many, first mention." The = "you know which one." Zero article = generic or uncountable.

B1 | Intermediate

  • If I had more time, I would travel more. — second conditional
  • The bridge was built in 1920. — passive voice
  • She said she was tired. — reported speech with backshift
  • Although it rained, we enjoyed the trip. — complex sentence with concession

These are B1 patterns — the CEFR intermediate level. At B1 you link ideas, use passive voice, handle reported speech, and manage second conditional — enough for travel, work basics, and everyday independence.

Marker: if you can explain why something happened and follow a news story, you're B1.

Medium

  • If I were you, I would apologise. — one rule (second conditional), but distractors like was tempt you
  • Answers require active thought, not instant pattern recognition
  • Vocabulary and context are realistic, not artificially simplified
  • Usually tests one rule, but the wrong answers are plausible

Medium marks middle-difficulty challenges: A2B1, one rule tested, but with realistic distractors that require genuine understanding.

Use "Medium" when Easy feels too obvious but Hard feels overwhelming. This is where most productive learning happens — the sweet spot of difficulty.