Magda : Good morning, Mrs. Smiles. It's wet, isn't it? Mrs. Smiles : Yes, it is, isn't it? How are you today? All right? You haven't been studying too hard, have you? You look a bit pale. Magda : I don't, do I? Well, I haven't been out much lately. I don't like this weather a bit. Why, we haven't had a dry day for weeks, have we? Mrs. Smiles : No, I don't think we have. Let's see, you'll be going back home next month, won't you? Magda : Oh no, I'm not going back yet. My sister's coming over first. Mrs. Smiles : Oh, is she? You're looking forward to that, I expect. How long is it since you saw her? Magda : Nearly a year now. Yes, I am looking forward to it very much. Mrs. Smiles : She's coming over here to study? Magda : Yes, that's right. I shan't go back home until she's settled down. I don't think I ought to, ought I? Mrs. Smiles : Well, no, she's younger than you are, is she? Magda : Yes, she's only eighteen. Mrs. Smiles and Magda are
- (a)classmates
- (b)school friends
- (c)neighbours
- (d)sisters-in-law
Correct — C, 'neighbours'. Everything in the exchange fits two people who live near one another and have met in passing — a 'Good morning' by name, a remark about the weather, a general enquiry after health, and enough knowledge of each other's affairs for Mrs. Smiles to ask whether Magda is going home next month. Nothing in it marks them as relatives or as fellow students.
- (a)classmates — Only Magda is studying; Mrs. Smiles asks about the studying from the outside, as somebody who is not part of it.
- (b)school friends — No school is mentioned, and the address by title and surname tells against two friends of the same age and standing.
- (d)sisters-in-law — Mrs. Smiles has to be told that a sister is coming, and asks how long it is since Magda saw her — questions no member of the family would need to put.
Where a comprehension item asks who two speakers are, the answer is read off the way they talk to each other rather than from any statement in the text.
Three signals settle it. The greeting is the kind used between people who meet often but only briefly; the address is by title and surname on one side and by first name on the other, which rules out close family; and the questions are the ordinary enquiries of somebody who knows a little of your life and not a great deal. As printed, one of Mrs. Smiles's tags reads 'she's younger than you are, is she?', where English would expect 'isn't she?' — a slip in the booklet that leaves the sense untouched.
- Magda addresses the other speaker as 'Mrs. Smiles', while Magda herself is named without a title.
- The exchange opens on the weather, the standard opening for English small talk.
- Mrs. Smiles learns of the sister's visit during the conversation itself.
- Choosing 'classmates' because studying is mentioned in the dialogue.
- Reading closeness into a friendly tone.
Asked as a comprehension item on the relationship between two speakers.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Addressing somebody as 'Mrs. Smiles' rather than by a first name suggests
- (a)close family
- (b)polite distance
- (c)anger
- (d)childhood friendship
Answer(b) polite distance — title and surname mark a formal, friendly register.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which subject opens the conversation between the two speakers?
- (a)the weather
- (b)a book
- (c)a journey
- (d)a school
Answer(a) the weather — Magda's first line is about the wet.