Question 9:

______ to your health problems is a bad idea. You need to start taking care of yourself.

• a) Not have faced up

• b) Not facing up

• c) Not having faced up

• d) To face up not

Explanation: The sentence requires a gerund phrase to act as the subject. "Facing up to" is the correct phrasal verb meaning to confront or deal with. The gerund form "facing up" is needed here. The negative form is "Not facing up".

The correct answer is b) Not facing up.

Question 10:

'My laptop has just frozen and nothing's working!'

'Try ______ the battery out for a minute or two and then re-start it.'

• a) you taking

• b) take

• c) to take

• d) taking

Explanation: This is a command or an instruction. After the verb "try," you can use an infinitive ("to take") or a gerund ("taking") to suggest a solution. The sentence structure "Try + gerund" is used for a general suggestion or experiment. However, "Try + to + infinitive" can also be used. But in the context of giving a direct instruction for a specific action, "Try + verb" is not a common construction. "Try taking" or "Try to take" would be correct. Looking at the options, "taking" is a possibility. Let's reconsider.

The verb "try" can be followed by a gerund or an infinitive, with different meanings:

• Try + gerund (-ing): This means to do something as an experiment to see if it works. (e.g., "Try eating healthier to lose weight.")

• Try + to + infinitive: This means to make an effort to do something. (e.g., "Try to open the jar.")

In this context, the speaker is suggesting an action to solve a problem (the frozen laptop). This is a trial-and-error situation, so the gerund form is the more natural and common choice. "Try taking..." means "try this method: taking the battery out."

The correct answer is d) taking.