Workplace Evolution

Respuesta correcta: A) exacerbate

• A) exacerbateCorrect. 'Exacerbate' means to make a problem or bad situation worse, which fits perfectly here.
• B) alleviateIncorrect. 'Alleviate' means to make something less severe, which is the opposite of what's needed.
• C) mitigateIncorrect. 'Mitigate' means to make something less severe, which doesn't fit the negative consequence implied.
• D) facilitateIncorrect. 'Facilitate' means to make an action or process easy or easier, which is not appropriate for a social divide.

Respuesta correcta: A) erodes

• A) erodes'Erode' means to wear away gradually, and the sentence describes a slow loss of skill rather than a sudden dismissal. Nothing in it suggests the workers vanish at once.
• B) accelerates'Accelerate' means to make something happen faster, and the sentence is about what is lost rather than about the pace of change.
• C) outlines'Outline' means to give a general account of something, and the automation in the sentence removes skills rather than describing them in advance.
• D) overlaps'Overlap' means to cover part of the same area as something else, and the clause is about damage to workers rather than about shared ground.

Respuesta correcta: A) forced

• A) forced'Force' means to compel by necessity, and the clause says the result left both parties no alternative but to talk. The pressure comes from the evidence, not from any instruction.
• B) decorated'Decorate' means to make something look more attractive, and the sentence reports a substantive bargaining change rather than anything ornamental.
• C) pasted'Paste' means to attach something with glue, and nothing in the clause describes a physical attachment or a surface treatment.
• D) inserted'Insert' means to put something in, and the sentence says a negotiation was compelled, not that any text or object was introduced.

Respuesta correcta: A) deprive

• A) deprive'Deprive' means to prevent someone from having or receiving something, and the sentence describes junior staff losing access to instruction they used to receive informally.
• B) describe'Describe' means to give an account of something, and the clause is about what staff lose, not about how it can be reported in writing.
• C) deliver'Deliver' means to bring or convey something to someone, and the sentence says the teaching stops, which is the reverse of a delivery.
• D) derive'Derive' means to obtain something from a source, and the option would claim that staff gain the teaching from elsewhere, which the sentence denies.

Respuesta correcta: B) The advantages and problems of working as a delivery rider for apps.

• A) How to become a delivery rider in Bogotá.Incorrect. The text does not give steps or requirements for getting the job; it analyses the working conditions of riders.
• B) The advantages and problems of working as a delivery rider for apps.Correct. The text presents a benefit (flexibility) and then, with "However", the lack of protections, and ends with a reform that tries to solve part of the problem, so it discusses both sides of this kind of work.
• C) Why riders prefer motorbikes to bicycles.Incorrect. Both vehicles are mentioned only to describe the job; the text never compares them.
• D) How the labour reform solved all the riders' problems.Incorrect. The text says many riders "still do not know how it will work in practice", so it does not claim that all problems were solved.

Respuesta correcta: A) The manager said they would introduce flexible shifts the following month.

• A) The manager said they would introduce flexible shifts the following month.'Would introduce' presents the planned change as future from Monday's past viewpoint, and 'the following month' preserves the time reference.
• B) The manager said they had introduced flexible shifts the previous month.This changes a future plan into a completed earlier action and reverses the month reference.
• C) The manager said they would introduced flexible shifts the following month.The modal 'would' requires the base form 'introduce', not the past form 'introduced'.
• D) The manager said they introduce flexible shifts the previous month.The present form and 'previous month' fail to report a change planned for the month after the statement.

Respuesta correcta: A) Technology can create job opportunities that do not require moving to another city.

• A) Technology can create job opportunities that do not require moving to another city.Correct. Daniela works from home in Barranquilla for a company with clients abroad, and she says she was hired "without leaving my city", which suggests that digital skills open jobs that do not depend on location.
• B) Daniela studied programming at a private university.Incorrect. The text says she could not pay for university and took a free course at SENA.
• C) Daniela had to leave her job to take the course.Incorrect. The classes were in the evening, "after her work", so she could keep her job while studying.
• D) Only men are allowed to take the SENA programming course.Incorrect. Daniela herself took the course and now helps teach other young women in it.

Respuesta correcta: D) 46 hours.

• A) 48 hours.Incorrect. 48 hours was the maximum before the law; the reductions began in 2023, so the week was already shorter in 2024.
• B) 44 hours.Incorrect. The text says the week went down to 44 hours in 2025, one year later than the date in the question.
• C) 42 hours.Incorrect. 42 hours is the final goal of the law, which the text says will be reached in July 2026.
• D) 46 hours.Correct. The text gives the sequence of reductions: 47 hours in 2023, 46 hours in 2024 and 44 hours in 2025, so in 2024 the maximum was 46 hours.

Respuesta correcta: C) was going to relocate

• A) had already relocatedThis presents the relocation as completed, contradicting the statement that the move was canceled before June.
• B) has just relocatedThis describes a completed recent move rather than a past plan that was canceled.
• C) was going to relocate'Was going to relocate' expresses a past intention that the later cancellation prevented from being carried out.
• D) was relocate'Was' cannot be followed directly by the base verb 'relocate' to express a planned future action.

Respuesta correcta: B) Because new employees learned more slowly when they worked from home.

• A) Because new employees spent too much time travelling.Incorrect. Saving transport time is presented as a benefit of the hybrid model, not as a problem for new employees.
• B) Because new employees learned more slowly when they worked from home.Correct. The text says managers "noticed that new employees learned more slowly when they worked alone" and then explains the solution, introduced with "To solve this".
• C) Because absences increased after the hybrid model began.Incorrect. The text says the opposite: absences fell with the hybrid model.
• D) Because experienced employees wanted to stop working from home.Incorrect. Experienced colleagues help the new staff in the office, but the text does not say they wanted to stop working from home.

Respuesta correcta: C) had

• A) hasIncorrect. The sentence refers to a past sequence, requiring the past perfect in inversion.
• B) wasIncorrect. 'Was' does not fit the past perfect structure required by 'Hardly'.
• C) hadCorrect. 'Hardly had...' is a classic C1 inversion structure used for sequential events.
• D) didIncorrect. 'Did' would require the base form of the verb, not the past participle 'been'.

Respuesta correcta: B) did

• A) had'Not until' takes an inverted auxiliary before the subject. 'Had the unions agreed' would place the subject first, which is the pattern 'not until' forbids.
• B) did'Not until the package was announced did the unions agree'. The auxiliary is fronted to invert the clause, which is the defining feature of the structure.
• C) were'Were' would form a subjunctive or a passive. Here the main clause is active and the subject is 'the unions', so a plural form is not used.
• D) do'Do' is present tense and cannot invert a past sequence. The event described, the announcement, is already in the past simple.

Respuesta correcta: C) does

• A) do'Do' would be correct only if the subject were plural. 'A company' is singular, so the base form 'does' is required.
• B) has'Has' gives the present perfect, but the bare inversion with 'rarely' and a singular subject takes 'does' before the base form.
• C) does'Rarely does a company publish'. With a singular subject the inversion uses 'does', and the main verb reverts to the base form 'publish'.
• D) are'Are' cannot invert with a singular subject, and it would also require a plural or a collection for agreement.

Respuesta correcta: C) The first reports an expectation from a past viewpoint; the second reports a completed change by a later past point.

• A) Both statements describe only unfulfilled plans.The second statement presents a reduction as having occurred by 2022, rather than merely being planned.
• B) The first proves the reduction occurred, while the second expresses uncertainty.This reverses their meanings: a reported belief does not prove fulfillment, while the second sentence asserts a completed reduction.
• C) The first reports an expectation from a past viewpoint; the second reports a completed change by a later past point.'Would reduce' belongs to the managers' expectation, while 'had reduced' presents a change completed before or by 2022.
• D) Both statements predict a change that will occur after the present moment.Both statements use past reference points; neither places the change necessarily after the present.

Respuesta correcta: D) did

• A) had'Only after' frontes a subordinate clause and then inverts the main clause, so the auxiliary comes before the subject 'the dismissed workers', which makes 'had' impossible here.
• B) was'Was' would require a passive or a singular subject. The subject is plural and the verb is active, so neither reading applies.
• C) could'Could' is a modal, but the structure needed here is a simple inversion of the tense auxiliary that the sequence calls for.
• D) did'Only after the tribunal ruled did the dismissed workers resume'. The auxiliary 'did' precedes the subject, and the main verb stays in the base form 'resume'.

Respuesta correcta: D) The firms' adoption is consistent with the prediction, but it cannot establish the extent of national growth.

• A) The prediction proves every Colombian worker became fully remote.A prediction does not prove an outcome, and evidence about several firms cannot establish a claim about every worker.
• B) The word 'would' shows that the analyst was describing an established fact in 2019.After 'predicted', 'would expand' expresses an anticipated later development rather than an established fact.
• C) Hybrid schedules demonstrate that employees never attended a workplace.Hybrid schedules combine remote and on-site work, so they do not imply the complete absence of workplace attendance.
• D) The firms' adoption is consistent with the prediction, but it cannot establish the extent of national growth.Hybrid adoption provides local evidence compatible with expansion, while the missing national figures limit conclusions about its scale.

Respuesta correcta: B) The group is focusing on the wrong solution to the problem.

• A) They are literally looking for something in the trees of the city.Incorrect. This reads the idiom literally; the debate is about unemployment, and no trees are involved.
• B) The group is focusing on the wrong solution to the problem.Correct. "Barking up the wrong tree" means looking for an answer in the wrong place; Daniela says the real issue is the skills taught at school.
• C) The debate has become too noisy and aggressive.Incorrect. "Barking" here does not refer to noise; the idiom is about choosing the wrong target, as her second sentence shows.
• D) Young people should look for jobs in forestry.Incorrect. This takes the image of the tree as a proposal; Daniela talks about skills taught in schools, not about a specific sector.

Respuesta correcta: B) Learn the basic procedures of a new job.

• A) Learn to climb ropes in a gym.Incorrect. This is a literal reading of the idiom; the conversation is about learning the bank's systems.
• B) Learn the basic procedures of a new job.Correct. To "learn the ropes" is to learn how a job or activity works; Ángela says it takes a few weeks and offers to show Camilo the main programs.
• C) Learn to tie knots for a security course.Incorrect. "Ropes" in the idiom has nothing to do with knots; it refers to the procedures of a new job.
• D) Learn to work faster than the other employees.Incorrect. Ángela does not talk about speed or competition; she says everybody needs time to understand how things work.

Respuesta correcta: C) Stopping work for today.

• A) Calling their manager to report their progress.Incorrect. "Call" in this idiom does not mean making a phone call; Felipe suggests stopping, not phoning anyone.
• B) Working all night to finish the report.Incorrect. Felipe says they will finish "tomorrow morning", which is the opposite of working all night.
• C) Stopping work for today.Correct. "Call it a day" means to stop doing something, usually work, for the rest of the day; Felipe adds that they will finish the report tomorrow.
• D) Starting a new report immediately.Incorrect. Felipe wants to stop working, not to begin a new task; he plans to finish the same report the next day.

Respuesta correcta: D) To make a polite and indirect request to her manager.

• A) To say that she is confused about her working hours.Incorrect. "Wondering" here does not show confusion; the structure is a conventional form for making a polite request.
• B) To talk about something she did in the past.Incorrect. Although "was wondering" is in the past continuous, it refers to a present request; the past form makes it softer, not past in meaning.
• C) To tell her manager that she has already decided to leave early.Incorrect. She is asking for permission, and the manager answers by approving it with a condition, which shows the decision was his.
• D) To make a polite and indirect request to her manager.Correct. "I was wondering if I could..." is an indirect, polite way to ask for permission, especially to someone with more authority; Juliana uses it to ask to change her schedule.