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Part I: The Elements of OTTER English Question Templates

The majority of question templates have five elements, as in Example 1 below.

  • an instruction sentence
  • a task sentence
  • a panel of multiple-choice options (two – six options)
  • the letter of the correct option
  • an explanation or reminder of why the answer is correct

 

Example 1     


Which option(s) correctly complete the sentence? INSTRUCTION SENTENCE


The spokesperson did not say so directly, but she _________ that the company director had been blackmailing clients.  TASK SENTENCE


  1. intimated            MULTIPLE-CHOICE OPTIONS
  2. implied
  3. insinuated
  4. inferred

Answer: a, b, c               CORRECT OPTION


Explanation: Although ‘insinuated’ has a more negative connotation than ‘intimated’ or ‘implied’, all three verbs mean ‘to say something indirectly’.      EXPLANATION

 

But some OTTER questions have fewer elements, which may or may not appear in a different order. See Examples 2 and 3 below.

 

Example 2


Which word is not a compound word?      INSTRUCTION SENTENCE


doghouse     b. teacup   c. tenor     d. bookcase      MULTIPLE-CHOICE OPTIONS


Answer: c      CORRECT OPTION ONLY

 

Example 3

The Etruscan shrew is the world’s (small___) mammal.  TASK SENTENCE

Which suffix would make this sentence true?  INSTRUCTION SENTENCE


  1. –est                  MULTIPLE-CHOICE OPTIONS
  2. -ing
  3. –er
  4. -ed

Answer:  a      CORRECT OPTION ONLY

 

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