TOEIC® Daily · Day 010
Part 5+7 · Original Practice: Refund Conditions, the Subjunctive Mood, and a Shuttle Schedule Change Notice
15 min · Target 900 · English-first, with Japanese/Chinese notes01 Questions & answer area
Part 5 + 7 · 2 sections
Part 5 · Vocabulary & Grammar Fill-in
This section is standalone sentences with no shared passage — each question is listed directly in the answer area below.
Part 5 Answer area
0 / 5 answered
Part 7 · Shuttle Schedule Change Notice
Questions 6-8 refer to the following notice.
Changes to the Employee Shuttle Service
Beginning September 21, the morning shuttle from Milton Station will depart at 7:35 A.M., fifteen minutes earlier than it currently does. The change is being made because road construction near the Northgate office has recently increased travel times.
The afternoon shuttle will continue to leave the office at 5:45 P.M. However, from September 21 through October 16, it will use a temporary boarding area beside the visitor parking lot. Employees should allow several extra minutes to walk there from the main building.
The revised timetable is available on the company intranet. Employees who purchased a monthly shuttle pass but can no longer use the service because of the schedule change may request a prorated refund from Payroll by September 18.
Part 7 Answer area
0 / 3 answered
03 Answers & explanations
Answers appear after you submit
| No. | Correct answer | Point tested | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A · regardless | Fixed-phrase discrimination | "regardless of" is itself a complete phrase, but the sentence already supplies "of the payment method used," so the blank only needs "regardless" alone; choosing (B) "regardless of" would create a duplicated preposition — "regardless of of the payment method" — which is the trap here. "although" (needs a clause) and "even" (needs if/though) don't fit. |
| 2 | C · Completed | Voice of the participial adverbial | The subject is "the new distribution center," which doesn't actively "complete" anything — it is the thing completed — so the sentence needs the past participle for a passive, completed sense: "Completed several months ahead of schedule" = Because it was completed... . "Completing" (present participle, active), "Having completed" (perfect participle, active), and "To have completed" (infinitive) all fail to fit the passive context. |
| 3 | A · minimum | Fixed collocation | "be kept to a minimum" is a high-frequency fixed expression for reducing disruptions or risks to the smallest possible level. "shortage" (a lack of something), "reduction" (a decrease in amount itself, not a "limit"), and "limitation" (usually a rule-based restriction) cannot pair with "kept to a." |
| 4 | A · substantial | Adjective meaning discrimination | "substantial contributions" (large, significant contributions) fits the context of a well-deserved promotion. "eventual" (emphasizes timing, not degree), "adjacent" (used for position), and "respective" (needs a plural antecedent it maps to individually) all fail to fit. |
| 5 | C · be reviewed | Mandative subjunctive | The clause introduced by "on the condition that..." expresses a condition, one of the mandative-subjunctive patterns, so the subordinate verb takes "(should) +" the base form. "risks" is also the thing being reviewed, not the reviewer, so the base form must be passive: "be reviewed." "review" (active base form, wrong voice) and "are reviewing"/"have reviewed" (inflected tense forms) don't satisfy the subjunctive's "base form" requirement. |
| 6 | B · Construction has made the journey longer. | Cause-and-effect detail question | Corresponds to "The change is being made because road construction near the Northgate office has recently increased travel times." |
| 7 | C · The afternoon departure time | Detail question | Corresponds to "The afternoon shuttle will continue to leave the office at 5:45 P.M." — "continue" directly signals that this stays unchanged. |
| 8 | A · They must be made before the new timetable begins. | Inference question | The new timetable takes effect from September 21, while the refund-request deadline is "by September 18" — meaning the request must be made before the new timetable takes effect. This is not stated directly but can be inferred from the sequence of the two dates. |
04 High-frequency vocabulary
Browse all vocabulary →| English | IPA | Part of speech | Chinese | Japanese | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| refund | /ˈriːfʌnd/ | n. | 退款 | 返金 | request a prorated refund |
| regardless of | /rɪˈɡɑːrdləs ʌv/ | phr. | 不管，不顾 | 〜にかかわらず | regardless of the payment method used |
| ahead of schedule | /əˈhɛd ʌv ˈskɛdʒuːl/ | phr. | 比计划提前 | 予定より早く | completed several months ahead of schedule |
| distribution center | /ˌdɪstrɪˈbjuːʃən ˈsɛntər/ | n. | 配送中心 | 物流センター | the new distribution center |
| disruption | /dɪsˈrʌpʃən/ | n. | 中断，干扰 | 混乱、中断 | disruptions to its supply chain |
| supply chain | /səˈplaɪ tʃeɪn/ | n. | 供应链 | サプライチェーン | disruptions to its supply chain |
| minimum | /ˈmɪnɪməm/ | n. | 最小值，最低限度 | 最小限 | kept to a minimum |
| substantial | /səbˈstænʃəl/ | adj. | 大量的，可观的 | かなりの、相当な | substantial contributions |
| condition | /kənˈdɪʃən/ | n. | 条件 | 条件 | on the condition that… |
| construction | /kənˈstrʌkʃən/ | n. | 施工，建筑工程 | 工事、建設 | road construction near the office |
| boarding area | /ˈbɔːrdɪŋ ˈɛriə/ | n. | 上车区域 | 乗車エリア | a temporary boarding area |
| prorated | /ˌproʊˈreɪtɪd/ | adj. | 按比例计算的 | 日割り計算の | a prorated refund |
| intranet | /ˈɪntrəˌnɛt/ | n. | 内部网 | イントラネット | available on the company intranet |
05 Common phrases
Learn as a whole chunk — don’t break it apart
06 Answer techniques
Part 5 + 7 · 6 tips
- 01Watch for a fixed phrase duplicating a word already in the sentence
"regardless of" is a complete phrase, but if the sentence already has "of" written out, only "regardless" should be inserted — don't insert the whole phrase again. This is a common trap in question design.
- 02For a participial adverbial, judge whether the subject acts or is acted upon
The subject omitted in a sentence-initial participial phrase is the same as the main clause's subject. If that subject is something acted upon (e.g., a building being completed), use the past participle (Completed) for the passive sense, not the present participle (Completing/Having completed), which is active.
- 03Memorize fixed collocations as whole units
Fixed collocations like "be kept to a minimum" should be memorized as a whole unit, not judged noun-by-noun for whether they fit.
- 04Discriminate adjectives by matching the context
"substantial / eventual / adjacent / respective" are easy to remember by form but differ greatly in meaning — judge by the noun the blank modifies and the sentence's logic.
- 05"on the condition that" triggers the subjunctive — and check voice too
Like "recommend/require/insist that," a clause after "on the condition that" takes "(should) +" the base verb form — and also check voice: since "risks" is the thing being reviewed, the correct form is "be reviewed."
- 06Detail/inference questions: spot causal markers, "unchanged" cues, and date order
For a cause question, find causal markers like "because/due to" in the passage. For an "unchanged" question, look for words like "continue/still/unchanged." For an inference question, compare multiple dates in the passage (e.g., a request deadline vs. when a new rule takes effect) and infer the unstated conclusion from their order.
07 Business English
Standard formal business-letter phrasing
08 Today's reflection
Why you got it wrong matters more than the right answer
Ten minutes a day — no rush, just no stopping.
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