Stone: Multiple Choice Grammar Test

‘You have hardened’, said the flower, (1) _________ her petals downward toward the half stone at her roots. ‘These rains should (2) _________ you, made you more fertile and receptive to the seeds of the fields; but they did not. You have accumulated minerals and have become (3) _________ and full of calcium. Why do you stay here? Why do you resist the brook that gives us water?’

The stone said nothing.

A number of clouds passed by, the sun set and the night arrived with an immense bronze-coloured (4) _________ moon with acne scars upon her worn face and in this manner reflected down upon the silent stone which still (5) _________ . The flower, by now, had tucked-in her petals and slept (6) _________ , and at this time the stone began to answer:

‘I stay here because your roots (7) _________ me yours. I stay here because it is no longer about my feeling the earth rather because I have become part of that which functions as a support of your stem which (8) _________ the wind and the rain. Everything changes, my sweet flower’, said the stone, ‘but I stay here because love is that microscopic space between your feet and my (9) _________ skin. You would only be able to feel it if destiny were ever, to separate the two of us.’

The moon followed the fade of the stars. Dawn gave a yawn as the sun began (10) _________ its horizon on the lower lip of the mouth of a new day. The flower awoke and extended her beautiful petals. ‘Good morning’, she said, ‘I dreamt that you (11) _________ to me. How foolish of me, don’t you think?’

The stone said nothing.