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← Unit 5: La francophonie, Language and Writing

FSF3U · Unit 5 test review

La francophonie, Language and Writing: Test Review

Everything for the Unit 5 test on one page: the key facts from all 5 lessons, the mistakes that cost the most marks, and a practice test that points you back to the lessons you need.

Key facts

French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories

  • Outside Europe, French spread through colonisation: settlement (Acadia, Québec), plantation slavery (the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean) and colonial rule (Africa, Asia).
  • Acadia: Port-Royal 1605; Treaty of Utrecht 1713; deportation (le Grand Dérangement) from 1755 to 1764. Québec: founded 1608; New France ceded in 1763.
  • Haïti declared independence on 1 January 1804, the first country founded by formerly enslaved people; French and Haitian Creole are both official (constitution of 1987).
  • 1960: 17 African colonies became independent, 14 of them French. The agency that became the OIF was founded in Niamey on 20 March 1970.
  • The OIF's 2026 report estimates about 396 million French speakers, the majority in Africa.
  • To compare: alors que / tandis que + indicatif, contrairement à, comme, de même que, d'un côté… de l'autre.

Register, on, and Regional French

  • vous for strangers, older adults you do not know, formal situations and any group; tu for friends, family and anyone who invites it (On se tutoie?).
  • Registers: familier (t'as, j'sais pas, c'est pas), courant (tu as, je ne sais pas), soutenu (as-tu, je l'ignore, cela).
  • on = we, people in general, or someone. The verb is always third-person singular; with on = we, adjectives and past participles usually agree with the real people (on est arrivés).
  • Québec, Belgium and Switzerland: déjeuner (morning), dîner (noon), souper (evening). France: petit déjeuner, déjeuner, dîner.
  • Belgium and Switzerland: septante (70), nonante (90); huitante (80) in Vaud, Valais and Fribourg. A tip: dringuelle (Belgium, familiar), bonne-main (Switzerland).

Idioms and Proverbs

  • An idiom's meaning comes from an image, not from its separate words: learn it as one block, with its meaning and register.
  • Inside an idiom the grammar still works: conjugate the verb, move pronouns, match possessives, and apply negation (pas de nuit blanche).
  • passer une nuit blanche = not sleep; avoir / donner la chair de poule = have / give goosebumps; Ce ne sont pas tes oignons = none of your business; une tempête dans un verre d'eau = a fuss over nothing.
  • Toute vérité n'est pas bonne à dire = not every truth should be told: tout + ne… pas negates every.
  • Money: coûter les yeux de la tête / un bras, jeter l'argent par les fenêtres, être fauché (Québec: être cassé), mettre du beurre dans les épinards.

Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary

  • Read in three stages: before (form, purpose, predictions), during (context, cognates, signal words), after (one-sentence summary, a few look-ups).
  • Explicit = stated; implicit = inferred. Support an inference with the words that led you to it.
  • Fait (checkable), opinion (à mon avis, je trouve que, evaluative adjectives), sentiment (je suis déçu que, malheureusement).
  • Word families and affixes: anti- (against), dé-/dés- (undo), re-/ré- (again, back), in-/im-/il-/ir- (not), -ment (adverb), -eur/-euse (person), -able/-ible.
  • Faux amis: actuellement = currently, éventuellement = possibly, librairie = bookstore, assister à = attend, résumé = summary.
  • Quantity + de with no article: beaucoup d'oranges, 300 grammes de cerises, un peu de crème; exceptions la plupart des, bien des.

Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts

  • Choose register, tu / vous and formulas from your purpose, audience and form.
  • Cover letter: place and date, Objet :, Madame, Monsieur,, three or four paragraphs, a request (Je serais heureux / heureuse de vous rencontrer en entrevue), a closing formula that repeats the salutation, your full name.
  • Canada: lettre de présentation, entrevue; France: lettre de motivation, entretien. A job résumé is a CV; un résumé is a summary.
  • Survey questions: one idea each, neutral wording, vous; Dans quelle mesure…?, Croyez-vous que + subjonctif (careful style), Quels changements permettraient…?
  • Opinion text: thesis → arguments with examples → concession (Certes…, mais…) → conclusion; vary connectors of addition, contrast, cause, consequence and comparison.
  • Punctuation changes meaning: Le chef dit : l'apprenti est bavard versus Le chef, dit l'apprenti, est bavard.

Where marks get lost

  • Saying dans 1755 or à 1755 for a year. Years take en: en 1755, en 1960. Dans + time means in (from now): dans deux ans. (French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories)
  • Treating every francophone community as Québécois. Acadians, Franco-Ontarians, Franco-Manitobans and Haitians each have their own history, flag and celebrations. (French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories)
  • Calling Haitian Creole or Wolof un dialecte du français. They are languages; Haitian Creole has been official in Haïti since 1987. (French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories)
  • Writing nationalities with a lower-case letter as nouns: les acadiens. As nouns they take a capital (les Acadiens, les Sénégalais); as adjectives they do not (la culture acadienne). (French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories)
  • Saying the French discovered a place where Indigenous peoples already lived. Use arriver, s'installer (to settle) or coloniser. (French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories)
  • Mixing tu and vous in one message: Vous êtes gentil, merci pour ton aide. Pick one and keep the matching possessive: merci pour votre aide. (Register, on, and Regional French)
  • Conjugating on like nous: on allons. The verb with on is always third-person singular: on va. (Register, on, and Regional French)
  • Assuming dîner always means the evening meal. In Québec, Belgium and Switzerland, le dîner is at noon and le souper is in the evening. (Register, on, and Regional French)
  • Using familiar forms in a formal email: Salut, t'as, j'sais pas, c'est pas. Formal writing restores ne and uses vous. (Register, on, and Regional French)
  • Calling regional words mistakes. Septante, magasiner and dépanneur are standard in their regions; the skill is choosing the right one for your reader. (Register, on, and Regional French)
  • Translating English idioms word for word: il pleut des chats et des chiens, ça coûte un bras et une jambe. Use the French expression: il pleut des cordes (Québec: il pleut à boire debout), ça coûte les yeux de la tête or ça coûte un bras. (Idioms and Proverbs)
  • Freezing the idiom's grammar: Hier, je passe une nuit blanche. Conjugate as usual: Hier, j'ai passé une nuit blanche. (Idioms and Proverbs)
  • Reading Toute vérité n'est pas bonne à dire as no truth is good to say. It means not every truth should be told. (Idioms and Proverbs)
  • Using familiar idioms in formal writing: Je suis fauché, donc je cherche un emploi in a cover letter. Say Je souhaite acquérir de l'expérience instead, and keep idioms for informal texts. (Idioms and Proverbs)
  • Changing the fixed image: avoir la peau de poule or quand on parle du chien. Idioms only work in their established form. (Idioms and Proverbs)
  • Translating actuellement as actually. It means currently; actually is en fait. (Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary)
  • Keeping the article after a quantity: beaucoup des oranges, un kilo des mangues. Use de alone: beaucoup d'oranges, un kilo de mangues (but la plupart des). (Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary)
  • Stopping at every unknown word. Skip once, read to the end of the sentence, then use context and word structure before reaching for a dictionary. (Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary)
  • Treating every re- word as again: regarder does not mean to look again. Prefixes are clues, confirmed by context. (Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary)
  • Taking promotional or opinion language as fact: le plus bel endroit du pays in a brochure is a judgment, not information. (Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary)
  • Opening a formal letter to a stranger with Cher Monsieur Tremblay or Bonjour Madame,. Use Madame, / Monsieur, / Madame, Monsieur, and keep Cher / Chère for people you know. (Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts)
  • Writing mon résumé in a job application. In French, the job document is un CV; un résumé is a summary. (Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts)
  • Mixing tu and vous in a survey or letter: Êtes-vous satisfait de ton quartier? Keep vous and votre. (Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts)
  • Leading survey questions: Ne pensez-vous pas que…? Ask neutrally: Que pensez-vous de…? (Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts)
  • Capitalising months and days in French dates: le 5 Octobre. Write le 5 octobre, lundi. (Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts)

Practice test

25 questions from across the unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

  1. French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories
    1
    Put these events in chronological order, earliest first.
    1. 1Haïti declares its independence
    2. 2The agency that became the OIF is founded in Niamey
    3. 3Fourteen French colonies in Africa become independent
    4. 4Port-Royal is founded in Acadia
    5. 5Champlain founds Québec
    6. 6The Treaty of Utrecht gives mainland Acadia to Britain
    7. 7The deportation of the Acadians begins
  2. French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories
    2
    Which statement about languages in Haïti is accurate?
  3. French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories
    3
    Complete with the preposition for a year: Haïti a proclamé son indépendance ___ 1804.
  4. French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories
    4
    Write the French for whereas that is followed by the indicatif and contrasts two facts (two words, starting with a).
  5. French-Speaking Communities and Their Histories
    5
    In the sentence Selon moi, le Tintamarre est une victoire sur l'oubli, what does Selon moi tell the reader?
  6. Register, on, and Regional French
    6
    You are writing to the hiring manager of a bookstore you have never met. Which opening is right?
  7. Register, on, and Regional French
    7
    Conjugate aller in the présent with the subject on.
  8. Register, on, and Regional French
    8
    A friend in Brussels invites you: Viens dîner chez nous dimanche. When should you arrive?
  9. Register, on, and Regional French
    9
    Match each regional word to its meaning.
    un dépanneur (Québec)
    un kot (Belgique)
    un natel (Suisse)
    une essencerie (Afrique)
    magasiner (Québec)
  10. Register, on, and Regional French
    10
    Which closing best matches a formal email that began Madame,?
  11. Idioms and Proverbs
    11
    Match each French idiom to its meaning.
    passer une nuit blanche
    poser un lapin à quelqu'un
    tomber dans les pommes
    avoir un chat dans la gorge
    jeter l'argent par les fenêtres
  12. Idioms and Proverbs
    12
    Complete the idiom: Ce manteau coûte les yeux de la ___.
  13. Idioms and Proverbs
    13
    What does Toute vérité n'est pas bonne à dire mean?
  14. Idioms and Proverbs
    14
    Which sentence is appropriate in a formal cover letter?
  15. Idioms and Proverbs
    15
    A friend in Québec says J'ai de la misère à comprendre ce texte. What does she mean?
  16. Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary
    16
    Put these reading steps in the most effective order.
    1. 1Look up the few words that still block meaning
    2. 2Summarise the main idea in one sentence
    3. 3Guess unknown words from context and word families
    4. 4Look at the title, images and form of the text, and make predictions
    5. 5Read paragraph by paragraph, skipping unknown words at first
  17. Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary
    17
    Match each sentence to its type.
    Le festival a eu lieu du 3 au 5 juillet.
    À mon avis, les billets sont trop chers.
    Je suis ravie que mon groupe préféré soit venu!
  18. Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary
    18
    Match each prefix to its meaning.
    anti- (antigel)
    dés- (désagréable)
    re- (refaire)
    im- (impossible)
    pré- (prévoir)
  19. Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary
    19
    Translate a lot of oranges into French (no article; watch the elision).
  20. Reading Strategies and Building Vocabulary
    20
    In a play script, what is (à voix basse) after a character's name?
  21. Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts
    21
    Put the parts of a cover letter in order, from top to bottom.
    1. 1What you offer and why this organisation
    2. 2Closing formula and your name
    3. 3Request for an interview
    4. 4Place and date
    5. 5Subject line (Objet)
    6. 6Salutation (Madame, Monsieur,)
    7. 7Why you are writing and the position
  22. Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts
    22
    Complete the closing formula: Veuillez ___, Madame, mes salutations distinguées. (one word)
  23. Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts
    23
    Which survey question is neutral?
  24. Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts
    24
    In Le chef, dit l'apprenti, est bavard, who is talkative?
  25. Writing for an Audience: Letters, Surveys and Opinion Texts
    25
    Which sentence uses the conditionnel of politeness appropriately in a cover letter?

Endless drill

Fresh numbers every time, for the calculation questions in this unit.

Endless drillnew numbers every time

Generating a problem…

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