Unit 1 USE OF ENGLISH (1)

• English
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

FCE: Use of English (1)

Part 2 : Open Cloze

 Part 4: Word Transformation

Lesson aims 

Today's lesson is about the "Use of English" part of the First Cambridge Exam

• By the end of today's lesson you will know how to complete parts 2 and 4 of UoE 
• You will be able to use comparative adjectives and adverbs

Comparatives Chain Game

‘Elephants are bigger than cats.’.

‘Cat’s are smarter than pigs.’

Pigs are ....

two teams!

This simple game to practice comparatives is a great warm up activity to introduce or review comparative adjectives. All you need for this game is a timer. To begin, brainstorm some comparative adjectives and write them on the board. Then choose a topic which has many nouns, for example, animals. Then write a comparative sentence on the board comparing two animals.For example, ‘Elephants are bigger than cats.’.

Now the game can begin. The aim of the game is to make as many ‘comparative chains’ as possible. To make a chain, students must make a comparative sentence starting with the last noun of the previous sentence.

So, for example, if the first sentence is ‘Elephants are bigger than cats.’, then the next sentence must start with ‘Cats‘ (e.g. ‘Cat’s are smarter than pigs.’), and the sentence must start with ‘Pigs‘ (e.g. ‘Pigs are fatter than dogs.’), and so on. Give the first team 1 or 2 minutes to make as many comparative chains as possible, and then change the topic (e.g. food) for the next team.

Use Of English

 Use of English is probably the part of the FCE exam that you are 

going to find the most difficult: 

We will look at how to do parts 2 and 4 of the UoE exam  today and then we will do exercises 3 and 4in Gold experience

        

Page 13 exercise One

Comparative forms: 

Check the Grammar box before doing Exercise 1

PLENDA

Homework: Read page 142 Grammar File Comparative forms before next lesson. 

About Part 2 - Open Cloze

You will read a short text which has 8 gaps. For each gap you have to add the missing word. In the exam you transfer your answer to a special answer sheet. Part 2 tests your knowledge of grammar.

The main focus in the Open Cloze is grammar and certain parts of speech are often tested. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Pronouns

Pronouns will often be gapped. In particular look out for reflexive pronouns such as 'ourselves', 'yourself' etc. and relative pronouns - 'who', 'where', 'when' etc. 

Example:

I work as a motorbike stunt rider. The Le Mans race track in France was .......... I first saw some guys doing motorbike stunts. 

Articles and quantifiers

Articles and quantifiers like 'much', 'more', 'some', 'many', 'any', etc. will sometimes be required. 

Example:  I haven't got ..... plans for the weekend if you'd like to go out somewhere

Modal verbs

Modal verbs, like 'will', 'would', 'must', 'can' etc and the auxiliary verbs 'be', 'do', and 'have' are often tested

Example: 

1. I told you we ... have booked the tickets earlier.

2. Excuse me. ... I open the window?

Conjunctions

Conjunctions like 'although', 'yet', 'still' or 'because' will sometimes be gapped.

Example: 

1) ..... he felt quite ill he still went to work.

 2) There was heavy traffic in the city today ..... of an accident.

Prepositions

Prepositions, especially those in set expressions like 'on the contrary' or 'in the meantime' will sometimes be gapped.

Example:

1) The surgeon is operating ... the patient now.

2) There's no possibility ... us finishing the project by the weekend.

Dos and don'ts

Make sure your handwriting is clear. Look at the text before and after the gap. Don't leave the answer sheet blank for any question. If you don't know the correct answer you should always make a guess.

How to improve

Collect some short texts of your own and make a test by gapping grammatical words, eg prepositions, articles, pronouns etc. Swap texts with a friend and test each other. Or use the online practice tests on the following slides. 

www.flo-joe.co.uk

www.examenglish.com

About Part 4 Key Word Transformations

You will be given a complete sentence followed by a second, incomplete sentence. You must complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning as the first using a word given that must not be changed. There are 6 sentences in total. In the exam you transfer your answer to a special answer sheet. Part 4 tests your knowledge of grammar and vocabulary. It is impossible to predict areas that you could be tested on here. However, phrasal verbs seem to appear quite often.

Exam tips

Finally, let's look at some tips for the exam. Be sure to follow the instructions: use the key word given, don’t change the form of this word and use between 2 and 5 words - no more. Remember that contractions count as two words.

www.flo-joe.co.uk

Practice using the links in this lesson