Part one of the B2 First Use of English paper! Oh wow Toby! I didn't even know there was a part one!
I know! Nor did I but then I checked and yes there is a part one! Oh no! But don't worry because I'm
going to tell you all about it! My name is Toby, this is SMASH English and here is everything
you need to know about part one of the use of english paper for the B2 First Cambridge exam!
In part one of the B2 First Use of English paper you will be given a text but there will be eight
spaces! Oh no Toby! I'm scared of spaces! Me too. Me too. But don't worry because you will also be
given four words for each space and it is your job to decide which word goes best in each space.
Wow Toby! That's exciting! Yes it is very exciting but also very very hard. Why? Because the words
are often very, very similar. A dictionary or google translate won't help you here.
Instead you need to think about subtle differences in meaning: the grammatical form, collocations or
perhaps phrasal verbs. Oh yes! We love phrasal verbs! So why don't we practice together
as a team? Hey hey hey! Mr Toby!? Yes... Are we like doing part one of the use of english paper?
Yes. Oh well like, I've prepared the text that we can use! You have? Yeah so can we like,
can we use it? Like please! Super pretty please with a cherry on top!
Okay yeah whatever. oh my god! i'm so excited, Toby I won't let you down! This is gonna be great!
So here is the text and here are the possible answers for each space. Um Toby can I read now?
Yep okay. Go ahead. Okay um Johnny! Don't go! I muttered under my breath. That was the _____ he
left me. He turned away, umbrella in hand as the rain gushed onto the soaked London streets.
It was dark but not dark enough to obscure the tears dripping down my beautiful cheeks.
I felt such pain that _____ could have made me feel better. _____ all the arguments, pain and
betrayal I'd _____ I still could not accept that it was over. Relationships are strange.
When you're in one you wish you weren't but when they're over you _____ on every little detail
that may have _____ to their end. This time was no different. Was it my hair? Or maybe my beard? No
Monica that's impossible! I am beautiful or at least that is what I _____ myself. We _____ so
much time searching for that _____ someone. Is it possible that we forget who we are in the process?
I must remember I am Monica. I am strong, independent and free.
Don't go! I muttered under my breath. That was the _____ he left me. Let's first focus on the meaning
here. We are not talking about a physical space so place is impossible because we don't know where
this event happened yet so we can eliminate place. It doesn't make sense and it is not the emphasis
of the sentence. Now we have moment, time and case. "That was the case he left me" doesn't make
any sense at all so we can eliminate that too. This leaves us with moment and time. Time usually
refers to a broad period of time whereas moment refers to a shorter period of time. For example:
I had a great time watching that film. That describes the entire experience of watching
the film. Whereas: that was a fantastic moment in the film, wasn't it? Well that refers to a short
period of time within the film. Maybe a joke or an action scene or when the cat eats the snail....
Yes so here are we referring to a long period of time or are we referring to a short moment?
Well... a moment. So that was the moment he left me moment. Moment.
I felt such pain that _____ could have made me feel better. So what is the meaning? I'm saying
like I'm so so sad and it's completely impossible to change. Okay so something means that it is
possible to change that so something is wrong. It doesn't make sense in this context so we can
eliminate something. On the other hand none is too ambiguous. What does none refer to? None of what?
Well we don't know and we have no context within the text to explain what none could refer to
and this means that we can eliminate none as well. So finally we are left with anything and nothing.
Anything would mean that something could potentially make Monica feel better
and it doesn't matter what that something is. It could be any something. It could be
anything and that's not what we're trying to express here so the answer is nothing.
Nothing. Please remember that in English we do not use double negatives because that is
mathematically wrong. Science says so. This means that when we use nothing in a positive sentence
it is a negative: I have nothing oh no! That means I don't have anything. On the other hand:
I don't have nothing. Means I have something and I'm very very happy about it. Yes! Because I
don't have nothing, I have you! You! Watching this video now! Brilliant! I'm so so lucky and so are
you. You don't have nothing either because you have me and we have each other. _____
all the arguments pain and betrayal I'd ______ I still could not accept that it was over.
Number three is very very easy that means that we can relax because only one answer
fits with the grammar and this makes our lives much much easier if we know the grammar and
if we don't know the grammar, well, that's embarrassing. Study more grammar! Use this
playlist here to learn all about the B2 First grammar that you need to know to pass the exam
right? Yes! Yeah anyway, though, although and even though all follow the same grammatical rule. If
you are beginning a sentence with though, although or even though they must be followed by a subject.
Yes! Followed by a subject! But is "all the arguments" a subject? No Toby! It's not it's an
object! Exactly! It's an object and we cannot use an object after although, even though or though
which means our answer must be despite. Despite is the answer.... and I'm a dancer...
Despite all the arguments pain and betrayal I'd _____ I still could not accept that it was over.
And now number four is the opposite. For number four there is no grammar instead we need to focus
purely on the meaning. We have four phrasal verbs and we know that the objects of these
phrasal verbs are "arguments, pain and betrayal" and we know that despite these objects Monica
still could not accept that the relationship was over. So then, let's focus on the meaning of these
phrasal verbs. Made up of means constituted by and we normally use this in the passive. For example:
my body is made up of blood organs and a very very big brain. God my brain is so so big!
So in this context made up of makes absolutely zero sense because we're not talking about the
constitution of something, are we? No! No we're not. Oh and done up of doesn't even exist so we
can eliminate that one as well! So made up of and done up of we have eliminated because
they cannot be right. Made up of makes no sense. Done up of doesn't exist and this just leaves us
with two possible answers, so it's 50/50. Just take a guess! No! Don't take a guess, don't take
a guess. We can do it together as a team like I said before because we're best friends. Please,
please, please be my friend. So we are left with come up with and put up with. What do these mean?
The phrasal verb to come up with means to invent an idea. So if Monica came up with the arguments,
pain and the betrayal then that means that she invented them in her head. And that is
definitely not true Toby because it was also real! Okay so through a process of elimination
that leaves us with put up with. And maybe you don't even know what that means but it doesn't
matter! We've eliminated all the others so we'll go with put up with! But by the way,
put up with means to tolerate. If you put up with something you tolerate it. Like you're putting
up with me right now! You're tolerating me just because you want my knowledge! Isn't that great?
That's all I am to you... that's all I am to you... God. And of course I have videos about all
the phrasal verbs that you need to know for the B2 First Cambridge exam! Yes, yes, yes I do! Click
this playlist here and you will learn them all! Be very very happy! Leave a comment saying "wow Toby!
Thank you so so much!" I'll feel happy and then you've made some happiness in the world and that's
very very rare especially in my life. I spend most of my days alone crying. Relationships are strange
when you are in one you wish you weren't but when they're over you _____ on every little detail that
may have _____ to their end. This is very very easy thanks to the preposition on. So if you see a
preposition after your blank space and think "well what word here can go with the preposition?".
That will help you! Yes! It'll be very very helpful! Firstly we cannot imagine on something.
Instead we can imagine plus gerund or imagine plus object. For example can you imagine being
a dog? Can you imagine life before SMASH English? Yes to the first, no to the second obviously...
Also you cannot wonder on. No, no, no. You can wonder about something or you can wonder why
something is, where something is, who something is, whose something is, when something is or what
something is but not on. No. Not on. And again we cannot consider on. No. Instead we can consider
plus gerund. For example: I considered becoming a dancer but then I realized that I couldn't dance
so I decided to become a teacher because there was nothing else I could do in the world. And now look
at me, look at me, look at me. Please someone look at me. This leaves us with one option:
focus. We focus on something. We don't wonder on something, we don't imagine on something
and we don't consider on something. We focus on something and so the answer
is focus. When they're over you focus on every little detail that may have _____ to their end.
This is similar. Again we have a preposition and the preposition is to. We don't say resulted to
instead we say resulted in. We don't say finished to instead we use a preposition
depending on the time that we are talking about. For example: the exam will finish
in five minutes. The party will finish at two o'clock in the morning. Past my bedtime, am I
right? I finished that cake around four minutes and 35 seconds ago but who's counting? Not me.
Lasted does not make sense here. We use last to talk about the duration of something
with or without the preposition for. Toby, I'm so bored this video is lasting for ages. Or you
could say the journey lasts 30 minutes. And so this leaves us with the word led. Yeah. Led to
means resulted in. Finished. I am beautiful or at least that's what I _____ myself.
Who is the speaker talking to? Well the speaker is talking to the speaker and that's why we have
the reflexive pronoun myself. If we want to use said plus the person or object the speaker is
speaking to then we need to use the preposition to and we don't have that preposition here so the
answer cannot be said. And this same rule applies to mentioned and remarked. That is what I said to
myself. That is what I mentioned to myself. That is what I remarked to myself. But here we don't
have the preposition to and so that leaves us with only one possible answer and that is told.
After the verb to tell we always need an object like: I tell the truth or I tell a lie or an
object pronoun. Here we have the reflexive pronoun because Monica is talking to herself and so:
at least that's what I told my self. Yes! We ____ so much time searching for that _____ someone.
Let us talk about the collocations. Use does not collocate with time in this way. In fact
the only time that use collocates with time is as a noun. That is not a good use of
time. However here use is a verb and so no, no, no. We don't want it. No. No.
Next, if we HAE time we are talking about the time that is available to us. For example: I have five
minutes to relax before my swimming race against my pet jellyfish. We are not talking about time
in that sense here so we can eliminate have as well. And this leaves us with spend and take. We
use take with time to talk about the duration of time required to complete an action. For example
learning English takes time or it took me a lot of time to complete my drawing of Toby's
face. Yeah. We have WE here and WE is a subject. When take collocates with time after a subject
we usually need an infinitive of purpose and that sounds confusing but let me give you an example.
Toby (the subject) didn't take a long time (take collocated with time) to explain this grammar
point (the infinitive purpose). There we go. I've explained it in less than 10 seconds!
Genius! Genius! Wow! So in this context that would give us we take so much time to search
but that doesn't really make much sense because we'd talk about "we take so much time to find"
not "we take so much time to search" but in any case we haven't got to plus infinitive we have
the gerund "searching". So take is impossible. And this leaves us with spend. Spend. We spend so
much time searching. Yes! Yes we do! How much time did you spend searching for this video? Probably
many many hours but now you've found it! Lucky you! Leave a comment! Subscribe! Like the video!
We spend so much time searching for that _____ someone. I'm very very sorry but
all of these words mean something very very similar and if you don't know the collocation
you will be unable to answer it. Or will you!?!?! If you are in a situation like this
where you have absolutely no idea, focus on what sounds better. Important someone. Elite someone.
That sounds terrible. Exclusive someone. That's better I guess. Special someone...
Special someone! This is alliteration. Alliteration is where the first letter of
two or more adjacent words is the same and it creates a nice sound. Special someone.
Terrific Toby. Sexy SMASH English. But if you are in doubt and you need to choose an adjective or
a noun to form a compound noun and you have absolutely no idea what you are doing then
why not see if you can find some alliteration? Because if it sounds good it's probably right.
Right? Nothing that sounds good is ever wrong... probably... I think... Maybe...
Yeah that's terrible advice. Sorry. And with that we are finished! Now you know everything
you need to know about doing part one of the use of english paper for the B2 First Cambridge exam!
If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe if you haven't already,
leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH English...