You are trying to write the perfect essay for the B2 First
Cambridge exam but you need to include complex grammar, organizational patterns,
discuss complex ideas... How do you do it!?
In this video i'm going to give you three grammar structures to use in your
essay to include complex ideas, organizational
patterns and complex grammar. My name is Toby, this is
SMASH English and here are three grammar structures that you
should use to score high marks in your Cambridge B2
First essay!
Number one: Inversion.
Normally in English the verb comes after the subject but sometimes the verb can
come before the subject. In English we call
this grammar structure inversion. The most
common use of inversion in english is when we ask questions. When
we ask questions in English we put the
auxiliary verb before the subject. I'm sure you do this
all the time. However we can also use inversion for
emphasis with certain fixed structures in English. If you want to know more
about all of the fixed structures you need to know then watch my video
about inversion! Seriously watch it's really good! But how
can you use inversion in your
essay? Well that's easy! With "not only... but also...".
We use not only but also to talk about two things that are related to each
other. For example "Toby is great and
SMASH English is fantastic:: "not only is Toby great
but also SMASH English is fantastic". So how can we use this in an essay?
Well I tell all of my students to introduce paragraph three
with a "not only but also" inversion. You restate the points of paragraph
2 and you introduce the point of paragraph
3. That sounds a little bit confusing so let's look at
an example. For example "not only could pollution be reduced by
increasing the price of petrol but also by using public transport"
In this example my second paragraph is about increasing the price of petrol
and my third paragraph is about using public transport.
"Not only do museums help preserve the past but also help to educate:.
In this example the second paragraph is about museums' role in preserving
culture and the third is about museums' role in
education. "Not only should teachers educate
children but also teach them how to become productive members of society"
In this essay my second paragraph is about a teacher's role in education
and the third about a teacher's role in educating children
on how to become good members of society. Seriously this structure is fantastic
for your score in "language" because it is an example of complex
grammar. It's also brilliant for "organization".
One: because it's an organizational pattern
and two: because it links two paragraphs together. If you want to know more about
complex grammar and organizational patterns and what these
mean then watch my video about the Cambridge
B2 First Mark Scheme for writing. Oh, and like I said before: if
you want to know more about inversion I have a video on that
as well! Number two: second and third conditionals.
Second and third conditionals are very important structures to include in your
essay. Why? Well number one: they are complex
grammar and that means that your marks for "language"
will increase and number two: when you talk about hypothetical
situations with a second or a third conditional
you are talking about complex ideas which increase your marks for
"communicative achievement". So what are "complex
ideas"? Well in the Cambridge Mark Scheme under "communicative
achievement" if you want to score a 5 which is the maximum you must discuss
some "complex ideas". These are ideas that are not
concrete, they are abstract, they are unreal. If you use a second conditional
you are talking about an unreal present or an unreal future.
If you use a third conditional you are talking about
an unreal past. This is what we mean by "complex
ideas" and using conditionals is so easy! Let me tell you how! For FCE you could be
asked two types of questions for the essay.
One of them is asking you to give your opinion on something "to what extent
do you agree with a statement" or you could be asked if you think
a problem can be solved. In the first example we could use a
second conditional as an example to illustrate a point.
Here the second conditional is used as a rhetorical question.
We are discussing the unreal situation of museums not receiving
investment and the consequences it would have.
In the second example we could use a second conditional
to suggest a solution and a possible consequence
of this solution. For example
here the potential solution is food companies reducing
salt and fat in their foods with the potential result of solving the problem
of poor diet. Of course there are
other types of unreal tenses that you could use
in your essay to achieve this. One of them is using
"I wish" and "if only", I have a video on that on my channel
and another one is using "as if" and "as though" with a past tense... I
also have a video all about "as" for the B2 First exam
on my channel so watch them and learn lots of useful
things! Yeah? Yes! Number three: passive modal reporting
verbs.
And this is where we combine complex grammar with
unreal tenses to send the examiners crazy! Yes! Crazy!
Use these to improve your marks in "language",
and "communicative achievement". Especially "communicative achievement". Remember, an
essay is a formal piece of writing and you
should only present your opinion in the
conclusion. So how do you present an idea
that is not your opinion? Well, that is where passive modal reporting
verbs come into play! You could say
"some say that people are putting on weight because of diet".
This is great... if you are writing a B1 essay.
So how can we make this more complicated? Well,
let's make it passive. "it is said that people are putting on weight
because of diet" This is already looking much better now
we have a passive reporting verb but
let's change the verb "say" to something more
complicated. We could use argue, assert, posit, suggest, or
think. So now we have "it is asserted that people are putting
on weight because of diet". This is a great way to introduce a
new topic, argument or idea without it being
presented as your own. This means we are using the
"conventions of the communicative task" an important part of scoring high marks
for "communicative achievement". But we can still do better!
Let's put a modal verb in there! "it could be asserted that people are
putting on weight because of diet". And this is what we want! Here we are
saying that this is an intelligent thing to say if
someone said it but it is not my opinion. It
could be argued that video games are bad for
children. Is this my opinion? Well, we don't know
but could this be a good argument if it were my opinion? Well, yeah it could be.
It could be posited that increasing the cost of petrol would decrease
pollution. Is this my opinion? Well, we don't know.
But is this a valid opinion? Sure and now we can discuss it. So instead of
saying "some people believe", "some people argue", "some people think", "some
people say", say "it could be said", "it could be
argued", "it could be stated", "it could be asserted". I will be happy, you will be
happy, the examiner will be happy, everyone will be happy! So do it!
And finally here is a model essay. Gosh, I am generous! Using all of these
grammar structures that i have given you today. Here we have a second conditional
used in the form of a rhetorical question,
here we have an inversion to connect paragraphs two
and three together, and in the conclusion we have a passive modal reporting verb
summarizing the points made in paragraphs two and
three. And with that we are finished! Now you have three
fantastic grammar structures that you can use
every single time you write an essay 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...
you