Students always tell me that the most difficult part of the B2 First Cambridge
exam is part four of the Use of English paper:
the Keyword Transformations... and
yeah they're difficult... but also they're fun!
So much fun... My name is Toby, this is SMASH
English and here is everything you need to know
about doing part 4 of the Use of English paper for the B2 First Cambridge
exam!
Let's have a look at our first question! I regret being late for the party.
Our key word here is TURNED. I ..... up late to the party.
We must make the second sentence mean the same as the first sentence
using our key word we must write between two
and five words. The first step is to eliminate parts of both sentences
that mean the same thing. This makes sure our attention is focused on
what we need to change. We have the subject
"I". Eliminate that we don't need it. We have "late for the party" and "late to
the party", these have the same meaning here so
let's eliminate them too. But remember the preposition "to" instead
of "for", that might be important!
Now we have "regret being" so we are talking about a regret,
obviously. Can we use regret again? Well, we have the verb TURNED which
is a past participle. After REGRET we need a GERUND or an
ING form so this is impossible. Do we know any other
structures in English to talk about regrets? Yes!
I WISH and IF ONLY! I'm so excited! Here we have the SUBJECT "I" as the first
word in the sentence so we know we need
I WISH and not IF ONLY. Now, remember we're talking about a
regret, so what is the grammar with I WISH
for regrets? I WISH plus the PAST PERFECT. Are we regretting the
fact that we did something or the fact that we didn't do something?
That we did do something. So we must use the past perfect
in the negative form: I WISH I HAD NOT. And now we can use our verb
"I wish I had not turned up late to the party" and we are finished!
Maybe you do not know the phrasal verb TURN
UP and you think "oh my gosh how can I do this?
I don't know "turn up"!" Well, don't be stupid.
TURNED is the past participle form of TURN.
After the PAST PERFECT we need the past participle.
TURNED is your keyword so put it in there!
It doesn't matter if you don't know what it means. If you don't know what
it means, why don't you watch my fantastic video about
every phrasal verb with turn for the B2 First Cambridge
exam? You will learn all of them and then you will say
"I know the phrasal verb TURN UP because I watched a great SMASH
English video!" Now you can click subscribe, and leave a comment!
Say thank you! Thank you! Let's try another one
because we are having so much fun! I think you should stop smoking.
Our key word is UP. If i were you I .......... smoking.
We need to make the second sentence mean the same as the first
using our keyword UP and only using between two
to five words. The first step: what can we eliminate? Eliminate!
Why!? What is the function of the first sentence? We have I THINK
and SHOULD. The function then is to give advice. I THINK
YOU SHOULD. In our second sentence we have IF I WERE YOU. This
is a second conditional and we use if I were you to give advice. So for this example i don't think we should eliminate
anything. Understanding the function of the sentences
is what is important here. The function of both sentences
is to give advice. So we know that we need to complete a second
conditional. The IF clause, the CONDITION clause is
already finished so we need to focus on the MAIN clause, the RESULT clause.
We already have the subject. What modal verb comes after the subject
in the main clause, the result clause, of a second
conditional?
WOULD! If I were you I would .... smoking. SMOKING is a gerund!
We always use the gerund after a preposition.
So we can already put UP before SMOKING without knowing the word
before it. This gives us IF I WERE YOU I WOULD...
UP SMOKING. Let us go back to our first sentence. What information
is missing? We need to say STOP. Can you think of a phrasal verb
with the preposition UP that means to stop doing something?
GIVE UP! Wow! If I were you I would give up smoking. And
again we are done! If you need any more help
with the second conditional then I have a video
all about the second conditional! Wow, Toby! Amazing! Great!
Uh, click it, watch it, learn! Yes! Do we have time for one more?! Of course
we have time for one more!
My holiday was terrible because I lost my wallet and the hotel was
dirty. Our key word is LOSE. I hated my holiday because not only........
......but also the hotel was dirty. OK, now you are regretting asking for
another! This is difficult! If you have no idea what to do then full marks are
impossible but we can still do something! Remember, for every question
two marks are available! So writing something is aaaaaaaalwaaaayssss
Why? Writing something is always better than writing nothing. So let's
get eliminating! My holiday was terrible because.
I hated my holiday because. This is the same
so let's eliminate! ELIMINATE! And the hotel was dirty. But
also the hotel was dirty. ELIMINATE! So all we need to replicate is "I
lost my wallet" but we have the infinitive form,
the verb LOSE. Well let's be stupid! What did I lose? My wallet! So
let's write that! I LOSE MY WALLET. I hated my holiday because not only I lose my wallet but also the hotel was dirty.
Now we have one point because we have written
"lose my wallet" correctly. But of course this is wrong. "I lose my wallet" is the
present simple and the original sentence is in the past
simple, but we have the present simple form of
LOSE so we cannot use the past simple with
LOST. So what do we do? INVERSION!
Some structures in english require an inversion.
This is where we put the auxiliary verb before
the subject. Basically we use the interrogative form.
If you know nothing about inversion then please
watch my video on it! It is very important
and a very easy way to boost your marks in speaking
and writing! So watch it, learn! Yes! So our original sentence was in the past
simple this means that for our inversion we need to use the past
simple interrogative form. NOT ONLY DID I LOSE MY WALLET! And with that we
are finished... for today. I will make a playlist
all about word transformations and we will do them
regularly! It will be fun and we will form a special
connection over our love of word transformations! 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