Honestly the step from B2 First to C1 Advanced isn't really about the grammar. Learning a
language is a lot more than just isolating different parts of the grammar and trying
to learn them so please don't forget that. And to be honest the C1 Advanced exam is
more about showing greater control over the structures that you learned at the B2 first
level anyway. While a B2 First level student may have to think about whether they need a second,
third or mixed conditional, for a C1 Advanced student it should just appear. This is what
we call "automaticity" and it is how you can just do something without even thinking about
doing it. You kind of just do it. Like riding a bike: you don't think about what you're doing,
you just do it. However having said all of that there are some things that do appear at the C1
Advanced level but you're unlikely to find in a B2 first course book. So let's have a look at them!
You will see a pattern here because inversion does appear in B2 course books. In fact inversion
occurs in A1 course books, like when we ask a question for example. So yeah. However, at the C1
advanced level you should know a greater variety of forms that require inversion. These include NO
SOONER, HARDLY, BARELY, NOT UNTIL. Yeah. These are all negative adverbials and because I'm a great
guy I'll give you some examples with the inversion highlighted. No sooner HAD HE arrived at the exam
room then he realized he had forgotten his pen. Barely HAD HE arrived at the exam room when he
realized he had forgotten his pen. Hardly HAD HE arrived at the exam room when he realized he had
forgotten his pen. Not until he arrived at the exam room DID HE realize that he had forgotten
his pen. At the C1 Advanced level you will also be introduced to inverting your conditionals.
Things like replacing IF with SHOULD in a first conditional, or saying WERE I TO instead of IF
plus the past simple in a second conditional. We also do something similar with the third
conditional. Instead of saying if I had gone we can say HAD I gone which, actually, now I think
about it, is a lot easier, isn't it? We don't have to say IF, so that's nice. And of course if
you're watching this thinking "Toby, that sounds really interesting and I would love to learn how
to invert some beautiful conditionals" then I have a video all about how to do it up there!
At the B2 First level there is the subjunctive. Of course there is. But it's restricted. It's
restricted to structures like I WISH and IF ONLY and the first clause of a second conditional. At
the C1 advanced level you should be familiar with the use of the subjunctive with expressions like I
WOULD RATHER and I WOULD PREFER and you will need to know how to use Expressions such as IT'S TIME
and IT'S HIGH TIME. Oh and you should probably be familiar with how the subjunctive can work with
reporting verbs. For example "He requested that I BE seated" or "I ask that he SIT next to her".
You'll notice that the verb after the subject doesn't change. it's the infinitive. It's always
the bare infinitive. And that's really weird and confusing but you should be familiar with that at
the C1 level. I have a video explaining all about the subjunctive right here because of course I do.
At the C1 Advanced level you should be familiar with present participle Clauses like this.. Oh
my god I've got a great example! Being one of the most desirable personalities on YouTube Monica is
often recognized in the street. Really? Are you? Yeah Toby of course I am! It happens all the time!
Yeah by your mum! Yep hilarious. And you also need to know how to use past participle Clauses like
this... Shocked by the rise of SMASH English Duke started his own YouTube channel. Okay and what
will it be called? Dutch with Dirty Duke. What? Oh my God, Duke! You speak Dutch?! No. And you
should also know how to use perfect participle Clauses like this... Having been running SMASH
English for three years, Toby is starting to look older. Yeah and he's put on weight. Oh my God have
you seen his belly recently? It's huge! Okay this is a strange one but I've never seen it in a B2
First course book before but I have seen it in C1 Advanced course books so I thought I'd put
it in the video. As you should know we can change the verb BE in the passive with GET. For example
"I got fired" or "he got slapped". I don't know! Well, you can add a reflexive pronoun between GET
and the PAST PARTICIPLE. So "I got MYSELF fired" or "he got HIMSELF slapped". This suggests that
the person that received the action is in some way responsible for it. If I got myself fired
then I was probably behaving terribly. If he got himself slapped then he was probably behaving
terribly. But violence is never the answer okay guys? Don't slap people! It's not very nice.
So, in everyday English we place prepositions at the end of defining relative clauses,
right? For example SMASH English!? That is the YouTube channel I subscribed to! However in more
formal English we can place the preposition before the relative pronoun. You're probably
kind of familiar with doing this. At the B2 First level it's quite common for students
to say IN WHICH instead of WHERE and that's basically what you're doing here. For example:
Yes! That is the bedroom in which she sleeps! Yep, but you can also do something like this:
SMASH English!? That is the YouTube channel TO WHICH I subscribed. So yeah.... In defiling
relative clauses that require a preposition, put the preposition before the relative pronoun
instead of at the end of the relative Clause. Yes? Yes! And there we have it! Those were five grammar
structures that you're not going to find at the B2 First level but you need to know for C1 Advanced.
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...