FCE - Use of English

FCE Use of English is the 3rd paper in the exam. Some people call it the grammar paper, but this is only partly true because it is equally a vocabulary paper - not just testing your knowledge of individual words, but also of collocations (word partnerships), idioms and phrases. In fact your knowledge of collocations is really quite important in this paper - especially parts 1 and 2 where you have to fill in the gaps. Part 1 is called Multiple Choice Cloze - here you have a short text with 12 gaps. Below the text you get a choice of 4 options to choose from to fill in each gap. Here they are testing your knowledge of phrasal verbs, collocations (e.g. dependent prepositions), set phrases as well as an exact knowledge of the meaning of the vocabulary. This can be quite a tricky question. The best way to approach this question is by reading the text quickly to get a general understanding. If you don't know the context it's extremely difficult to fill in the gaps. Then go with your gut feeling. If you're not sure which is correct then start by crossing out the options you know are wrong. If you're really stuck go with your 1st idea - it's normally the best one. Here's a mini example to give you an idea of what awaits you, together with a few hints below. Trust is a difficult thing. We are finding it more and more difficult to trust each other - (1)____ fact a recent survey suggests that over 60% of British people didn't trust the people around them to not (2) ________ their word - the number 1 on their lists being their bosses (not their wives!!!). But the same survey also tried to (3) _______out who we do trust. Who do you think was the Briton we trust most? The Queen, of course. 53% thought she was the most (4) ____________ person; Prince Charles and Princess Anne were close behind. 1 a) in b) on c) under d) to This is a test of your knowledge of a set phrase 2 a) destroy b) shatter c) break d) say What word collocates with 'someone's word'? 3 a) bring b) find c) freak d) call Phrasal verb meaning 'discover'' 4 a) trusting b) truthful c) faithful d) trustworthy Vocabulary test - which word means 'easy to trust'? Part 2 is Open Cloze where there is again a short text with 12 gaps - this time, however, you have to fill in the word yourself. Some people think this is more difficult than part 1 but most students I know actually get better results in part 2. This sounds like a difficult vocabulary test and if it was a vocabulary test it would be difficult. But it's not - it's much more of a grammar test because the words you need to think of are all really easy words and are generally 'grammar words' - words like 'a', 'the', 'who', 'there', 'although' and sometimes the occasional phrasal verb etc. Here's a mini example to give you an idea of what awaits you, together with a few hints below. Here's (1) ___ bit of news from Britain - Britain is fat - and to prove it statistics show that a fire engine is called out (2) ___ help lift an obese person almost everyday - and I don't think it's the same person (3) ________ he travels around the country very quickly and, anyway, if he did that he wouldn't be fat. And these are statistics from the last 5 years. Doctors, though, have come (4) _____ with a solution to help us get thinner - taxes on Chocolate. 1. an article 2. a preposition which answers the question 'why'? 3. a conjunction (linking word) 4. 2nd part of a 3 part phrasal verb meaning 'think of' Part 3 is Word Formation and again has a short text where there are 10 gaps - at the end of each line is a word which you have to change a bit so that it fits the gap. For example make a noun from a verb. Here's just a 1 line example: The British Department of Health has produced a 39- page _______ about BOOK how to deal with very hot weather. Here you must alter the word 'BOOK' to make another related word meaning 'little book' - the answer is BOOKLET. Part 4 is called Key Word Transformations - here they give a sentence and you have to paraphrase the sentence by using a given word, without changing that word. Here's an example: They're predicting a nice hot summer in the UK PREDICTED A nice hot summer in the UK.