Facilities

 Social  Events

 Summer Courses

  Student Visa

Study for the Cambridge First Certificate Online with Rose of York
 

Use of English Part 2 and Part 4

In the FCE Use of English paper, there are 2 exercises that test your understanding of sentence syntax, especially the following types of words and how they fit into sentences:

Prepositions: in, for, despite

You have to understand which prepositions follow which verbs, nouns, and also in more complex structures where prepositions link verbs with adjectives or are used in set noun phrases and idioms.      

Conjunctions: unless, because, when, although

Conjunctions link clauses into sentences.  Only if you understand the meaning and the context of a sentence, can you guess which conjunction is correct.

Articles: the, a, - (zero article)

You should know all the basic rules for use of articles.  Visit the Rose of York articles lesson for more information.

Auxiliary Verbs: been, had, can’t

Both modal auxiliaries and standard auxiliary verbs are important in this part of the exam.  You should understand which tenses are possible in the context of the sentence, and also understand the difference between similar modal verbs.

Determiners: his, this, some

Determiners include articles, demonstratives (this, those), possessives (his, mine, my sister’s) and quantifiers (many, any, whole, five).  They generally begin noun phrases and are important for identifying which thing, or how many we are talking about.

Phrasal Verb Particles: up, off, out

The second part of the phrasal verb, for example off, up, out in get off, get up, get out may be tested in this part of the exam and you should understand the difference in meaning between the most common phrasal verbs in English.

Pronouns: which, it

Relative clauses, using pronouns such as who, that, whose are often tested in this part of the exam.  Subject and object pronouns are important too.

Try doing the two tasks, then check your answers and read the suggestions below.

Exercise 1 

Use of English Part 2

Read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. 

Use only one word in each space:

While I was a student, I used to work (1) ……... the summer

because I needed more money during term-time to buy extra

books and (2) ……... run an old car that I had.  One summer I found

it very difficult to find a job and was ready to give (3) ……...

looking when a friend (4) ……...  mine told me that he didn’t

want the job his father (5) ……...  managed to get for him. 

It wasn’t a particularly good job (6) ……...  terms of challenge

or variety, but the pay was good.  The job involved working

nights in a pork pie factory and I decided to go (7) ……...  an interview

and a medical examination.  Fortunately, I was given

the job and started (8) ……...  following week.  My shift began at

six o’clock in the evening and ended eight hours (9) ........, at two o’clock

the following morning.  There was an opportunity (10) ……...  work overtime

(11) ……...  time to time so sometimes I didn’t actually get home

 (12) .…...  five or six o’clock in the morning.  (13)  ……...  first I found sleeping

during the day quite strange but I soon (14)  ……...  used to it.  The

job had one big advantage (15)  ……... : I was able to get free pork

pies whenever I wanted!

Answers

Exercise 2

Use of English Part 4

Read the text below and look carefully at each line.  Some of the lines are correct, and some have a word which should not be there.  If a line is correct, tick it.  If a line has a word which should not be there, cross out the word:

While I was a student, I used to work during the summer

because I needed more money during term-time for to buy extra

books and to run up an old car that I had.  One summer I found

it very much difficult to find a job and was ready to give up

looking when a friend of mine told to me that he didn’t

want the job his father had managed to get for him. 

It wasn’t a particularly good type job in terms of challenge

or variety, but the pay it was good.  The job involved working

nights in a pork pie factory and I decided to go for an interview

and a medical examination.  Fortunately, I was been given

the job and started the following week.  My shift which began at

six o’clock in the evening and ended eight hours later, at two o’clock

in the following morning.  There was an opportunity to work overtime

from time to time so sometimes I didn’t actually get to home

until five or six o’clock in the morning.  At first I found sleeping

during the day quite strange but I had soon got used to it.  The

job had one big advantage, though: also I was able to get free pork

pies whenever I wanted!

Answers

Suggestions and Tips: First Certificate Exam:  Part 2 & Part 4

You will have noticed that the same text was used for both Part 2 and Part 4. This was intended to show you some important facts about these 2 exam tasks. 

Tip 1

Notice how Part 4 is the opposite or reverse of Part 2.  In Part 2, the words are missing and you have to put them in.  In Part 4, the words are extra, and you have to take them out. 

Tip 2

Notice how in both parts of the exam it’s only the grammar words that are used for the answers.  Only occasionally are lexical words such as verbs, nouns and adjectives used as the answers. 

Tip 3

To really understand these tasks, do the following:

Take a short text (100 words).  Try creating a Part 2 task by removing some of the words.  Make sure you only use grammar words, as suggested above.  Use a black pen to cover the words quickly.  Leave the text for a day.  The next day, try to remember the words you took out.  This will really help you to see the task from the examiner’s point of view.

Try doing exactly the same with Part 4.  But instead of removing the words, try rewriting the text, adding extra grammar words that were not in the original text.  Notice how difficult it is to ‘hide’ extra words in the text.

Do both of these 2 tasks regularly, and you will naturally improve your awareness and understanding of these grammar words. 

Keep studying, and good luck in the exam!

Please Note:  This material was created and is owned by Jason Anderson (c) 2003. 

Answers

Answers: Use of English Part 2

While I was a student, I used to work (1) for the summer

because I needed more money during term-time to buy extra

books and (2) to run an old car that I had.  One summer I found

it very difficult to find a job and was ready to give (3) up

looking when a friend (4) of  mine told me that he didn’t

want the job his father (5) had  managed to get for him. 

It wasn’t a particularly good job (6) in  terms of challenge

or variety, but the pay was good.  The job involved working

nights in a pork pie factory and I decided to go (7) for an interview

and a medical examination.  Fortunately, I was given

the job and started (8) the  following week.  My shift began at

six o’clock in the evening and ended eight hours (9) later, at two o’clock

the following morning.  There was an opportunity (10) to  work overtime

(11) from  time to time so sometimes I didn’t actually get home

 (12) until/till  five or six o’clock in the morning.  (13) At  first I found sleeping

during the day quite strange but I soon (14) got used to it.  The

job had one big advantage (15) though: I was able to get free pork

pies whenever I wanted!

Answers: Use of English Part 4

The extra words are highlighted

While I was a student, I used to work during the summer

because I needed more money during term-time for to buy extra

books and to run up an old car that I had.  One summer I found

it very much difficult to find a job and was ready to give up

looking when a friend of mine told to me that he didn’t

want the job his father had managed to get for him. 

It wasn’t a particularly good type job in terms of challenge

or variety, but the pay it was good.  The job involved working

nights in a pork pie factory and I decided to go for an interview

and a medical examination.  Fortunately, I was been given

the job and started the following week.  My shift which began at

six o’clock in the evening and ended eight hours later, at two o’clock

in the following morning.  There was an opportunity to work overtime

from time to time so sometimes I didn’t actually get to home

until five or six o’clock in the morning.  At first I found sleeping

during the day quite strange but I had soon got used to it.  The

job had one big advantage though: also I was able to get free pork

pies whenever I wanted!

Keep studying, and good luck in the exam!