B2 First key word transformations: Part 4 practice

• Passive structures, including have something done and impersonal passives.
• Reported speech, and the verb patterns of report verbs such as warn, remind, suggest and apologise.
• Conditionals and wishes, especially past regret with should have and wish plus past perfect.
• Modal verbs of deduction and obligation: might have, must have, need not have, be allowed to.
• Perfect aspect with for and since, and the first time structure.
• Comparatives and so/such result clauses.
• Phrasal verbs and fixed expressions used as paraphrase, such as call off and put off.
• Verb patterns after common verbs: to-infinitive, -ing form or a that-clause.
• Counting words accurately, since contractions count as two.
• Reading the second sentence to the end, because the words after the gap decide the form.

1. Step 1: 1

   Read the second sentence to the very end first

   The words printed after the gap control everything. If the sentence ends with ‘to touch the paint’, the gap has to end with a form that takes a to-infinitive.

2. Step 2: 2

   Identify the grammar being tested, not the meaning

   Ask what the key word usually belongs to. HAD points to a passive or a past perfect; WISH points to regret; UNLESS points to a negative conditional.

3. Step 3: 3

   Do not change the key word in any way

   You may not add an ending, make it plural or turn it into another part of speech. If your answer needs ‘called’ and the key word is CALL, your structure is wrong.

4. Step 4: 4

   Write the answer, then count the words

   Two to five words, and a contraction counts as two. Write ‘do not’, not ‘don’t’, so you can see the real count.

5. Step 5: 5

   Check that nothing from the gap repeats the printed words

   Candidates often repeat a word that is already outside the gap. Read the whole sentence back as one piece to catch it.

6. Step 6: 6

   Aim for the standard paraphrase, not a clever one

   The task has a predictable set of structures behind it. If your answer is unusual, it is probably longer than five words and probably wrong.

7. Step 7: 7

   Split the item into its two halves

   The mark scheme gives a mark for each half, usually the structure and the lexical part. If you cannot see the whole answer, write the half you are sure of.

8. Step 8: 8

   Keep tense and time reference from the first sentence

   The two sentences must mean the same, so a past event stays past. Changing the time is the fastest way to lose both marks at once.

9. Step 9: 9

   Never leave an item blank

   A partial answer can score one of the two marks. An empty gap cannot score anything at all.

10. Step 10: 10

    Budget around twelve minutes

    Six items at two marks each are worth more than the first three parts individually, so this part earns the extra time, but not at the cost of the reading texts.

• Not thisI haven’t seen Tom since three years.

  ThisI have not seen Tom for three years.

  For is used with a length of time and since with a starting point. The contraction would also count as two words.

• Not thisShe warned us don’t touch the paint.

  ThisShe warned us not to touch the paint.

  Warn takes an object plus a to-infinitive, and the negative goes before to, not inside a reported command.

• Not thisHe suggested to meet on Friday.

  ThisHe suggested meeting on Friday.

  Suggest is followed by an -ing form or a that-clause, never by a to-infinitive.

• Not thisI wish I booked earlier.

  ThisI wish I had booked earlier.

  Regret about a finished past action needs wish plus the past perfect. The past simple after wish refers to a present situation.

• Not thisThey made him to pay a fine.

  ThisHe was made to pay a fine.

  Make takes a bare infinitive in the active but a to-infinitive in the passive, which is exactly what the task likes to test.

• Not thisIt was such hot that we stayed inside.

  ThisIt was such a hot day that we stayed inside.

  Such needs a noun phrase. With a bare adjective you need so: it was so hot that we stayed inside.

• Not thisYou mustn’t to use your phone here.

  ThisYou are not allowed to use your phone here.

  Modal verbs never take to, and the key word ALLOWED forces the be allowed to structure instead.

call something off

cancel an event

put something off

postpone something to a later time

be allowed to

have permission to do something

need not have done

did it, but it was not necessary

should not have done

did it and now regret it

might have done

it is possible that it happened

have something done

arrange for someone else to do it for you

it is the first time I have

structure for a first experience

wish + past perfect

regret about a finished past action

unless

if not; introduces a negative condition

so ... that / such ... that

patterns showing an extreme and its result

apologise for doing

say sorry for something you did

remind somebody to do

make someone remember to do something

be said to be

impersonal passive for reporting opinions

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