FCE Use of English Part 4

Key Word Transformation

Part 4 of the Use of English is a sentence transformation exercise. This means that you are given a sentence and you have to rewrite that sentence in different words but with the same meaning. This is called paraphrasing and it is important in many other parts of the exam. 

You have to use between two and five words to complete the answer. 

For example: 

1. You shouldn't tolerate noisy neighbours. UP

Noisy neighbours shouldn't ______________ with.

Answer: Noisy neighbours shouldn't be // put up with. 

There are two possible points for the answer. A fully-correct answer gets two points and a partially-correct answer gets one point. 

There are normally two items of grammar and/or vocabulary that connect together and this is why the answer has been marked with the double slash // symbols. The double slash also signifies how the two possible points are given by the examiner who is correcting the exercise. If you have all of the correct words on one side of the double slash, you get the point. If you have everything correct, then full marks! 

Here are a few more tips. 

1. There are generally two things happening in these exercises. One is that you might have to recycle words from the first sentence, but maybe you have to change their form grammatically. Therefore you reuse the words in a different form and change the grammar of the sentence accordingly.

For example: 

• The Romans were responsible for the construction of the aqueduct in Segovia. 
  
• The aqueduct in Segovia was constructed by the Romans. 

The second sentence is in the passive, so the noun 'construction' from the first sentence has to be changed in the second sentence, with all of the grammatical omissions and additions as well. 

2. Secondly, you might have to replace a phrase with another which means the same but which has completely different words, like in the example at the beginning of the article. 

Returning to that example: 

• You shouldn't tolerate noisy neighbours.
• Noisy neighbours shouldn't be put up with.

'Tolerate' and 'put up with' mean the same thing, and the phrasal verb 'to put up with' something or someone is a common addition to the First Certificate Exam. 

Remember that you should spend about 7-10 minutes on this exercise in the exam. It might be a good idea to prioritise this exercise and do it before the other Use of English exercises as most students consider it more difficult than the others. It also has the most points of all the Use of English exercises (the other three all have eight points each), and has the same number of points as the longer reading exercises. 

Make sure to proportion your time well in the Reading and Use of English paper as there are only 75 minutes to do the seven exercises. There are three readings which should take about 15 minutes each, and four Use of English exercises, which should take about seven or eight minutes each. You also have to fill in the answer sheet in this time, so make sure everything is done in the time, and make a plan for your time before you start the paper.