My recent post gave you a small example of what is expected of an advanced learner of English. So today I thought I would up the difficulty level by giving you a sample of the expectations of the proficiency level. So have fun seeing how good your English really is.

For questions 1-15, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space.

Global English

Global English exists (0) ....as...... a political and cultural reality. Many misguided theories attempt to explain why the English language should have succeeded internationally, whilst (1) .......... have not. Is it because there is (2) .......... inherently logical or beautiful about the structure of English? Does its simple grammar (3) .......... it easy to learn? Such ideas are misconceived. Latin was once a major international language, despite having a complicated grammatical structure, and English also presents learners (4) .......... all manner of real difficulties, (5) .......... least its spelling system. Ease (6) .......... learning, therefore, has little to (7) .......... with it. (8) .......... all, children learn to speak their mother tongue in approximately the same period of time, (9) .......... of their language.

English has spread not so (10) .......... for linguistic reasons, but rather because it has often found (11) .......... in the right place, at the right time. (12) .......... the 1960s, two developments have contributed to strengthening this global status. Firstly, in a number of countries, English is now used in addition to national or regional languages. As (13) .......... as this, an electronic revolution has taken (14) ........ . It is estimated that (15) .......... the region of 80% of worldwide electronic communication is now in English.

For questions 26-31, think of one word only which can be used appropriately in all three sentences.

16 It is very difficult to fully ......................... certain pieces of jazz music until you’ve heard them a good few times.

Although I’m always ready to lend a hand, Marta never really seems to ......................... the things I do for her.

Given the market for decorative antiques, I’d say that the value of that beautiful vase is set to ......................... considerably in the next few years.

17 James is able to ......................... an enormous amount of factual information in his head.

Although the old house has been completely renovated, care has been taken to
......................... as many of the original features as possible.

When you’re buying outdoor adventure clothing, the thing to look for is material that does not ......................... a lot of moisture.

18 With less than a minute of the football match to go, Phil managed to ......................... the ball into the back of the net.

I think the best course of action would be to jump into the car and ......................... for Bristol as soon as possible.

Louise has been asked to ......................... an investigation into what went wrong on the night of the accident.

19 Initially, few companies saw any potential in computers designed for the ......................... rather than the office environment.

Although extremely independent, and well able to look after themselves, cats are generally classified as ......................... animals.

Over the years, the proportion of foreign stories in this newspaper has declined as people have become more engrossed in ......................... issues.

20 The chess champion held off a serious ......................... from his younger opponent in the last match of the tournament.

The chairman of the meeting seemed to regard questions from the audience as some kind of ......................... to his authority.

You’ll find some aspects of the job a real ......................... , but we’re confident that you can cope.

21 Melanie practised her lines each day after school, getting increasingly nervous as the date of her audition ......................... even closer.

Although Tim had been in the lead for most of the race, as they reached the final bend, Graham ......................... level and threatened to overtake him.

On an impulse, Laurie ......................... all the money out of his bank account and went to London, intending to spend every last penny of it.

These examples came from the official Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English Handbook 2002.

Derek's Vandal Blog
www.derekhaines.ch
Derek on Twitter
Derek's Author Page

One of my favourite Cambridge examination components was key word transformation . It truly was a test of a student’s knowledge of English at both First Certificate and Advanced levels.

However it is also a great exercise for accomplished writers. I still love doing them as it fine tunes my writing skills by having to constantly search for alternatives.

So just for fun, why don’t you see how you go with these examples.










For Questions 1-12, complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and six words, including the words given.


1 This is your third warning from me this week about being late for work.
NOT
This is the third time this week I……………………………be late for work.

2 I think Anita must have gone on a diet recently because she's quite slim now.
HAS
It looks as…………………………….dieting because she's quite slim now.

3 I always hated pasta when 1 was a child but now I cook it regularly.
USE
I…………………………pasta when I was a child but now 1 cook it regularly.

4 I went to have my own look at the apartment and 1 couldn't understand why my
friend wanted us to live in such a depressing place!
SEE
Having………………………………..myself, I couldn't understand why my friend
wanted us to live in such a depressing place!

5 We wanted to continue our mountain trek but the weather was too bad.
LIKE
We……………………………on with our mountain trek but the weather was too bad.

6 I want to inform you that I was not satisfied with the standard of service in your
hotel.
EXPRESS
I would……………………………………with the standard of service in your hotel.
7 I wanted to stay in last night but my flatmate insisted we go out.

SOONER
I……………………………………..in last night but my flatmate insisted we go out.
8 Didn't you want me to tell the staff about your resignation?
RATHER
Would………………………………………the staff know about your resignation?

9 I didn't stop worrying about the wild animals until we were safe inside camp.
ONLY
It was……………………………………………………….safety of camp that I
Stopped worrying about the wild animals.

10 Steve's one topic of conversation is the time he spent as a pilot.
EVER
The time he spent as a pilot …………………………………………………..about.

11 After arriving at the airport, we realised that our passports were still at home.
UNTIL
It…………………………………………………at the airport that we realised our
passports were still at home.

12 When Michael's boat began to sink, he sent a signal for help.
DID
When Michael's boat began to sink, what ……………………………………..a signal
for help.


Now please don’t ask for answers! You are all fine writers of English.


These examples came from the Practise English blog. More examples can be found by searching for CAE and FCE Key Word Transformations in any search engine.

Derek's Vandal Blog
www.derekhaines.ch
Derek on Twitter
Derek's Author Page

We can all recognise formal and informal texts, but you may not know that it has a name. It is called ‘Register’. The scales of register are generally classified as Formal, Neutral, Informal and Vulgar. In this sense, vulgar refers to childish or common utterances and not rude jokes.

Here are two example letters. Very easy to tell formal from informal, but what are the language forms that make the difference? I will give you a few clues. Grammar, Vocabulary and Punctuation are the three areas of difference. Use the table attached to try and find the lexical areas of difference.


Letter (Formal)

Thank you for your letter received 14 September 2002. A copy has been sent to company headquarters in addition to a memorandum concerning your financial situation. A meeting has been scheduled for 3 October 2002 at 11 am to discuss your request for a further bank loan. Therefore please inform us of your availability for this meeting at the earliest opportunity.

However, a number of issues concerning your income and expenditure may be queried prior to a loan being granted. Furthermore the General Manager needs to be contacted in order to authorise bank loans of this nature. Moreover, your previous failure to meet payment arrangements will first have to be considered.

Nevertheless, in the interim you are required to complete the enclosed business plan, which should be brought to the meeting.


Letter (Informal)

Thanks for your letter. I got it 14 Sept. I’ve sent a copy to comp. H.Q. along with a memo re. your financial situation. I’ve set a meeting for 3 Oct at 11am to talk about another bank loan. So, please let us know if you can make it a.s.a.p.

But, we might ask you a few things to do with your inc. and exp. before giving you a loan. Also, I need to get in touch with the G.M. to okay it. Plus, we’ll first have to think about the last time you didn’t keep up with your payments.

Anyway, in the meantime, you need to fill in this business plan. Bring it to the meeting with you.


Good luck! If you get desperate, you can find the answer here.

Derek's Vandal Blog
www.derekhaines.ch
Derek on Twitter
Derek's Author Page

It's fun to learn a new language. But sometimes trying to use direct word for word translation can result in some very funny expressions!





Private school: NO TRESPASSING WITHOUT PERMISSION.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hotel bedroom, Japan: GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Doctor's surgery, Rome: SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cocktail lounge, Norway: LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hotel, Acapulco: THE MANAGER HAS PERSONALLY PASSED ALL THE WATER SERVED HERE.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hotel airconditioner instructions, Japan: COOLES AND HEATES: IF YOU WANT CONDITION OF WARM AIR IN
YOUR ROOM, PLEASE CONTROL YOURSELF.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Zoo, Hungary: PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUITABLE FOOD,
GIVE IT TO THE GUARD ON DUTY.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Resaurant, Nairobi: CUSTOMERS WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE OUGHT TO SEE THE MANAGER.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Car rental brochure, Tokyo: WHEN PASSENGER OF FOOT HEAVE IN SIGHT, TOOTLE THE HORN.
TRUMPET HIM MELODIOUSLY AT FIRST, BUT IF HE STILL OBSTACLES YOUR PASSAGE THEN TOOTLE HIM WITH VIGOUR.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
River highway: TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Men's lavatory, Japan: TO STOP LEAK TURN COCK TO THE RIGHT

What more can I say?

Derek's Vandal Blog
www.derekhaines.ch
Derek on Twitter
Derek's Author Page

1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with. Winston Churchill, corrected on this error once, responded to the young man who corrected him by saying "Young man, that is the kind of impudence up with which I will not put!
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies endlessly over and over again
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't always necessary and shouldn't be used to excess so don’t.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not always apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous and can be excessive
14. All generalizations are bad.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Avoid excessive use of ampersands & abbrevs., etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake (Unless they are as good as gold).
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words, however, should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when substituting a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Don’t overuse exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed and use it correctly with words’ that show possession.
27. Don’t use too many quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations.. Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a billion times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly. Besides, hyperbole is always overdone, anyway.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
32. Who needs rhetorical questions? However, what if there were no rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
34. Avoid "buzz-words"; such integrated transitional scenarios complicate simplistic matters
35. People don’t spell "a lot" correctly alot of the time.
36. Each person should use their possessive pronouns correctly
37. All grammar and spelling rules have exceptions (with a few exceptions)....Morgan’s Law.
38. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
39. The dash – a sometimes useful punctuation mark – can often be overused – even though it’s a helpful tool some of the time.
40. Proofread carefully to make sure you don’t repeat repeat any words.
41. In writing, it’s important to remember that dangling sentences.
41. When numbering in a written document, check your numbering system carefully.
42. It is important to use italics for emphasis sparingly.
43. In good writing, for good reasons, under normal circumstances, whenever you can, use prepositional phrases in limited numbers and with great caution.
44. Avoid going out on tangents unrelated to your subject -- not the subject of a sentence -- that's another story (like the stories written by Ernest Hemingway, who by the way wrote the great fisherman story The Old Man and the Sea).
45. Complete sentences. Like rule 10.
46. Unless you're a righteous expert don't try to be too cool with slang to which you're not hip.
47. If you must use slang, avoid out-of-date slang. Right on!
48. You'll look poorly if you misuse adverbs.
49. Use the ellipsis ( . . . ) to indicate missing . . .
50. Use brackets to indicate that you [ not Shakespeare, for example ] are giving people [ in your class ] information so that they [ the people in your class ] know about whom you are speaking. But do not use brackets when making these references [ to other authors ] excessively.
51. Note: People just can't stomach too much use of the colon.
52. Between good grammar and bad grammar, good grammar is the best.
53. There are so many great grammar rules that I can't decide between them.
54. In English, unlike German, the verb early in the sentence, not later, should be placed.
55. When you write sentences, shifting verb tense is bad.

Derek's Vandal Blog
www.derekhaines.ch
Derek on Twitter
Derek's Author Page

The most common sound when we make in English is called the Schwa. It represents up to 15% of our utterances. However, so few people have heard of it. It’s the sound we make when we say ‘cup of tea’, and really say ‘cuppa tea’. It’s this little ‘uh’ sound we use in this example that is the schwa and in phonetics an upside down 'e' is used to represent the schwa. Now have fun finding this common but very small sound.

A curvaceous young phoneme called schwa,
Said "I never feel strong. It's bizarre!
I'm retiring and meek,
And I always sound weak,
But in frequency counts – I'm the star!"



Try to identify all the schwas in the following text. There are at least 40.

The first time I and my brother were allowed to go shopping alone was a complete disaster. I think I was about ten and he was seven. We usually got on very well together, but he was in a bad mood that day and I suppose I was a bit nervous about having the responsibility of looking after him in town. Anyway, he disappeared almost as soon as we got off the bus and I spent about three quarters of an hour looking for him. When I eventually found him, I was so relieved that I didn't remember to get angry.

Derek's Vandal Blog
www.derekhaines.ch
Derek on Twitter
Derek's Author Page