Vocabulary and grammar in context
What is tested
This part checks whether you can choose the form that fits a specific sentence, not whether you can recite rules in isolation. It usually combines two strands:
- Lexis: synonyms and antonyms in context, word formation (success → successful / succeed), collocations (make a decision, heavy rain), phrasal verbs (give up, put off) and common false friends.
- Grammar: tense and aspect, passive voice, conditional sentences, reported speech, relative clauses, gerund versus infinitive, comparatives, modal verbs, subject–verb agreement and prepositions.
Rewriting questions: work from the grammar, not from the meaning
In transformation items you must keep the original meaning while changing the structure. Identify the required structure first, then check tense, person and number. Worked example: "The council has banned cars from the city centre." → passive. Reasoning: the object cars becomes the subject; the tense is present perfect, so the passive is have been + past participle: "Cars have been banned from the city centre." The agent by the council is optional because it adds little. "Cars were banned" would change the tense and lose the mark. Second example: "I didn't know the answer, so I didn't raise my hand." → third conditional. Reasoning: both clauses are past and counterfactual, so: "If I had known the answer, I would have raised my hand." Keep the negative logic: the original says he did not know, so the if-clause becomes positive.
Lexical items
For synonym questions, substitute the word back into the sentence and check that the sentence still makes sense and keeps the same register. For word formation, decide the part of speech needed (noun, adjective, adverb) before adding a suffix, and check spelling changes: happy → happiness, decide → decision.
Traps
- Changing the tense or subject in a rewrite, or leaving out an auxiliary.
- Using actual for current, eventually for finally, or assist for attend.
- Adding by plus an agent when the agent is unknown or obvious.
- Forming a noun where an adjective is needed, or forgetting irregular plurals.
- Choosing a synonym that fits the dictionary but not the sentence.