STUDYING ENGLISH AND TAKING EXAMS ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN USE PRE INTERMEDIATE

 

ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN USE PRE INTERMEDIATE UNIT 33 STUDYING ENGLISH AND TAKING EXAMS

 

A How are they getting on?* This is what Nastya, an English teacher, thinks about some of her students. “Jade has a wide vocabulary [knows a lot of words] and speaks very accurately [without mistakes], but she needs to practise her speaking more in order to become more fluent [able to speak naturally without stopping]” “Angel is quite fluent, but his accent [the way he pronounces words] is not very good. In particular, he has problems with certain consonants [letters of the alphabet (a–z), which are not the vowels a, e, i, o, u].” “Jose has no problem making himself understood [saying things in a way people understand], but he needs to increase his vocabulary [make it bigger], because at the moment it’s quite basic [elementary; syn simple].” “Olga is always willing to [happy and ready to] experiment with language [try something new to see what it is like]. For that reason she sometimes gets things wrong [makes mistakes], but she learns from her mistakes and she’s making a lot of progress.” “Andreas is a fantastic language learner. He picks things up [learns things without trying] very quickly, and he has a good ear for language [is good at hearing, repeating and understanding sounds and words]. *What progress are they making? Common mistakes   We use adjectives with nouns, and adverbs with verbs. He’s a fluent speaker. (NOT He’s a fluently speaker.) She speaks accurately. (NOT She speaks accurate.) I need to speak English well. (NOT I need to speak English good.) B Examinations Language help   You can take or do an exam (NOT make an exam). If you are successful and do well, you pass; if you are not successful and do badly, you fail. Before taking an exam, you revise for the exam. [study /prepare for the exam] Sometimes you can also retake an exam. [do it again]   “My students are taking the Cambridge English: First exam in June, and for some of them it will be hard work1. I think Angel might fail, but he’s doing his best2, so with a bit of luck he might pass. I expect most of the others to pass. Andreas is a strong candidate3, and I’m sure he’ll get a good grade (syn mark). I think Jade and Olga will also do well. At the moment I’m trying to get through4 the coursebook so that we can do some revision5. I think the most important thing is to do some exam preparation6. Today I want the students to do/write an essay7. Most of them still find it difficult to write accurately, so I need to work on that with them.”   EXERCISES 33.1 Choose the correct word to complete the sentences. Sometimes both are correct. 1 We made / got something wrong in the first question. 2 I had to do / write an essay. 3 My sister picks up / out languages very quickly. 4 I will have to revise for / revise my exam next week. 5 The students always do / make their best. 6 Tomas wants to do / take the exam in June. 7 Karin failed / lost the exam, but she can retake it next year. 33.2 Complete the sentences. The first letter has been given to help you. 1 There are twenty-six letters in the a________lphabet__________. 2 A+ is the highest g________________ you can get. 3 There are over 100 c________________ taking the exam. 4 We had to write an e________________ for homework in not more than 200 words. 5 I need to w________________ on my grammar; it’s not very good. 6 I need to i________________ my vocabulary; it’s still very b________________ . 7 A and E are v________________ ; B, C and D are c________________ . 8 Studying for my exam is h________________ w________________ , but it will be worth the effort. 9 Our teacher was always w________________ to help us with our exam preparation. 33.3 Rewrite the sentences on the left starting with the words given. Keep a similar meaning. 33.4 Complete the dialogues. 1 A: Do you think Natasha will do well? B: Yes, I’m sure she’ll ______pass______ the exam. 2 A: Is her pronunciation good? B: No, she has quite a strong ________________. 3 A: Can Elke speak naturally without stopping? B: Yes, she’s quite ________________. 4 A: And does she make many mistakes? B: No, she’s quite ________________when she speaks. 5 A: Does Victor know a lot of English? B: No, but he can make himself ________________. 6 A: Will you finish the book? B: Yeah, we should get ________________it. 7 A: Did Amy do ________________in her exam? B: Yes, she got 80%. 33.5

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