Use of English. El rephrasing, para ser exactos. ¿Pones esa cara cuando lo ves?
"Vade Retro Satanás! Quita bicho!!"
Así reaccionan muchos alumnos cuando tienen que hacer este tipo de ejercicio en la sección use of English de exámenes oficiales (sobre todo Cambridge). Imagino que es la cara que pone Marta, que nos preguntaba hoy, al enfrentarse a esta parte.
I know, I know. It's mentally exhausting and boring. I agree 200%, but it is a good reflection of how well you know your grammar!
Combatir el use of English plátano en mano posiblemente no te dé el aprobado, pero escuchar este podcast (espero), te dará una serie de herramientas para saber qué esperar en esta parte, qué patrones se repiten, cómo estudiarla, etc.
Let's do this! 🙂
Use of English, aprobar el rephrasing - Listen to the episode!
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Ideas mentioned in this podcast
Question of the day: How to pass the rephrasing part in official English tests? From Marta.
David explains what rephrasing is: You are given a sentence with a certain meaning, you’ve got a second sentence with a gap and you need to fill in the gap with the correct words so that it means the same or so that it has a similar meaning as the first sentence.
Monica believes this exercise is a hard nut to crack because it is somehow unnatural to do so.
You need to have a method, you have to know what you are doing. You need to learn sentences by categories.
There are patterns that are repeated throughout this type of exercise.
Here are the categories you need to master:
- Adjectives with opposite meanings
- Adverbs with opposite or similar meanings
- Quantifiers
- Would rather/ Prefer
- Present Perfect vs Past tense
- Neither/Nor/ Either/ Or so / Both
- Comparatives
- Replace one modal verbs by another modal verb
- Active voice vs Passive voice
- Conditional sentences
- Relative clauses
- Direct speech into Reported Speech
- Connectors, linking words
How to study this?
All the patterns you’ll find in this part of the exam are part of the grammar for that level. You need to know the structures, the meaning and use of each grammar point. You have to practise.
Get native websites where you find exercises with the answers and just repeat them again and again.
Be realistic. There’s a practical part and there’s the theory.
You need to be exposed to the language.
You need to be in constant touch with the language. Talk to native speakers.
Try to use the expressions and grammar points you learn. Activate them. Otherwise you’ll forget.
Remember practice makes perfect!
Vocabulary used in this episode
A hard nut to crack: un hueso duro de roer
To go straight to the point: ir directo al grano
People don’t care: a la gente no le importa
Patterns: patrones
I am not tall nor short, I am just average: no soy ni bajo ni alto, de estatura media
Quantifiers: cuantificadores
Neither…nor…: ni esto ni lo otro
Thief: ladrón
Clauses: cláusulas
Whose: cuyo/cuya
To master something: dominar algo
At the end of the day: al final del día
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