Based on answers from Cambridge Practice Tests for First Certificate 1&2 (2000)
The key words below are all from real First Certificate Use of English Part Four tasks. Choose one and try to make an exam-style question using it. Write a sentence using that word and another sentence meaning exactly the same thing that doesn’t include exactly that word (other forms of the same word are okay). If the second sentence doesn’t mean the same thing or still includes (exactly) the key word, try again or choose another key word. When you’ve written the two sentences with the same meaning, put a gap in the original key word sentence that includes the key word and two to four other words.
On the question sheet below, write the sentence without the key word, then under that write the key word and then the sentence with the gap. Write just the key word (not the other missing words) in capital letters between the two sentences. Write the answers on the back of the page, with each answer split into two parts and one point for each half. Then do the same for other key words below.
accused
addition
advised
appear
better
blame
case
desk
difficulty
examined
expected
fallen
fault
feel
find
fresh
go
good
hardly
has
he
his
idea
impossible
intention
let
lives
look
make
may
mind
miss
must
need
nothing
notice
ought
plans
prevented
rare
rather
reason
regret
released
remembered
run
spite
such
surprise
take
time
to
turn
up
watched
went
wishes
without
worth
you
If you need to or your teacher tells you to, use the hints of the next page to help you make questions.
Swap questions with other groups. When you check their answers, allow anything which follows the instructions, including answers which have the same meaning but you hadn’t thought of when you wrote the question.
When you finish the activity, ask about any key words above which you couldn’t make pairs of sentences for.
Do a real exam task, e.g. one from the book which the key words above came from (Cambridge Practice Tests for First Certificate 1&2)
Hints
If you have problems writing sentences with the same meaning as each other, try these pairs:
- Reported speech and direct speech
- Active and passive (and similar forms like get something done)
- Verb + verb and verb + SV (subject + verb)
- Sentences with different linking words (e.g. “however” and “although”)
- Idioms such as phrasal verbs and more literal sentences
- Idioms which mean the same thing
- Sentences with antonyms (opposites such as “hot” and “cold”)
- Sentences with different parts of speech of the same word (e.g. “impossible” and “impossibility”)
- Sentences with words that are different parts of speech but have the same meaning (e.g. “impossible” and “can’t be done”)
Sheet to write your questions on and pass to other groups
For each question complete the second sentences so that it has the same meaning as the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between two and five words, including the word given.
Example:
0 The tennis star ignored her coach’s advice.
ATTENTION
The tennis star didn’t ……………..………………………………… her coach’s advice.
You write “pay any attention to”
1
2
3
4
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PDF version for easy saving and printing: FCE sentence transformations key word sentence writing game
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