SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS FOR THE B2 FIRST IN PDF

What are sentence transformations?

Part 4 of the B2 FIRST exam is a rephrasing exercise, or as it is probably better known KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS or SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS, is probably the most dreaded and detested part of the Use of English section of the Cambridge exams. But what this post seeks to to explain is that it doesn’t need to be that way.

 

What do you need to do?

In this part of the exam you have six sentences to complete. You need to read the first sentence in each question. From this you need to look at the second sentence and think about what information is missing. You must then complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning as the first with 2-5 words (NO MORE). Another thing to understand is that you are provided with a word that you must use in exactly the same form (if it is TOLD, you cannot use tell, telling or any variation of the word. ONLY TOLD). Each of the questions is worth 2 points and the points are based on lexical (vocabulary) or structural (grammatical) points. What they assess in this part of the exam are as follows:

Lexical: phrasal verbs, word patterns, fixed expressions, contextual vocabulary etc. TO IMPROVE YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PREPOSITIONS: HERE

Structural: passive, relative clauses, reported speech, quantifiers, connectors, tense changes, gerund versus infinitive, modal verbs, inversions (rarely), conditionals etc.

 

GET OUR FULL KEY SENTENCE TRANSFORMATIONS EBOOKS HERE

 

 

Try the Deleting Technique: You take the sentence transformation, for example:

You’ll have a great time no matter where you go

REGARDLESS      You’ll have a great time ________ where you go

YOU MUST CONSIDER WHAT IS THE SAME IN BOTH SENTENCES AND THEN DELETE WHAT IS THE SAME IN THE FIRST SENTENCE

You’ll have a great time no matter where you go

REGARDLESS      You’ll have a great time ________ where you go

YOU ARE LEFT WITH NO MATTER AND ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS THINK OF THE SYNONYM FOR IT.

Answer: regardless of

 

Follow up activity: You should write down the answers and the common vocabulary. These are almost always synonyms. Write them in a list like…

put up with = tolerate

so that = in order

as long as = provided that

Look at our post on 110 EXPRESSIONS FOR KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS

 

Patterns:

Sentence transformations are quite predictable and if you do enough practice you will see that patterns emerge and that the grammar structures repeat. For example (see below) if the rephrasing includes SO, the answer they are looking for is likely to include such.

 

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 1

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 2

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 3

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 4

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 5

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 6

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 7

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 8

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 9

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 10

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 11

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 12

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 13

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 14

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 15

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 16

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 17

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 18

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 19

FCE (B2): KEY WORD TRANSFORMATIONS 20

 

 

Example exercises:

1. I haven’t decided what type of sport I’d like to take up in the near future.

MIND

I haven’t ________________________ up what type of sport I would like to begin doing.

2. I didn’t know that you were having such a bad time at university.

AWARE

I was __________________________ the bad time you were having at university.

3. It is important to never take your eyes off the main goal in this activity.

FOCUS

You must never forget the principal ________________ as it is essential to be successful.

4. The exam didn’t go to plan because of the difficulty of the final task.

DUE

The exam didn’t go well ________________ the final task was.

5. I have literally no idea what I am supposed to do to improve my level.

UNDERSTAND

I do _______________________ have to do to enhance my level.

6. Last night, my favourite restaurant ran out of custard so I couldn’t order the apple crumble.

LEFT

Last night, my favourite restaurant didn’t _____________________ so I couldn’t order the apple crumble.

7. I have never found poetry all that interesting to be honest.

INTEREST

I have literally __________________________ poetry to be frank.

8. It has been great to get in contact after such a long time.

CATCH

I am really glad that we ___________________ after so long.

9. What I am most concerned by is the way he doesn’t accept any of the blame.

CONCERNS

What ____________________ is that he doesn’t accept that it is his fault at all.

10. We need to give some consideration to the possible consequences.

ACCOUNT

We ought to __________________ all the possible consequences.

 

EXAMPLES OF THE REPHRASING IN PDF CLICK (HERE)