Transformation Practice Exercises

1. Question 2 of the Grammar Test

The Grammar Test comprises three questions. The first question (a possible 12 marks = 24%) is a multiple choice question based on four possible answers to twelve missing elements of a conversation between two people. Here is an example, but obviously the items being tested are not quite this easy!

                        Susan: Hello Linda! How (1) … A ….. you?

                        1. A. are   B. is    C. were   D. was

Question three (a possible 14 marks = 28%) tests lexical knowledge and is again a multiple choice task. The items in this section are, however, completely separate and there is no connection between the fourteen questions. Here is an example:

                  To get a passport, you have to send in your birth ….. B ….. and two recent photos.

            1.  A. licence   B. certificate  C. card   D. paper

Question two carries the most marks - 24 marks (= 48%). This part of the test is the only productive section and aims to test knowledge of how the English grammar system operates. Two essential elements are being tested:

1. the understanding of the relationship between grammatical structures
2. the ability to manipulate language in order to provide semantically related answers.

This part of the tests requires students to transform sentences, by using a given word (in bold) inside a different structure, without changing the meaning of the original, and within a word limit of six words. For example:

 1. I haven’t had so much fun in years.                       since

     It’s years ………………………………………………. so much fun.

In this example, students are being asked to construct a new sentence starting with the phrase ‘It’s years’ and finishing with ‘so much fun’. The new sentence must contain the word ‘since’. In transformation exercises, the word given in bold must always be used and can never be changed. This example question is testing the students’ knowledge of the relationship between the present perfect simple and the past simple, so students are being asked to construct a second sentence using the past simple tense, but which does not change the meaning of the original. The answer to this question, using three words, is:

It’s years … since I had  ………………………………. so much fun.

This collection of transformation exercises, based on Michael Vince’s Advanced Language Practice (Heinmann, Oxford, 1994), has been designed with the aim of providing students with a series of exercises which focus on the mechanism of question 2. It is clear that students will need to understand the relationship between grammatical items to be able to pass this part of the Grammar Test successfully.

2. Present Time

3. Future Time

4. Past Time

5. Present Perfect

6. Mixed tenses

7. The Passive

8. Conditionals

9. Unreal Time

10. Mixed Structures 1

11. Mixed Structures 2

12. Modals 1

13. Modals 2

14. Inversion 1

15. Inversion 2

16. Emphasis

17. Mixed Structures 3

18. Reported Speech

19. Relative Clauses

20. Verbs + infinitive or -ing 1

21. Verbs + infinitive or -ing 2

22. Mixed Structures 4

23. Mixed structures 5

24. Verbs + Prepositions

25. Prepositions further practice 1

26. Prepositions further practice 2

27. Mixed Structures 6

28. Mixed Structures 7

29. Mixed Structures 8

30. Final Note

Even though you have arrived at the end of these practice exercises, it may not mean that you are in a position to sit the Grammar Test and pass it successfully. This 'book' ONLY presents practice for Question 2. You will also be asked to select grammatical structures in context in Question 1 and furthermore lexical items in context in Question 3.

At the beginning of this 'book' you were reminded of the importance of understanding of the relationship between the grammatical structures. Being able to manipulate language is a skill, but knowing why you are using certain structures in certain situations is quite another. If you are unsure of the level of knowledge required than refer to the Common European Framework of References for Languages (click on this link).

You will need to extend your knowledge of English through daily reading, seeing language in context, acquiring new lexical items and gaining confidence with your own use of grammatical structures through constant writing and speaking production. Study this Assessment Grid (click here), and check if you are able to carry out the tasks in the B2 descriptors.