How to teach C2 Proficiency Use of English Part Two

Students can sometimes panic when they have to go from just choosing between options in Use of English Part One to thinking of words for themselves with no help in Part Two. However, the right kind of preparation can actually make Use of English Part Two easier than the part that comes before. This article gives some tips on how to do so in the most effective and stimulating ways. For over 350 pages of photocopiable materials for teaching CPE, including lots of worksheets on Use of English Part 2, see https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/teaching-c2-proficiency/

What students need to know about C2 Proficiency Use of English Part Two

As in the equivalent parts of B2 First and C1 Advanced, Proficiency Use of English Part Two consists of a text with gaps, each of which should be filled with one word only. Many of those gaps can only correctly filled with one possible answer, but some have two or more possible correct possibilities.

Also like the other Cambridge exams, most of those gaps should be filled with grammar words like prepositions and determiners. However, at C2 level those grammar words mostly make up collocations and so are more of a test of vocabulary than of grammar. There are also some gaps that need content words like “danger” and “face”, mostly also to make collocations like phrasal verbs and other idioms. There are then a few words that have more to do with high-level grammar like “however + adjective” and “should” in the place of “if”. All this means that there is a much wider range of possible answers in C2 Proficiency than in other Cambridge exams, with 217 different answers in the various available official tests. The most common kinds of words and individual words are listed at the bottom of this article.

As they read the text, students who often read in English should find that most of the answers pop into their heads just because they sound right. If that is the case, they should write that word in the relevant gap and move on. Any gaps which they are not sure about should probably be left until they have read the whole text, as understanding of the context can sometimes help. They can then underline words which they think the missing word could collocate with, think about what kind of word is missing by the parts of speech of the other words in the sentence, and finally just guess (because a guess could possibly get a point and a blank is automatically zero points). If they are not sure which of several options is best, they should write them all down and read them through to see which sounds most natural. This obviously needs to be done silently in the exam, but it is easier to do it out loud in class or at home.

As in all parts of the C2 Proficiency test, students should avoid:

• wasting time doing the example that is marked (0)
• make sure that they transfer their answers in the time given without introducing mistakes
• double-check the spelling (as wrongly spelled words like “acustommed X” get no points)

If they have time at the end of the test, it is useful to read through the text with all the answers in to make sure that it makes sense and that it sounds right.

Classroom practice of C2 Proficiency Use of English Part Two

The stages mentioned above (writing any instantly obvious answers as you read, leaving difficult ones until later, underlining key words, and thinking about the grammar as a last resort) can usefully be done step by step in class. This can be done slowly and carefully, then faster and faster during the course. If they can’t agree when they compare their answers, ask them to read the different options out loud to see which sounds best, and make sure they know that sometimes their two or more different answers could both/ all be okay (though usually not).

The first couple of times that you do this task in class, it might be worth giving them mixed answers to help and to start checking their answers with. Later on this can be done with common mistakes in that list, e.g. the eight real answers mixed up with eight things wrong things that you imagine some students might choose.

Other useful activities that include common mistakes include multiple options for each gap (perhaps before or after Use of English Part One), and giving wrong answers in each gap that need to be corrected.

You can also link to other parts of the exam by finding a useful text such as a Writing model answer and rewriting it with words like “about” and “addition” in the list below taken out of it. This could also be done with a Reading text which you have just used or with a model answer to part of the Speaking test that you will practise later. The same of exam-style gapfill can also be done with more specific language such as just idioms related to the topic in the textbook or just grammar that usually comes up in sentence transformations.

Perhaps the most useful and stimulating classroom practice of the exam activity is to get students to make open cloze gapfill tasks to test other groups with. This can be done with a text that they try to take words out of to make gaps that can only be filled with that same word, with points off if there are other correct options that they hadn’t thought about. In a similar way, you can give them words like “being” and “as” from the list below and ask them to make gapped sentences which only those words can go in.

It can also be useful to do other practice of common language for this part of the exam. For example, you can find twelve to twenty phrasal verbs or similar idioms, put them in example sentences, split them and put them on Student A and Student B worksheets, and ask students to put them back together without showing their worksheets to each other.

If you can find or make four to seven sentences with the same word below missing, these lists can be made into a list dictation where students listen and guess as soon as they can that all those examples have “back” missing, all the entries in the next list have “because” missing, etc, with only one guess allowed per hint.

The most common answers in CPE Use of English Part 2

1. to x 12
2. with x 12

3. as x 11

4. what x 10

5. though x 9

6. in x 8

7. although x 7
8. might x 7
9. that x 7
10. while/ whilst x 7

11. at x 6
12. come x 6
13. despite x 6
14. its x 6
15. if x 6
16. little x 6
17. not x 6
18. so x 6
19. such x 6

20. by x 5
21. for x 5
22. given x 5
23. have/ has/ having x 5
24. into x 5
25. it x 5
26. no x 5
27. one x 5
28. up x 5
29. whose x 5

30. a x 4
31. anything x 4
32. but x 4
33. far x 4
34. from x 4
35. however x 4
36. like x 4
37. make/ making x 4
38. nothing x 4
39. on x 4
40. result x 4
41. should x 4
42. this x 4
43. when x 4
44. which x 4

45. all x 3
46. back x 3
47. between x 3
48. bring/ brought x 3
49. could x 3
50. every x 3
51. how x 3
52. may x 3
53. more x 3
54. most x 3
55. of x 3
56. only x 3
57. part x 3
58. the x 3
59. there x 3
60. way x 3
61. where x 3
62. without x 3
63. would x 3

64. according x 2
65. addition x 2
66. apart x 2
67. because x 2
68. being x 2
69. consequence x 2
70. considering x 2
71. degree x 2
72. did x 2
73. each x 2
74. extent x
75. few x 2
76. fewer x 2
77. goes x 2
78. hardly x 2
79. his x 2
80. irrespective x 2
81. long x 2
82. means x 2
83. mind x 2
84. neither x 2
85. nor x 2
86. notwithstanding x 2
87. other x 2
88. ourselves x 2
89. out x 2
90. place x 2
91. put x 2
92. rather x 2
93. regardless x 2
94. scarcely x 2
95. since x 2
96. then x 2
97. those x 2
98. time x 2
99. too x 2
100. until x 2
101. were x 2

The most common parts of speech in CPE Use of English Part 2

In order of how common they are. Words which have two parts of speech are generally counted twice.

• particles = prepositions and similar adverbs x 114
• verbs (including modal verbs) x 97
• linking and reference words (conjunctions, etc) x 94
• determiners and quantifiers x 60
• pronouns (including relative pronouns) x 44
• nouns x 33
• wh words x 32
• adjectives (including a few comparative and superlative) x 29
• time expressions (prepositions of time, etc) x 26