Exam in English grammar tests. Exam in English

Let's consider the next section of the Unified State Exam - Grammar and Vocabulary, which is the most voluminous in terms of material covered and labor-intensive to prepare. Today we’ll start with the first part – tasks 19 – 25, testing your knowledge of grammar.

The “Grammar and Vocabulary” section of the Unified State Exam differs from a similar section only in the presence of a third task on knowledge of lexical units and combinability. The first is for grammar, the second is for word formation and the third is for general knowledge of the lexical part of the language being studied.

The “Grammar” part, if done correctly, will give you 7 points.

After some training, the entire section will require not the prescribed 30 minutes, but 20 minutes, which can save time for the remaining parts of the exam. And for the “Grammar” part – about 7 minutes.

The first tasks in this section test all grammatical knowledge acquired or not acquired over 11 years of schooling. No life hack will help here if the student is stupid and lazy and knows little about this very grammar. What is there, even if he knows, but forgot under the influence of stress / sleepless night/ parting with the love of your life, the possibility of guessing the correct option is practically zero, because there are no such options here, you need to enter them yourself. And even if you were lucky and guessed the correct grammatical form, but wrote it incorrectly, you still won’t see the coveted point.

To make this overwhelming task easier, at the training stage I propose the following scheme (also in the form of a table below):

• If we have a noun in front of us:
  1) The most likely thing is to form a plural form from it (learn all the exceptions, such as foot - feet, and if the plural is formed according to the general rule, then be careful - does the final y change to i, does f change to v , is -es added instead of the usual -s).
  Example: Machu Picchu, often called “The Lost City of the Incas”, is probably the most famous symbol of the Incan Empire. Machu Picchu is located 7,875 _______ FOOT ________ above sea level in Peru. (correct answer is FEET)
  2) Less likely is the possessive form of a noun (like world - world’s). This case is easy to recognize - after the omission there will be another noun.
  Example: This was my ____FRIEND_____ worst habit. (correct answer – FRIEND”S)
• If you see a pronoun (for example, I), put it in the objective case (me) or possessive (my or mine). A reflexive form is also possible – myself. In the sentence below, there is a noun after the gap (hereinafter the example pictures are from the demo version of the 2016 exam), so the only option here is the possessive case, which is placed before the noun.

  The demonstrative pronoun (this, that) must be placed in the plural. h. (these, those respectively). Indefinite pronouns (some, any, no, every and their derivatives) are less common in tests, but the codifier warns that they may come across.

• With numerals, everything is magically simple - we transform the quantitative into an ordinal, remembering all the subtleties of correct spelling (for example, one – first).
  Example: My ___TWO_____ thought was that I had mistaken the number of the house. (The correct answer is SECOND)
• We put an adjective or adverb into one of the degrees of comparison. A small life hack - if the gap is preceded by than or the construction the... the... (for example, the better you prepare, the better mark you have), it is comparative, and if the, then it is superlative. Here you need to remember that there is no need to write the a second time, only the superlative form itself.
  Example: The ______ BAD _________ moment was when I remembered that I had recently asked staff members to give me their home numbers. (The correct answer is WORST)
  Attention! In this task, students continually strive to turn an adjective into an adverb or add a negative prefix to the front. Please note that this can only be done in the next task.
  
• But you’ll have to work hard with verbs (that’s why the table below is so confusing). And first, understand whether we have a personal form (one that changes over time) or an impersonal one (active or passive participle, infinitive or gerund).
  1) It’s easy to recognize the non-finite form - the sentence already has a predicate, expressed by the personal form of the verb, that is, our gap is not in the place of the predicate, but in another place in the sentence, ideally if there is a comma in front of it, which clearly hints at something different from the predicate.
  Let's look at an example from the 2017 demo, the first two tasks. There is a comma before the gap in task 19, clearly hinting at a phrase that complements the main sentence “The name Alaska comes from the Aleut word alaxsxaq.” All that remains is to understand whether the clarifying phrase has an active or passive meaning. Since the word itself means something, we draw a conclusion about the active meaning of the participle and write meaning.
  In task 20, the clarifying phrase is also separated by a comma. When translated, its passive meaning becomes clear, the word did not form itself, it was formed, so we add the passive ending -ed to the verb form.
  
  The same grammatical phenomenon occurs in task 22. But here everything is made easier by the semantics of the word locate. After working through the nth number of examples, it becomes obvious that when you see the word locate you need to wait for a passive meaning - either this is a personal passive form of the verb, or a participle with a passive meaning located:
  
  2) If in a sentence the gap comes after the subject, and the predicate is missing, we have exactly a personal form.
  As with the participle, we decide whether it is an active voice or a passive voice (by translating the sentence) and then think about what time to put it. The same sentence (or previous ones) may contain clue words. If they are not there, we look at the proposal itself and what surrounds it.
  Let's look again at the 2017 demo. We can understand that we see the personal form of the verb in tasks 21 and 23 by finding the subject - it stands right before the gap, which in task 21 and structure in task 22. In the first case, to understand the passive nature of the verb, we will need a translation, in the second case - The preposition by is used, in most cases indicating the passive.
  
  Having avoided all the pitfalls, you should not make mistakes in spelling by learning the rules of spelling and irregular verbs. In task 24, for example, we see the personal form of the verb (in place of the predicate), we understand that it is in the active voice (the participants themselves win the competition), we determine the tense - the past, because all the sentences surrounding it are in the past tense, and according to According to the rule of tense coordination, we know that next to Past, as a rule, there is Past or Future-in-the-Past. Since this sentence does not have specific indicators of time, and it simply denotes an event in the past, we choose Past Simple.
  
  You also need to be able to recognize clauses of condition (and constructions with I wish) or agreement of tenses in indirect speech, which can also be found here.
  Example: One day I decided to ask him why he always chose this type while driving. “Well, sister,” he reluctantly replied, “to be frank, it’s mainly so you can’t sing along.” He added that he _______LISTEN___________ to anything else if only I promised not to sing along. (The correct answer is WOULD LISTEN, agreement of tenses in indirect speech)
  

I understand that the entire scheme for completing the task seems confusing and raises doubts, but after about two months of working on it, the student remembers everything and begins to reason independently.

Please note how you need to fill out the form for this task - all in capital letters and without spaces. If the answer contains an apostrophe, for example – didn’t like, then it is written in a separate cell. In general, Ms. Verbitskaya advises avoiding apostrophes in favor of the full form - did not like, because “the computer may not count them.”

There will be no life hacks here, because if you don’t prepare for this part of the exam, it will be impossible to guess and logically calculate something. It is better to start preparing for tasks 19 – 25 a year before the exam, distributing all the topics and repeating them a month or two before the exam. I follow this scheme in mine.

Some general tips for implementation:

I cannot make you happy and tell you - here are 2-3 books, everything you need to prepare is in them.

To prepare for tasks 19-25, you will have to study the codifier yourself and choose suitable grammatical topics to study. I use the following tools in preparation:

These tests in Unified State Exam format for the “Grammar” section were developed based on short stories from the collection L.A. Hill “Advanced Stories for Reproduction” (seriesI) publishedOxfordUniversityPress, 1965, 68 pages$ ISBN: 0194325431.

The main advantage is that these materials are short (no more than 300 - 500 words) story texts on various topics.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These tests in the Unified State Exam format for the “Grammar” section were developed based on short stories from the collection L.A. Hill “Advanced Stories for Reproduction” (series I) published Oxford University Press, 1965, 68 pages$ ISBN: 0194325431.

The main advantage is that these materials are short (no more than 300 - 500 words) story texts on various topics.

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text I

As one approaches some crossroads, one comes to a sign which says that drivers have to stop when they come to the main road ahead. At other cross roads, drivers have to go slow, but they do not actually have to stop (unless, of course, there is something coming along the main road); and at still others, they do not have either to stop or to go slow, because they are the mselves on the main road.

Mr. Williams, who was always a very careful driver, was driving home from work one evening when he came to a crossroads. It had a "Slow" sign, so he slowed down when he came to the main road, looked both ways to see that nothing was coming, and then drove across without stopping completely.

At once he heard a police whistle, so he pulled in to the side of the road and stopped. A policeman walked over to him with a notebook and pencil in his hand and said, "You didn't stop at that crossing."

"But the sign there doesn't say "Stop"," answered Mr. Williams. "It just says "Slow", and I did go slow."

The policeman looked around him, and a look of surprise came over his face. Then he put his notebook and pencil away, scratched his head and said, "Well, I"ll be blowed! I am in the wrong street!"

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text II

Before the last war, officers in the navy had a lot more freedom when their ship was in port than they have nowadays. They were expected to lead a busy social life, and to take an active part in sport ashore. It was therefore rather difficult for them to find time to do all their other duties.

Usually, all the officers in a ship used to have a regular meeting together once a week to receive orders from their captain, make reports and discuss any business that had to be discussed, such as who should represent the ship in the next football match.

One such meeting was being held on board a ship one day, and after the regular business had been completed, the time came to discuss the date of the next meeting. Friday of the next week was suggested, and so was Monday of the week after, but both of them interfered with somebody's arrangements for the weekend, and in the end it was generally agreed that the meeting should be held on Wednesday, as this would be the least likely day to interfer with anybody"s convenience, since it was right in the middle of the week.

As the officers were leaving, however, one of them was heard to say, "Wednesday is the worst day, because it interferes with two weekends!"

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text III

Mr. and Mrs. Williams had always spent their summer holidays in England in the past, in a small boarding-house at the seaside. One year, however, Mr. Williams made a lot of money in his business, so they decided to go to Rome and stay at a really good hotel while they went around and saw the sights of that famous city.

They flew to Rome, and arrived at their hotel late one evening. They expected that they would have to go to bed hungry, because in the boarding-houses they had been used to in the past, no meals were served after seven o"clock in the evening. They were therefore surprised when the clerk who received them in the hall of the hotel asked them whether they would be taking dinner there that night.

"Are you still serving dinner then?" asked Mrs. Williams.

"Yes, certainly, madam," answered the clerk. "We serve it until half past nine."

"What are the times of meals then?" asked Mr. Williams.

"Well, sir," answered the clerk, "we serve breakfast from seven to half past eleven in the morning, lunch from twelve to three in the afternoon, tea from four to five, and dinner from six to half past nine."

"But that hardly leaves any time for us to see the sights of Rome!" said Mrs Williams in a disappointed voice.

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text IV

Mrs. Black was having a lot of trouble with her skin, so she went to her doctor about it. He could not find anything wrong with her, however, so he sent her to the local hospital for some tests. The hospital, of course, sent the results of the tests direct to Mrs. Black's doctor, and the next morning ing he telephoned her to give her a list of the things that he thought she should not eat, as any of them might be the cause of her skin trouble.

Mrs. Black carefully wrote all the things down on a piece of paper, which she then left beside the telephone while she went out to a ladies" meeting.

When she got back home two hours later, she found her husband waiting for her. He had a big basket full of packages beside him, and when he saw her, he said, "Hullo, dear. I have done all your shopping for you."

"Done all my shopping?" she asked in surprise. "But how did you know what I wanted?"

"Well, when I got home, I found your shopping list beside the telephone," answered her husband, "so I went down to the shops and bought every thing you had written down."

Of course, Mrs. Black had to tell him that he had bought all the things the doctor did not allow her to eat!

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text V

Some young soldiers who had recently joined the army were being trained in modern ways of fighting, and one of the things they were shown was how an unarmed man could trick an armed enemy and take his weapon away from him. First one of their two instructors took a knife away from the other, using only his bare hands; and then he took a rifle away from him in the same way.

After the lesson, and before they went on to train the young soldiers to do these things themselves, the two instructors asked them a number of questions to see how well they had understood what they had been shown. One of the questions was this: "Well, you now know what an unarmed man can do against a man with a rifle. Imagine that you are guarding a bridge at night, and that you have a rifle. Suddenly you see an unarmed enemy soldier coming towards you. What will you do?"

The young soldier who had to answer this question thought carefully for a few seconds before he answered, and then said, "Well, after what I have just seen, I think that the first thing I would do would be to get rid of my rifle as quickly as I could so that the unarmed enemy soldier couldn't take it from me and kill me with it!"

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text VI

A certain poet had written a play, and arrangements were being made to perform it. Of course, the poet was asked to give his advice on the scenery, the lighting, and all the other things that help to make a play successful, and he proved to be a very difficult man to please, as he had his own very definite ideas of how each scene should look.

In one of the scenes in the play, it was necessary to produce the effect of a wonderful sunset, which the young lovers watched together before singing one of their great love songs.

The theater electricians worked very hard to produce this sunset effect. They tried out all kinds of arrangements and combinations of lights—red lights, orange lights, yellow lights, blue lights, lights from above, lights from behind, lights from the front, lights from the sides—but nothing satisfied the poet, until suddenly he saw exactly the effect that he had been dreaming of producing ever since he had written his play.

"That"s it!" he shouted excitedly to the electricians behind the stage. "That"s just right! Keep it exactly like that!"

"I"m sorry, sir," answered the chief electrician, "but we can"t keep it like this."

"Why ever not?" asked the poet angrily.

"Because the theater is on fire, sir," answered the chief electrician." That's what"s producing the effect you can see now!"

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text VII

Mrs. Baker's sister was ill. She had someone to look after her from Monday to Friday, but not at the weekend, so every Friday evening Mrs. Baker used to go off to spend the weekend with her at her home in a neighbor ing town But as Mr. Baker could not cook, she had arranged for his sister to come over and spend the weekend looking after him at their home.

This meant that Mr. Baker had quite a busy time when he came home from work on Friday evenings. First he had to drive home from the railway station. Then he had to drive his wife to the station to catch her train. And then he had to wait until his sister's train arrived, so as to take her to his house.

Of course, on Sunday evening he had to drive his sister to the station to catch her train back home, and then wait for his wife's train, so as to bring her home.

One Sunday evening he had seen his sister off on her train and was waiting for his wife"s arrival when a porter, who had often seen him at the station, came over and spoke to him.

"You are having a lot of fun," he said. "But one day one of those women is going to catch you with the other, and then you will be in real trouble!"

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text VIII

A young man, who earned his living as a drummer in a band, had just married, and he and his wife were looking for somewhere to live. They saw a lot of places, but there was always something that one of them did not like about them. At last, however, they found a block of new flats which both of them really liked. However, there was still the problem of whether they should take one of the ground-floor flats, which had a small garden, or one of the upstairs ones.

At last they decided on a first-floor flat-not too low down and not too high up-and moved in. After they had bought furniture, carpets, curtains, and all the rest, they gave a big party to celebrate the setting up of their first home together.

It was a gay and noisy party, as all the host's friends from the band came and played their instruments. The guests danced, sang and practiced on their host's drums.

Soon after one a.m. the telephone rank. The hostess went to answer it in the hall, and after she had finished, came back with a happy smile on her face and said to her husband, "That was the man who has just moved into the flat downstairs telephoning, dear. I am so glad we decided not to choose it. He says it is terribly noisy down there."

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text IX

Just after the last war, people were very willing to give money to help those who had suffered from it. But not everyone who collected money was honest. The newspapers were full of stories of people who had been cheated by men who went from house to house saying that they were collecting for soldiers who had been seriously wounded in the war, or for people who had lost their homes, or for some other noble cause, while all the time they were putting the money they collected into their own pockets instead of using it for the purposes they claimed to be collecting it for.

One day Mr. Smith came back with another story of this kind. He told his wife that a group of people had collected thousands of dollars for the widow of the Unknown Soldier. Then someone had written to the papers about it, and they had written articles to warn other people. Mr. Smith said that he and his friends at the office had a good laugh about the story when they had read it in the newspaper.

"Can you imagine anyone being so stupid as to believe that story and give money for the widow of the Unknown Soldier?" he asked his wife.

She looked puzzled at first, but then her face brightened. "Oh, yes! I see now!" she answered. "Of course, the government pays the widow of the Unknown Soldier!"

Section "Grammar"

B1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

B6 

B7 

B8 

B9 

B10 

Text X

Mr. and Mrs. Davies had left their Christmas shopping very late. There were only a few days more before Christmas, and of course the shops and streets were terribly crowded, but they had to get presents for their family and friends, so they started out early one morning for the big city, and spent several tiring hours buying the things they wanted in the big shops.

By lunch-time, Mr. Davies was loaded down with parcels of all shapes and sizes. He could hardly see where he was going as he and his wife left the last shop on their way to the railway station and home. Outside the shop they had to cross a busy street, made even busier than usual by the thousands of people who had come by car to do their last-minute Christmas shopping.

Mr. and Mrs. Davies had to wait for the traffic lights to change, but as Mr. Davies could not see in front of him properly, he gradually moved forward into the road without realizing it. Mrs. Davies saw this and became worried. Several times she encouraged her husband to come back off the road, but without success. He could not hear her because of the noise of the traffic.

Finally she shouted in a voice that could be heard clearly above all the noise, "Henry! If you intend to stand in that dangerous position a moment longer, give me the parcels!"

I haven’t written anything on the blog for a long time! Or rather, I’m writing at home, and several articles are already in progress, but I can’t completely finish them. Still, I don’t have enough 24 hours a day!!! Well, no way!

In general, I didn’t think that I would work so much during maternity leave. I mean tutoring. I thought I would be like everyone else! Stay on maternity leave, walk with the baby, take care of everyday life, and a couple of classes a week so that you don’t completely forget your skills. Which one is it!

My baby is growing, and the bigger she gets, the more attention she requires. All I have time to do is watch before I crawl somewhere or fall. All my drawers have already started to open. It's time to be safe!

Time to close all my drawers!!! Aliska is interested in everything!

Well, I have so many things to do that I don’t even have to work at my main job! I immediately foreshadow questions: who sits with my Aliska while I have classes? Of course my mom!

IN next room they play or sleep while her mommy works. I often leave the room to make sure everything is in order and if anything is needed. In general, so far everyone is happy with this situation.

When a student comes to you who needs to take the Unified State Exam, we always test the waters. Now we will talk specifically about the grammar section. Completely different students come to me and, accordingly, everyone has a different level of preparedness.

With Elvira in class. We study the Vocabulary and Grammar section separately.

Some of the students say that they have a good command of the topics and just need some coaching, while others admit that it is better to go through the entire course from the beginning. So it’s the last students that interest us the most!

Download that file with grammar topics and calculate approximately how many hours or lessons it will take you to complete this express grammar course. I usually get no more than six months with regular classes once a week for 1.5 hours. The more often a student studies, it means you will pass faster.

And so, little by little, we take topic by topic (not necessarily strictly according to the list, sometimes we swap topics), I usually write in a notebook with my own hand, often using two colors of pens (red and blue), and colored markers.

I often copy material from New Round-Up, especially when I don’t have time to write a lot or when I want the material to fit compactly in a notebook (usually tables).

My quick stationery kit for designing topics in student notebooks

That's why I always have a glue stick and scissors in my arsenal. I quickly print out the material through the printer, cut it out, and the students help me paste the material into their notebooks.

They especially enjoy gluing with colored glues (blue, pink, green). They do it with pleasure and lighten the atmosphere a little by talking while they peck.

When they have the material in their notebooks, we carefully analyze it, somewhere we sign a translation, somewhere there are clarifications. And then we start doing exercises. Anyone who reads my blog regularly is already aware of the books and resources I usually use.

I often take exercises from these books. Despite the fact that it says grades 7-8, the tasks there are not easy

During my work, I used so many manuals, went through all sorts of grammar exercises, but, unfortunately, I am not satisfied with any book in its entirety. I’ll take something from one book, something from another.

I love everything that Muzlanova does. On the left is one of her new manuals, including, by the way, a section on the oral part!

Sometimes you want more exercises to compare the construction of to be going to and Future Simple, but often they are presented only on Future Simple, Future Continuous or Present Simple and Future Simple.

In general, as I planned, it is easier to compose my own collection and write only those exercises that I use from year to year and like to give to my students.

This process has already begun and soon you will see the first part of my collection. The first part will include Present Simple topics, Present Continuous and they are in comparison (about 65 exercises turned out). The collection has been compiled and is currently being revised.

In the future, I want to collect all the topics, or rather exercises, so that later I can simply print them out like a book and not copy the same thing hundreds of times. I think I'll give you a gift for the New Year. At least I'll try my best!

P.S. As promised, the collection is ready! And you can download it by reading and finding it in!

What advice can you give for these tasks? What I usually tell my students and give them as a reminder.

• Before completing tasks B4-B10, filling in the blanks, you must read the entire story or the entire text in order to understand the content.
• The hint for choosing the correct grammatical form of a word is not necessarily found in the sentence itself, but may be, for example, in the previous sentence.
• If you need to put a verb into the required form, first of all, determine in what voice (active or passive) the predicate is. (this point is very important, since children often do not see this, so I constantly focus on this!)
• When determining the tense form of a verb, pay attention to key words (or as I call them, “clue words”). Look in the sentence for those words that will help you determine the right time. If there are none, then read the previous sentence and see what tense the verb is in. Usually in a text all sentences are interconnected.
• Often the task requires you to form a participle (the third form of the verb) or a gerund (the ending -ing is added to the verb) from a verb. Determine whether this participle is active (gerund) or passive (third form of the verb).
• If the task contains a numeral, for example, two, then most likely you need to form an ordinal number, for example, second. Remember the rules for writing them!
• If you need to transform a pronoun, determine what form is required, for example the pronoun We. Think about what could be here: our (immediately followed by a noun), us, ourselves or ours (without a noun). If we are talking about demonstrative pronoun, then look at what the number of units can be. or more
• If you need to transform a noun, then you need to remember the rules for forming the plural of nouns. There are often exceptions. Repeat them!
• If you need to transform an adjective, then we are talking about degrees of comparison. It is either comparative or superior. Remember the rules for forming degrees of comparison of adjectives!

This is the advice I usually give to my kids. It is precisely tasks of this type that I bring to automaticity and students complete them with ease. The recommended time for this type of task is 10 minutes. But trained students can do it in 5 minutes!

We train the grammar section using these books

These are the tasks higher level and are aimed at recognizing and using the studied lexical units with an emphasis on their lexical compatibility. They are designed as a multiple choice test.

Many students find this type of task impossible to complete. Basically, what they don’t know, they do at random, maybe they’ll get caught.

Of course, here you need to have a rich vocabulary, because this is where phrasal verbs, prepositions, set phrases, as well as words that are similar in form or meaning that are easy to confuse (for example, make and do) are checked.

Very good guide! Excellent for training on phrasal verbs, words similar in form or meaning, prepositions, etc.

L. I. Romanova - English language. Vocabulary in tests - buy in the Labyrinth online store

• Read the entire text, ignoring the gaps, to understand its main content, and think about what word might be suitable. Even if you can't remember the right word, it will start "twirling on the tip of your tongue" and you will immediately recognize it when you read the suggested answers.
• When choosing an answer, pay attention to the words adjacent to the blank, since very often they determine the correct answer. Often the choice of the correct answer may depend on the preposition that appears immediately after the blank.
• If you don't know which answer to choose, try first eliminating the options that definitely don't apply.
• If you still cannot determine the correct answer, rely on your intuition and try to guess, but under no circumstances leave an empty cell on the form.

Why is this close attention am I focusing on this section?

And all because a lot in this section depends on the student. If the Listening or Reading sections are unpredictable, that is, we cannot know in advance what text we will come across or what pronunciation the speaker will have, then from the Vocabulary and Grammar section we expect what we have been learning all this time.

And here we need to try to do everything possible that depends on us. After all, grammar is not infinite, you can study it and become very good at it. The only thing that can scare us is vocabulary. Here's to working and working with her!!!

P.S. You can also increase your vocabulary and practice grammar not only using textbooks and manuals. It's always fun to do it interactively. And students simply love doing assignments on the computer!

I myself actively use it in my work both at school and in individual lessons. I wrote in more detail about these courses in my reviews and.

Don't miss this opportunity - buy two discs for the price of one! The promotion is valid until December 7!!!

I’m finishing writing, I hope I’ll see you again before the New Year, I won’t be missing too much. Also check out my

The article was published with the support of the KIWI-ZONE Company. The KIWI-ZONE company provides support and mediation Russian citizens in matters related to business, purchasing real estate and tourism in New Zealand. And language schools in New Zealand are perfect for people who want to quickly master the English language. Visit the official website of the Company www.new-zeland.org and learn more about the services it provides.

Syllabus

Lecture 5
Section of the Unified State Examination “Vocabulary and Grammar”

System of tested knowledge, skills and abilities. Types of test tasks in the Unified State Examination. A system of exercises for the development of lexical and grammatical skills.

The third section of the written part of the Unified State Exam in English, “Vocabulary and Grammar,” assesses the development of a fairly wide range of lexical and grammatical skills based on the use of lexical and grammatical units in communicative-oriented contexts. The section consists of three tasks, the objects of control and the features of the technology for performing which we will have to understand in this lecture. First of all, let us pay attention to the fact that all three tasks are based on coherent texts, from reading which (after carefully studying the instructions) work on each of the subtests should begin. Unlike the tasks in the previous section of the Unified State Exam, reading here is not a goal, but a means of verification and is necessary for preliminary orientation in the text before further work over his tongue side.

Task No. 1 of the section
“Grammar and Vocabulary” Unified State Examination

Tests the ability to use grammatical forms of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and numerals in accordance with the context. The type of task is a short answer, for which you need to fill in the gaps in the text with forms of words presented in the margins to the right of the text that are grammatically consistent with the context.
Let's give an example from the demo version of the Unified State Exam 2007.

Albert Schweitzer,
a Nobel Peace Prize Winner

From the above example it is clear that in this task students must demonstrate the skills of forming and using the comparative degree of adjectives, the passive form of the verb in the Past Indefinite, the verb in the active voice in the Past Indefinite and Present Perfect. However, in different versions of the exam, the range of control objects can be much wider. The Unified State Exam specification in a foreign language specifies the following content elements as control objects in this task: 5.2.1., 5.2.2., 5.2.3., 5.2.4., 5.2.6. (see Codifier of Unified State Examination content elements in English, lecture No. 1).
This type of test task dictates the following algorithm for its implementation: after an introductory reading of the entire text to understand its theme and the logic of the development of the narrative, students begin to carefully read each sentence in sequence and determine the grammatical meaning of the missing word required by the context. Next, you need to form a word form that conveys this meaning and enter it into the text. To check the completed task, after filling in the gaps, you should read the entire text again to make sure that the meaning of all sentences is restored correctly and the logic of the text is not violated.
Before directly performing the test task, it will be useful for students to do a number of preparatory exercises to master in practice the algorithm for its implementation. Here are examples of such exercises from the “Collection of tests for preparing for the Unified State Exam” (Oxford: Macmillan Education).

TEST 1
Test task:
Section 3. Grammar and vocabulary

Exercise 1
Read the text. Fill in the blanks in the sentences with numbers B4 - B11 the appropriate forms of words printed in capital letters to the right of each sentence.

The Platypus

[Key: B4. strangest, B5. exists, B6. thought, B7. had never seen, B8. second, B9. lives, B10. dirtier, B11. do not know / don’t know]

Preparatory exercises:
1. Quickly read the text and answer the questions.
As noted above, test tasks No. 1 in the section of the Unified State Exam under consideration assess the ability to use grammatical forms in a whole coherent text, without understanding the content of which it is impossible to determine the meaning of its individual parts. This exercise sets students up to read a whole text before working on individual sentences.
1. In which country can you find the platypus?
________________
2. Does the platypus live in other countries?
________________
3. When did Europeans first see the platypus?
________________
4. Is the platypus a rare animal?
________________
5. Do we know a lot about the platypus?
________________

2. Complete the table.
It may seem that this exercise will not cause difficulties even for the weakest high school students. Without a doubt, everyone knows the ordinal numbers within the first ten. However, let us note that the exercise encourages students to pay attention to the spelling of the word. In the “Grammar and Vocabulary” section, incorrect spelling of a word (for example, forth instead of fourth or nineth instead of ninth) will result in the loss of points for the test question.

TEST 5
Test task:

Exercise 1
Read the text. Fill in the gaps in sentences numbered B4 - B11 with the appropriate forms of the words printed in capital letters to the right of each sentence.

The Automobile

[Key: B4. was invented, B5. got, B6. stopping, B7. faster, B8. would change, B9. have built, B10. biggest, B11. means]

Preparatory exercises:
1. Read the text. For each gap in the text B4 - B11 , decide whether the following statements are true or false.
The exercise helps ensure that in this type of task, before filling in the gaps in the text, students get used to carefully reading the sentence with the gap, understanding its meaning and determining what grammatical meaning should be conveyed by the missing unit of context.

[Key: 1. T; 2.F; 3. F; 4.T; 5.T; 6.F; 7.F; 8.F]

2. Choose the correct word or phrase to complete each sentence. Use the words in bold to help you.
This exercise draws students' attention to grammatical forms and lexical units of the context, which serve as signals that help restore the meaning of the sentence and correctly determine the grammatical meaning of the missing word.

1. Since the start of the 20th century, cars ______very popular.
A. became; B. have become; C.were becoming

2. Cars now are much ________________than they used to be.
A. quick; B. quicker; C. quickest

3. In 1900, Mr. Daimler said that in the future everyone __________________a car.
A. drove; B. will drive; C. would drive

4. Driving fast near schools ______________more chance of an accident.
A. mean; B. means; C. is meaning

[Key: 1.B; 2.B; 3.C; 4.B]

Task No. 2 section
“Grammar and Vocabulary” Unified State Examination

In terms of design, the first and second tasks in this section of the exam are identical. However, in task No. 2, the object of control is the ability to use not form-building, but word-forming affixes of the English language (see content element 5.3.1 of the codifier). The type of task is a short answer, to obtain which it is necessary to fill in the gaps in the text with words that are lexically and grammatically consistent with the context, transforming the words presented in the margins to the right of the gaps using word-forming elements. After completing this task, you must enter the words written in the gaps in the text into the answer forms strictly under the corresponding numbers (the same must be done after completing the first task).

Tourism in Britain

The example given (demonstration version 2007) shows that in this task students must form a word, and not a form of a word (as required in the first part of the “Grammar and Vocabulary” section): importance - important, usual - usually, industry - industrial etc. As a rule, here students operate only with word-forming affixes, however, attention should be paid to the fact that in some (rare) cases the context may require the use of corresponding formative affixes: visit - visitors.
This type The test task corresponds to the following algorithm for its execution:
1. Introductory reading of the whole text to understand its main content (as in the first task, reading acts here as a means for further recovery of missed units).
2. Carefully reading each sentence, restoring the meaning of the missing unit according to its meaning, determining the grammatical category to which it belongs (which part of speech is missing?).
3. Use of the appropriate affix (or affixes) to form the desired lexical unit.
4. Reading the text after filling in all the gaps to check the correctness of its restoration.

Knowledge of word-forming affixes in the English language and the skill of using them are necessary in both receptive and productive forms speech activity. The development of this part of the linguistic component communicative competence students should be given due attention during their senior years in secondary school.
“Collection of tests for preparing for the Unified State Exam” (Oxford: Macmillan Education), in each of the 20 tests included in it, contains tasks similar to the example we gave from the demo version of the Unified State Exam 2007. These tasks (as well as the accompanying preparatory exercises) help students remember a wide range of word-forming affixes, practice their use in communication-oriented contexts, and also practically master the algorithm for completing tasks in the Unified State Exam format.
Let us give an example of one of these tasks and preparatory exercises from the mentioned collection.

TEST 2
Test task:
Section 3. Grammar and vocabulary

Task 2
Read the text below. Convert words printed in capital letters after numbers B12 - B18 so that they grammatically and lexically correspond to the content of the text. Fill in the blanks with the given words. Each pass corresponds to a separate task from the group B12 - B18.

Preparatory exercises:
Read the text with questions B12 - B18 in Section 3. Grammar and vocabulary. For each gap, decide what kind of word (noun, adjective, etc.) fills each gap.

B12 _____________
B13 _____________
B14 _____________
B15 _____________
B16 _____________
B17 _____________
B18 _____________

[Key: B12. noun; B13. adjective B14. noun; B15. adjective B16. adjective B17. noun; B18. noun]

Complete the table:

Task No. 3 section
“Grammar and Vocabulary” Unified State Examination

The object of control in this task is lexical and grammatical skills. Type of task - choice of answer from four proposed. The task requires you to fill in the gaps in the text with lexical units that correspond to the context. After completing the task, you must mark the selected option in part A of the answer form (top of the form) under the corresponding number.

"It's Only Me"

After her husband had gone to work, Mrs. Richards sent her children to school and went upstairs to her bedroom. She was too excited to do any housework A22 ____________ that morning, because in the evening she would be going to a fancy dress party with her husband. She intended to dress up as a ghost and she had made her costume the night before.
Now she was A23 ______________ to try it on. Though the costume consisted only of a sheet, it was very effective. Mrs. Richards put it A24 _________, looked in the mirror, smiled and went downstairs. She wanted to find out whether it would be
A25 ___________ to wear.
Just like Mrs. Richards was entering the dining-room, there was a A26 ____________________ on the front door. She knew that it must be the baker. She had told him to come straight in if ever she failed to open the door and to leave the bread on the kitchen table. Not wanting to A27 ______________________ the poor man,
Mrs. Richards quickly hid in the small store-room under the stairs. She heard the front door open and heavy footsteps in the hall. Suddenly the door of the store-room was opened and a man entered. Mrs. Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had come to read the meter. She tried to A28 _________________________ the situation, saying “It’s only me,” but it was too late. The man let out a cry and jumped back several paces. WhenMrs. Richards walked towards him, he ran away, slamming the door behind him.
A22
1) show; 2) performance; 3) party; 4) program

A23
1) nervous; 2) restless; 3) ill at ease; 4) impatient

A24
1) up; 2) on; 3) over; 4) down

A25
1) attractive; 2) exciting; 3) comfortable; 4) cozy

A26
1) knock; 2) kick; 3) hit; 4) crash

A27
1) fear; 2) worry; 3) disturb; 4) frighten

A28
1) describe; 2) explain; 3) interpret; 4) clear

From the example given (demo version of the Unified State Exam 2007) it is clear that this task assesses knowledge and ability to use lexical-grammatical compatibility of lexical units in context. To successfully complete the task, it is necessary to distinguish the nuances of lexical units that are close in meaning and understand which of these meanings is required by the context. In addition, it is important to take into account what structural linguistic units a word can be combined with in context (prepositions, infinitives, gerunds, etc.)
A system of test tasks and preparatory exercises for improving the mentioned lexical and grammatical skills and abilities, as well as for getting acquainted with the algorithm for completing a test task, is presented in the collection of tests we mentioned for preparing for the Unified State Exam.
Let's give an example of one of the tasks and exercises for it.

TEST 4
Test task:
Section 3. Grammar and vocabulary

Task 3
Read the text with gaps indicated by numbers A21 - A28. These numbers correspond to tasks A21 - A28, which presents possible answers. Circle the number of the answer option you selected.

How was Jackson going to A21 ______________ rid of Simon? That was the question that had kept him awake for the previous three nights, and which he pondered as he now walked home from work. It had all started so innocently, as a favor to a friend.
‘Could you put me A22 _______________, Jackson?’ Simon had asked. ‘Just for a couple of nights.’ Jackson of course had said yes, thinking that it would be just for two nights. How wrong he had been.
Now, more than four months on, Simon was still in the flat and there seemed little evidence to suggest he was A23 ______________ to leave. The evidence, in fact, pointed to quite the opposite conclusion. Simon seemed to have A24 ________________ in so comfortably, Jackson wondered sometimes if it was actually Simon’s flat, and he, Jackson, was the one staying there as the guest.
Jackson knew he should A25 _ _____________ his feelings clear to Simon - that he valued his own privacy, that he didn't want to live with someone else on a permanent basis, that he felt Simon was abusing his hospitality - but the truth was he was scared. Not scared of how Simon would react physically, but scared that Simon would take offence, and would A26 ___________________ him of being selfish and not caring about a friend who was in trouble. And Simon was in trouble. With no job, no money and nowhere else to stay, where would Simon go if Jackson A27 ________________ him out? ‘Maybe I am being selfish,’ Jackson thought, ‘but the situation just can’t go on like this.’
He made the decision to bring the subject up sometime that evening. ‘I won’t ask him to leave immediately,’ he reasoned. ‘That would be unfair, and would put him in a difficult A28 ___________.
But I’ll explain that the whole arrangement was meant to be temporary, has gone on for a very
long time now, and that, while it’s been nice having Simon as a flatmate it just can’t go on indefinitely.’
For the rest of the walk home, he rehearsed exactly what he was going to say.

A21
1) have; 2) get; 3) take; 4) set

A22
1) in; 2) out; 3) over; 4)up

A23
1) intending; 2) assuming; 3) devising; 4) conceiving

A24
1) settled; 2) established; 3) launched; 4) relaxed

A25
1) convey; 2) express; 3) make; 4) tell

A26
1) charge; 2) condemn; 3) blame; 4) accuse

A27
1)let; 2) sent; 3) threw; 4) did

A28
1) location; 2) position; 3) point; 4) site

[Key: A21. 2; A22. 4; A23.1; A24. 1; A25. 3; A26.4; A27. 3; A28.2]

Preparatory exercises:
1. Read the text with gaps A21 - A28 in Section 3. Grammar and vocabulary and answer the questions.
In the test task under consideration, it is especially important to carefully read the text and understand the meaning of the context in order to accurately determine the meaning of the missing words. This exercise develops the ability to predict the content of the missing part based on the surrounding context, which is necessary for completing the task.

1. How was Jackson going to A21 ____________ rid of Simon?
Jackson wants Simon to:
a. leave.
b. stay.

2. ‘Could you put me A22 _______________, Jackson?’
Simon is asking Jackson for:
a. financial help.
b. somewhere to stay.

3 ...there seemed little evidence to suggest he was A23 _______________ to leave.
The word that fits in the gap probably means:
a. creating.
b. planning.

4 Simon seemed to have A24 ________________in so comfortably…
This suggests that Simon was treating the flat as if:
a. it was his home.
b. he was a temporary guest.

5 Jackson knew he should A25 _______________his feelings clear to Simon…
Jackson knew he should:
a. tell Simon exactly how he felt.
b. change how he felt about Simon.

[Key: 1. a; 2.b; 3.b; 4. a; 5.a]

2. Circle the correct word to complete the patterns.
Knowledge and skill in using phrasal verbs is one of the objects of control in test task No. 3 of the “Grammar and Vocabulary” section of the Unified State Exam. It is this skill that is necessary for correctly choosing the answer to test question A26 of the test task we have given from the collection of tests. In the preparatory exercise, students' attention is drawn to the fact that the choice of answer depends on the postposition contained in the context.

1. charge someone with/for (doing) something
2. condemn someone with/for (doing) something
3. blame someone with/for (doing) something
4. accuse someone for/of (doing) something

[Key: 1. with; 2.for; 3.for; 4.of]

Control questions:
1. What tasks does the Unified State Examination section “Grammar and Vocabulary” consist of?
2. What skills and abilities are the objects of control in these tasks?
3. What is the algorithm for completing tasks in the section?
4. Why is it important to begin each of the tasks by reading the text presented in the task?
5. What do you need to know and be able to do to fill in the gaps in the texts in the first task, in the second task, in the third task?

The Unified State Examination examines:

• basic level grammatical skills;
• word formation skills;
• vocabulary.

How to prepare for the lexical and grammatical part of the Unified State Exam?

• solve as many grammar exercises as possible;
• remember or master the skill of word formation;
• pass test versions of the Unified State Exam and understand exactly where errors occur that need to be worked on.

Read the texts below. Transform the words, if necessary, so that they grammatically match the content of the texts. Fill in the blanks with the given words.

In order to understand in what form the verb be must be used, you need to look at the sentence with a gap. So, this sentence is written in the past tense (phoned). Accordingly, we need to put the verb be in the Past Simple in negation. For the pronoun she, this form is wasn’t.

Verb build(" build") is incorrect. Its second and third forms are built, built. IN this proposal it is important to understand whether the wall built someone or was built. It is logical that they built a wall. This means that here it is necessary to use the passive voice in Past Simple. Thus, the correct answer would be was built, since the passive voice (Passive Voice) is the verb be in in the required form(depending on time) and third form semantic verb(Participle II/V 3).

The verb become (“ become") is incorrect. Its second and third forms are became, become. In order to understand what form of this verb should be used in a given sentence, you need to find out whether there are “signal” words in the sentence. There is such a word - since, and it indicates the Present Perfect. The correct answer is the form has become .

The word nature (" nature"") is a noun. After the omission there is also a noun - beauty (“ beauty"), that is, there should be some definition at the place of the gap. The role of the definition in a sentence is usually played by an adjective, and from the word nature the adjective will be natural.

The word visit (" visit") is a verb. Looking at the words before the gap - theexpectationsof (« waiting for someone/something") - we can understand that we need a noun - "expectations visitors"(visitors). The fact that the noun must be plural is indicated by the absence of an indefinite article before the gap.

In this sentence, the subject is missing, that is, from the noun science (“ the science") it is necessary to form another noun capable of fulfilling the role of this subject. Moreover, the new noun must be in the plural, since the predicate includes the verb be in the plural form - are. The new noun will be the word scientists - “ scientists».

• strictly follow the instructions and read the assignment carefully;
• before filling in the blank, read the sentence carefully and look for “signal” words that will tell you at what time the verb needs to be placed or what part of speech is required;
• do not leave blanks even if you do not know the correct answer;
• write clearly and accurately.

Bibliography

Homework