CAE Use of English Part 2, Test 8 – Tap water

Answers and explanations

9. At. A factor at play is one that affects the condition or the outcome of something.
10. Due. We commonly use ‘owing’ with positive influences or conditions, and ‘due’ with something negative or undesirable. That is why ‘owing’ is not the perfect fit as we clearly talk about a negative situation.
11. Over. The focus here is that the process of corrosion is gradual that happens over many years. ‘In many years’ is a more loose idea that could mean ‘after’ or ‘during’, whereas ‘over’ better conveys the slow nature of the corroding process.
12. Its. A possessive pronoun here that refers to gunk – something that is unpleasant and sticky.
13. With. If you cook with something, you use it as an ingredient in cooking. Here we talk about the integral part of almost any dish – clean tap water.
14. Order. ‘In order to do something’ means to do it with the purpose of achieving something. ‘In case to’ is not a phrase; ‘in an attempt to’ could work, but we would need to add an indefinite article, as ‘attempt’ is a countable word in the singular.
15. No. ‘Little’ is not a good answer contextually, as this clearly says that there isn’t any need for this water to undergo any kind of additional filtration.
16. Conversely/constrastingly. Both introductory words add contrast to the tow parts of the sentence – tap water in Africa can be dangerous to human body.