FCE Use of English Part 2, Japazz

Answers and explanations

9. Back. ‘Back in’ is a phrase you can use to refer to a past period of time. An alternative is ‘back when’, when you are referring to a particular event in the past, e.g. ‘We used to spend a lot of time together back when I was in college.’
10. Who. The text refers to a group of people here (the Filipino jazz musicians), so refrain from using ‘that’ here.
11. By. This is a passive structure where we want to specify the agent, in this case, the American culture that heavily influenced the music scene.
12. Despite. The context helps us here to see that even though the authorities tried to ban this particular genre of music, it still retained its popularity.
13. On. If you take action on the grounds of something, it means that you do it because of this particular reason, e.g. ‘The police accused him on the grounds that he was in the vicinity of the crime scene on the day the murder took place.’
14. To. Going as far as to do something means taking serious (and usually unlikely or unwanted) measures to take care of a situation.
15. Having. ‘To prohibit having something’ is a verb pattern. Knowing verb patterns will increase your chances of getting a good score throughout Use of English part of your FCE exam.
16. Without. The context is your only help here, where it heavily influences the missing word. The music enthusiasts clearly appreciate not having anything that could distract them from listening to jazz performances.