FCE Use of English Part 4, Test 10

Answers and explanations

1. Has been ages. A set phrase with the meaning that a lot of time has passed since some event. Make sure to use Present Perfect, otherwise you might lose 1 point for introducing an unnecessary change in the meaning.
2. Is/Stands in the way of. Another phrase, this time it means that something acts as an obstacle. Note that ‘nothing’ is singular, so the verb has to be in the singular form as well.
3. Command of the local language. As a learner and an exam-taker of FCE, you should be well familiar with ‘command of language’. It means how skilled you are in a language.
4. Spite of being/coming late. A structure to introduce contrast in the sentence with some freedom of choice.
5. Matter how much I train. If something doesn’t matter, then it makes no difference, it has no significant effect. It can also mean that it is not important (but not in the context of this sentence).
6. Were promised to be/get paid. We are switching from active voice in the original sentence to passive voice – a common transformation in FCE Use of English Part 4.
7. A go at. If you have a go at something, you try to do it, you make an attempt to do it. Interestingly, ‘to have a go at someone’ means to blame or critisize them.
8. To call her the moment. A simple paraphrase here – if you do something the moment something happens, you do it immediately after that. Also note the required transformations when you convert direct speech to indirect.
9. Increase in (my) salary. The definite article in the beginning forces us to use ‘increase’ as a noun, rather than a verb. In this case, ‘my’ is optional, as the context clearly points at whose salary we are talking about. Moreover, we already have one ‘my’ in the second part of the paraphrased sentence.
10. On/At the point of. To be on/at the point of doing something means to be about to or ready to do it. It is normally used in cases where the person chooses not to take the intended action.