Answers and explanations
- Seem to get along (well). To get along means to be in good or friendly relationship with somebody.
- Would require both of us/us both. Changing ‘will’ to ‘would’ in reported speech is a common thing that is done almost always, unlike switching to a different tense, which is more context-sensitive.
- Were advised against/dissuaded from. Because the second part of the sentence starts with ‘buying’ we have to use a structure that works well with a gerund form. The second answer is much less likely to be given by a B2 learner, but it is included just in case.
- Would rather see/watch superhero movies. Using ‘would’ helps us create an imaginary situation where the children are given a choice of things to see (or to watch!).
- Was not (nearly) as bad. ‘As’ that comes right after the gap hints at a comparative structure that uses two of these words. The word ‘nearly’ is optional and does not grant you any additional points.
- Brushing up on his. If you brush up on something, you make it slightly better. Used figuratively to talk about skills and areas of knowledge.
- Is expected/scheduled to come/arrive. It might take a bit of figuring out to understand that ‘to’ forces us to stick to passive voice in this sentence.
- That paper the day before. Giving a simpler answer like ‘hand in that paper before yesterday’ would only give you one point, as the idea is to see your paraphrasing and transformation skills required for reported speech usage. Don’t forget about ‘this’ to ‘that’ transofrmation.
- Gave word (that) she/he would. A set phrase, ‘to give (your) word’ means to promise something. Note that because ‘promised’ is in the past, we should be using ‘would’ instead of ‘will’ from the original sentence to maintain tense consistency.
- Sort out the computer problem. To sort something out is to figure out or overcome some problem, issue, or difficulty. Interestingly, you could answer ‘to HELP OUT WITH the computer problem’ if it weren’t for the word limit.
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