FCE Use of English Part 4, Test 21

Answers and explanations

1. Did not occur to me. If something occurs to you, then it comes to your mind, you come to the realisation that it is true. Because the key word is in the present, we have to use the auxiliary ‘did’ in the past to make the sentence grammatically sound.
2. Is the management we should/must blame.. Answering ‘Is the management that is to blame’ is grammatically correct, but it exceeds the word limit of five words.
3. Delay was was due. Remember that ‘due to’ is a structure that is more common for negative context. Since ‘to’ has to be used, we can’t put ‘because’ at the end of the answer.
4. Wanted to know if I. A classic transformation to reported speech and all the necessary changes that come with it; namely, we use past simple instead of present simple and using ‘if’ for a yes-no question.
5. Have only seen a few/some. Going with ‘a few’ makes more sense, as it conveys the idea of ‘less than enough’ or ‘less than one would wish for’.
6. As soon as I got. As soon as – a structure you should be well familiar with since your B1 days.
7. Early makes no difference to. You could also put ‘early does not make any difference’ if it weren’t for the five-word limitation of the answer.
8. Has little chance of. If somebody has little chance of doing something, then it is unlikely to happen. None that answering ‘has NO chance of’ is incorrect – just likely ‘unlikely’ does not mean ‘impossible’. Keeping the original idea of the sentence is crucial in Use of English Part 4!
9. Was told/advised to exercise caution. This question can cause a fair bit of confusion, especially if you are unfamiliar with the construction ‘to exercise + noun’. This means to practice something, to use it. I would recommend using the original verb ‘tell’ in the passive, as in Part 4 of Use of English you shouldn’t be making any additional changes to the original sentence.
10. Would rather I did not. ‘Subject + would rather + object + did (not) do something’ is a structure that shows that subject (the person) prefers that the object (another person) does (or doesn’t) do something. ‘I would rather you didn’t touch my phone’ means that I don’t want you to touch the phone.