You are trying to write the perfect
essay for the B2 First Cambridge exam but you need to include
complex grammar, organizational patterns, discuss
complex ideas... How do you do it!? In this video i'm going to give you
three grammar structures to use in your essay
to include complex ideas, organizational patterns and
complex grammar. My name is Toby, this is SMASH English and here
are three grammar structures that you should use to score
high marks in your Cambridge B2 First essay! Number one: Inversion. Normally in English the verb comes after
the subject but sometimes the verb can come
before the subject. In English we call this
grammar structure inversion. The most common use of inversion
in english is when we ask questions. When we ask
questions in English we put the auxiliary verb
before the subject. I'm sure you do this all the time. However we can also use
inversion for emphasis with certain fixed structures
in English. If you want to know more about all of the fixed structures
you need to know then watch my video about inversion!
Seriously watch it's really good! But how can
you use inversion in your essay? Well that's easy! With
"not only... but also...". We use not only but also to talk about
two things that are related to each other.
For example "Toby is great and SMASH English is fantastic:: "not only is
Toby great but also SMASH English is fantastic".
So how can we use this in an essay? Well I tell all of my students to
introduce paragraph three with a "not only but also" inversion.
You restate the points of paragraph 2 and you introduce the point of
paragraph 3. That sounds a little bit confusing so
let's look at an example. For example "not only could
pollution be reduced by increasing the price of petrol but also
by using public transport" In this example my second paragraph is
about increasing the price of petrol and my third paragraph is about using
public transport. "Not only do museums help preserve the
past but also help to educate:. In this example the second paragraph is
about museums' role in preserving culture
and the third is about museums' role in education.
"Not only should teachers educate children but also teach them how to
become productive members of society" In this essay my second paragraph is
about a teacher's role in education and the third about a teacher's role in
educating children on how to become good members of society.
Seriously this structure is fantastic for your score in "language"
because it is an example of complex grammar. It's also brilliant for
"organization". One: because it's an organizational
pattern and two: because it links two paragraphs
together. If you want to know more about complex grammar and
organizational patterns and what these mean
then watch my video about the Cambridge B2 First Mark Scheme
for writing. Oh, and like I said before: if you want to know more
about inversion I have a video on that as well! Number two:
second and third conditionals. Second and third conditionals are very
important structures to include in your essay.
Why? Well number one: they are complex grammar and that means that your marks
for "language" will increase and number two:
when you talk about hypothetical situations with a second or a third
conditional you are talking about complex ideas
which increase your marks for "communicative achievement". So what are
"complex ideas"? Well in the Cambridge Mark Scheme
under "communicative achievement" if you want to score a 5
which is the maximum you must discuss some "complex ideas". These are ideas that
are not concrete, they are abstract, they are
unreal. If you use a second conditional you are talking about an
unreal present or an unreal future. If you use a third conditional you are
talking about an unreal past. This is what we mean by
"complex ideas" and using conditionals is so easy!
Let me tell you how! For FCE you could be asked
two types of questions for the essay. One of them is asking you to give your
opinion on something "to what extent do you agree with a statement"
or you could be asked if you think a problem can be solved.
In the first example we could use a second conditional
as an example to illustrate a point. Here the second conditional is used as a
rhetorical question. We are discussing the unreal situation
of museums not receiving investment and the consequences it would
have. In the second example we could use a
second conditional to suggest a solution and a possible
consequence of this solution. For example here the potential solution is food
companies reducing salt and fat in their foods with the
potential result of solving the problem of
poor diet. Of course there are other types of unreal tenses that you
could use in your essay to achieve this. One of
them is using "I wish" and "if only", I have a video on
that on my channel and another one is using "as if" and
"as though" with a past tense... I also have a video all about "as" for the
B2 First exam on my channel so watch them and learn
lots of useful things! Yeah? Yes!
Number three: passive modal reporting verbs. And this is where we combine complex
grammar with unreal tenses to send the examiners
crazy! Yes! Crazy! Use these to improve your marks in
"language", and "communicative achievement". Especially
"communicative achievement". Remember, an essay
is a formal piece of writing and you should
only present your opinion in the conclusion.
So how do you present an idea that is not your opinion? Well,
that is where passive modal reporting verbs
come into play! You could say "some say that people are putting on
weight because of diet". This is great... if you are writing a B1
essay. So how can we make this more complicated?
Well, let's make it passive. "it is said
that people are putting on weight because of diet"
This is already looking much better now we have
a passive reporting verb but let's change the verb "say" to something
more complicated. We could use argue,
assert, posit, suggest, or think. So now we have
"it is asserted that people are putting on weight because of
diet". This is a great way to introduce a new topic,
argument or idea without it being presented
as your own. This means we are using the "conventions of the communicative task"
an important part of scoring high marks for "communicative achievement".
But we can still do better! Let's put a modal verb in there! "it
could be asserted that people are putting on weight because of diet".
And this is what we want! Here we are saying that
this is an intelligent thing to say if someone
said it but it is not my opinion. It could be
argued that video games are bad for children. Is this my opinion? Well, we
don't know but could this be a good argument if it
were my opinion? Well, yeah it could be. It could be posited that increasing the
cost of petrol would decrease pollution. Is this my opinion? Well, we
don't know. But is this a valid opinion? Sure
and now we can discuss it. So instead of saying "some people believe",
"some people argue", "some people think", "some people
say", say "it could be said", "it could be argued", "it could be stated", "it could be
asserted". I will be happy, you will be happy, the examiner will be happy,
everyone will be happy! So do it! And finally here is a model essay.
Gosh, I am generous! Using all of these grammar structures that i have given you
today. Here we have a second conditional used in the form of a rhetorical
question, here we have an inversion to connect
paragraphs two and three together, and in the conclusion
we have a passive modal reporting verb summarizing the points made in
paragraphs two and three. And with that we are finished! Now
you have three fantastic grammar structures that you
can use every single time you write an essay for
the B2 First Cambridge exam. If you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that
like button, subscribe if you haven't already, leave a comment
down below. My name is Toby and this was SMASH English... you
