Part two of the CAE, the C1 Advanced use of
english paper, the Open Cloze! But Toby! How can something be open and closed at the
same time?! I don't know. I don't know. I just don't know! But one thing I do know is how
to do part two of the CAE, the C1 Advanced use of english paper! The Open Cloze part! And I'm going
to tell you all about it right now! Really!? Yes! Really! My name is Toby, this is SMASH English
and here is everything you need to know about part two of the use of english paper, the Open
Cloze part of the C1 Advanced Cambridge exam. In part two of the C1 Advanced use of english
paper you will be given a text but in the text there will be eight spaces. Oh no! What should you
write in these spaces? Well you must look inside your head and your mind and your brain to figure
out what the appropriate word should be. Oh no, Toby! That sounds really really difficult! Well,
it can be difficult... but it's not difficult if you focus on these three things: the meaning,
the function and the form... What does that mean? First and foremost, when you're
reading a text you should be thinking "what do these words mean?". What
meaning is the writer trying to convey? And this should tell you the idea you are
supposed to express with the word in the space. Next you should think about "what is the
writer trying to do?". What is the function of this space? Is it to express a regret? Is
it to talk about an event in the past? Are we linking two ideas together? Are we talking
about the degree to which something is true? This should help you understand what
type of word you need in the space. And finally once you have understood the meaning
and the function you can focus on the grammatical form and these are the grammatical rules that
you need to follow to complete the sentence correctly. For example if the writer is
talking about an imaginary past situation and using a third conditional to do so, it helps
to understand the grammatical rules of the third conditional to fill in the space. For example "If
I hadn't seen this video I wouldn't _____ passed my C1 Advanced Cambridge exam". Now we know in
the third conditional after WOULD in the result clause we need HAVE before the past participle.
So here we write HAVE. Really easy. But if you didn't know the form then you wouldn't know how
to do that and if you hadn't thought of the form then you wouldn't have got that correct so it's
important! Yes? Yes! Meaning. Function. Form. Let's go through an example part two together.
Like friends. We're friends right? Please, please be my friend! I sat anxiously staring at the
digital clock at the top of my computer screen. It was 9:59 am. The lesson was _____ to start at 10
o'clock sharp but it felt _____ if I'd been frozen in time. I double checked the email to make sure
the zoom credentials I'd entered were correct. They were. All I had to do _____ wait. I started
to panic. Stop being so stupid! I said to myself as I wiped the sweat trickling down my forehead.
_____ anything go wrong I can always leave the meeting and pretend this never happened. There it
was! The meeting was starting! I pinched _____ to check if I was dreaming but the short sharp pain
reminded me that this was real. All too real. Hello! A magnificent and noble voice shook
my laptop speakers and with them my heart. It was Toby! This _____ well be the best
day of my life I thought as my smile spread from one side of my face to _____ other. I'd
_____ across his email address on his youtube page and decided to ask for private lessons.
What followed was the best hour of my life. It was 9:59 a.m the lesson was _____ to start at
10 o'clock sharp. So let's focus on the meaning. First what is the sense of the sentence? We're
talking about the starting time of the lesson. When is the lesson going to start? So the function
is also very simple. The function is to indicate that 10 o'clock is the starting time of the
lesson. So let's focus on the form. We have to be followed by something followed by plus to plus
infinitive then followed by the time. So what type of word could we have in this space? Well we
have two possible words here. We have DUE to and SCHEDULED to and both of these are absolutely
fine. Some students will say ABOUT to however I wouldn't say about to coupled with the scheduled
start time. That's strange. Instead I would say "I am about to hit myself". I wouldn't say "I'm about
to hit myself in two minutes". That's, that's weird. "about to" means something is imminent,
it's happening within a few seconds. On the other hand we use "to be due to plus infinitive" and "to
be scheduled to plus infinitive" to talk about a programmed or timetabled event. For example the
plane is due to leave in 5 minutes or the train is scheduled to arrive in 3 hours time. Yes?
Yes! And if you want to learn more about DUE TO and SCHEDULED TO then you should watch this
video right here! All about the present simple because it covers this material! Great! But
it felt _____ if I'd been frozen in time. Let's focus on the meaning then. The speaker is
not saying that they were frozen in time because that is impossible. That is science. Instead
they are saying that they had a similar feeling to being frozen in time. It wasn't happening
but that was the feeling that they had so the function is to create an imaginary analogy where
we feel a certain way and we're trying to draw a comparison between how we feel with an imaginary
event that would probably cause us to feel that way. One way we could do this is with LIKE.
"I felt like I'd been frozen in time" but this is impossible in this situation because we have the
word IF. And we cannot say "I felt like if I'd been frozen in time" Because that is grammatically
incorrect. No. The form there would be wrong. Can you think of a word then that when paired with
IF can mean the same thing as like? The answer is AS! I felt AS if I had been frozen in time.
Wonderful. For example: When SMASH English does not upload a video I feel as if the world were
ending. In this example we've used the past simple to emphasize that this imaginary present situation
is unreal. In the exercise "I felt as if I had been frozen in time". We've used the past perfect
to emphasize that this imaginary past situation is unreal. This is the subjunctive similar to
the second and third conditionals and I bet that right now you feel very confused! But don't
worry because I have a video all about using AS IF in this way! And you can watch it right now! Right
here! But don't watch it right now! Watch the rest of this video and then watch that video... That's
the way to enjoy life: sequentially. One thing after the other. Yes? Yes! I double checked
the email to make sure the zoom credentials I'd entered were correct. They were. All I had to do
_____ wait. Number one: what is the meaning? Well the speaker has to wait.... okay. Number two: what
is the function? Well the speaker is using a cleft sentence and they are doing this for emphasis.
And number three: what is the form then of a cleft sentence? All I had to do ____ wait. So, cleft
sentences can start with an all clause plus be and then plus the emphasized word or phrase. So in
this example: "all I had to do" is the all clause and "wait" is the emphasized word or phrase and
this means we are missing BE. So we know that our missing word is some form of BE. Now "all I had to
do", so we're talking about the past situation and we have used the past simple. So our missing word
must be WAS. All I had to do WAS wait. Oh great! What I love most about cleft sentences is.... Well
nothing. That was just another example of a cleft sentence. All I want for Christmas is you....
Jesus Christ. But that was another example of a cleft sentence and it's a very very famous one.
All I want for Christmas is you. Now I have told you that you will never forget it and therefore
you will never forget the form of cleft sentences. Thank you Toby. Thank you very very much. Bye-bye!
See you later! _____ anything go wrong I can always leave the meeting and pretend this never
happened. Hmm. What is the meaning here then? Well "anything go wrong" is a condition clause and "I
can always leave the meeting" is a result clause. So we're talking about a possible future situation
here. We know we need the first conditional here because in the result clause we have the word
CAN and here CAN is referring to a future possibility. We are talking about a likely
future situation and therefore we need the first conditional and this means the answer
is super super simple right? Because we know that to introduce the condition clause of a first
conditional we need one word and that word is IF! NO! "If" here is impossible and that is because
in our condition clause we have the word GO and not GOES. Oh dear that's a terrible thing. This is
very strange because ANYTHING is a singular object and normally after a singular object we need to
use the third form which usually entails adding an -S to the end of a verb. However here that is not
the case! Why? Why? Because this is an inverted first conditional. And when we invert the first
conditional we replace IF with a modal verb and after a modal verb we always always always need
the infinitive and the infinitive of go is go... obviously... The question then is when we invert
the first conditional what modal verb do we use? Do we use could? No. Do we use would?
No. Do we use must? No. Do we use should? Yes! Yes! We do! We use SHOULD!
This gives us SHOULD anything go wrong I can always leave the meeting. Yes? Yes! And
if you are thinking "Wow I didn't know we could invert the first conditional with should!" Then
that is something you definitely should know! And should you want to learn it well click the
link right here. Yes! Up here! It will tell you everything you need to know about inverted
conditionals for the C1 Advanced Cambridge exam. The meeting was starting. I pinched _____ to
check if I was dreaming but the short sharp pain reminded me that this was real. Firstly
the meaning. If you understand what the verb TO PINCH means then you will have no problems
here. However, maybe you don't know what the verb TO PINCH means and if you don't well it's not
a problem! Let's go ahead anyway and we can figure it out together! We know that PINCH is a verb and
we know that doing this verb resulted in "a short sharp pain". So we know that the verb to PINCH is
a violent action and violence is terrible please don't be violent. "To check" is an infinitive
of purpose so to check describes why the speaker pinched. This means that our space must be an
object "I pinched _____ to check". Well, what or who did the speaker pinch? That is the question.
Well we can assume that the speaker pinched the speaker and that's because the speaker felt the
short sharp pain. It's impossible to experience the pain of other people. It's impossible to even
experience your consciousness. I don't even know if you really exist. You could be a robot or
you could just be in my head and maybe I have lots and lots of imaginary acquaintances because
I haven't got any friends. God! Let's hope they're not imaginary. At least if they were imaginary
they would be my friends right? Surely... What am I talking about? I don't, I don't know...
I don't know anymore... But yes the speaker pinched the speaker and this means we need the
reflexive pronoun of the subject "I". I pinched myself. Yeah... I pinched myself. That's the
answer. Oh and if you still don't know what pinch means it's this: ow ow. Am I dreaming? Ow!
No I'm not. It's that. This ____ well be the best day of my life. So what is the meaning? This
was a very good day. Was it the best day? Well it probably wasn't the best day because if it
were the best day the speaker would have said "this was the best day of my life". However we
know it was definitely a very very good day. What will confuse students here is the word WELL
so let's ignore the word WELL for the time being. This _____ be the best day of my life. Now it
seems a lot simpler because BE is the infinitive and this suggests that we need a modal verb
after this. This + modal verb + be the best day of my life. So then we have four possibilities:
must, may, might, or could. However we cannot say must and this is because we have WELL. We use
WELL after COULD, MAY or MIGHT to emphasize that something is slightly more probable. If something
MUST BE then it cannot get any more probable than MUST and so there's no need to add WELL because
it's already very probable. So why do we say very very very very probable? It makes no sense. And I
could well make a video about that in the future. That means it's very probable that I will but I
must make a video about that. No... no, it's not an obligation. But I could well make a video about
that in the future. It's highly probable and you might well watch it. Yes, yeah. So for this one we
have three possible answers MIGHT, MAY and COULD. All of them are correct. My smile spread from
one side of my face to _____ other. And finally we have a nice and easy one. Let's focus on
the meaning. When you smile it starts here and finishes here. This is my smile. It
starts on one side of the face and finishes on this side of the face. How many others could
we be talking about then? Well obviously only one because OTHER is singular here and we know exactly
which other we are talking about because on one face there is one side and there is only one other
and because we know exactly which other side we are talking about we need a definite article. So
I smiled from one side to THE other. The answer is THE and if you're confused about
articles and when you should use THE or A or AN or no article at all then of course
I've got a video about it! Right, obviously... Um it's there. Yay! I'd _____ across his email
address on his youtube page and decided to ask for private lessons. Firstly let's look at
the meaning. What is the sense of the sentence? It looks like we wanted to say FOUND. The
speaker FOUND Toby's email address. Next, what is this 'D? Is this WOULD or is this HAD?
Well we know that this 'D must be HAD. It's part of the past perfect. How do we know this? Because
we have DECIDED and after WOULD we always need an infinitive because would is a modal verb...
obviously. So I HAD _____ across. Of course ACROSS is a preposition. So we need to create
a phrasal verb that means FIND. to find. And of course the verb here needs to be in the past
participle because before it we have HAD: part of the past perfect. So can you think of a phrasal
verb with ACROSS that means to find? Three, two, one... COME across. To COME across. If you
find something accidentally it means you COME ACROSS it. Oh! I wasn't expecting to find
that! I just came across it! Wonderful! And i know you really love COME! COME is your favorite word
ever! And you're thinking "Toby! If only I knew every single phrasal verb with COME!?" Well, don't
worry because right here's a video about every single phrasal verb that you need to know with the
word COME! GREAT! And with that we are finished! Now you know everything you need to know about
doing part two of the C1 Advanced Use of English paper, the Open Cloze part of the exam, and
boy did we have fun together! It was great! 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...
