Introduction
In Cambridge B2 First writing, you are marked on four criteria: Content, Communicative Achievement, Organisation and Language. In this post, we’re going to talk about the last one, especially about what simple steps you can take to improve this score with your B2 First grammar.
Note: Improving your grammar is not the same as improving vocabulary, it is similar to improving your pronunciation. It takes a lot of practice and usually takes a long time. If you have doubts about your grammar, start working on it as soon as you can. It won’t ge
t better tomorrow, it won’t get better next week, but in a few months you should start to see an improvement. Slow and steady, be patient!
Some of these 9 points are obvious, some not so obvious. Some of them are the most common errors students make. Not just my students, but students of English teachers all over the world. You are not alone.
This site is not a grammar book, so I haven’t even attempted to explain everything here. Instead, I’ve added links to two or three quality grammar sites so you will believe the advice, and so your score will go up.
1 – Practice Constantly
Rather than go into your B2 First Writing test having taken just a few lessons, practice regularly and when you feel you have improved, get a teacher to mark your essays and give you some guidance.
Often the guidance is not what you think it will be. You may worry about your vocabulary, while a teacher may point out that the way you organise your essays is making it harder for you to score well.
In addition, although it is great to practice writing the two essays in an hour, you need to take spelling, punctuation and grammar into account too. Doing that yourself or with a friend only works for a short time. As you grow as a writer, you will need more help.
Get a quick and free assessment of your Cambridge B2 First essays, paid corrections and feedback (which is the most popular) or one-to-one writing classes where you can watch the teacher write an essay, write an essay together, or have one your essays corrected as you watch, so you better understand you problems and can see better choices.
2 – Know your Grammar Tenses
Although most B2 First essay questions can be written in the present simple, many students worry about showing they can use the other tenses too.
Tenses show when something happened, is happening or is going to happen.When these actions occur is often best described by using a timeline as well as examples rather than long explanations.
In the diagram below, there are timelines of all the main English tenses to show when the action took place and, in many cases, when it was completed.
These timelines give quick and easy explanations about each tense, but this post gives more in depth info-graphics and explanations on how to both make and use each tense.
3 – Vary Your Sentence Types
You SHOULD NOT fill the essay with impossibly long sentences that are completely unnatural but use a range of sentence types to express your argument clearly.
If you would like a better score for your writing, then try to avoid using too many simple sentences and use compound and complex sentences instead.
4/ Use Modal Verbs Accurately
Using modal verbs correctly will enhance any essay by expressing such things as possibility, ability and obligation clearly and concisely.
Confusion often arises when using the modal verbs ‘can’ and ‘could’.
This is because ‘can’ is most often used to talk about ability, while ‘could’ is for possibility. However, ‘could’ is also the past form of ‘can’. It is all explained here.
5/ Improve Your Grammar to Improve Your Score
Here are grammar points, remember, if you want a higher score, you’ll need to learn a greater number of them.
I repeat, this is not a grammar book, so I have included links to pages where there are great explanations as well as videos and tests. This should save you a considerable amount of time and focus your grammar learning on actionable points you can use in your writing test.
As you will see, particularly with Conditional Sentences and Relative Clauses, one link covers more than one band.
Maybe you don’t know the names, so check out the links it may be easier than you think!
| B2 Grammar | |
| Simple subordinate clauses – when / because | Subordinate Clause: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com |
| Complex subordinate clauses: although / while / so that | Subordinate Clause: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com) |
| First conditional | Conditional Sentences: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com) |
| Second conditional | Conditional Sentences: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com) |
| Infinitive of purpose | Infinitive of Purpose (perfect-english-grammar.com) |
| Present Perfect | Present Perfect Tense: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com) |
| Present Perfect Continuous | Present Perfect Progressive Tense: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com) |
| Defining relative clauses | Relative Clause: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com) |
| Passive voice | Passive Voice: Explanation and Examples (grammar-monster.com) |
6/ Use Articles Accurately
Articles are another tricky aspect of grammar. You can have no article, a, an, or the. Which one do you use?
Quick Hints about articles
a before consonants (a book)
an before vowels (an exam)
“The” with superlative forms (He is the smartest kid I have seen.)
Some Rules using Articles
Singular count nouns:
indefinite: use ‘a’
definite: use “the”
My daughter wants to buy a dog this weekend. (Indefinite – Could be any dog)
The dog in the backyard is very cute.(Definite – The one in the backyard)
He requested a puppy for his birthday.
He wanted the puppy he played with at the pet shop.
She ordered a hamburger without onions.
Did you drink the coke I just ordered?
Plural count nouns:
Use “the” or nothing, never ‘a’.
Come and look at the children, (definite)
Children are always curious, (indefinite)
She loves flowers, (indefinite)
The flowers in her garden are beautiful, (definite)
Do you like reading grammar rules?
Do you like reading the grammar rules on this page?
Non-count nouns:
Use “the” or nothing.
He has experience, (if indefinite or mentioned for the first time)
He has the experience necessary for the job. (if definite or mentioned before)
The medicine the doctor prescribed had unpleasant side effects.
Writing in a second language is especially challenging.
Have you studied the history of South Africa?
History reminds us that events repeat themselves.
Definite Article THE Rules
Adjectives as Nouns
When referring to a group of people by use of an adjective rather than a noun, use “the”.
| the elderly | the disabled | the unemployed |
| the rich | the sick | the needy |
| the homeless | the young | the restless |
Names of Countries
Some countries are preceded by “the”, usually if the name is plural, a group, contains an adjective, or includes “of.
| The United States | The Soviet Union | The Republic of Congo |
| America | Russia | Spain |
| Japan | China | Mexico |
Cities and Streets use nothing
| Chicago | Fifth Avenue | San Francisco |
| Highway 5 | London | Kennedy blvd. |
Rivers, Oceans, Seas, Groups of Mountains & Islands use “the
| the Amazon | the Cascades | the Atlantic |
| the Hawaiian Islands | the Mediterranean | the Bahamas |
Cardinal numbers(l,2,3) use nothing
| World War 2 | Page 7 | Mission 1 |
| Paragraph 5 | Chapter 1 | Channel 6 |
Ordinal numbers (lst,2nd,3rd) use “the”
| The Second World War | the seventh page | the first mission |
| the fifth paragraph | the first chapter | the sixth channel |
Titles of People
When a title is given with a name, use nothing
| President Mitchel | Queen Mary | Professor Scott |
When a title is used without a name, use “the”
| The president | the queen | the professor |
Schools
When a school has “of” in its title, use “the”
| The University of Arizona | The University of London |
When a school does not have “of” in its title, use nothing
Lincoln High School Arizona State University Liverpool John Moores University
Location versus Activity
When referring to an activity, use nothing
I am going to school now.(activity-study)
He is always on time for class, (activity-learn)
When referring to the location, use “the”
The meeting is at the school, (location-campus)
They are remodelling the movie theater, (location-building)
The new student had trouble finding the class, (location-classroom)
Unique Objects – Use “the”
The earth the human race the world
The moon the sun the universe
Part of a larger group, Use “the”
One of the students
None of the students -Both of the students -All of the students
There is a great site called www.breakingnewenglish.com which publishes two or three texts each week. Each one has several exercises, and there is always one on ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’, or ‘no article’.
See the picture on the next page to see how to get the link each time. Go to www.breakingnewsenglish, click on a headline for an article, go to the grammar section in the top bar, then click on The / An / A to go to the exercise. It’s a great way to practice regularly. Good luck!
7/ Improve Subject-Verb Agreement
Another extremely common error is subject-verb agreement. This means that the subject (usually a person, a group of people or an organisation) has to match with the action they are doing.
For example:
They is trying to pass an exam. = incorrect
They are trying to pass an exam. = correct
Check out this page and the infographic below as a quick reference.
8/ Keep B2 First Grammar Errors to a Minimum
It doesn’t matter how good your sentence structure is or how good your cohesion is, the more errors you make, the lower your score will be.
As far as grammar is concerned, it is better to be accurate and correct rather than try something and be wrong. Many teachers say that the examiner will give you marks if you try to use better grammar. He may, but he may also take marks off for being wrong! Be correct!
9/ Limit Punctuation Errors
It is tempting to use colons or semi-colons in your essays, but if you have ANY doubts, don’t for the reasons given above regarding errors.
English punctuation is also difficult for native speakers, so try to use only capital letters, full stops (periods) and commas.
Commas are the difficult ones, so try to learn the rules (that is difficult enough) and do your best. This post covers most punctuation, but as I said, just use these three and you will be more successful.
Here are a few quick tips for gaining better control over your commas
| When to Use Commas | Examples |
| Use a comma before coordinating conjunctions (but, and, yet, so, etc.) that join independent clauses | I wanted to go hiking, but it was too cold. |
| Use a comma after introductory clauses, phrases, and words before main clauses | While I was running, a dog walked by. Having finished the test early, I went to lunch. Well, the car is parked. |
| Use a comma in the middle of a sentence to set off clauses, phrases, and inessential words | That day, which was Shrove Tuesday, was the only day I could sleep. The professor of this class is interesting. The material, on the other hand, is not. Thank you for coming in. Today, however, we do not need help. |
| Use commas in a series | Apples, oranges, and bananas were on sale. The coach promised to win the game, go to the playoffs, and win the Super Bowl. |
| Use commas to separate main sentence structure from quotations that you integrate | The professor stated, “Profit is essential to sustainability”. |
Conclusion
Your writing score will definitely improve if you implement these 9 points but remember what I said in the introduction. Your grammar will take time to get better, so start practicing your new knowledge now! Good luck!