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for B2 Cambridge First
A report is another piece of formal writing. It is based on facts (you’ll probably have to invent those ‘facts’ for the exam, and that’s okay). By writing a good report in English you will demonstrate that you can organize and communicate factual information using a formal tone. As with other pieces of formal writing (for example, essays, formal emails, articles, etc.), there is a special format used to write reports in English.
This part will give the reader a general idea of the topic of your report.
Make sure that you follow the capitalization rules for titles. You can find more information about how to write titles in English here.
In this section, you should state clearly the purpose of your report and what information you are going to include.
Try to paraphrase (use your own words) to write the information given in the instructions.
In these paragraphs, you will give most of the information and details of your report. It should be factual and clear. It shouldn’t sound like a story or like a novel.
You should write at least 2 topic points. One topic point per paragraph. Each paragraph must contain a topic sentence.
A topic sentence is a sentence that includes the main point (idea) of a paragraph. It has the information that readers need to understand what is the most important point in the paragraph.
The topic sentences guide readers and protect them from confusion. They usually appear at the beginning of each paragraph.
Click here to learn more about topic sentences.
This is the last part of the report. You need to finish it up by writing your recommendations. You must base your recommendation on the facts that you wrote in the topic paragraphs.
Make sure that your recommendations are well-connected with the topic points that you wrote in the previous paragraphs.
Step 1: Make a plan
Step 2: Write it
Step 3: Check it
Now that you know the parts of a report and the steps to follow, let’s see an article sample for the B2 (FCE) Cambridge writing test.
For the introduction:
For the topic points:
For your suggestions/ recommendations:
Pro tips for writing reportsMake sure that you:
Practice timeYou have been asked to write a report about entertainment in your city for a travel magazine. Write your report in the comments below.
Presentations are very common in academic and work settings, and they can be a bit challenging.
Here you can find some sentence starters that will help you organize your ideas to sound professional and fluent.
Tag questions are indirect questions that we often use to check something that we think is true.
Example:
Tag question: Your name is Mike, isn’t it?
Direct question: Is your name Mike?
| Auxiliary verbs | Positive | Negative |
| be | am, is, are was, were | am not, isn’t, aren’t wasn’t, weren’t |
| do | do, does did | don’t, doesn’t didn’t |
| have | have, has had | haven’t, hasn’t hadn’t |
Common modal verbs used in tag questions
| can—can’t could—couldn’t will—won’t would—wouldn’t should—shouldn’t |
Note: Use a negative auxiliary/modal verb if the sentence is affirmative and an affirmative auxiliary/ modal verb if the sentence is negative.
3. Add a pronoun
Examples: you, he, she, it, we, they
4. Add a question mark (?)
Grammar PracticeMatch the phrases
Speaking PracticeStudent A: Complete with a tag question.
Student A: Ask the questions to your partner. Ask follow-up questions to have more fun.
Student B: Answer the question. Give as many details as you can to have an interesting conversation.
Switch roles
In English, we can use double comparatives to express cause and effect, or increasing or decreasing returns in parallel structures.
There are three basic patterns to use double comparatives with nouns, actions, and adjectives/adverbs.
Fun activities and playing games are great ways to improve your fluency.
Here you can find 3 different activities to review and practice double comparatives in English.
Grammar PracticeLevel of difficulty: ⭐
Match the two parts of the sentences.
Level of difficulty: ⭐⭐
Change the sentence using a double comparative.
Example:
If I study a lot, I learn a lot. -> The more I study, the more I learn.
Click on FLIP to check your answer.
Speaking PracticeLevel of difficulty: ⭐⭐
Complete the sentences using a double comparative.
Level of difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐
Complete the sentences using a double comparative.
“Sharing is caring” is a common English expression but do you know what exactly it means? 😕
It has a very profound meaning. It means that when we share something with someone else it is equal to caring them. Sharing ideas, thoughts, experiences, things that have helped us in our journey is a way to show care to our friends and people around us. 💖
That’s why I created this blog. The main purpose of it is to share tips, ideas, games and resources that will help you in your learning journey. 💡
Over the past months this community has grown so fast and I think it is a good idea that you also share tips and resources with other members of the community.
I’m inviting you to share with me and with other English learners tips and resources that have helped you improve your English. 😊
Things that you can post in the comments below: 🔗 💡👇
On behalf of this amazing community of English learners around the world 🌎:
Thanks for your generosity 🙏
In English there are 2 patterns for adjectives:
I’m interested in English movies.
English movies are usually very interesting.
It’s such an interesting class.
She is such an interesting woman.
There is a group of adjectives that can end in –ed or –ing. However, the meaning of the adjective changes depending on the ending. For example, interested/interesting, tired/tiring, confused/confusing, surprised/surprised, etc.
We use the –ed ending to talk about how we feel. Adjectives ending with –ed are used primarily with nouns that are people or animals.
We use the –ing ending to describe a noun or when the noun is the reason of the feeling. Basically, the –ing adjective shows why a person is feeling a certain way. Adjectives ending in –ing are used primarily with nouns that are things.
Examples:
Practice Time
Speaking practiceClick on the image to open the game
An article is an informal/ neutral piece of writing that is written for a specific audience. The purpose of an article is to share an opinion, or knowledge on a particular topic, or offer suggestions and pieces of advice to the readers. Newspapers, magazines, and journals usually publish articles. For that reason, articles have to be easy to read.
1 Think of the topic that you are going to write about carefully.
2 Identify the target audience. Who are going to read your article: students, young people, adults, elderly people, or professionals?
3 Find the objective of writing the article. Do you want to give advice? Are you going to give some useful tips? Do you want to teach your readers how to do something?
4 Identify the details that are more significant and think of some examples.
5 Organize your ideas and arrange the information and the facts in a coherent and logical way.
Now that you know the parts of an article and the steps to follow, let’s see an article sample for the B1 Cambridge writing test.
You see this announcement in your English school magazine.
| Articles wanted! |
Write an article telling us how to make your home safer when children visit you. What are the most dangerous places in a house for children? Why? The best articles answering this question will be published next month. |
For the introductory paragraph:
Giving your opinion:
Giving advice:
Adding more details and examples:
Reasons:
Practice timeYou are going to write an article for a school magazine. Choose one of the titles below>
Plan the content
1 Think of at least 3 useful tips
2 Think of an interesting introductory paragraph
3 Write your introduction
4 Write your descriptive paragraphs. Write one paragraph per tip.
5 Write your conclusion
6 Type your answer in the box below, and I’ll give you personalized feedback.
A short story is a piece of fiction that has a limited number of words and a few characters.
Let’s see a short story sample for the B1 Writing test
Time expressions:
Adverbs and adverbials to spice up your story
Finishing your short story
Short stories usually take place in the past, for that reason the most common narrative tenses you should use for your short story are:
Practice timeWrite a short story beginning with one of the sentences below:
Plan the content:
1 Write what happened simply, in about 50 words.
2 Think about how you could improve your story by adding more details. For example, adjectives and adverbs.
3 Think about what tenses you need for each part of the story. For example, how to set the scene, and what significant events happened before the story starts.
Write your story in about 100 – 120 words in the box below.
1. We use both to refer to two things, people, or animals together.
I like both coffee and tea. (I like coffee and I like tea)
Both those women are my friends. (Those two women are my friends)
We both dislike soccer. (subject pronoun + both) or
Both of us dislike soccer. (both + of + object pronoun)
2. We use either …. or … to talk about a choice between two options.
(+) verb + either … or …
Every year I travel either to New York or Paris on Christmas holidays.
3. We use neither … nor … to talk about two things that are not possible.
(-) verb + neither … nor …
Last year I couldn’t go neither to New York nor Paris on New Year due to the pandemics.
4. We can we use either … or …/ neither … or … at the beginning of a sentence. In those cases we can use both singular verbs or plural verbs.
Either my sister or my mom is going to cook dinner for Christmas.
Neither Alicia nor her daughter speaks English.
Either my manager or my colleagues are going to help me with the project.
Neither the teacher nor her students are going to go to the school party.
Time to practice
Teacher Julieta 