Use of English – English Grammar Exercises for B2
As a Senior Editor, you are reviewing long, wordy quotes from local citizens and officials. You need to rewrite these quotes into concise, punchy journalistic sentences suitable for a news report. Choose the correct option (A, B, C, or D) to complete the rewrite using B2-level grammar structures (Nominalization or Reduced Relative Clauses).
1 Citizen’s Quote: “People who travel to work every day are frustrated because the trains are always delayed.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Daily commuters are frustrated by ______ on the railway network.
(A) the trains delay always
(B) the constant delay of trains
(C) trains are always delaying
(D) the constantly delaying trains
2 Citizen’s Quote: “The local residents who lost their homes in the flood are begging for financial help.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Local residents ______ for financial assistance.
(A) displacing by the flood are begging
(B) who displaced by the flood are begging
(C) displaced by the flood are begging
(D) displaced the flood are begging
3 Citizen’s Quote: “Local businesses are really struggling right now because the city council decided to increase commercial taxes.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Local businesses are struggling due to ______ commercial taxes.
(A) the city council’s decision to increase
(B) the city council decided to increase
(C) the decision of the city council increases
(D) the city council decide increasing
4 Citizen’s Quote: “We are extremely angry about the fact that the construction company failed to finish the road.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Citizens are outraged by ______ the road.
(A) the construction company to fail finishing
(B) the construction company’s failure to finish
(C) the failure of the construction company finish
(D) the construction company failed finishing
5 Official Report: “The police finally arrested the man who they suspect of stealing the famous painting.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Police have arrested the man ______ the famous painting.
(A) suspecting of stealing
(B) who suspect of stealing
(C) suspected of stealing
(D) suspected to steal
6 Official Report: “The CEO officially resigned today after the media revealed that he was involved in a massive financial scandal.”
Editor’s Rewrite: The CEO resigned today following ______ a massive financial scandal.
(A) media revelations of his involvement in
(B) the media revealed his involving in
(C) media revealing he involves in
(D) the media’s revelation that he involves of
7 Official Report: “Drivers who use their mobile phones while they are on the road will be punished with heavy fines.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Drivers ______ will face heavy fines.
(A) are using mobile phones while driving
(B) using mobile phones while driving
(C) used mobile phones while driving
(D) use mobile phones while driving
8 Citizen’s Quote: “Many people are spending less at the supermarket because the cost of living is rising so quickly.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Supermarket spending has dropped amid ______ the cost of living.
(A) the quickly rise of
(B) the rapid rise in
(C) rapidly rising of
(D) the rapid rising for
9 Official Report: “The mayor announced that the city will build a new multi-million-dollar hospital in the center.”
Editor’s Rewrite: The mayor announced ______ a new multi-million-dollar hospital in the city center.
(A) to construct
(B) constructing of
(C) the construction of
(D) the construct for
10 Citizen’s Quote: “Parents are deeply concerned because violent crimes are increasing in this neighborhood.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Parents are deeply concerned about ______ in the neighborhood.
(A) the violent crimes increase
(B) the increasing of violent crime
(C) the increase in violent crime
(D) violently crimes increasing
11 Official Report: “The old bridge, which was built exactly a century ago, collapsed during the storm.”
Editor’s Rewrite: The old bridge, ______, collapsed during the storm.
(A) building exactly a century ago
(B) was built exactly a century ago
(C) built exactly a century ago
(D) exactly built a century ago
12 Citizen’s Quote: “The community is celebrating the fact that the historic monument has been successfully restored.”
Editor’s Rewrite: The community is celebrating ______ the historic monument.
(A) the successfully restore of
(B) the successful restoration of
(C) successfully restoring for
(D) the success to restore
13 Official Report: “A massive group of activists who are protesting against the new climate law blocked the highway.”
Editor’s Rewrite: A massive group of activists ______ blocked the highway.
(A) protested against the new climate law
(B) protesting against the new climate law
(C) who protesting against the new climate law
(D) protest against the new climate law
14 Official Report: “We had to cancel the outdoor music festival because the weather conditions were suddenly terrible.”
Editor’s Rewrite: The outdoor music festival was cancelled due to ______.
(A) suddenly terrible weather conditions
(B) the sudden deterioration in weather conditions
(C) weather conditions deteriorate suddenly
(D) the weather conditions sudden terrible
15 Citizen’s Quote: “The government failed to protect the wildlife, and this directly led to an ecological disaster.”
Editor’s Rewrite: ______ directly led to an ecological disaster.
(A) The government failing to protect the wildlife
(B) That the government failed protecting the wildlife
(C) The government’s failure to protect wildlife
(D) The failure of the government protects wildlife
16 Official Report: “Scientists warn that the river is contaminated with toxic chemicals from the factory.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Scientists warn of ______ in the river.
(A) toxic chemical contamination
(B) toxic chemicals contaminating
(C) the contaminate of toxic chemicals
(D) toxic chemical contaminated
17 Official Report: “The workers refused to accept the new contracts which were offered by the management yesterday.”
Editor’s Rewrite: The workers refused to accept the new contracts ______.
(A) offering by the management yesterday
(B) offered by the management yesterday
(C) were offered by the management yesterday
(D) which offering by the management yesterday
18 Official Report: “The committee rejected the proposal to expand the airport because they care about the environment.”
Editor’s Rewrite: The committee rejected the airport expansion proposal out of ______.
(A) environment concerning
(B) environmental concerns
(C) concerns to environment
(D) environmentally concerned
19 Citizen’s Quote: “A lot of international tourists are flocking to the museum which features ancient Egyptian artifacts.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Tourists are flocking to the museum ______ ancient Egyptian artifacts.
(A) is featuring
(B) featured
(C) featuring
(D) feature
20 Official Report: “We must drastically reduce our carbon emissions; otherwise, the planet will face severe consequences.”
Editor’s Rewrite: Experts emphasize the need for ______ to avoid severe planetary consequences.
(A) a drastic reduction in carbon emissions
(B) drastically reducing of carbon emissions
(C) the drastic reduce in carbon emissions
(D) drastically reduction of carbon emissions
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (B) the constant delay of trains
Explanation: Nominalization. The adverb “always” becomes the adjective “constant”, and the verb “delayed” becomes the noun “delay”. This creates a neat, professional noun phrase suitable for news writing.
2 (C) displaced by the flood are begging
Explanation: Reduced Relative Clause (Passive). “Who lost their homes” is replaced by the passive participle “displaced”. Since the residents were displaced by the flood, we use the V3/ed form.
3 (A) the city council’s decision to increase
Explanation: Nominalization. “The city council decided” transforms into the possessive noun phrase “the city council’s decision”.
4 (B) the construction company’s failure to finish
Explanation: Nominalization. “Failed to finish” becomes “failure to finish”. The company becomes a possessive noun indicating who failed.
5 (C) suspected of stealing
Explanation: Reduced Relative Clause (Passive). “Who they suspect of stealing” reduces to the past participle “suspected of stealing” because the man receives the action of being suspected.
6 (A) media revelations of his involvement in
Explanation: Nominalization. This is a high-level B2/C1 transformation. The verb “revealed” becomes the noun “revelations”. The verb “was involved” becomes the noun “involvement”.
7 (B) using mobile phones while driving
Explanation: Reduced Relative Clause (Active). “Who use their mobile phones” reduces to the present participle “using” because the drivers are actively doing the action.
8 (B) the rapid rise in
Explanation: Nominalization. The verb “is rising” and adverb “quickly” transform into the noun “rise” and adjective “rapid”. The dependent preposition for “rise” is “in”.
9 (C) the construction of
Explanation: Nominalization. The verb “build” (or construct) is turned into the formal noun “construction”. It is followed by the preposition “of”.
10 (C) the increase in violent crime
Explanation: Nominalization. Similar to question 8, the verb “are increasing” becomes the noun phrase “the increase in”.
11 (C) built exactly a century ago
Explanation: Reduced Relative Clause (Passive). “Which was built” reduces to just the past participle “built”.
12 (B) the successful restoration of
Explanation: Nominalization. The adverb “successfully” and verb “restored” transform into the adjective “successful” and noun “restoration”.
13 (B) protesting against the new climate law
Explanation: Reduced Relative Clause (Active). “Who are protesting” drops the relative pronoun and the “to be” verb, leaving only the V-ing form “protesting”.
14 (B) the sudden deterioration in weather conditions
Explanation: Nominalization. To sound like a true journalist, “were suddenly terrible” transforms into “the sudden deterioration”.
15 (C) The government’s failure to protect wildlife
Explanation: Nominalization. A full clause (“The government failed…”) is turned into a noun phrase acting as the subject of the new sentence.
16 (A) toxic chemical contamination
Explanation: Nominalization. “Is contaminated with toxic chemicals” reduces to the highly concise compound noun phrase “toxic chemical contamination”.
17 (B) offered by the management yesterday
Explanation: Reduced Relative Clause (Passive). “Which were offered” is reduced to the past participle “offered”.
18 (B) environmental concerns
Explanation: Nominalization. The phrase “because they care about the environment” is compressed into the highly professional journalistic phrase “out of environmental concerns”.
19 (C) featuring
Explanation: Reduced Relative Clause (Active). “Which features” reduces to the present participle “featuring” because the museum actively possesses/shows the artifacts.
20 (A) a drastic reduction in carbon emissions
Explanation: Nominalization. The adverb “drastically” becomes the adjective “drastic”, and the verb “reduce” becomes the noun “reduction”.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
If you want to score high in the FCE Use of English section, or if you want your essays to sound professional and academic, you must master these two skills:
1 Nominalization:
This is the secret weapon of journalists and academics. Instead of using “Subject + Verb + Adverb”, you transform them into “Adjective + Noun”. It allows you to pack a massive amount of information into a single phrase.
- Wordy (Spoken): The council decided quickly to increase taxes.
- Concise (Written): The council’s quick decision to implement a tax increase.
- Wordy (Spoken): The air is heavily polluted.
- Concise (Written): The heavy pollution of the air.
2 Reduced Relative Clauses:
To avoid long, repetitive sentences with “who”, “which”, or “that”, you can delete the relative pronoun and the “to be” verb.
- Active Meaning → Use V-ing (Present Participle): * “The people who are protesting” → “The people protesting“
- “The museum which features art” → “The museum featuring art”
- Passive Meaning → Use V3/ed (Past Participle):
- “The bridge which was built in 1990″ → “The bridge built in 1990″
- “The man who is suspected of theft” → “The man suspected of theft”