Classroom Activity

CAE Use of English Part 3 – teacher’s notes

Description

First, students complete a table with the verb, noun, adjective and adverb form of a given
word. They are asked to think about whether the word has a form with a prefix or suffix.
Students then complete a word formation task which uses some of the words from the table.

Time required:

30 minutes

Additional
materials
required:

sample task

Aims:

to develop students’ awareness of all the forms of a word

to encourage students to consider a word with a negative prefix or

suffix as a key for CAE Paper 3, Part 3

to give guided practice at a CAE word formation task

Procedure

1. If necessary, remind students about what they have to do in Part 3 – see Additional

information below.

2. Give out the worksheet.

3. To make sure that students can talk about different types of words, e.g. verb, adverb,

ask them to do question 1. If you know your students will not know these terms, do the
question as a whole class activity and write examples on the board. Otherwise, students
could do the question in pairs.

4. Ask students to complete the table. The XXX in a box means that the word is not

commonly used in this form. If you have dictionaries, you could encourage use of
dictionaries here. The key here is not intended to be totally exhaustive.

5. Check the answers.

6. Give out the sample task. Go through the instructions and example. Elicit from students

why it is important to read the whole text first before deciding which form to use. (They
have to understand the sentence structure and the context of the whole text.) Point out
that there is usually at least one prefix in each Part 3 task, and a negative form may be
required.

7. Check the answers and ask students which answers were easier and which were more

difficult.

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Additional information

Part 3 consists of a text containing 10 gaps (plus one gap as an example). At the end of
some of the lines, and separated from the text, there is a stem word in capital letters.
Candidates need to form an appropriate word from given stem words to fill each gap. The
focus of this task is primarily lexical, though an understanding of structure is also required. It
tests the candidates’ knowledge of how prefixes, suffixes, internal changes and compounds
are used in forming words. Candidates may be required to demonstrate understanding of the
text beyond sentence level.

Answers on the answer sheet must be written in pencil and in capital letters.

Suggested follow-up activity

Ask students which words required them to change the spelling of the original word:
increase, suffice, maintain, stable, intend, ready, diverse, remove. That is 8 out of 10, so
they have to pay attention to spelling.

CAE Use of English Part 3 – answer keys

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CAE Use of English Part 3 – answer keys

Key to Student’s worksheet

Exercise 1

1 D

2 F

3 E

4 B

5 A

6 C

Exercise 2

Verb Noun

Adjective

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

Adverb

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

compare comparison

comparative

comparable

incomparable

comparatively

comparably

incomparably

increase increase increasing

increasingly

suffice sufficiency

sufficient
insufficient

sufficiently
insufficiently

doubt doubt undoubted

doubtless
doubtful

undoubtedly

doubtlessly
doubtfully

maintain maintenance

maintained

XXX

stabilise stability stable

unstable

stably
unstably

intend intention

intended
unintended
unintentional

unintentionally

ready readiness

ready readily

diversify diversity diverse diversely

remove removal removed

removable

XXX

attract attraction

attractive
unattractive

attractively

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Key to Sample Task

1. increasingly

2. sufficient

3. undoubtedly/doubtlessly

4. maintenance

5. stability

6. intentions

7. readily

8. diversity

9. removal

10. unattractive

CAE Use of English Part 3 – answer keys

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CAE Use of English Part 3 – Student’s Worksheet

Match the definitions of some grammatical terms to the terms.

Grammatical terms

Definitions

1 Noun

2 Verb

3 Adjective

4 Adverb

5 Prefix

6 Suffix

a letter/group of letters added to the beginning of a word to
make a new word

a word that describes or gives more information about a verb

C a letter/group of letters added to the end of a word to make a

new word

D a word that refers to person, place or thing

a word that describes a noun or pronoun

a word that describes an action

Complete the table. In the third and fourth column add the word with a negative prefix
or suffix if it exists e.g. doubtless. If there is XXX in the box, it means that this word is
not commonly used in that form.

Verb Noun

Adjective

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

Adverb

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

compare

increase

suffice

doubt

maintain

XXX

stable

intend

ready

diverse

remove

XXX

attract

CAE Use of English Part 3 – answer keys

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CAE Use of English Part 3 – Sample Task

For questions 1–10, read the text below. Use the word given in capitals at the end of some
of the lines to form a word that fits in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the
beginning (0).

Write your answers IN CAPITAL LETTERS on the separate answer sheet.

Example: 0 C O M P A R I S O N

An ancient tree

In Totteridge, in north London, there is a yew tree estimated to be between

1,000 and 2,000 years old. This tree, however, is a mere youngster in

(0) …….. with others of the species. The record in the UK is held by a yew in COMPARE

Scotland that is thought to be between 4,000 and 5,000 years old. However,

such trees are becoming (1) ……… rare and the Totteridge specimen was INCREASE

considered of (2) ……… importance to be named in 1999 as one of the 41 SUFFICE

‘great trees’ in London. Like many yews, the Totteridge tree (3) ………

DOUBT

predates the buildings around it and its exact age is unknown.

The Totteridge tree needs little (4) ……… . Some of its outer branches hang MAINTAIN

down so low that they have taken root. But this is part of the tree’s natural

architecture and contributes to its (5) ……... in high winds. With the best of STABLE

(6) ……… , ancient yew sites are often tidied up with no benefit to the tree

INTEND

Dead branches are not (7) ……… shed by the tree and their wood harbours a READY

multitude of insects, an inseparable part of the old tree’s natural (8) ……… DIVERSE

Something of the tree’s history is lost with the (9) ……… of dead wood. After REMOVE

all, the decaying, twisted and (10) ……… parts give the tree character.

ATTRACT

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