Use of English Part 4 — Key Word Transformation for the CPE Exam

Common failure modes

These are the patterns that cause most candidates to lose marks on this topic. Recognising them in advance is half the work.

• !Not recognising when nominalisation is required: "the fact that he refused" → "his refusal"
• !Inversion errors: placing the auxiliary correctly but the subject in the wrong position
• !Forgetting the 3–8 word limit (CPE allows slightly longer gap-fills than CAE)

Study tips

• 1Master C2 nominalization: convert verbal clauses to noun phrases and vice versa.
• 2Learn the full range of formal inversions: "Never before...", "Only when...", "Not until...", "Hardly/Scarcely... when..."
• 3Study the subjunctive: "It is essential that he be...", "We suggest she attend...", "He insisted they remain..."

Sample CPE Use of English Part 4 — Key Word Transformation questions

These sample items mirror the format and difficulty of real CPE questions. Practice with thousands more on the free Koydo question bank.

1. 1

   ORIGINAL: "It was not until the results were published that people realised the scale of the problem." KEY WORD: ONLY. Rewrite: "_____ did people realise the scale of the problem."

   • AOnly when the results were publishedCorrect
   • BOnly the results were published
   • COnly publishing the results
   • DOnly after published results
   Why this answer?

   "Only when" + inversion (did people realise) replicates the "not until" + clause structure. The full answer: "Only when the results were published did people realise the scale of the problem." This uses the "only when" + subject-auxiliary inversion, a classic C2 transformation.