About the blog

Hello and welcome to the Land of Advanced English!

My name is Maciej Rataj and I'm a Reader (Assistant Professor) at the Institute of English and American Studies, which is part of the University of Gdańsk. I hold a PhD in Linguistics from that university. Apart from teaching and doing research into linguistics, I also teach Practical English at the upper-intermediate and advanced levels (CEFR B2 to C2).
The idea behind this blog is simple: as of summer 2016 it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a free blog with advanced use of English and writing exercises for EFL students. As students, my friends and I did hundreds of grammar and vocabulary exercises from advanced English books written by such prominent TEFL figures as A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet, B.D. Graver, Michael Vince, Michael Swan, Hugh Gethin, Virginia Evans, F.V. Bywater and many others. Many of these books have gone through seemingly countless editions and are still used in English departments all over Europe and beyond - except where American English is preferred. Hence my exercises are quite similar to what a student of advanced English in my native Poland and almost everyone preparing for a Cambridge ESOL examination will encounter. Here are the most popular types of exercises on my blog.

Multiple choice
Choose one correct option.
a. Are you serious or are you ___ my leg?
A. pulling   B. pushing   C. breaking   D. shaking
b. I didn't know that John was / has been / had been married before.

Error correction
Correct the errors or put 'OK' next to correct sentences.
a. Kate do not likes John. does not like 

Sentence transformation
Paraphrase the sentences using the words provided so that the meaning changes as little as possible. In type a. simply complete the sentence using the word or words given. In type b. use the keyword given and decide where in the sentence it belongs. These days Cambridge ESOL examinations combine revealed fragments and keywords in their Use of English papers.
a. I've never seen so many penguins in one zoo.
Never............................................................
have I seen so many penguins in one zoo.
b. It's a pity I didn't go to the zoo with you! WISH
.....................................................................
I wish I had gone to the zoo with you!

Gap filling
Use one word in each gap unless the exercise requires otherwise. There are variations of this exercise, e.g. the number of missing letters may be indicated as in a crossword.
a. I'm going to the library to return the book I ... last month. borrowed
b. My neighbours t _ _ _ _ a loud party last night. threw

Derivation (word building)
Use the keyword to form a word that completes the sentence provided. This involves changing the speech part (e.g. deriving a noun from a verb), adding a negative prefix or suffix (as in un+able or friend+less) etc.

a. What is the ..... of this sofa? LONG   length
b. I hate asking Peter to do anything. He's always ..... . HELP unhelpful

Apart from use of English exercises I am also going to post advice on writing essays. Since there exist numerous blogs and other free websites dealing with essays and academic writing in general, there will be fewer posts on writing and most of them will consist in advice for Polish students of English, who as a rule are accustomed to the rather particular style used in Polish language writing. Of course all other EFL students may find my posts on writing useful.

This blog is not a grammar book or a dictionary. If you want to know how the different words, structures and idioms are used and what they mean, please look them up in a good reference source (I'm thinking OUP, CUP, Pearson and Macmillan, for example) instead of expecting me to explain everything. I assume that everyone using this blog is an autonomous learner who can understand the content of sources written for advanced-level foreign students of English as well as most sources written for native speakers of English.

My default English is the standard British variety, so don't be surprised if you see only British English grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation in most of my posts.

Needless to say, you're more than welcome to comment on the posts, ask me questions and point out mistakes. I hope to collaborate with English teachers and native speakers of English who come across this blog.

If you want to quote my posts or use them in the classroom, do remember to refer to the source according to one of the available bibliographical styles, e.g. MLA, APA or CMS.

Enjoy!