Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) Reading and Use of

English Part 3
Teachers notes
Aims of the lesson

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 Cambridge
English: Advanced (CAE) Paper 1, Part 3
to give guided practice at a Part 3 word
formation task

Time needed
Materials required

30 minutes
sample Part 3 task from the Cambridge English:
Advanced (CAE) handbook
Students worksheet

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 (question 2 on the worksheet). The XXX in a
box means that the word is not commonly used in this form. If you have dictionaries
available to you, you could encourage your students to use them here. The key
here is not intended to be totally exhaustive.
5. Check the answers (see key).

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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, and why.

Additional information
Part 3 consists of a text containing eight 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 the 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 word formation. 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:
suffice, stable, intend, ready, diverse, remove. That is six out of eight, so they have to
pay attention to spelling.

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Cambridge English: Advanced Reading and Use of English Part 3

answer keys
Key to students worksheet
Exercise 1
1
2
3
4
5
6

D
F
E
B
A
C

Exercise 2

Verb

Noun

doubt

doubt

increase

increase

suffice

Adjective

Adverb

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

undoubted
doubtless
doubtful
increasing

undoubtedly
doubtlessly
doubtfully
increasingly

sufficiency

sufficient
insufficient

sufficiently
insufficiently

compare

comparison

comparative
comparable
incomparable

comparatively
comparably
incomparably

maintain

maintenance

maintained

XXX

stabilise

stability

stable
unstable

intend

intention

intended
unintended
unintentional

stably
unstably
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. sufficient
2. undoubtedly/doubtlessly
3. stability
4. intentions
5. readily
6. diversity
7. removal
8. unattractive

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Cambridge English: Advanced Reading and Use of English Part 3

students worksheet
1

Match the grammatical terms on the left with their definitions on the right.
Grammatical
terms
1 Noun

Definitions
A

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

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

make a new word

a word that refers to a person, place or thing

a word that describes a noun or pronoun

a word that describes an action

2 Verb
3 Adjective
4 Adverb
5 Prefix
6 Suffix

Complete the table. In the third and fourth columns, 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

Adverb

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

Can it take a negative

prefix or suffix?

doubt
increase
suffice
compare
maintain

XXX
stable

intend
ready
diverse
remove

XXX

attract

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Cambridge English: Advanced Reading and Use of English Part 3

sample task
For questions 18, 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 increasingly rare and the Totteridge specimen was
considered of (1) importance to be named in 1999 as one of the 41

SUFFICE

great trees in London. Like many yews, the Totteridge tree (2)

DOUBT

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

The Totteridge tree needs little maintenance. Some of its outer branches hang
down so low that they have taken root. But this is part of the trees natural
architecture and contributes to its (3) ... in high winds. With the best of

STABLE

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

INTEND

Dead branches are not (5) shed by the tree and their wood harbours a

READY

multitude of insects, an inseparable part of the old trees natural (6)

DIVERSE

Something of the trees history is lost with the (7) of dead wood. After

REMOVE

all, the decaying, twisted and (8) parts give the tree character.

ATTRACT

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