Skip to main content

Hot Off The Press

ECPE Writing - Sample Article (Fake news)

This is the fifth sample article candidates of the ECPE examination (Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English of the University of Michigan) My first post to deal with articles , explains what needs to be present in this type of piece of writing. As stated, examiners are looking for articles that elaborate on ideas and have solid arguments; are well organized; make use of a wide lexical and grammatical range; have an original ring to them (in other words, readers are able to distinguish the author's unique "voice").   Before reading, take a look at the following post if you haven't already done so. It will help you focus on the vital aspects you need to be aware of while reading the article and what you should make sure to use when you write your own.     The question appeared in Practice Tests for the ECPE Book 1 (revised 2021 version) and is accompanied by the following three writing prompts:  

We Love Football and so does the English Language


Seeing as the World Cup is a major obsession for people of all nations and all ages, it's a good time as ever to refresh or learn a few football (or soccer, if some of you prefer) phrases used idiomatically in everyday speech in English.


Not all of the following phrases originate from football but since most have to do with the little round ball used in cuju by the Chinese or episkyros by the Greeks (both of which FIFA recognizes as forerunners to today's much beloved sport) or words related to it, they were included in the list.


  • get the ball rolling / kick-start something: get something underway, start it
    • It's 5 o'clock -- we're half an hour behind schedule. Come on, everyone, let's get the ball rolling. 
    • The government took drastic measures in order to kick-start sales and improve revenue. 
  • get a kick out of something: enjoy something tremendously
    • I get a kick out of watching Brazil play in the World Cup.
  • at this stage in the game: at this point in time (of a process or situation)
    •  Saying you're sorry at this stage of the game after all you've put me through, is a little late, don't you think?
  • keep an/one's eye on the ball: stay focused on something
    • It's difficult to study for exams when it's warm and sunny outside, but you've got to keep your eye on the ball and graduate with flying colors.
  • take your eye off the ball:be distracted and lose your concentration, no longer be focused on something
    • All your hard work will be for nothing if you take your eye off the ball at this stage of the game.
  • it's a whole new ball game: said when a situation is completely different from what is expected
    • I expected that moving to a foreign country to study would be difficult, but this is a whole new ball game I'm experiencing at the moment. I don't think I can manage.
  • kick something off: start something
    • What time does the party kick off tomorrow evening, Jason?
  • blow the competition away: completely destroy or get rid of your opponents

    • The new software program Microproft is bringing out is sure to blow the competition away.
  • watch from the sidelines: be a bystander and not a participant in an activity, event, situation
    • Elaine is person who likes to take charge and hates watching from the sidelines, so when her teacher told her to let her project partner present their paper, she was more than just disappointed.
  • be on the ball: be quick to understand and react to what is happening
    • Get a good night's sleep because tomorrow you'll need to be on the ball at the conference.
  • kick someone around: treat someone in a mean, unfair, disrespectful way
    • It's not fair to kick your little brother around because he's three years younger than you. Be nice to him for a change!
  • be off one's game: not be able to perform as well as usual
    • Ever since his pet dog died, Mike has been off his game at school.
  • to level the playing field:make a competitive situation and conditions fair for everyone involved
    • The judges decided to level the playing field by changing the rules of the short story competition.
  • take sides: support a person, argument, opinion over another 
    • When writing a for-and-against or pros and cons essay, you shouldn't take sides before you reach your concluding paragraph. Discuss both views objectively.
  • be in a league of one's own: be better than anyone else who is a competitor, excel the closest contender
    • I've seen good basketball players, but your son is in a league of his own. I've never seen such a talented 15-year-old!
  • be out of one's league: be too good, too expensive, too good-looking, etc. for someone
    • On the salary you're getting, buying a house in that posh neighborhood is out of your league.
  • political football: an issue that causes an argument between political parties trying to gain advantage over the other
    • All politicians, in my view, use serious issues as political footballs to win voters over, then conveniently forget about those issues. 
  • blow the whistle on someone: tell people publicly or the authorities about something illegal or harmful that someone else is doing 
    • Wikileaks is a non-profit organization that blows the whistle on agencies, governments, and prominent individuals. 
  • be/stay ahead of the game: learn something before others do or be better prepared than your competitors (by knowing the most recent developments)
    • If you want to stay ahead of the game, you need to start reviewing for final exams this week, otherwise you'll never have time to cover all the material.
  • settle the score with someone: take revenge, get even, harm someone for harm that they did to you
    • After having played a practical joke on his sister, Jack expected her to find an equally creative way to settle the score with him, and was therefore on his guard.
  • throw a game: lose a game on purpose
    • The manager of the opposing team approached the young player and offered to pay him a hefty sum if he agreed to throw next week's game. 
  • be a game changer: something that affects the result of a situation entirely
    • Broadcasting the new advertisement during the final of the World Cup might be a game changer for our company.
  • a game plan: plan for achieving success
    • Dana had just completed the manuscript of his novel and now all he had to do was devise a game plan how to get it published.
  • make the cut: meet the requirements in a selection process and be chosen from a group of candidates
    • John Smith seemed like a good candidate for the job, but he didn't have the necessary experience to make the cut and get shortlisted.
  • keep score: keep track of the number of times something has happened 
    • She's been telling me that we'd go out to see a movie three weeks now, but she called to cancel again today. This must be the fifth time she has postponed our outing, but who's counting?
  • end of the ball game: the end of everything
    • We took the car to get to the concert 200 kilometers away, but when it broke down halfway, we knew it was the end of the ball game. That's money down the drain!
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Letters of Complaint - Useful Phrases

Whether it's to complain about something you bought or a service you found was unsatisfactory, as part of your job or because you are preparing to take an exam in English at B2 or C2 level, it is a fact that you should know the basics about writing or even orally expressing your dissatisfaction.  The following post should help you organize your letter or email (even an oral statement, if necessary) as well as give you some useful phrases you can use.
Read more

Virginia Woolf - The Legacy (Overview)

When a wife dies and leaves her husband her diary, all is possible. In Gil bert Clandon's case, the legacy his wife leaves him is much more than he could ever have imagined.  Virgi nia Woolf signs an exceptional short story which questions the foundations of marriage, people's need for communication by any means possible a nd their inclusion in a mutually beneficial partnership . When one reneges on that contract, the other will seek new outlets to grow , as p ersonal d evelopment in any marriage is inevitable. If that development is undertaken without any consideration for one's spouse, then problems will unavoidably ensue.
Read more

Tobias Wolff - Powder (Overview)

"Powder" is a short story intended to quickly state the obvious - a father's bond to his son is always a difficult thing to forge when parents aren't on good terms with each other. The level of difficulty in achieving this increases as fathers aren't used to explicitly explaining to their sons that they are trying to forge a stronger bond at a particular moment in time to begin with. Accordingly, the complications the father in this particular story is required to overcome are not only the time constraints the mother has placed on the trip as a whole or the mistrust towards her husband she has allowed her son to bear witness to which the father feels he must compensate for, but also the disparity in character traits that father and son exhibit. Having read the story for the first time, students predominantly respond to the query "What was the story about?" either with "I didn't get it. Some father and son skiing" or "S
Read more

Nadine Gordimer - An Intruder (Overview)

The short story An Intruder was incorporated in Nadine Gordimer's short story collection Livingston's Companions, published in 1970. As such, it must be read and viewed through the prism of her somewhat earlier works which dealt with South African society's inequality and the problems arising from the diseased status quo of the times. An Intruder focuses on relationships between characters and how perceptions of a situation differ in the eyes of each individual based on a combination of nature and nurture, or at the very least that is what Gordimer would have the reader gauge. What made James Seago what he is? Why is Mrs Clegg, Marie's mother, such a typical depthless wishful socialite with an exaggerated respect for higher social status? Couldn't Marie judge the merit of the man who treats her like a child or is she turning a blind eye to his behavior because it suits her? Whatever the answers to these questions, the one certainty we have is that the noti
Read more

C2 Sample Essay 8 (Parenting)

Writing at C2 level (Proficient User) on English language examinations is the same no matter the awarding body when it comes to writing essays. If you are a candidate giving an exam in English (IELTS, CPE, ECPE, CELP, LRN, ESB, TOEFL), make sure you read my earlier post What do I do with the sample writing found on this blog? to get the most out of the sample essays provided on Argute Legacy .     The topic of this essay is to discuss what the responsibilities of parenting are. If you are not taking an exam but need to discuss this topic, then read on and note down what you deem useful. If you intend to use this essay as part of an assignment, remember to paraphrase so as not to plagiarize. The topic is similar to what candidates expect in any other C2-level examination in that examiners want to see a well-organized, coherent and cohesive discussion of the issue with arguments and examples written in approximately half an hour. Whether or not you agree with the
Read more