More practice with the language you're learning
Supplementary support — grammar, vocabulary, speaking and review — built from language already taught in the course. Not a lesson, and never a test.
1.Notice first: read these and say what they share — "**Kill your darlings**: 'The sea, that patient old teacher, was doing its usual quiet work along the coast.' — beautiful, and cut, because the paragraph is about the coastguard's shift change, not the sea." / "**Cut the throat-clearing**: 'It might be useful to consider, at this point, some of the ways in which…' — cut, always. The actual first line is somewhere in paragraph two." / "**Earn every adjective**: 'A weathered, sun-bleached, salt-cracked wooden door' — three adjectives doing the same work; keep the one that surprises; cut the two that were free."
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Four moves at C2: (a) KILL YOUR DARLINGS — the sentence you like most in the draft is the sentence to interrogate first; if it doesn't move the paragraph forward, cut it, however good it is; (b) CUT THE THROAT-CLEARING — the first three sentences of most drafts exist to help the writer start; the reader doesn't need them; find the actual first line and start there; (c) EARN EVERY ADJECTIVE — every adjective in the draft has to be defended out loud in one sentence; if the noun already carries the weight, the adjective goes; (d) READ IT OUT LOUD — any sentence you stumble on when reading aloud is broken, regardless of how it looks on the page; the ear catches what the eye misses.
2.Cut the throat-clearing: 'It is perhaps worth noting that, in many ways, the recent decision made by the council has proven to be somewhat controversial among local residents.'
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'The council's recent decision is controversial locally.' (Or: 'Locals are angry.') — depending on the piece's register.
3.Earn every adjective: 'a small, quiet, empty, unfurnished room'
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'an unfurnished room' — the other three either repeat 'unfurnished' or don't survive the defence.
4.Read out loud — cut the sentence you stumble on: 'The proposal, notwithstanding the objections raised, and taking into account the fact that there are, and always have been, differing views on the matter, has been accepted.'
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'The proposal has been accepted despite the objections.'
5.Sort these into "natural" and "not natural" and justify each decision out loud: "**Kill your darlings**: 'The sea, that patient old teacher, was doing its usual quiet work along the coast.' — beautiful, and cut, because the paragraph is about the coastguard's shift change, not the sea." · "**Cut the throat-clearing**: 'It might be useful to consider, at this point, some of the ways in which…' — cut, always. The actual first line is somewhere in paragraph two." · "**Earn every adjective**: 'A weathered, sun-bleached, salt-cracked wooden door' — three adjectives doing the same work; keep the one that surprises; cut the two that were free." · "**Read it out loud**: 'The situation in which the company now finds itself, given the totality of the circumstances that have arisen…' — impossible to speak, therefore impossible to read. Cut it and try again after saying the point aloud."
6.Build three sentences on this pattern about your own week — one neutral, one emphatic, one tentative.
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Four moves at C2: (a) KILL YOUR DARLINGS — the sentence you like most in the draft is the sentence to interrogate first; if it doesn't move the paragraph forward, cut it, however good it is; (b) CUT THE THROAT-CLEARING — the first three sentences of most drafts exist to help the writer start; the reader doesn't need them; find the actual first line and start there; (c) EARN EVERY ADJECTIVE — every adjective in the draft has to be defended out loud in one sentence; if the noun already carries the weight, the adjective goes; (d) READ IT OUT LOUD — any sentence you stumble on when reading aloud is broken, regardless of how it looks on the page; the ear catches what the eye misses.
1.Fill: 'Assume the ____ rule. It's rarely wrong.' (number + %)
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40%
2.Fill: 'Cut the ____-____. The actual first line is somewhere in paragraph two.' (2 words)
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throat-clearing
3.Fill: 'Cut on the ____, not only on the ____.' (2 words)
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ear / eye
4.Complete in context: "Kill your darlings. The line you're proudest of is the line to interrogate first."
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to kill your darlings
5.Complete in context: "Cut ______. The actual first line is somewhere in paragraph two."
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the throat-clearing
6.Complete in context: "Earn every adjective. If the noun already carries it, the adjective goes."
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to earn the adjective
7.Complete in context: "Read it out loud. Any sentence you stumble on is broken."
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to read it out loud
8.Complete in context: "Assume ______. It's rarely wrong."
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the 40% rule
9.Complete in context: "Cut ______s. 'Really', 'actually' and 'basically' rarely survive a re-read."
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the free adverb
10.Complete in context: "Pay ______ down. Every 'perhaps' has to earn its place too."
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the hedge tax
11.Complete in context: "That's a redundant restatement. Keep whichever version is sharper."
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the redundant restatement
12.Complete in context: "Do ______ before you show it to anyone."
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the fifteen-minute pass
13.Complete in context: "Cut on the ear, not only on the eye."
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to cut on the ear
14.Cover the list. Which words can you still recall, and what does each one add that a simpler word wouldn't?
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to kill your darlings — to cut the sentence you love most in your own draft when it doesn't earn its place | the throat-clearing — the opening sentences a writer needs in order to start writing that the reader doesn't need in order to start reading | to earn the adjective — to defend every adjective in the draft with a one-sentence reason, and cut the ones that can't be defended | to read it out loud — the discipline of reading a draft aloud slowly and cutting every sentence the mouth stumbles on | the 40% rule — the working assumption that at least 40% of any first draft is redundant | the free adverb — an adverb the writer added because it felt natural in the mouth, not because it earns its place on the page ('really', 'actually', 'basically') | the hedge tax — the accumulated weight of qualifiers ('perhaps', 'somewhat', 'in a sense') that make an argument sound less certain than the writer actually is | the redundant restatement — a sentence that says again, in slightly different words, what the previous sentence has already said | the fifteen-minute pass — one honest self-edit pass — darlings, throat-clearing, adjectives, out-loud — completed in under fifteen minutes | to cut on the ear — to cut a sentence because it stumbles when read aloud, even when it reads fine on the page
1.Give two natural word partners for "to kill your darlings" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Kill your darlings. The line you're proudest of is the line to interrogate first.
2.Give two natural word partners for "the throat-clearing" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Cut the throat-clearing. The actual first line is somewhere in paragraph two.
3.Give two natural word partners for "to earn the adjective" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Earn every adjective. If the noun already carries it, the adjective goes.
4.Give two natural word partners for "to read it out loud" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Read it out loud. Any sentence you stumble on is broken.
5.Give two natural word partners for "the 40% rule" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Assume the 40% rule. It's rarely wrong.
6.Give two natural word partners for "the free adverb" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Cut the free adverbs. 'Really', 'actually' and 'basically' rarely survive a re-read.
7.Give two natural word partners for "the hedge tax" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Pay the hedge tax down. Every 'perhaps' has to earn its place too.
8.Give two natural word partners for "the redundant restatement" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: That's a redundant restatement. Keep whichever version is sharper.
9.Give two natural word partners for "the fifteen-minute pass" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Do the fifteen-minute pass before you show it to anyone.
10.Give two natural word partners for "to cut on the ear" (adjective + noun, verb + noun, or adverb + adjective), then use one.
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Model use: Cut on the ear, not only on the eye.
11.Choose three words from this lesson and build one sentence that uses all three naturally.
1.Rewrite so the meaning stays the same but you do NOT use "to kill your darlings": "Kill your darlings. The line you're proudest of is the line to interrogate first."
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Keep the meaning of: to cut the sentence you love most in your own draft when it doesn't earn its place
2.Rewrite so the meaning stays the same but you do NOT use "the throat-clearing": "Cut the throat-clearing. The actual first line is somewhere in paragraph two."
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Keep the meaning of: the opening sentences a writer needs in order to start writing that the reader doesn't need in order to start reading
3.Rewrite so the meaning stays the same but you do NOT use "to earn the adjective": "Earn every adjective. If the noun already carries it, the adjective goes."
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Keep the meaning of: to defend every adjective in the draft with a one-sentence reason, and cut the ones that can't be defended
4.Rewrite so the meaning stays the same but you do NOT use "to read it out loud": "Read it out loud. Any sentence you stumble on is broken."
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Keep the meaning of: the discipline of reading a draft aloud slowly and cutting every sentence the mouth stumbles on
5.Rewrite so the meaning stays the same but you do NOT use "the 40% rule": "Assume the 40% rule. It's rarely wrong."
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Keep the meaning of: the working assumption that at least 40% of any first draft is redundant
6.Summarise the lesson's main idea in exactly 20 words — no more, no less.
1.The 500–600 words you brought.
2.Back-up if the writing you brought is too personal: teacher supplies a real inflated draft to cut.
3.Back-up: the L41–L44 piece you're most attached to (which is also the piece you'll cut hardest).
4.Long turn (2 minutes, no notes): Take the draft you cut in the analysis segment. In 15 minutes: run a SECOND pass — this time reading aloud again, cutting every remaining stumble, and reducing to 60% of the original if you haven't already. Then in 5 minutes: read the cut version aloud to teacher, who plays a features editor and challenges every remaining sentence with 'why is this line still here?'. You must defend or cut, live, using the target vocabulary. In the last 5 minutes: draft a 60-word EDITOR'S NOTE from your own hand explaining what the piece now is that the first draft wasn't.
5.Record 90 seconds using at least four of: to kill your darlings, the throat-clearing, to earn the adjective, to read it out loud, the 40% rule, to cut on the ear. Listen back and mark one thing to make more precise.
1.Plan first: write a three-line outline (position → strongest support → concession) before you draft.
2.Take one of the pieces you drafted in L41, L42, L43 or L44 (or write a fresh 500–550-word first draft on any topic in one sitting). Cut it to a final polished 320 words using the fifteen-minute pass in full: darlings, throat-clearing, adjectives, out-loud. Hand in ALL THREE artefacts — the first draft (untouched), the final cut, and a 40-word SELF-EDIT PROTOCOL: your own numbered checklist of what you did in what order, so you can re-run it on the next thing you write. Use at least SEVEN target items naturally across the three artefacts. (First draft 500–550 words + final cut 320 words + 40-word self-edit protocol). Include: to kill your darlings, the throat-clearing, to earn the adjective, to read it out loud, the 40% rule, the free adverb, the hedge tax, the redundant restatement, the fifteen-minute pass, to cut on the ear.
3.Model analysis: compare your text with the model. What does the model do in its first and last sentences that yours doesn't?
1.In exam conditions, writers cannot do a full re-draft. What they CAN do — and what separates band 4 from band 5 — is a disciplined 5-minute self-edit at the end: cut the throat-clearing, cut the free adverbs and hedges, cut one redundant restatement, and read (silently) for rhythm on the last paragraph. Those four cuts alone routinely lift a competent script into the top band.
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Budget your Cambridge Writing time as: 5 minutes plan · 25 minutes draft · 5 minutes self-edit. In the self-edit, do FOUR passes only, in this order: (1) find and cut the throat-clearing in your opening; (2) cross out every free adverb ('really', 'quite', 'simply', 'actually'); (3) cross out every free hedge ('in many ways', 'on balance', 'perhaps'); (4) re-read the closing paragraph on the ear — if a sentence stumbles in your head, tighten it. Do not add.
2.Identify the OPENING THROAT-CLEARING — the first line the reader actually needs to read.
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The whole of paragraph 1 is throat-clearing. The real opening is early in paragraph 2: 'I have, for the last three years, walked to work, a distance of just over three miles.' Everything before that is the writer helping themselves to start.
3.Identify at least three FREE ADVERBS and three FREE HEDGES to cut in one pass.
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Free adverbs: 'perhaps', 'quite', 'really', 'genuinely' (used four times), 'simply', 'nonetheless', 'entirely', 'slightly', 'possibly', 'somewhat', 'cautiously'. Free hedges: 'in many ways', 'on balance' (used three times), 'in a way', 'without question', 'of course', 'in some cities', 'at least'. Each has to earn its place; almost none of these do.
4.Identify the REDUNDANT RESTATEMENTS across paragraphs 3, 4 and 5.
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Paragraph 3's 'to think, to reflect, and to prepare mentally for the day ahead' — the three verbs restate one idea. Paragraph 4's 'gentle daily exercise… almost accidental… simply going somewhere' — the qualifiers restate the same claim three times. Paragraph 5's list of textures is beautiful but two of the four items would be enough. Every restatement costs the piece pace.
5.Which ADJECTIVES survive a defence — and which are free?
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Survive: 'early morning' (specific, structural), 'gentle daily' (paired, working), 'physical fabric' (surprising, earns its place). Free: 'brief and admittedly personal', 'increasingly rare', 'really valuable', 'genuinely positive', 'genuinely important'. The last two use 'genuinely' as a substitute for having said something specific.
6.Draft the CUT VERSION of the whole piece under 320 words — at least a 46% cut — without losing the argument.
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Sample cut (320 words): 'I have walked the three miles to work for three years, in weather from mild to frankly dreadful. I want to say what has kept me at it. / First, the streets before eight belong to someone else's city — a city that hasn't decided anything yet. Walking through it teaches you the difference between preparing for a day and rehearsing one. Neither the tube nor a car offers that. / Second, three miles a day is exercise you were going to have anyway and now you don't have to schedule. The cumulative effect is not dramatic; it is only real. / Third, and this is the one I am protective of: walking reintroduces you to the physical fabric of the city on a daily basis. The state of the pavement outside the primary school. The smell of the bakery on Church Street that changes on a Friday. The light on the seventh floor of the building on the corner in November. The shopkeeper who has decided, without saying anything to you, that you count as a regular. None of this exists at fifteen miles an hour in a car. / The disadvantages are real. You arrive sweaty in July. You are exposed to the weather and to whatever the street is doing that morning. I am not going to pretend those don't matter. / Three years in, walking to work has been one of the small daily decisions that has, quietly, made my working life better. I recommend it — carefully, and only to anyone whose distance and route allow it — because it has done, without asking to, most of the work of daily thought.'
1.In your own words, when do you use "Self-editing: kill your darlings · cut the throat-clearing · earn every adjective · read it out loud"?
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Four moves at C2: (a) KILL YOUR DARLINGS — the sentence you like most in the draft is the sentence to interrogate first; if it doesn't move the paragraph forward, cut it, however good it is; (b) CUT THE THROAT-CLEARING — the first three sentences of most drafts exist to help the writer start; the reader doesn't need them; find the actual first line and start there; (c) EARN EVERY ADJECTIVE — every adjective in the draft has to be defended out loud in one sentence; if the noun already carries the weight, the adjective goes; (d) READ IT OUT LOUD — any sentence you stumble on when reading aloud is broken, regardless of how it looks on the page; the ear catches what the eye misses.
2.Complete naturally: "Kill your darlings. The line you're proudest of is the line to interrogate first."
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to kill your darlings
3.Complete naturally: "Cut ______. The actual first line is somewhere in paragraph two."
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the throat-clearing
4.Complete naturally: "Earn every adjective. If the noun already carries it, the adjective goes."
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to earn the adjective
5.Complete naturally: "Read it out loud. Any sentence you stumble on is broken."
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to read it out loud
6.Complete naturally: "Assume ______. It's rarely wrong."
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the 40% rule
7.Two-minute retell: summarise the reading/listening from this lesson without looking at it.
8.Which of the four self-edit moves — darlings, throat-clearing, adjectives, out-loud — do you find hardest, and why?
9.Which of your L41–L44 pieces do you now most want to run the full fifteen-minute pass on — and what specifically do you already know you would cut first?
1.Warm-up — five diagnostic labels in five minutes — Teacher gives you five short lines from imagined drafts (a limited-third free-indirect line, a personal-essay small-door opener, a satirical pastiche line, a review's landing sentence, a piece of throat-clearing). For each, in ten seconds: name what it's doing (or failing to do) and the ONE fix that would lift it. You may not use 'that works' as a diagnosis.
2.Prep — set your workshop card — Take the 1,000 words you brought. Draft your workshop card: (a) title and form, (b) the four voice choices at the top (from L41 for fiction; small-door/self/turn/close for essay; capture/target/mask/exaggerate for satire; scene/argument/music/landing for review), (c) the TWO specific things you would most like feedback on — no 'general thoughts', no 'is it any good'. Read the card aloud to teacher; teacher will challenge any vague feedback ask.
3.Round 1 — read your piece aloud, uninterrupted — Read the full 1,000 words aloud to teacher, slowly, uninterrupted. Teacher marks every stumble, hesitation and unconscious re-word on a printed copy — you don't see the marks yet. Do not defend or preface. Just read. When you finish, take 60 seconds to say what YOU heard for the first time that you hadn't seen on the page.
4.Round 2 — diagnose the voice, on the record — Together with teacher, diagnose the voice held (or not) across the whole piece. Use the correct framework for your form: for fiction, distance / person / time / access — where did each slip? For personal essay, door / self / turn / close — did the turn arrive earned? For satire, capture / target / mask / exaggerate — did the mask stay on to the last line? For review, scene / argument / music / landing — did it earn the verdict? Name at least THREE specific slips by line, using the target vocabulary. No 'it feels a bit off'.
5.Round 3 — the fifteen-minute pass, out loud — Run the fifteen-minute pass on your own piece, aloud, in real time. In each paragraph: (a) name and cut the ONE darling; (b) find and cut the throat-clearing; (c) mark every free adverb and every free hedge; (d) revisit each ear-stumble from Round 1 and either cut the sentence or rewrite it aloud. Aim for a 30–40% cut across the whole piece. Any cut defended by 'but I like it' is not a cut.
6.Round 4 — repair the ONE structural move your form most needs — Pick the ONE structural weakness Round 2 exposed — the un-earned turn, the drifted distance, the winked-out mask, the un-landed verdict. Rewrite the specific section (60–120 words) that repairs it, live, in 8 minutes. Then read the repaired section aloud in context (last paragraph before + repaired section + first paragraph after) and defend the specific move using target vocabulary. No general polish. Fix the ONE thing.
7.Round 5 — read the cut and repaired piece aloud, for the reader — Read the revised piece aloud, this time for the READER — pace, breath, rhythm, silence between paragraphs. Teacher listens as the imagined magazine editor / general reader / holder of the target view. When you finish, teacher delivers a one-line verdict: 'ready to send' / 'one more pass' / 'sit with it a week'. If the verdict is not 'ready to send', teacher names the SINGLE thing that would move it there. You must accept or push back with a target-vocabulary reason — no 'thanks, I'll think about it'.
8.Talk it through — which round did the piece the most good — Together, rebuild the strongest moment from each round. Teacher names one strongest move per round; you name a different one. Then, in one sentence: what would you do differently in the FIRST draft of your next piece because of what you learned in today's workshop — one specific move, not a general resolution.
9.Bring it together — your personal self-edit protocol — Write a numbered 5-step personal self-edit protocol: the exact order you will now run on any first draft, in your own words, using at least FIVE Unit 9 target items. Then add: one sentence naming the writer you most want to sound like, and ONE specific move (a syntactic habit, a distance choice, an ending move) you will steal from them in your next draft.
10.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "narrative distance".
11.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "free indirect style".
12.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "narrator access".
13.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "limited third".
14.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to hold the distance".
15.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to earn the interiority".
16.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a voice leak".
17.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the small door".
18.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the self as instrument".
19.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the turn".
20.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the honest close".
21.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to inflate the incident".
22.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the columnist's collapse".
23.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the memoirist's collapse".
24.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to notice, don't announce".
25.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "pastiche".
26.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "satire".
27.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to aim up".
28.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to keep the mask on".
29.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the tics of the style".
30.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the punch-down failure".
31.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the second-reading test".
32.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the do-not-publish threshold".
33.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to open on a scene".
34.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to weave the argument".
35.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to trust the music".
36.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to land the judgement".
37.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "a rhythm sentence".
38.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the argument-only failure".
39.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the description-only failure".
40.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to kill your darlings".
41.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the throat-clearing".
42.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to earn the adjective".
43.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to read it out loud".
44.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the 40% rule".
45.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the free adverb".
46.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the hedge tax".
47.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "the fifteen-minute pass".
48.Say a natural sentence from this unit's world using "to cut on the ear".
49.Which of the five rounds most exposed a habit you didn't know your writing had?
50.Was the piece you read at Round 5 the piece you thought you were bringing? If not, what changed?
51.If you had to workshop this piece again on Monday, which one round of today would you rehearse one more time first?