Unit 1 Grammar Review

Specific Objectives
Module 1 The English Language

Introduction The module includes the English language as an international Language,

level of usage and the presentation of the difference between British and American
English

General Objective

Realize the goal of learning and enhancing English language to attain proficiency

Learning Goals

Upon completion of Module students will be able to:

1. help them equip with appropriate language expressions to communicate effectively

in both oral and written contexts enable them to develop their grammatical
competence

2. promote the understanding of intercultural diversity.

3. comprehend language by applying the conventions of Standard English in language

use of texts.

Language has a very significant role in many people's lives. It symbolizes the
cultures in societies where individuals interact and use to communicate with each
other. Communication is a key power to facilitate interactions among individuals
and which provide them with stronger relationships.

With globalization and worldwide exchange of knowledge and technology, English as

an international language serves as transmitter of varieties of knowledge from the
different parts of the world also as a means to enhance thinking skills for acquisition of
knowledge. There are varieties of standard English in different occasions and there are
different levels of language we use depend on the subject, purpose, and target of the
language and they are:

Royal English when speaking with the members of the Royal Family

Formal English-like in tuxedo or evening gown used in formal affairs like State of
the nation address, Privelege speech, Technical writing or Articles on serious subjects
Informal English in business clothes most commonly spoken by educated people
Writing is for general readers, speaker to general audience as in newspaper

Colloquial -spoken by educated people in casual talk

Vulgar (illiterate or nonstandard English),like in well-worn clothes. Used by

uneducated class

Slang-special and spontaneous language a group of people develops

Trite or cliché (hackneyed,shopworm,threadbare) Cliche means stereotyped (last

but not the least, home sweet home, bed of roses, better late than never, eat, drink and
be merry, all work and no play...) Shopworn means faded, Threadbare means
shabby,trite means worn out

General/Specific

General refers to classes of units e.g. College student

Specific refers to individual units freshman

Concrete and abstract

Concrete refers to things perceived by our senses like, bacon,mango,sticky,crispy

Abstract ideas and qualities perceived by our senses like Noise,discomfort,

contentment

Filipinism
Filipinisms are considered English expressions that have been given specific local
meaning and are used by a group or community. Their meaning is different from
the commonly accepted meaning.

Activity:
Look up their meaning and compare them to what you know or understand about them.
Some of them may not be found in dictionaries:
Already Ballpen Biodata Blow out Bold Brown out
Calling card Carnapper Chit Colgate CR drops
Feeling Fill up Fly over For awhile FX Get down
Gets gives green Pentelpen Rubber shoe Shooting
Subdivision tasty xerox

Exercise:
Identify the better way to say that is acceptable and that can be understood by other
nationalities.

Activities:
Search for more filipinism and share them class next meeting or share in the class on
line platform.

British-American English
English is a vibrant and international language with the world’s population speaking
English as native, second or foreign language. The form of the language used in the
Americas especially in the United States and that used in the United Kingdom have
diverged in a few minor ways, leading to the versions now occasionally referred to as
American English and British English. The increased worldwide communication through
radio, television, the Internet and globalization has reduced the tendency towards
regional variation. This can result either in some variations becoming extinct (for
instance, the wireless, being progressively superseded by the radio) or in the
acceptance of wide variations as "perfectly good English" everywhere.

Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary (lexis),

spelling, punctuation, idioms, and formatting of dates and numbers. However, the
differences in written and most spoken grammar structure tend to be much less
than those of other aspects of the language in terms of mutual intelligibility. A small
number of words have completely different meanings in the two versions or are even
unknown or not used in one of the versions.

Grammar
A. Collective nouns (staff/Team)
Am. Eng- always singular
BrEng - singular or plural

B. Auxillary
BrE I shall go home
Shall we go now?
AmE Should we go now?

C not
AmE You don’t need to come
BrE You need not come

C. Past tense (ed-t)

AmE Learned, dreamed,burned
BrE learnt,dreamt,burnt

D. Tag questions
AmE seldom use tag questions
BrE Often use tag questions
E. Punctuations
Quotation marks AmE “double quotation marks”
BrE ‘single quotation marks’
AmE period
Br.E full stop
AmE v.s./ Mrs./Mr.
BrE vs/Mrs/Mr
F. Spelling

American

British
check
Ck/que
cheque
Learned,spoiled,smelled
Ed/t
Learnt,spoilt,smelt
Center,liter,meter
-re/er
Centre,litre,metre
Judgment
acknowledgment
-e/no e
Judgement
acknowledgement
Among, amid
-st/no st
Amongst, amidst
inquiry
E/i
enquiry
disk
-c/k
disc
Traveled, traveling
L/ll
Travelled, travelling
Enroll,fulfillment
L/ll
Enroll,fulfillment
program
-me
programme
Mold,color
-ou
Mould,colour
catalog
-ue
catalogue
Color,favor
-our
Colour,favour
Defense,offense,licence
S/c
Defence,offence
Summarize, organization
Realize,analyze
S/z
Summarise, organisation

Vocabulary
British English American English
accommodation accommodations
action replay instant replay
aerofoil airfoil
aeroplane airplane
agony aunt advice columnist
Allen key Allen wrench
aluminium aluminum
aniseed anise
anticlockwise counterclockwise
articulated lorry tractor-trailer
asymmetric bars uneven bars
aubergine eggplant
baking tray cookie sheet
bank holiday legal holiday
beetroot beet(s)
biscuit cookie; cracker
black economy underground economy
blanket bath sponge bath
block of flats apartment building
boiler suit coveralls

bonnet (of a car) hood

boob tube tube top
boot (of a car) trunk
bottom drawer hope chest
bowls lawn bowling
braces suspenders
brawn (the food) headcheese
breakdown van tow truck
breeze block cinder block
bridging loan bridge loan
bumbag fanny pack
candyfloss cotton candy
car park parking lot
casualty emergency room
catapult slingshot
central reservation median strip
chemist drugstore
chips French fries
cinema movie theater; the movies
cling film plastic wrap
common seal harbor seal
consumer durables durable goods
cornflour cornstarch
cos (lettuce) Romaine
cot crib
cot death crib death
cotton bud cotton swab
cotton wool absorbent cotton
council estate (housing) project
courgette zucchini
court card face card
crash barrier guardrail
crisps chips; potato chips
crocodile clip alligator clip
cross-ply bias-ply
crotchet (music) quarter note
current account checking account
danger money hazard pay
demister (in a car) defroster
dialling tone dial tone
diamante rhinestone
double cream heavy cream
draughts (game) checkers
drawing pin thumbtack
dressing gown robe; bathrobe
drink-driving drunk driving
drinks cupboard liquor cabinet
drinks party cocktail party
driving licence driver’s license
dual carriageway divided highway
dummy (for a baby) pacifier
dust sheet drop cloth
dustbin garbage can
earth (electrical) ground
engaged (of a phone) busy
estate agent real estate agent, realtor
(trademark)
estate car station wagon
ex-directory unlisted
faith school parochial school
financial year fiscal year
fire brigade/service fire company/department
first floor second floor
fish finger fish stick
fitted carpet wall-to-wall carpeting
flannel washcloth
flat apartment
flexitime flextime
flick knife switchblade
flyover overpass
football soccer
footway sidewalk
fringe (hair) bangs
full stop (punctuation) period
garden yard; lawn
gearing (finance) leverage
gear lever gearshift
goods train freight train
greaseproof paper wax paper/waxed paper
green fingers green thumb
grill (noun) broiler
grill (verb) broil
ground floor first floor
groundsman groundskeeper
hairslide barrette
hatstand hatrack
hen night bachelorette party
hire purchase installment plan
hoarding billboard
hob stovetop
holdall carryall
holiday vacation
holidaymaker vacationer
homely homey
hosepipe (garden) hose
in hospital in the hospital
hot flush hot flash
housing estate housing development
hundreds and thousands sprinkles (for ice cream)
ice lolly Popsicle (trademark)
icing sugar confectioners’ sugar
indicator (on a car) turn signal
inside leg inseam
jelly babies jelly beans
Joe Bloggs Joe Blow
Joe Public John Q. Public
jumble sale rummage sale
jump lead jumper cable
jumper sweater
junior school elementary school
kennel doghouse
ladybird ladybug
a lettuce a head of lettuce
level crossing grade crossing
lift elevator
lolly lollipop
lollipop lady (or man) crossing guard
loose cover slipcover
lorry truck
loudhailer bullhorn
low loader flatbed truck
lucky dip grab bag
luggage van baggage car
maize corn
mangetout snow pea
market garden truck farm
marshalling yard railroad yard
maths math
metalled road paved road
milometer odometer
minim (music) half note
mobile phone cell phone
monkey tricks monkeyshines
motorway expressway; highway
mum/mummy mom/mommy
nappy diaper
needlecord pinwale
newsreader newscaster
noughts and crosses tic-tac-toe
number plate license plate
off-licence liquor store; package store
opencast mining open-pit mining
ordinary share common stock
oven glove oven mitt
paddling pool wading pool
paracetamol acetaminophen
parting (in hair) part
patience solitaire
pavement sidewalk
pay packet pay envelope
pedestrian crossing crosswalk
peg clothespin
pelmet valance
petrol gas; gasoline
physiotherapy physical therapy
pinafore dress jumper
plain chocolate dark chocolate
plain flour all-purpose flour
polo neck turtleneck
positive discrimination reverse discrimination
postal vote absentee ballot
postbox mailbox
postcode zip code
potato crisp potato chip
power point electrical outlet
pram baby carriage; stroller
press stud snap
press-up pushup
private soldier GI
public school private school
public transport public transportation
punchbag punching bag
pushchair stroller
pylon utility pole
quantity surveyor estimator
quaver (music) eighth note
queue line
racing car race car
railway railroad
real tennis court tennis
recorded delivery certified mail
registration plate license plate
remould (tyre) retread
reverse the charges call collect
reversing lights back-up lights
right-angled triangle right triangle
ring road beltway
roundabout (at a fair) carousel
roundabout (in road) traffic circle
rowing boat rowboat
sailing boat sailboat
saloon (car) sedan
sandpit sandbox
sandwich cake layer cake
sanitary towel sanitary napkin
self-raising flour self-rising flour
semibreve (music) whole note
semitone (music) half step
share option stock option
shopping trolley shopping cart
show house/home model home
silencer (on a car) muffler
silverside rump roast
skeleton in the cupboard skeleton in the closet
skimmed milk skim milk
skipping rope jump rope
skirting board baseboard
sledge sled
sleeper railroad tie
sleeping partner silent partner
slowcoach slowpoke
snakes and ladders chutes and ladders
solicitor lawyer
soya/soya bean soy/soybean
splashback backsplash
spring onion scallion
stag night bachelor party
Stanley knife utility knife
starter appetizer
state school public school
storm in a teacup tempest in a teapot
surtitle supertitle
swede rutabaga
sweet(s) candy
takeaway (food) takeout; to go
taxi rank taxi stand
tea towel dish towel
terrace house row house
tick check mark
ticket tout scalper
timber lumber
titbit tidbit
toffee apple candy apple or caramel apple
touch wood knock on wood
trade union labor union
trading estate industrial park
trainers sneakers
transport cafe truck stop
trolley shopping cart
twelve-bore twelve-gauge
underground subway
vacuum flask thermos bottle
verge (of a road) shoulder
vest undershirt
veterinary surgeon veterinarian
wagon (on a train) car
waistcoat vest
walking frame walker
wardrobe closet
water ice Italian ice
weatherboard clapboard
white coffee coffee with cream
white spirit mineral spirits
wholemeal bread wholewheat bread
windcheater windbreaker
windscreen windshield
wing (of a car) fender
worktop countertop
zebra crossing crosswalk
zed (letter Z) zee
zip zipper

Activity:
1. Highlight words from the list that you are familiar with and you know are commonly
used.
2. Report how many of them are on your list.
British English ( )
American Eng ( )
Which do you think you are more familiar, British or American English?

*For vocabulary self-enrichment:

Look up in the dictionary the meaning of unfamiliar words
Module 2 Grammar Review

Students are usually less confident about expressing themselves through writing
because the language of their everyday speech differs greatly from that of written texts.
They may have limited vocabulary and skills in punctuation, be less practised in
producing original answers to comprehension questions and have little familiarity with
producing original compositions.However, their confidence can grow through practice in
expanding their range of vocabulary and teaching them better grammar and punctuation
skills. This unit provides some ways to help develop your students’ spelling,
grammar and punctuation skills.

Specific Objectives
Upon finishing this module, students should be able to:
1. develop outstanding grammar skills do so primarily by mastering a limited number of
the most important grammar rules, which they use over and over
2. know the intimate rules of grammar.
3. review the common categories that capture the vast majority of recurring grammar
problems

First, we review the common categories that capture the vast majority of recurring
grammar problems. Next, we familiarize ourselves with the names of grammatical terms
that describe the words and word groups used in building sentences. Lastly, we see
how these parts interact as a whole by testing them through multiple-choice problems
that integrate key concepts.

Task: Choose the correct answer

Subject-Verb Agreement
The overarching principle regarding subject-verb agreement is that singular
subjects require singular verbs while plural subjects take plural verbs. Our objective is to
identify the subject in order to determine whether the verb is singular or plural.
Rule: “And” always creates a compound subject.
Q1 An office clerk and a machinist (was/were) present but unhurt by the on-site
explosion. Note that the only connecting word that can make a series of singular nouns
into a plural subject is “and.” In fact, “and” always creates a plural subject with but one
exception, as noted in the next rule.
Rule: If two items joined by “and” are deemed to be a single unit, then the
subject is considered singular, and a singular verb is required.

Q2 Eggs and bacon (is / are) Tiffany’s favorite breakfast.

Rule: “Pseudo-compound subjects” do not make singular subjects plural.

Pseudo-compound subjects include the following: as well as, along
with, besides, in addition to, and together with.

Q3 A seventeenth-century oil painting, along with several antique vases, (has / have)
been placed on the auction block.

Rule: Prepositional phrases (i.e., phrases introduced by a preposition) can

never contain the subject of a sentence.
Note that some of the most common prepositions include of, in, to, by, for,
and from

Q4 The purpose of the executive, administrative, and legislative branches of

government (is / are) to provide a system of checks and balances.
 Rule: “There is/there are” and “here is/here are” constructions represent
special situations where the verb comes before the subject, not after the
subject. The normal order in English sentences is subject-verb-object
(think S-V-O). “There is/ there are” and “here is/here are” sentences are
tricky because they create situations in which the verb comes before the
subject. Thus, these sentence constructions require that we look past the
verb—“is” or “are” in this case—in order to identify the subject.

Q5 Here (is / are) the introduction and chapters one through five.
Q6 (Is / are) there any squash courts available?
Rule: When acting as subjects of a sentence, gerunds and infinitives are
always singular and require singular verbs.

Q7 Entertaining multiple goals (makes / make) a person’s life stressful.

Q8 To plan road trips to three different cities (involves / involve) the handling of many
details.
Rule: “-One,” “-body,” and “-thing” indefinite pronouns are always singular.

Q9 One in every three new businesses (fails / fail) within the first five years of operation.

Rule: Certain indefinite pronouns—“both,” “few,” “many,” and “several”

are always plural.
Q10 Few of the students, if any, (is / are) ready for the test.

Rule: “Some” and “none” indefinite pronouns may be singular or plural.

Q11 Some of the story (makes / make) sense.

Q12 Some of the comedians (was / were) hilarious.
Q13 None of the candidates (has / have) any previous political experience.
 Rule: In “either…or” and “neither…nor” constructions, the verb matches
the subject which comes directly after the “or” or “nor.”
Q14 Either Johann or Cecilia (is / are) qualified to act as manager.
Q15 Neither management nor workers (is / are) satisfied with the new contract.

Rule: Collective nouns denote a group of individuals (e.g., family,

government, assembly, crew). If the collective noun refers to a group as a
whole or the idea of oneness predominates, use a singular verb. If not,
use a plural verb.
Q16 Our group (is / are) meeting at 6 p.m.
Q17 A group of latecomers (was / were) escorted to their seats.

Rule: “The number” is a singular noun and takes a singular verb. “A

number” is plural and takes a plural verb.

Q18 The number of road accidents (has / have) decreased.

Q19 A number of train accidents (has / have) occurred.

Rule: Percents or fractions, when followed by an “‘of’ phrase,” can take a

singular or plural verb. The key lies in determining whether the noun within
the “‘of’ phrase” is singular or plural.

Q20 Fifty percent of video gaming (is / are) having great reflexes.
Q21 Two-thirds of their classmates (has / have) wake boards.

Rule: Measurements involving money (e.g., dollars, pounds), time (e.g.,

five years, the fifties), weight (e.g., pounds, kilograms), or volume (e.g.,
gallons, kilograms) are always singular and take singular verbs.

Q22 Ten dollars (is / are) an average daily wage for many people in the developing
world.
Pronoun Usage

Rule: As a general guide, pronouns at or near the front of a sentence take

their subjective forms; pronouns at or near the back of a sentence take
their objective forms. The precise rule, however, is that pronouns take
their subjective form when they are subjects of a verb; they take their
objective form when they are objects of a verb.

Q23 The present is from Beth and (she / her).

Q24 Cousin Vinny and (he / him) are both valedictorians.

Rule: Pronouns take their objective form when they are the direct objects
of prepositions.

Q25 Between you and (I / me), this plan makes a lot of sense.
Q26 Do not ask for (who / whom) the bell tolls.
Q27 People like you and (I / me) should know better.
Rule: When forming comparisons using “than” or “as…as,” supply any
“missing words” (e.g., a verb in the examples below) in order to determine
whether the subjective or objective form of the pronoun is correct.

Q28 My son is more sports minded than (I / me).

Q29 We skate as fast as (they / them).
Q30 During our group presentation, our teacher asked you more questions than (I / me).
Rule: Who vs. Whom. “Who” is the subjective form of the pronoun, and
“whom” is the objective form of the pronoun. If “he,” “she,” or “they” can be
substituted for a pronoun in context, the correct form is “who.” If “him,”
“her,” or “them” can be substituted for a pronoun in context, the correct
form is “whom.”

Q31 The woman (who / whom) is responsible for pension planning is Mrs. Green.
Q32 This gift is intended for (who / whom)?
Rule: Do not use a reflexive pronoun (a pronoun ending in “-self”) if an
ordinary personal pronoun will suffice.

Q33 The tour leader told Julie and (me / myself) to turn off our cell phones.
Q34 Young Robert hurt (him / himself) while climbing alone.
Rule: Pronouns must agree in number with their antecedents.
Q35 A not-for-profit, like any other organization, has (its / their) own rules and
regulations to follow.
Q36 Everybody should mind (his or her / their) own business.
Rule: Pronouns should not be ambiguous in context. If a pronoun does not
refer clearly to a specific noun, it results in a situation of “ambiguous
pronoun reference.” Ambiguous: Sam never argues with his father when
he is drunk.
Q37 Sam never argues with his father when ________ is drunk.
Rule: “Pronoun shifts,” also known as “shifts in point of view,” involve the
inconsistent matching of pronouns, either in terms of person or number.
Within a single sentence (and perhaps within an entire paragraph or
writing piece), first person should be matched with first person, second
person matched with second person, and third person matched with third
person. A common violation involves matching the third-person “one” or “a
person” with the second-person “you.” Another violation involves matching
the third person singular “he,” “she,” “one,” or “a person” with the third-
person plural “they.” Incorrect: To know that a person can’t vote is to know
that you don’t have a voice.
Q38 To know that a person can’t vote is to know that ________ have a voice.

Incorrect: One cannot really understand another country until they have
studied its history and culture.

Q39 One cannot really understand another country until ________ studied its history
and
culture.
Modification
Modifiers, including modifying phrases, must be placed as close as possible to the
nouns they modify. As a mostly uninflected language, English depends heavily on word
order to establish modifying relationships. Therefore, the position of words is important.
Confusion occurs because most modifiers attach themselves to the first things they can
“get their hands on” in the sentence, even if it isn’t the right thing.

Rule: A misplaced modifier refers to a word which, because of its

placement within a sentence, no longer modifies what it originally was
intended to modify.
Incorrect: He told her he wanted to marry her frequently. He __________ told her
he wanted to marry her. Incorrect: Coming out of the wood, the janitor was surprised to
find termites.

Q41 The janitor was surprised to find termites _____________________________.

Rule: A dangling modifier refers to a situation in which the thing being

modified is absent from the sentence. Incorrect: After writing the
introduction, the rest of the report was easy.

Q42 After writing the introduction, __________ easily drafted the rest of the
report.
Incorrect: Walking along the shore, fish could be seen jumping in the lake.

Q43 Walking along the shore, __________ could see fish jumping in the lake.

Rule: Occasionally, a modifier or modifying phrase may accidentally be placed

where it could modify either of two worlds or phrases. This situation results in a
“squinting modifier.” The writer should consider rewriting this sentence to clear up
this ambiguity.
Incorrect: She said in her office she had a copy of the map.

Q44 She said she had __________ lying in her office.

Rule: Whenever a sentence opens with a phrase or clause that is set off by a comma,
check to make sure that the first word that follows the comma is properly being modified
by the opening phrase or clause that precedes it.
Incorrect: In addition to building organizational skills, the summer internship also helped
me hone my team-building skills.

Q45 In addition to building organizational skills, ___

________________________________________.
Incorrect: An incredibly complex mechanism, there are some 10 billion nerve cells in the
brain. Q46 An incredibly complex mechanism, __________ has some 10 billion nerve
cells. Incorrect: Based on our observations, the project will succeed.

Q47 ________________________________________.

Parallelism
Parallelism is both a style issue and a grammar issue. In other words, certain
elements of parallelism are based on principle (and are deemed to be more effective or
less effective, better or worse) while other elements are based on rules and are
considered correct or incorrect, right or wrong. The overarching principle
regarding parallelism is that similar elements in a sentence must be in similar form.

Rule: Verbs should follow consistent form. Typically this means that all
verbs should end in “-ed” or “-ing.”
Incorrect: In the summer before college, Max was a waiter at a restaurant,
pursued magazine sales, and even had a stint at delivering pizzas.

Q48 In the summer before college, Max __________ tables, __________ magazines,
and even __________ pizzas.

Rule: When prepositions are used before items in a series of three,

there are two possibilities with regard to their use. Either a single
preposition is used before the first item in a series (but not with the
next two items) or prepositions are used before each item in the
series.
Incorrect: Our neighbors went to London, Athens, and to Rome.

Q49 Our neighbors went ________ London, Athens, and Rome.

Q50 Our neighbors went ________ London, ________ Athens, and ________ Rome.

Rule: Correlative conjunctions (e.g., either…or, neither…nor, not only…but also,

both…and) require that parallelism be maintained after each component part of the
correlative.
Incorrect: Jonathan not only likes rugby but also kayaking.

Q51 Jonathan ________________________ rugby but also kayaking.

Q52 Jonathan ________________________ rugby but also ________ kayaking.

Rule: Gerunds and infinitives should be presented in parallel form. Where possible,
gerunds go with gerunds and infinitives go with infinitives.
Less effective: Examining the works of William Shake speare—his plays and poetry—
is to marvel at one man’s seemingly incomparable depth of literary expression.

Q53 ________ the works of William Shakespeare—his plays and poetry—is to marvel
at
one man’s seemingly incomparable depth of literary expression.

Rule: At times we can acceptably omit words in a sentence and still retain
clear meaning. To check for faulty parallelism (also known here as
improper use of ellipsis), complete each sentence component and make
sure that each part of the sentence can stand on its own.

Q54 In my favorite Japanese restaurant, the food is fascinating and the drinks
________ expensive.

Q55 The defendant’s own testimony on the stand neither contributed ________
nor detracted from the defendant’s claim of innocence

Comparisons
The overarching principle in comparisons requires that we compare apples with apples
and oranges with oranges.
Rule: The superlative (“-est”) is used when comparing three or more
persons or things; the comparative (“-er”) is used when comparing exactly
two persons or things.

Q56 Between Tom and Brenda, Tom is (better / best) at math.

Q57 Among our group, Jeff is the (wealthier / wealthiest) person.

Q58 Of all the roses in our neighborhood, Chauncey Gardiner’s grow the (more / most)
vigorously.

Q59 Chauncey Gardiner’s roses grow (more / most) vigorously than any other in
the neighborhood.

Rule: Remember to compare the characteristics of one thing to the

characteristics of another thing, not the characteristics of one thing directly
to another thing. Incorrect:
Tokyo’s population is greater than Beijing.

Q60 Tokyo’s population is greater than the ________ of Beijing.

Q61 Tokyo’s population is greater than Beijing’s ________.

Q62 Tokyo’s population is greater than that of ________.

Q63 Tokyo’s population is greater than ___________.

Q64 Of all the countries contiguous to India, ____________________________.

Rule: Faulty or improper comparisons often leave out key words,

particularly demonstrative pronouns such as “those” and “that,” which are
essential to meaning.

Q65 The attention span of a dolphin is greater than ________ of a chimpanzee

Q66 The requirements of a medical degree are more stringent than ________ of a law
degree.
Q67 Like ________________________ many politicians, the senator’s promises
sounded good but ultimately led to nothing.
 Rule: “Like” is used with phrases; “as” is used with clauses. A “phrase” is a
group of related words that doesn’t have both a subject and a verb; a
“clause” is a group of related words that does have a subject and a verb.
An easier way to remember the difference is to simply say, “A phrase is a
group of words which doesn’t have a verb; a clause is a group of words
which does have a verb.”

Q68 No one hits home runs (as / like) Barry Bonds.

Q69 No one pitches (as / like) Roy Halladay does.

Verb Tenses
Rule: Consistent use of verb tenses generally requires that a single
sentence be written solely in the present, past, or future tense.

Q70 My dog barks when he (sees / saw) my neighbor’s cat.

Q71 Yesterday afternoon, smoke (fills / filled) the sky and sirens sounded.

Q72 Tomorrow, we (will go / will have gone) to the football game.

Rule: The present perfect tense employs the verbs “has” or “have.” The
past perfect tense employs the auxiliary “had.” The future perfect tense
employs the verb form “will have.”

Q73 We are raising money for the new scholarship fund. So far we (raised / have raised
/had raised) ₱25,000.

Q74 By the time I began playing golf, I (played / had played) tennis for three hours.
Q75 Larry (studied / has studied/ had studied) Russian for five years before he went to
work in Moscow.

Q76 By the time evening arrives, we (finished / had finished / will have finished) the task
at hand.
Rule: The subjunctive mood uses the verb “were” instead of “was.” The subjunctive
mood is used to indicate a hypothetical situation—it may express a wish, doubt, or
possibility. It is also used to indicate a contrary-to-fact situation.

Q77 Sometimes she wishes she (was / were) on a tropical island having a drink at
sunset.

Q78 If I (was / were) you, I would be feeling quite optimistic.

Rule: Conditional statements are most commonly expressed in an “If…

then” format, in which case an “if” clause is followed by a “results” clause.
Confusion often arises as to whether to use “will” or “would.” The choice
between these verb forms depends on whether a given conditional
statement involves the subjunctive. For situations involving the
subjunctive, the appropriate verb form is “would”; for situations not
involving the subjunctive, the verb form is “will.” A helpful hint is that
“would” is often used in conjunction with “were”—the appearance of both
these words within the same sentence is the telltale sign of the
subjunctive.

Q79 If economic conditions further deteriorate, public confidence (will / would) plummet.

Q80 If economic conditions were to further deteriorate, public confidence (will / would)
plummet.

Q81 If my taxes are less than $10,000, I (will / would) pay that amount immediately.
Q82 If oil (was / were) still abundant, there (will / would) be no energy crisis.

Diction Review
Choose the answer that conforms to the proper use of diction.

Q83 (A) Everyone of the makeup exams is tough, but anyone who misses a scheduled
test with good cause is entitled to write one.
(B) Every one of the makeup exams is tough, but anyone who misses a scheduled test
with good cause is entitled to write one.

(C) Every one of the makeup exams is tough, but any one who misses a scheduled test
with good cause is entitled to write one.

Q84 (A) The green book, that is on the top shelf, is the one you need for math. The
book which is red is the one you need for writing.
(B) The green book, which is on the top shelf, is the one you need for math. The book
that is red is the one you need for writing.
(C) The green book, which is on the top shelf, is the one you need for math. The book
which is red is the one you need for writing.

Q85 (A) Let’s cherish the poem “In Flanders Fields.” Remembering those who fought
for our freedom lets us live easier.
B) Lets cherish the poem “In Flanders Fields.” Remembering those who fought for our
freedom let’s us live easier.
(C) Let’s cherish the poem “In Flanders Fields.” Remembering those who fought for our
freedom let’s us live easier.

Q86 (A) Once we turn these dreaded assignments into the professor’s office, we’ll feel
a lot less obliged to pass any information onto our classmates. (B) Once we turn these
dreaded assignments into the professor’s office, we’ll feel a lot less obliged to pass any
information on to our classmates.
(C) Once we turn these dreaded assignments in to the professor’s office, we’ll feel a lot
less obliged to pass any information on to our classmates.
Q87 (A) The McCorkendales didn’t used to enjoy warm weather, but that was before
they moved to Morocco and got used to summer temperatures as high as 35
degrees Celsius.
(B) The McCorkendales didn’t use to enjoy warm weather, but that was before they
moved to Morocco and got use to summer temperatures as high as 35 degrees Celsius.
(C) The McCorkendales didn’t use to enjoy warm weather, but that was before they
moved to Morocco and got used to summer temperatures as high as 35 degrees
Celsius. Idioms Review Idioms, like grammar and diction, are correct or incorrect, right
or wrong. Here are fifteen common idioms.

Q88 (A) A choice must be made between blue and green.

(B) A choice must be made between blue or green.

Q89 (A) Many doctors consider stress a more destructive influence on one’s longevity
than smoking, drinking, or overeating.
(B) Many doctors consider stress as a more destructive influence on one’s
longevity than smoking, drinking, or overeating.
(C) Many doctors consider stress to be a more destructive influence on one’s
longevity than smoking, drinking, or overeating.

Q90 (A) At first women were considered at low risk for HIV.
(B) At first women were considered as at low risk for HIV.
(C) At first women were considered to be at low risk for HIV.

Q91 (A) Many credit Gutenberg as having invented the printing press.
(B) Many credit Gutenberg with having invented the printing press.

Q92 (A) In the movie Silence of the Lambs, Dr. Hannibal Lecter is depicted as a
brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer who is confined as much by the steel
bars of his cell as by the prison of his own manufacture.
(B) In the movie Silence of the Lambs, Dr. Hannibal Lecter is depicted to be a brilliant
psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer who is confined as much by the steel bars of
his cell as by the prison of his own manufacture.

Q93 (A) Only experts can distinguish a masterpiece and a fake.

(B) Only experts can distinguish a masterpiece from a fake.

Q94 (A) Although medical practitioners have the technology to perform brain
transplants, there is no clear evidence that they can do it.
(B) Although medical practitioners have the technology to perform brain
transplants, there is no clear evidence that they can do so.

Q95 (A) In comparison to France, Luxembourg is an amazingly small country.

(B) In comparison with France, Luxembourg is an amazingly small country.

Q96 (A) Pete Sampras won Wimbledon with a classic tennis style, in contrast to Bjorn
Borg, who captured his titles using an unorthodox playing style.
(B) Pete Sampras won Wimbledon with a classic tennis style, in contrast with Bjorn
Borg, who captured his titles using an unorthodox playing style.
Q97 (A) There is more talk of a single North American currency today compared to ten
years ago.
(B) There is more talk of a single North American currency today compared with ten
years ago. (C) There is more talk of a single North American currency today than ten
years ago.

Q98 (A) I prefer blackjack over poker.

(B) I prefer blackjack to poker.

Q99 (A) Rembrandt is regarded as the greatest painter of the Renaissance period.
(B) Rembrandt is regarded to be the greatest painter of the Renaissance period.
Q100 (A) The author does a good job of tying motivational theory to obtainable results.
(B) The author does a good job of tying motivational theory with obtainable results.
Rule: Whenever a sentence opens with a phrase or clause that is set off
by a comma, check to make sure that the first word that follows the
comma is properly being modified by the opening phrase or clause
that precedes it. Incorrect: In addition to building organizational skills,
the summer internship also helped me hone my team-building skills.

MODULE 3
Common Errors
Knowledge of grammar and vocabulary both are essential for confident and fluent use
of English language. Enhancement of skills of the students is necessary for them to
perform communicative tasks in pursuing college studies, in performing tasks which
includes such classroom activities as listening in lectures, note taking, participating in
class discussions, reading and comprehending not only textbooks but also
reading professional journals and organizing thoughts in writing and doing researches.
Standards in English and as far as possible, use grammatically, logically, and
meaningfully correct English are needed to improve and be proficient in English.

Have a read of the below list and we are sure you will find a lot of helpful tips to improve
your English!

100 things you can do to improve your English

1. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be confident. People can only correct your
mistakes when they hear you make them.
2. Surround yourself in English. Put yourself in an all English speaking environment
where you can learn passively. The best way to learn is through speaking.
3. Practise every day. Make yourself a study plan. Decide how much time a week you
are going to spend studying and stick to it. Establish a routine.
4. Tell your family and friends about your study plan. Get them to push you to study
and also don’t let them interrupt you.
5. Practice the 4 core skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. They all need to
be worked on for you to improve.
6. Keep a notebook of new words you learn. Use them in sentences and try to say
them at least 3 times when you speak.
7. Do a lesson at least once a day.
8. Memorization of lists is one of the most common ways of learning
vocabulary for a test. It’s only a good exercise for short term studying because you often
do not retain the information that you have learned for a test.
9. Use your body clock. If you’re not a morning person, study in the afternoon.
10. You will find words easier to remember if you try to remember an example sentence
using that word rather the word on its own.
11. Plan to take a test. You’ll find that you work harder when you need to study for
something.
12. Saying that, it’s better not to study just to take a test. Think of the bigger picture.
What can you do when you have a good command of English? How will the quality of
your life improve?
13. Give yourself a long term goal. Focus on working towards it.
14. Give yourself short term goals too and reward yourself when you achieve each one.
15. Create an atmosphere in which you want to learn, not because you have to. You’ll
learn more when you’re learning because you want to.
16. Know what works best for you. Think about what methods have been successful for
you in the past and stick with them.
17. Figure out how you learn. It can be by memorising, reading, speaking, summarising
or other methods. Find out how you study best. It can be in a quiet place by yourself or
with a group.
18. Get help! If you don’t understand something you’ve got to ask someone. Ask your
teacher, classmates or friends for help.
19. Review and review and review! Make sure that you take the time to review things
you have studied in the past.
20. It’s not a good idea to study on your own for more than 30 minutes at a time. Take
regular breaks, get some fresh air and stretch your legs.
21. Don’t be in such a hurry to move up a level. Concentrate on the level you are at
now.
22. Watch DVDs rather than TV. It’s better to use something that you can watch over
again to catch information you might have missed the first time.
23. Watching TV only gives you the chance to hear something correctly first time. This
is better for high level students. It can be great practice for speaking to native English
speakers so you don’t have to ask them to repeat themselves!
24. Read graded readers. These books are especially written for your level. Read a
whole novel. You can do it! You’ll feel great afterwards.
25. Children’s books have easier words and are a good alternative to graded readers.
26. Newspapers are a good place to find passive constructs. Read through an article
and see if you can find the passive sentences.
27. Read for the general meaning first. Don’t worry about understanding every word,
then go back and look up new words.
28. For a word you don’t understand in a sentence, look at the other words around it.
They will give you a hint. Try to guess the meaning from the context.
29. Learn root words. They’ll help you guess the meaning of words. For example: scrib
= write, min = small
30. When you learn a new word, think of all its other forms: Beautiful (adjective),beauty
(noun), beautifully (adverb).
31. Learn prefixes (dis-, un-, re-) and suffixes (-ly, -ment, -ful), these will help you to
figure out the meaning of words and build your vocabulary.
32. English, unlike Japanese or French, uses word stress. For new words, count the
syllables and find where the stress is. Only one stress per word and always on a vowel.
Two syllable verbs have a stress on the second syllable (beGIN). 2 syllable nouns
(TEAcher) and adjectives (HAPpy) stress the first.
33. Use English whenever you can. It’s as simple as that!
34. Don’t translate into English from your own language. Think in English to improve
your fluency. Talk to yourself…but not on the bus otherwise people will think you have
gone crazy!
35. You can’t learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you can only learn through
doing it.
36. The most natural way to learn grammar is through talking.
37. Keep an English diary or journal. Start by writing a few sentences a day and then
get into the habit of writing more.
38. Why not start an online blog and share your writings with the world?
39. To become a better writer brainstorm as many ideas and thoughts onto paper
without worrying about grammar or spelling. Then think about the structure. After that,
write your piece using good grammar and spelling. Finally, read it through or give it to
someone else to check for mistakes.
40. Keep an eye on your punctuation as it can totally change what you’re trying to say.
Check out the difference in meaning between these two sentences: “A woman without
her man is nothing” and “A woman: without her, man is nothing”.
41. Sing your heart out! Show the world your beautiful voice! Learn English songs and
sing along with them to improve fluency and intonation… anyone for Karaoke?
42. Get a penfriend or use chat-rooms, forums and community sites. If you can’t speak
to someone in English, this is the next best thing.
43. Shadow English CDs. Listen to a few sentences then repeat what you heard. Focus
on the rhythm and intonation.
44. Have English radio on in your house. Even if you are not actively listening to it, you
will still be training your ears.
45. Mirror CDs. Read out loud along with a CD. Again, this is great for intonation,
pronunciation and rhythm.
46. Dictation. Listen to a CD or friend and write down what you hear.
47. Nobody likes to hear their own voice, but be brave and try it! Record your voice and
listen to your pronunciation and intonation. It will help you to identify your problem
areas.
48. Ask your helpful teacher if you can record his lesson. This is a great way to review.
You can also listen to your teachers speaking speed and intonation.
49. Use an English/English dictionary as it will help you to keep thinking in English and
not translating.
50. If an English/English dictionary seems scary, there are learner’s dictionaries for
English students of your level.
51. Don’t become too reliant on your dictionary. Your dictionary should be an aid, not
your main teacher. Try to guess the meaning of words rather than going straight for your
dictionary.
52. Don’t give up! Stay positive! Sometimes you will feel that you aren’t learning quickly
enough. Everyone feels like this, don’t worry about it. You’ll get there in the end.
53. Enjoy it! We learn more when we are having fun!
54. If you get nervous when speaking, take two deep breaths before you say
something. You’ll speak better when you feel relaxed.
55. Keep yourself motivated by looking back at the textbooks and CDs you used in the
past. You’ll be surprised at how easy they seem to you now! Congratulations, your level
is improving!
56. You are never too young or too old to start learning English. Don’t make excuses
not to learn. What are you waiting for?
57. Procrastination can stop you from being successful. To stop procrastinating, it’s
important you understand if your procrastinating is to avoid studying, or if it is your bad
habit.
58. If you haven’t gotten the results you wanted yet, it’s not because you’re bad at
languages, it’s because you haven’t found your own special way of learning yet.
59. Use resources which match your level. Don’t use texts/listening exercises which are
too difficult or too easy. Use materials which challenge you but don’t frustrate you.
60. Don’t worry about making your accent perfect. It’s an important part of your cultural
identity to keep your accent. Native English speakers enjoy hearing English spoken with
an accent.

61. There are many types of English: British, American, South African and so on. None
of these are wrong or not as important. English is English.
62. Instead, be aware of the differences in American and British English and use your
words accordingly. For example: Elevator (US) / Lift (British).
63. Carry cue cards with you. These are small cards which you can write new words
on. You can pull them out and look at them whenever you a free minute.
64. Use post-it notes and stick them around your home. You can use them to label
things. Stick one on your pet dog!
65. You can’t ignore phrasal verbs (two words verbs), there are hundreds of them in
English and they’re widely used. The more you focus on their meaning, the more you’ll
be able to guess the meaning of new ones. You’ll start to recognise their patterns.
66. Use your intuition. Go with your gut feeling, you’ll be surprised how often your first
guess is the right guess. Like we said before, be confident.
67. Gather your thoughts. Take a second to think about what you’re going to say. You
know the grammar, but maybe you don’t use it correctly when you speak.
68. Meet new people. Make the effort to mix with English speakers in your town. You
could join a club or go to bars where foreigners hang out. Buy one a drink, they love
that!
69. Be the person to start conversations in English. Try to keep the conversations
moving and use listening words (‘really?’ / ‘go on…’/ ‘what happened then?’) Don’t wait
for others to speak to you. Get in there!
70. Debate. Discuss topics in a group. Each person should choose a viewpoint (even if
you don’t agree with it) and debate it within the group. Make sure you get your point
across. Learn to listen actively. Active listening will help in the classroom and it will help
you get more out of, and contribute more to, group study sessions. Focus on the person
who is talking. Concentrate on the speaker with your ears and eyes.
71. It’s not enough to only learn English words. You can teach a parrot English words
but that doesn’t mean it can speak English! You still need to have an understanding of
grammar.
72. Verb tenses are used by English speakers to talk about the timing of actions. You
might not have the same expressions in your own language. It’s important that you
know these tenses and when to use them.
73. English has many irregular verbs. You should drill yourself on them.
74. Keep it up! If you take a break from speaking English, you will find that your level
decreases and all your hard work has been wasted.
75. Don’t be put off by a bad test score. Sometimes students have the ability to pass an
English test, but can’t communicate well with English speakers. If you can speak freely
in English, you should be proud of yourself.
76. Remember that as long as you have tried your hardest, you have succeeded!
77. Learn English with a friend. You’ll have someone you can practice with and you can
motivate each other to study.
78. Remember, the way we write English is not the same as how it’s pronounced. For
example ‘Ough’ has over 6 pronunciations. Familiarise yourself the Phonetic Alphabet.
It will help you correctly pronounce words in the dictionary.
79. Get used to the ‘schwa’ sound [É™] — an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel
sound. ‘Schwa’ is the most common vowel sound in English. For example, the ‘a‘
inabout and the ‘u‘ in supply.
80. Keep in mind that it takes longer to improve when our level is high. Usually the
fastest progress is made when we are beginners. Don’t think that you’re suddenly not
learning anymore, it’s just a less noticeable progress.
81. Make sure that your English matches the occasion. It’s OK to use slang with friends
but not in a business meeting. Decide in which situation it’s appropriate to use the
words and phrases you have learned.
82. Textbook English is often different from the way we casually speak. To learn casual
‘slang’ watch movies.
83. Idioms can be difficult to memorise, but they are great fun to use and they’ll
makeyour English more colourful.
84. When talking we usually link words together so that two words can sound like one.
Simply put, we link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a
vowel sound (consonant > vowel). We link words ending with a vowel sound to words
beginning with a vowel sound (vowel > vowel). Practice these to improve your listening
and pronunciation.
85. Make use of the internet. It’s full of resources to help you learn: BBC Learning

English ; learnenglish.ecenglish.com
86. Think about your strong and weak points. Write down which areas you want to
improve on and work on improving them. Of course, don’t ignore your strong points.
Congratulate yourself on how well you’ve done!
87. Unlearn your mistakes. You probably make the same grammar mistakes over and
over again. Use English tests results as a study tool. Go over your mistakes and choose
one or two that you want to focus on. Use your favourite grammar book to check rules.
88. Use the correct article (a/an, the). Be aware that there is more to this rule than
a/an= non specific, the=specific. For example: A university (not an university because it
begins with a consonant sound). An hour (not a hour because the ‘h’ is often silent).
89. For fluency, try image training. Before you go to that restaurant think through what
the waiter is likely to say to you. Think of what phrases you are going to use.
90. Much communication comes through body language and gesture. These can be
different between cultures and countries. For example, the two-fingered “V” for victory
symbol is fine palms-out. If you make it with you palm facing toward you, you’ll offend a
British person. It means…well, you ask a British person and find out for yourself!
91. The easiest one — Sleep! You’ll learn more after a good night’s sleep. You’ll be
able to concentrate more.
92. Take an English course in an English speaking country.
93. If you studying abroad, mix with people from other countries not only people from
your own country. It’s not a good idea for you to live in a shared house with people from
your own country. Enjoy a more cultural experience by spending time with other
nationalities.
94. Have you thought about getting a job or doing an internship abroad?
95. Get yourself a qualified teacher. Who wants to learn wrong things?
96. Nobody can learn all of the English language. No need to worry about trying. A
useful shortcut to learning is that in English we have lots of words that have the same
pronunciation, but a different spelling and meaning. For example, ‘come here’ has the
same pronunciation as, ‘I can hear the birds’. You might find it easier to build vocabulary
by knowing the different meanings.
97. Once you have a basic level of English explore the different ways you can say the
same thing. This makes your English more interesting to the listener andit shouldn’t be
too difficult for you because you already know the basics. For example, how many ways
can we say, ‘Goodbye‘ in English?
98. When you are on your English course, be prepared for your class. Do your
homework as soon as possible and hand it in on time. Review your notes and your last
lesson a few minutes before the class. Doing this will refresh your memory and you’ll be
warmed up for lesson.
99. Don’t get distracted in class. Focus on the lesson, don’t stare out of the window.
Don’t be late, arrive a few minutes before the start of the lesson. Don’t sit next to people
who won’t speak to you in English. Switch off your phone. Be organized, remember to
take your textbook, notebook and pen.
100. Find a comfortable, peaceful place for quiet study. You need somewhere where
you can focus 100%.

Activity 1:
Read each item carefully, tick (/) the items or numbers which is workable with you,
asterisk (*) items challenging and you can probably try, cross (X) out number which
seems difficult or impossible for you to do

Common Errors in English

Let us now develop outstanding grammar skills primarily by mastering a limited number
of the most important grammar rules, the recurring grammar problems which students
use over and over.

This part will provide a highly distilled review of grammar, diction, and idioms. The
segments address grammar and is built on the “big six” grammar categories: subject-
verb agreement, modification, pronoun usage, parallelism, comparisons, and verb
tenses. The grammar categories provide a way to break grammar into those areas
where errors are most likely to occur.
Go over the following pairs of sentences, the first sentence stated incorrectly and the
second as the corrected one followed by a short explanation. Read and remember by
heart the grammar rules involved.

Be ready for a Quiz next meeting!

Incorrect: I am having four brothers and three sisters.
Correct: I have four brothers and three sisters.
Present continuous tense cannot be used for pragmatic situations such as this. Simple
present tense should be used.

Incorrect: He do not have a laptop.

Correct: He does not have a laptop.
Do not should not be used after the subject pronoun (He, She, It).

Incorrect: Does she has a car?

Correct: Does she have a car?
The helping verb does is used at the beginning and the main verb have denotes
possession or ownership.

Incorrect: (Question) "Today office is there?" (Answer) "No office is not there. Today is
Bharat bandh."
Correct: (Question) "Is today a working day?" OR "Are we working today?" (Answer)
"Yes we are working today or no we are not working today."

Incorrect: That only, she is very arrogant.

Correct: That was what I said. She is very arrogant.
Saying "That only" was the wrong way to emphasize what the speaker has already said.

Incorrect: Last before year she got very good marks. Correct: Year before last she got
good marks.
Phrases that can be used: Month before last, Day before last, Week before last.

Incorrect: He did not wrote the test last week.

Correct: He did not write the test last week.
The helping verb 'did' is followed by the present tense of the verb and not the past tense
form.

Incorrect: I cannot cope up with this pressure.

Correct: I cannot cope with this pressure.
The meaning of the verb cope is to manage. 'Cope' is followed by the preposition 'with',
and never followed by 'up'. Even professionals commit this error.

Incorrect: I came to office by walk.

Correct: I came to office on foot.
We can say "by car", "by bike", "by bus", "by train" and "by flight". However, we cannot
say "by walk", as it is the "foot" which is being used to travel and not "walk".

Incorrect: What is the time in your watch?

Correct: What is the time by your watch?

Incorrect: Our classroom is in the 2nd floor.

Correct: Our classroom is on the 2nd floor.

Incorrect: The price of this mobile phone is higher than yours.

Correct: The price of this mobile phone is higher than that of yours. While comparing
two individuals/things than is followed by the pronoun that.

Incorrect: His son-in-laws have come home.

Correct: His sons-in-law have come home.
In plural form, it is always mothers-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law.

Incorrect: He has white hairs.

Correct: He has grey hair.
All the hair on one's head is considered uncountable and so, "hairs" is almost always
incorrect.

Incorrect: I prefer coffee than tea.

Correct: I prefer coffee to tea.
'Prefer' is always followed by the preposition 'to'.

Incorrect: The girl wants to get herself married.

Correct: The girl wants to get married.

Incorrect: This option is preferable than any other.

Correct: This option is preferable to any other.

Incorrect: Women commit less crimes than men.

Correct: Women commit fewer crimes than men.

Incorrect: I want a little quantity of milk.

Correct: I want a small quantity of milk.
Incorrect: Give a literally translation of the passage.
Correct: Give a literal translation of the passage.

Incorrect: Life is long if you know how use it.

Correct: Life is long if you know how to use it.

Incorrect: Don’t go in the sun.

Correct: Don’t go out in the sun.

Incorrect: I know him good.

Correct: I know him well.

Incorrect: They had no sooner arrived then they were arguing.

Correct: They had no sooner arrived than they were arguing.

Incorrect: He asked me that why I had not gone to the party.

Correct: He asked me why I had not gone to the party.

Incorrect: My sister’s all the books have been stolen.

Correct: All my sister’s books have been stolen.

Incorrect: On what you are here ?

Correct: What are you here for ?

Incorrect: Tell me why did you do that ?

Correct: Tell me why you did that.

Incorrect: I, you and he will do it together.

Correct: You, he and I will do it together.

Incorrect: Exercise is good both for work as well as health.

Correct: Exercise is good for work as well as health.

Incorrect: She did a request for some water.

Correct: She made a request for some water.

Incorrect: Open the last but one page of the book.

Correct: Open the last page but one of the book.

Incorrect: I am in favor to stop work now.

Correct: I am in favor of stopping work now.
Incorrect: Those who are absent, I shall punish them.
Correct: I shall punish those who are absent.

Incorrect: I’m really excited to good news from you.

Correct: I’m really excited to get your good news

Incorrect: I feel myself feverish.

Correct: I feel feverish.

Incorrect: He made an excuse to be late.

Correct: He made an excuse for being late.

Incorrect: He rose equal to the occasion.

Correct: He was equal to the occasion.

Incorrect: Are your work busy?

Correct: Do you have a busy job?

Incorrect: She left a bit in a hurry.

Correct: She left in a bit of a hurry.

Incorrect: I’ll date her out this Friday.

Correct: I’ll take her out on a date this Friday.

URS-IM-AA-CI-0175 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020

Incorrect: If someday we meet, would we again start?
Correct: If someday we meet, would we start again?

Incorrect: I am difficult to learn Chinese.

Correct: It is difficult for me to learn Chinese.

Incorrect: Thailand is coming into rainy weather.

Correct: Thailand is in the rainy season now.

Incorrect: What time of a day now in your country?

Correct: What is the time now in your country?

Incorrect: You can try it more…

Correct: You can try a few times…

Incorrect: He went to abroad to further his study.

Correct: He went abroad to further his study.
Incorrect: Today, I’ll cut my hair.
Correct: I’ll have my hair cut today.

Incorrect: Did China come into rain season?

Correct: Is it the rainy season in China?

Incorrect: How was your sleeping yesterday?

Correct: Did you have a good sleep yesterday?

Incorrect: Why don’t stay more time here?

Correct: Why don’t you stay a little longer?

Incorrect: You like ice cream, isn’t it?

Correct: You like ice cream, don’t you?

Incorrect: It is a high pay job.

Correct: It is a high-paying job.

Incorrect: I can’t get over how you look well.

Correct: I can’t get over how well you look.

Incorrect: How much is the temperature?

Correct: What is the temperature?

Incorrect: Don’t feel anger with me !!! I’m just kidding.

Correct: Don’t be mad at me !!! I’m just kidding.

Incorrect: I have been abroad 10 years

URS-IM-AA-CI-0175 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020

Correct: I have been abroad for 10 years.

Incorrect: How does he like ?

Correct: What does he look like ?

Incorrect: Lilian is living far away with China.

Correct: Lilian is living far away from China.

Incorrect: Are you a saler, Jame?

Correct: Are you a salesman, Jame?

Incorrect: Which kind of that car?

Correct: Which type of car is that ?
Incorrect: How are you this week ?
Correct: How have you been this week ?

Incorrect: There’s an exceptional to every rule.

Correct: There’s an exception to every rule.

Incorrect: How can I explain if you keep to but in?

Correct: How can I explain if you keep butting in?

Incorrect: I’ll go out after the dinner.

Correct: I’ll go out after dinner.

Incorrect: We make the bread with the flour.

Correct: We make bread with flour.

Incorrect: The experience is the mother of wisdom.

Correct: Experience is the mother of wisdom.

Incorrect: He has decided to step down as the captain of the team.

Correct: He has decided to step down as captain of the team.

Incorrect: Never tell tales out of the school.

Correct: Never tell tales out of school.

Incorrect: They study in the England.

Correct: They study in England.

Incorrect: More people today die of the cancer.

Correct: More people today die of cancer.

Incorrect: I like to play the football.

Correct: I like to play football.
Incorrect: The pink is my favorite color.
Correct: Pink is my favorite color.

Incorrect: Although it’s raining, but she still go out.

Correct: Although it’s raining, she still goes out.

Incorrect: You may not realize that how important time is.
Correct: You may not realize how important time is.

Incorrect: Linda’s work is more perfect than Jamie’s.

Correct: Lind’s work is better than/superior to Jamie’s.

Incorrect: I don’t have enough money to buy new bicycle.

Correct: I don’t have enough money to buy a new bicycle.

Incorrect: Why do you need hundred dollars ?

Correct: Why do you need a hundred dollars ?

Incorrect: He has good knowledge of English grammar.

Correct: He has a good knowledge of English grammar.

Incorrect: I often go to theater on the weekend.

Correct: I often go to the theater on the weekend.

Incorrect: Your advice is great significance.

Correct: Your advice is of great significance.

Incorrect: The event is bound to attracting wide press coverage .

Correct: The event is bound to attract wide press coverage .

Incorrect: Please persuade him don’t do that.

Correct: Please persuade him not to do that.

Incorrect: I saw them to work.

Correct: I saw them work.

Incorrect: She looks cheerfully today.

Correct: Shelley looks cheerful today.

Incorrect: The lights his room’s are on.

Correct: The lights of his room are on.

Incorrect: Either of the plans are equally dangerous.

Correct: Either of the plans is equally dangerous.
Incorrect: Don’t pretend to not recognize me.
Correct: Don’t pretend not to recognize me.

Incorrect: He neither has talent nor the desire to learn.

Correct: He has neither talent nor the desire to learn.

Incorrect: Only I and my friend were at the concert.

Correct: Only my friend and I were at the concert.
Incorrect: Lizzie approached me and held my hand, say, “Hello !”
Correct: Lizzie approached me, held my hand, and said, “Hello !”

Incorrect: She found difficult to sustain the children’s interest.

Correct: She found it difficult to sustain the children’s interest.

Incorrect: I would have made a big fault only you advised.

Correct: I would have made a big mistake only you advised.

Incorrect: He goes better every day.

Correct: He gets better every day.

Incorrect: I’ve passed the hearing test with a high score.

Correct: I’ve passed a listening test with a high score.

Incorrect: It was still bright outside.

Correct: It was still light outside.

Incorrect: Who cooked this salad ?

Correct: Who made this salad ?

Incorrect: Different from me, she is proficient in Chinese.

Correct: Unlike me, she is proficient in Chinese.

Incorrect: Little children are difficult to understand that.

Correct: It is difficult for children to understand that.

Incorrect: Don’t step in the grass.

Correct: Keep off the grass.

Incorrect: I get my salary twice a month.

Correct: I get paid twice a month..

Incorrect: Would you like to drink ?

Correct: Would you like something to drink?

Incorrect: What do you expect in a pig but a grunt?

Correct: What do you expect from a pig but a grunt?

Incorrect: I forget my hat in the house.

Correct: I left my hat in the house.

Incorrect: Be careful or you’ll have a cold.

Correct: Be careful or you’ll catch a cold.

Incorrect: The head office is in Tokyo.

Correct: The main office is in Tokyo.

Incorrect: He cannot read and write.

Correct: He cannot read or write.

Incorrect: This is the way how I made it.

Correct: This is how I made it.

Incorrect: I introduce Mr. Smith to you !

Correct: May I introduce Mr. Smith to you !

Incorrect: Do you have any pencil? Yes I have it .

Correct: Do you have a pencil ? Yes, I have one.

Incorrect: She is wearing blue jeans pants.

Correct: She is wearing blue jeans.

Incorrect: Last night I didn’t keep my diary.

Correct: Last night I didn’t write anything in my diary.

Incorrect: He made a world record.

Correct: He set a world record.

Incorrect: The class’s students are 55.

Correct: There are 55 students in the class.

Incorrect: I don’t even understand my mind.

Correct: I don’t even understand what I was thinking.

Incorrect: I felt good mood today.

Correct: I am in a good mood today.

Incorrect: My watch doesn’t move at all.

Correct: My watch isn’t running.

Incorrect: We moved house to Johor last month.

Correct: We moved to Johor last month.
Incorrect: He is our common friend.
Correct: He is our mutual friend.
Incorrect: It was my first time to go abroad.
Correct: It was the first time I had gone abroad.

Incorrect: It is not of only your business.

Correct: It is none of your business.

Incorrect: I do anything I can for you.

Correct: I will do anything I can for you.

Incorrect: You should describe what has happened detailly.

Correct: You should describe what has happened in detail.

Incorrect: It happened a few minutes before.

Correct: It happened a few minutes ago.

Incorrect: Where is the capital of Japan.

Correct: What is the capital of Japan?

Incorrect: Which of these two shirts do you prefer more.

Correct: Which of these two shirts do you prefer?

Incorrect: I’ve got many homeworks for this week.

Correct: I’ve got a lot of homework for this week.

Incorrect: I am sorry to have kept you waited.

Correct: I am sorry to have kept you waiting.

Incorrect: There is a stranger knock at the door.

Correct: There is a stranger knocking at the door.

Incorrect: After dinner, my mother suggested to go for a walk.

Correct: After dinner, my mother suggested going for a walk.

Incorrect: Would you mind to give me a hand?

Correct: Would you mind giving me a hand?

Incorrect: I am married next month.

Correct: I will get married next month.

Incorrect: You can sit my next seat.

Correct: You can sit next to me.

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Incorrect: He is our common friend.
Correct: He is our mutual friend.

Incorrect: It was my first time to go abroad.

Correct: It was the first time I had gone abroad.

Incorrect: It is not of only your business.

Correct: It is none of your business.

Incorrect: I do anything I can for you.

Correct: I will do anything I can for you.

Incorrect: You should describe what has happened detailly.

Correct: You should describe what has happened in detail.

Incorrect: It happened a few minutes before.

Correct: It happened a few minutes ago.

Incorrect: Where is the capital of Japan.

Correct: What is the capital of Japan?

Incorrect: Which of these two shirts do you prefer more.

Correct: Which of these two shirts do you prefer?

Incorrect: I’ve got many homeworks for this week.

Correct: I’ve got a lot of homework for this week.

Incorrect: I am sorry to have kept you waited.

Correct: I am sorry to have kept you waiting.

Incorrect: There is a stranger knock at the door.

Correct: There is a stranger knocking at the door.

Incorrect: After dinner, my mother suggested to go for a walk.

Correct: After dinner, my mother suggested going for a walk.

Incorrect: Would you mind to give me a hand?

Correct: Would you mind giving me a hand?

Incorrect: I am married next month.

Correct: I will get married next month.
Incorrect: You can sit my next seat.
Correct: You can sit next to me.
Incorrect: Where are you come from ?
Correct: Where do you come from ?

Incorrect: Bill’s no afraid to express his opinions.

Correct: Bill’s not afraid to express his opinions.

Incorrect: His life could dangerous.

Correct: His life could be in danger.

Incorrect: Joanna was painful when her boyfriend left her.

Correct: Joanna was in pain when her boyfriend left her.

Incorrect: We are necessary to keep these two issues distinct.

Correct: It is necessary to keep these two issues distinct.

Incorrect: Lorna likes the kitten. I like it either.

Correct: Lorna likes the kitten. I like it too.

Incorrect: I will go but I have not finished my homework too.

Correct: I will go but I have not finished my homework yet.

Incorrect: Veronica is a hard student.

Correct: Veronica is a hard-working student

Incorrect: I have never tried on so a nice dress.

Correct: I have never tried on such a nice dress.

Incorrect: Please give me a detail schedule of the meeting.

Correct: Please give me a detailed schedule of the meeting.

Incorrect: I like orange.

Correct: I like oranges.

Incorrect: One hour are much too long for me to wait!

Correct: One hour is much too long for me to wait!

Incorrect: The manager and the secretary was out.

Correct: The manager and the secretary were out.

Incorrect: Neither I nor you clean the board.

Correct: Neither I nor you cleans the board.
Incorrect: Many people prefer to buy Malaysia products.
Correct: Many people prefer to buy Malaysian products.

Incorrect: My cousin dead in that accident.

Correct: My cousin died in that accident.

Incorrect: She bought two photos albums.

Correct: She bought two photo albums.

Incorrect: He has three son-in-laws.

Correct: He has three sons-in-law.

Incorrect: Do you like to play the volleyball?

Correct: Do you like to play volleyball?

Incorrect: I looked at me in the mirror.

Correct: I looked at myself in the mirror.

Incorrect: James is a matured man of forty.

Correct: James is a mature man of forty.

Incorrect: Your writing needs to be improving.

Correct: Your writing needs to be improved.

Incorrect: Since that incident, I followed my friend’s advice.

Correct: Since that incident, I have followed my friend’s advice.

Incorrect: I think I will never find someone as you.

Correct: I think I will never find someone like you.

Incorrect: I do not know why did this happen.

Correct: I do not know why this happened.

Incorrect: Why the postman did not come today ?

Correct: Why didn’t the postman come today ?

Incorrect: We’ll get down at the next bus stop.

Correct: We’ll get off at the next bus stop.

Incorrect: The shop is opened every day.

Correct: The shop is open every day.

Incorrect: The gold is a kind of precious metal.

Correct: Gold is a kind of precious metal.

Incorrect: She is taller compared to me.

Correct: She is taller than me.
Incorrect: I’ll give to you soon.
Correct: I’ll give it to you soon.

Incorrect: Thanks for giving me useful advices.

Correct: Thanks for giving me useful advice.

Incorrect: Thanks for giving me useful advices.

Correct: Thanks for giving me useful advice.

Incorrect: Why don’t you take a driving license?

Correct: Why don’t you get a driving license?

Incorrect: Get up early is good for one’s health.

Correct: Getting up early is good for one’s health.

Incorrect: My father will be home today afternoon.

Correct: My father will be home this afternoon.

Incorrect: I very love drawing.

Correct: I love drawing very much.

Incorrect: What of season do you like best?

Correct: Which season do you like best?
Chapter 2 Listening
Listening Skills Enhancement

Modules Introduction

People actually engage in more listening activities than they engage in reading for the
purpose of extracting, understanding and evaluating information. Listening skills will
develop only when students have an opportunity to hear English being spoken in natural
contexts. Because a child’s home environment may not offer such a context, it is
important to include classroom activities where students can listen to samples of oral
English that represent or recreate real-life uses of English.
To realize the importance of listening, we consider that it occupies about 45% of the
time adults spend in communication. This is significantly more than speaking, which
accounts for 30 per cent, reading 16 % and writing 9%. Remarkable as learners often
say that listening is the most challenging of all the skills in English.
Contributing factors having difficulty in listening include the speaker talking quickly,
background noise, a lack of visual clues (such as on the telephone), the listener’s
limited vocabulary, a lack of knowledge of the topic, and an inability to distinguish
individual sounds. One of the best ways to learn a language well and to do well on the
test is to use English in real life.
This unit showed some ways to understand common language functions so that
students can respond appropriately. Listening strategies such as understanding
directions, distinguishing between facts and opinions, understanding the speaker’s
purpose, etc., are some of the techniques involved in effective listening. Students need
exposure to authentic samples of language — that is, the language used in real life —
to prepare themselves to communicate effectively outside the classroom. The activities
and resources included in this unit are meant to show students how best to use English
in real-life situations.
There are 3 Listening Modules in the Listening section, you'll get between four to five
total listening passages per module. The first Module is the practice of listening for
pronunciation. The other two modules in two types: lectures and conversations.
Lectures are passages designed to imitate a classroom lecture. Sometimes, there
will be a discussion between the professor and students. Each lecture will last
twentyminutes and be followed by questions and exercises.

Modules Outcomes
 engage your students in real-life communicative tasks to practise their listening
comprehension,
 help your students understand English when spoken at normal conversational speed,
 enable your students to respond to language functions in English,
 give your students opportunities to hear English spoken with standard,
accepted pronunciation, and
 familiarise students with correct word and sentence stress in English.

Listening for Pronunciation

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 engage your students in real-life communicative tasks to practise their
listening
comprehension,
 help your students understand English when spoken at normal conversational
speed,
 enable your students to respond to language functions in English,
 give your students opportunities to hear English spoken with standard,
accepted
pronunciation, and
 familiarise students with correct word and sentence stress in English.
MODULE 4
Listening for Pronunciation

Introduction
With the Listening module, your ability to listen for basic interpersonal, instructional and
academic purposes will be tested. As a student, listening skills are crucial as you need
to listen and comprehend a variety of academic and social conversations that may
involve during your campus life. In this module on listening, there will be activities that
you can use to improve students’ listening comprehension by making them understand
differences in pronunciation. This will help them become familiar with phonological
information about English sounds. The activities in this unit will focus on giving students
opportunities to hear pronunciation differences in appropriate contexts, so that they can
use these skills for real-life listening.

Objective
Practice listening skills for details and get accustomed to the accents and speed
of talk in proper pronunciation.

Learning Goals and Targets

At the end of the module, students should be able to:
help recognise differences in English pronunciation stemming from vowel length (i.e.,
between long and short vowel sounds),
give practice in recognising the difference in meaning in words that are pronounced
with different stress when used as different grammatical words, familiarise with the use
of weak forms of English words, and
 practice pronunciation in a specific context.

Listening for Pronunciation #1

 Accuracy check: First listen with the scripts.
 Read aloud: read the script to check for accuracy of pronunciation.
 Listen and read along: Follow the text while you listen. How accurate were you? Did
you sound the same as the speaker(s)?

The Chaos
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
 Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
 Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
 Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
 Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!

Practice reading on your own!

The Chaos. Gerard Noist Trenite http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/english.html

Listening for Pronunciation Practice #2

Allen’s Announcement

Allen: Good morning, everybody! Please pay attention to this announcement.

Amina: Wait a minute! I don’t think everyone’s here — Ricky is absent, and so is Sheila.
Allen: Well, I can’t hold the announcement just because they choose to absent
themselves from work! There’s good news for us — there’s a present for you if you
present the record of last week’s activities accurately. The video guys will record the
best presentation! And the boss wants the best presenter to submit his or her résumé at
my desk so that your promotion can be processed!
Amina: I don’t object to getting a promotion, but what is the object of carrying it out like
this?
Allen: We’ll come to that in a while. All right, guys! Who will conduct today’s session?
Remember, there’ll be marks for good conduct as well!
Amina: Let’s not forget that we have to produce a good report at the end of the day.
Allen: True. And after that everyone’s been ordered to resume work — no holiday,
guys!
Activity: Underline the part of the word (the syllable) that is stressed in each
word you hear.
1. Ab-sent
2. Ab-sent
3. Pre-sent
4. Pre-sent
5. Re-cord
6. Re-cord
7. Re-sume
8. Re-sume
9. Ob-ject
10. Ob-ject
11. Con-duct
12. Con-duct
13. Pro-duce
14. Pro-duce

Listening for Pronunciation #3

These activities can help you better articulate difficult sounds or confusing words.Try
saying them out loud over and over again, slowly at first but getting faster and faster.

Activities
First listen with scripts.
• Read aloud: read the script to check for accuracy of pronunciation
• Listen and read along: Follow the text while you listen. How accurate were you? Did
you sound the same as the speaker(s)?
• Practice with a friend

Easy Tongue Twisters

1. Big black bear: A big black bug bit the big black bear, but the big black bear bit the
big black bug back!
2. clam cream can: How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?
3. Four furious friends: Four furious friends fought for the phone.
4. Green glass globes: Green glass globes glow greenly.
5. Ice cream: I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!
6. Sandwich sane witch: There's a sandwich on the sand which was sent by a sane
witch.
7. Spell New York: Knife and a fork, bottle and a cork, that is the way you spell New
York.
8. I saw Susie: I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.

Medium Tongue Twisters- Try these slightly more difficult tongue twisters
1. Can you can a can: Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
2. Copyright: When you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy you write.
3. Fuzzy wuzzy: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair, Fuzzy Wuzzy
wasn't very fuzzy, was he?
4. Good cook: How many cookies could a good cook cook If a good cook could cook
cookies? A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook
cookies.
5. How many cans?: How many cans can a cannibal nibble, if a cannibal can nibble
cans? As many cans as a cannibal can nibble if a cannibal can nibble cans.
6. I have got a date: I have got a date at a quarter to eight; I’ll see you at the gate,so
don’t be late.
7. I thought of thinking: I thought, I thought of thinking of thanking you.
8. one one: One-one was a race horse. Two-two was one too. One-one won one race.
Two-two won one too.
9. Peter piper: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled
peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
10. Seven slick snails: Seven slick slimy snails, slowly sliding southward.
11. Spell chicago: Chicken in the car and the car can go, that is the way you spell
Chicago.
12. Thirty-three thieves: The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne
throughout Thursday.
13. Two witches, two watches: If two witches would watch two watches, which witch
would watch which watch?
14. Understand: If you understand, say ""understand"". If you don't understand, say
""don't understand"". But if you understand and say ""don't understand"". how do I
understand that you understand?
15. Whether the weather: Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not.
Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot. We'll weather the weather
whether we like it or not.

Try these slightly more difficult tongue twisters

16. Can you can a can: Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
17. Copyright: When you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy you write.
18. Fuzzy wuzzy: Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair, Fuzzy Wuzzy
wasn't very fuzzy, was he?
19. Good cook : How many cookies could a good cook cook If a good cook could cook
cookies? A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook
cookies.
20. How many cans ?: How many cans can a cannibal nibble, if a cannibal can nibble
cans? As many cans as a cannibal can nibble if a cannibal can nibble cans.
21. I have got a date: I have got a date at a quarter to eight; I’ll see you at the gate,so
don’t be late.
22. I thought of thinking: I thought, I thought of thinking of thanking you.
23. one one : One-one was a race horse. Two-two was one too. One-one won one
race. Two-two won one too.
24. Peter piper: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled
peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
25. Seven slick snails: Seven slick slimy snails, slowly sliding southward.
26. Spell chicago: Chicken in the car and the car can go, that is the way you spell
Chicago.
27. Thirty-three thieves: The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne
throughout Thursday.
28. Two witches, two watches: If two witches would watch two watches, which witch
would watch which watch?
29. Understand: If you understand, say ""understand"". If you don't understand, say
""don't understand"". But if you understand and say ""don't understand"". how do I
understand that you understand?
30. Whether the weather: Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not.
Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot. We'll weather the weather
whether we like it or not.

Difficult English Tongue Twisters

1. Betty butter: Betty bought some butter, but the butter Betty bought was bitter, so
Betty bought some better butter, and the better butter Betty bought was better than the
bitter butter Betty bought before!
2. Biscuit mixer: I bought a bit of baking powder and baked a batch of biscuits. I
brought a big basket of biscuits back to the bakery and baked a basket of big
biscuits. Then I took the big basket of biscuits and the basket of big biscuits and mixed
the big biscuits with the basket of biscuits that was next to the big basket and put a
bunch of biscuits from the basket into a biscuit mixer and brought the basket of biscuits
and the box of mixed biscuits and the biscuit mixer to the bakery and opened a tin of
sardines.
3. Doctor doctoring: When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the
doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor
doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?
4. Mary Mac: Mary Mac's mother's making Mary Mac marry me. My mother's making
me marry Mary Mac. Will I always be so Merry when Mary's taking care of me? Will I
always be so merry when I marry Mary Mac?
5. Nature watcher: Out in the pasture the nature watcher watches the catcher. While
the catcher watches the pitcher who pitches the balls. Whether the temperature's up or
whether the temperature's down, the nature watcher, the catcher and the pitcher are
always around. The pitcher pitches, the catcher catches and the watcher watches.
So whether the temperature's rises or whether the temperature falls the nature watcher
just watches the catcher who's watching the pitcher who's watching the balls.
6. Wish to wish: I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the
witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.
7. Nature watcher: Out in the pasture the nature watcher watches the catcher. While
the catcher watches the pitcher who pitches the balls. Whether the temperature's up or
whether the temperature's down, the nature watcher, the catcher and the pitcher are
always around. The pitcher pitches, the catcher catches and the watcher watches.
So whether the temperature's rises or whether the temperature falls the nature watcher
just watches the catcher who's watching the pitcher who's watching the balls.
8. Betty butter: Betty bought some butter, but the butter Betty bought was bitter, so
Betty bought some better butter, and the better butter Betty bought was better than the
bitter butter Betty bought before!
9. Biscuit mixer: I bought a bit of baking powder and baked a batch of biscuits. I
brought a big basket of biscuits back to the bakery and baked a basket of big
biscuits. Then I took the big basket of biscuits and the basket of big biscuits and mixed
the big biscuits with the basket of biscuits that was next to the big basket and put a
bunch of biscuits from the basket into a biscuit mixer and brought the basket of biscuits
and the box of mixed biscuits and the biscuit mixer to the bakery and opened a tin of
sardines.
10. Doctor doctoring: When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the
doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor
doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?
11. Mary Mac: Mary Mac's mother's making Mary Mac marry me. My mother's making
me marry Mary Mac. Will I always be so Merry when Mary's taking care of me? Will I
always be so merry when I marry Mary Mac?
12. Nature watcher: Out in the pasture the nature watcher watches the catcher. While
the catcher watches the pitcher who pitches the balls. Whether the temperature's up or
whether the temperature's down, the nature watcher, the catcher and the pitcher are
always around. The pitcher pitches, the catcher catches and the watcher watches.
So whether the temperature's rises or whether the temperature falls the nature watcher
just watches the catcher who's watching the pitcher who's watching the balls.

Listening for Pronunciation #4

CHANTS
These can help you better articulate difficult sounds or confusing words. Try
saying them out loud over and over again, slowly at first but getting faster and faster.
Here’s an example to practise some words which are often mixed up:

Try saying the sentences above out loud. Each one should take the same amount of
time to say since they all have the same number of stressed syllables (3). I thought the
exam was tough even though I had been thorough when looking through my notes.

through (like ‘shoe’) /θruː/

thought (like ‘sport’) /θɔːt/
 tough (like ‘huff’) /tʌf/
thorough (like ‘borough’) /ˈθʌrə/
though (like ‘go’) /ðəʊ/

Chants are great way to help you develop natural-sounding rhythm:

These are the books I bought.

I couldn’t remember his name.
Why did you take the train?
Peter was in London again.
She doesn’t eat any meat.

Assignment:
Now you’ve had some practice, how about making up your own rhymes?

Think about which words or sounds you want to improve and try writing your own
limerick, tongue twister or chant. You might also find it useful to record yourself reading
the rhymes and play them back to listen out for how you can improve your performance.

iteslj.org / links 1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters - English (Michael

Reck) A large collection. Mr. Twister's Tricky Tong
Listening for Detail
Introduction
To realize the importance of listening, we consider that it occupies about 45% of the
time adults spend in communication. This is significantly more than speaking, which
accounts for 30 per cent, reading 16 % and writing 9%. Remarkable as learners often
say that listening is the most challenging of all the skills in English.

Objectives
The students are expected to:
1. skim through the questions first and try to predict what kind of information they need
to listen out for
2. group words used in a similar context to form Mind maps
3. infer meaning by deciding what kind of detail they need to identify in the listening text
4. guess meaning of new words using the context or situation to help them with the
technique of inferring
Contributing factors having difficulty in listening include the speaker talking quickly,
background noise, a lack of visual clues (such as on the telephone), the listener’s
limited
vocabulary, a lack of knowledge of the topic, and an inability to distinguish
individual
sounds.

There are Conversations passages designed to imitate the kinds of conversations

you might have at a school in an English-speaking country. For example, they might be
about requesting books from the library. You'll get two or three conversations on the
test.
Each conversation will last about three minutes and be followed by five questions.
Some
of the passage narrators in the Listening section will have American accents; others
might
have British or Australian accents. While you listen to each passage, you'll have scrap
paper to take notes on if you like. You'll be able to refer to your notes while you answer
the questions. You don't have to take notes, but it's a good idea.

1. Whenever you listen to an audio clip, practice taking notes on the main idea of what
you read and hear as well as on the main details. Whenever you listen to an audio clip,
2. Make sure you develop comfort with the accent by listening
3. Just write down the keywords, as this really helps you speed up the note taking
process and ensures that you do not miss important terms.
4. Play audio clip plays once during practice. Train your ears to listen fully the first time
and grasp all the key information at one go.
5. Try to understand the topic and the relation between the different sentences being
spoken. If something is being repeated especially at a higher pitch, it emphasizes
its importance in the text.
6. Focus on the emotions conveyed by the speakers. Are they happy, angry or upset
about.

Note: You’ll get take home activities, assignments and other activities as well.

The following listening exercises are passages in a form of conversations designed to

imitate the kinds of conversations you might have at a school or in an English-speaking
country. For example, they might be about requesting books from the library. You'll get
three conversations in the module. Each conversation will last about three minutes and
be followed by questions.

Some of the passage narrators in the Listening section will have American accents;
others might have British or Australian accents. While you listen to each passage, you'll
have scrap paper to take notes on if you like. You'll be able to refer to your notes while
you answer the questions. You don't have to take notes, but it's a good idea.

The Conversations which in the passages are designed to imitate the kinds of
conversations you might have at a school in an English-speaking country. For example,
they might be about requesting books from the library. You'll get three conversations on
the enhancement exercises. Each conversation will last about three minutes and
be followed by set of questions.

Depending on the context you can often predict the kind of words and style of
language the speaker will use that helps us anticipate the kind of information we are
likely to hear. Moreover, when we predict the topic of a talk or a conversation, Focus
interest in a specific kind of information. You can ignore anything that does not sound
relevant. In this way, you are able to narrow down your search and get the detail you
need.

Skim through the questions, underline the important words and decide what kind of
detail you need to identify in the listening text, guess its meaning using the context or
situation to help you the technique of inferring meaning: using clues and prior
knowledge about a situation to work out the meaning of what you hear.

#1 Packhan’s Shipping Agency

Complete the form below. Write no more than three words and/or a number for
each answer.

PACKHAM’S SHIPPING AGENCY

Customer Quotation Form

Name: Jacob 1 …………

Address to be collected from: 2 ………… College, Downlands Rd Town: Bristol
Postcode: 3 …………
Size of container: Length: 1.5m
Width: 4 …………
Height: 5 …………
Contents: clothes 6 ………… 7 …………
Total estimated value: 8 £…………
Country of destination: ..........….. Kenya

Activities
Accuracy check: First take notes without scripts. After that, compare your notes to the
script. Check for accuracy, spelling, and misunderstanding.
• Read aloud: After you read aloud, listen to the audio. How accurate were you? Did
you sound the same as the speaker(s)?
• Listen and read along: Follow the text while you listen. This will make strong
connections for you in respect to pronunciation and understanding key words.
Notice how the keywords are pronounced clearer and louder.
Tapescript Listening Recording (Packham’s)
You will hear a telephone conversation between a customer and an agent at a
company which ships large boxes overseas.
A Good morning Packham’s Shipping Agents. Can I help you?
B Oh yes, I’m ringing to make enquiries about sending a large box, a container,
back home to Kenya from the UK.
A Yes, of course. Would you like me to try and find some quotations for you?
B Yes, that’d be great. Thank you.
A Well first of all, I need a few details from you.
B Fine.
A Can I take your name?
B It’s Jacob Mkere.
A Can you spell your surname, please?
B Yes, it’s M-K-E-R-E.
A Is that ‘M’ for mother?
B Yes.
A Thank you, and you say that you will be sending the box to Kenya?
B That’s right.
A And where would you like the box picked up from?
B From college, if possible.
 A Yes, of course. I’ll take down the address now.
B It’s Westall College.
A Is that W-E-S-T-A-L-L?
B Yes, ... college.
A Westall College. And where’s that
B It’s Downlands Road, in Bristol.
A Oh yes, I know it. And the postcode?
B It’s BS8 9PU.
A Right ... and I need to know the size.
B Yes, I’ve measured it carefully and it’s 1.5m long ...
A Right. B 0.75m wide ... A OK.
B And it’s 0.5m high or deep.
A Great. So I’ll calculate the volume in a moment and get some quotes for that.
But first can you tell me, you know, very generally, what will be in the box?
B Yes there’s mostly clothes.
A OK. [writing down]
B And there’s some books.
A OK. Good. Um ... Anything else?
B Yes, there’s also some toys.
A OK and what is the total value, do you think, of the contents?
B Well the main costs are the clothes and the books – they’ll be about £1500 but
then the toys are about another two hundred – so I’d put down £1700.

Answers: 1 Mkere 2 Westall 3 BS8 9PU 4 0.75 m/metre(s)/meter(s) (wide) /

three()quarter(s) (of) (a) metre/meter (wide) / ¾ m (wide) / 75 cm(s) (wide) 5 0.5
m/metre(s)/meter(s) (high/deep) / (a) half (a) metre/meter (high/deep) / ½ m
(high/deep) / 50 cm(s) (high/deep) 6 & 7 in either order (some) books (some)
toys 8 1,700
Words in brackets are optional - they are correct, but not necessary. Alternative
answers are separated by a slash (/

Listening #2 Which Hotel

Listen Carefully
Answer Questions 1 – 4
Which hotel matches each description?
Choose your answers from the box and write the correct letter A-E next to questions 1-
4.
A The Bridge Hotel
B Carlton House
C The Imperial
D The Majestic
E The Royal Oak

1 is in a rural area ……………….

2 only opened recently ……………….
3 offers facilities for business functions ……………….
4 has an indoor swimming pool ………………

Answers: 1 E 2B 3C 4A

Activities
Accuracy check: First take notes without scripts. After that, compare your notes to the
script. Check for accuracy, spelling, and misunderstanding.
• Read aloud: After you read aloud, listen to the audio. How accurate were you? Did
you sound the same as the speaker(s)?
• Listen and read along: Follow the text while you listen. This will make strong
connections for you in respect to pronunciation and understanding key words.
Notice how the keywords are pronounced clearer and louder.

Tapescript- Listening Recording (Which Hotel)

You will hear a man talking to an official at a tourist information office.

Official Can I help you?

Man Yes, I was wanting somewhere to stay for a few days - a four or five star
hotel. Can you tell me something about the possibilities?
Official OK, right, well there are five hotels that might interest you. Were you
wanting a city centre location, or would you be interested in something a bit further out?
Man Well, I do have a car so I could go for either. Official Well, there are three
central hotels in the range you're looking for – there's Carlton House and The Imperial,
they're both near the main square, but if you've got your own transport you might
be interested in the Royal Oak – that’s out in the country, about ten kilometres away,
very peaceful. Then there's the Bridge hotel and the Majestic – they're both in town but
not in the centre, they're out on the airport road.
Man Mmm that might be a bit far out actually. OK, now the other two
you mentioned, in the city centre. Can you tell me a bit about them?
Official Well, they're both excellent hotels. If you want something with a bit of
character, Carlton House is quite unusual – it's a very old building that was originally a
large private house, it was bought by the Vannis chain and they completely refurbished
it – they took their first guests just a few months ago but it's already got an
excellent reputation. That's a five star hotel. Or there's the Imperial, which is a much
more modern building. That's also has its own gym and it also has internet connection
and meetings rooms – it's used for conferences and corporate events as well as private
guests. That's five star as well.
Man Does it have a swimming pool as well as a gym?
Official No – the Royal Oak has an outdoor pool, which is lovely in the summer, but the
only hotel with an indoor pool is the Bridge Hotel. It doesn't have a gym though. The
Majestic is planning to build a swimming pool and a fitness centre, but it's not finished
yet.
Man I see. Well, I think I'll probably go for one of the city centre hotels.

Listening #3 Booking a London Tour

Listen to the telephone conversation between the Agent and the Tourist.
Agent: London Premier Tours. How can I help?
Tourist: Hi, I’m coming to London with my family and we’d like to see the city. We just
wanted some information on the best way to do this.
Agent: Ok, I’ll see if I can help. Firstly, when are you coming and for how long?
Tourist: Let me see, we’re leaving the US at the end of June. We’re going to stay with
friends in Oxford for a week, so we’ll arrive in London around 10th July. It will just be for
a few days as we fly to Paris on the 13th July.
Agent: And how many people?
Tourist: I’m coming with my sister and our parents.
Agent: And do you know what kind of things you want to see when you are here? Is
there anything in particular?
Tourist: Not really, we just want to see the main sites, you know, historical places I
guess. The places that London is famous for.
Agent: Well as you only have a short amount of time, the best way to do that is
probably by a bus tour. The tour costs 29 pounds for adults and 14 pounds for children
for the day.
Tourist: What time does it start?
Agent: Well, basically the ticket is valid for the whole day. The first bus is at 7am, but
buses depart every 20 minutes throughout the day up until 4pm. Sorry, I mean 6pm –
it’s Summer now, so the buses run later. So you can start and finish whenever you
want within those times. So do you have to stay on the same bus the whole time?
Tourist: No, no. It is a hop-on, hop-off service. So you can get off at whichever stop you
like.
Agent: You can then stay there as long as you like, and then get back on another bus
when it arrives.
Tourist: Oh, ok, I see what you mean. What sites do you see on the tour then?
Agent: That depends on which route you choose. There are three routes and we call
them the red, yellow and blue routes. There are many attractions, but the main
attractions on the red route are St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye and Buckingham
Palace.
Tourist: I’m not too worried about the Cathedral, but I know my parents would enjoy the
London Eye, so we’d better see that. What about the other routes?
Agent: The most famous places on the yellow route are Big Ben and the Houses of
Parliament.
Tourist: Ah, both of those would be interesting to see. And the Blue route?
Agent: Harrods and Hyde Park Corner are on that route.
Tourist: I’d like to see Harrods, but I don’t think we’ll have time for shopping and I don’t
know Hyde Park so we’ll not go on that route. So we’d probably choose the red or
yellow.
What do we have to do about booking?
Agent: If you want to book you can do that with one of our customer service operators
on the phone. Or otherwise you can go to our website and book. Some people just
arrive on the day and buy a ticket on the bus, but if it’s full you may not be able to get a
seat.
Tourist: Probably best if we book in advance then, so I’ll do it on the internet in a few
weeks when we know exactly what dates we’ll be there.
Agent: Ok, well it can get very busy in the summer over the three months of June to
August, so it’s probably best to book at least a week before you come. But you still have
about 6 weeks before you leave so you have plenty of time to think about it.
Tourist: Ok, thanks, you’ve been a great help.
Assignment
Try doing at least 3 tasks assigned and report /share insights in class your
experience.
 Watch or listen to a recorded TV programme or clip from YouTube. Pause
after every few sentences. Try to predict what is going to happen or what the
speaker might say next.
 Find a short video with subtitles on a topic that interests you. Use the title to help
you predict the content and then listen out for the content words
 Find an example of a business presentation or lecture and see how many signpost
phrases you can identify.
 Listen to a weather report to get details about the weather, or you could follow the
sports news to find out the latest results.
 Find a YouTube clip from a popular television show, Now, rather than watch it, just
listen to the dialogue. Determine how much can you infer about what is taking place,
who is talking and what their relationship is?

Listening for Main Idea

Introduction
Listening section tests how well you can understand spoken English and answer
questions about it. Listening can be hard because the passages go by pretty fast - it's
not like reading where you can go at your own pace. But, if you know in advance what
kinds of passages you'll get, it's a lot easier to make it through the test without getting
frazzled.

In this lesson, first, we'll cover the passages you'll be listening to, then, we'll move on to
the types of questions you'll be asked. In the practice exercises you will hear recordings
of different talks and discussions. After each audio clip, you will hear a number
of questions based on what you have just heard. Questions are of multiple-choice
variety and you need to choose the best answer.
It takes around 3 minutes to listen to every recording. Sometimes you may get some
additional experimental passages to listen. In all conversations you may play once and
you need to take down notes while the audio clip plays. Later you may answer the
questions basis these notes.

When you are listening for main idea, skim through the questions first and try to predict
what kind of information you need to listen out for. Skim through the questions,
underline the important words and decide what kind of detail you need to identify in the
listening text. When you hear a word you don't understand, try to guess its meaning
using the context or situation to help you, the more you practice, the better you will get.

Put on your attention to detail as well as your comprehension and critical reasoning
skills. They need you to draw out inferences, identify the main theme/summary of the
discussion as well as identify facts highlighted. Listen Again – The last listening
question format involves listening again to a small part of the talk and then answering
the question which relates to something said. Questions asked could evaluate you
on your understanding of why does the speaker say something (structure &
organization) or what the speaker means in the given context (inference based). These
questions test your critical reasoning skills and not just your notetaking skills.

The listening section requires the utmost concentration and getting accustomed to the
accents and speed of talk and consistent practice can help you. However, an
understanding of the different question types along with the nature of lectures you often
come across coupled with taking a few practice tests will ensure that you improve your
listening skills.

Listening Passages
Let's start with passages. In the Listening section, you'll get between six and nine total
listening passages. The passages come in two types: lectures and conversations.
Lectures are passages designed to imitate a classroom lecture. Sometimes, only
the professor will speak; sometimes there will be a discussion between the professor
and students. You'll get anywhere from four to six lectures on the test. Each lecture will
last three to five minutes and be followed by six questions.

LISTENING EXERCISE #1
The Panda
Activities
 First , listen to audio Clip without the tapescripts.
 After that, listen to the audio while answering the exercises .
 Check for accuracy

Choose the correct letter A, B or C.

1. Each day, pandas need to eat:

A Very little nutrition
B 12-38 kg of bamboo
C 330 pounds of bamboo

2. If pandas are cared for away from the wild, they can live for approximately:
A 6 months
B 14-20 years
C 30 years

Choose TWO letters A-E.

Select two things that are endangering pandas:
A Public awareness
B Ecotourism
C Poaching
D Other wildlife
E Building of roads and railroads

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND / OR A NUMBER.

5. What proportion of the panda population in China is protected by reserves?

6. What did the WWF create which encouraged people to support pandas?

7 - 10
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.
 Reasons that pandas may not be worth saving:
They are extremely (7) ___________ to look after

They have a diet that is not (8) ________________

They get sick easily and are hard to breed
Reasons that pandas should not be allowed to die out:

They are in danger because (9) _____________are damaging the forests

We should protect their homes because other animals live there

The number of pandas in the wild is (10) _________ so they will not become
extinct
listening practice: Answers
B
C
C/E
C/E
61% / sixty-one per cent
(a/an) logo / an exellent logo
expensive
(very) nutritious
humans
increasing

Listening #1
Pandas
Ok, I’m here today to talk to you all about the Panda. It is a species of bear that is under
great threat from the damage that humans are doing to the places where they live. The
panda is a peaceful animal that has a black and white coat and is loved around the
world. It is a distinctive symbol of China and The Panda has also been the logo of the
WWF, that’s the World Wide Fund for Nature, since it was set up in 1961. It is a
member of the bear family. They live mainly in bamboo forests high in the mountains of
western China. A Panda's daily menu consists almost entirely of the leaves, stems, and
shoots of various bamboo plants. Bamboo contains very little nutritional value, so
pandas must eat 12-38 kg every day to meet their energy needs. New born pandas are
about the size of a stick of butter, so that is really small. But they can grow to up to 330
pounds as adults. They are dependent on their mothers for the first few months of their
lives. Panda cubs start to climb trees when they are only 6 months old, and as adults
the pandas make excellent climbers, despite their big weight. A panda's average life in
the wild is 14-20 years, but a panda can live up to 30 years when they are looked after
in places such as zoos. So why do we worry about Pandas so much? Why are they
important? Well, Pandas play a very important part in the bamboo forests where they
live by spreading seeds which helps plants and trees to grow. In the Yangtze Basin
where pandas live, the forests are full of a vast variety of amazing wildlife, such as
dwarf blue sheep, multi-coloured pheasants and other species that are in danger
of extinction, including the golden monkey. Also, Pandas bring huge economic
benefits to local communities through ecotourism. Pandas have two main threats.
The first is hunting, which is a constant concern. Poaching or killing the animals for
their fur has declined due to strict laws and greater public awareness of the panda’s
protected status. But hunters seeking other animals in panda habitats continue to kill
pandas accidentally. They are also threatened by habitat loss. In other words, by the
loss of the home where they live. China’s Yangtze Basin region is where the panda’s
main home is. But this area is an important economic region for this booming country.
So roads and railroads are being built and these are increasingly destroying the forest.
This means that panda populations get separated and so they can’t find a partner to
mate with and have babies. Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Go to: www.ieltsbuddy.com So, what
is being done to protect the Panda? The Chinese government has established
more than 50 panda reserves. Reserves are places in the wild where animals are
protected. However, only around 61% of the country’s panda population is protected
by these reserves. The WWF is also playing a big part in protecting the Panda. The idea
for the WWF logo came from ChiChi: a giant panda that had arrived at London Zoo in
1961, the same year WWF was created. The people who set up the WWF were aware
of the need for a strong symbol that everybody around the world would recognize. They
agreed that the big, furry animal with her cuddly, black-patched eyes would make an
excellent logo. This has helped to encourage many people to help support the panda.
Controversially, a well-known television presenter called Chris Packham, who has
hosted programs about animals for many years on British TV, said pandas might not be
worth saving. He explained that pandas are extraordinarily expensive to keep going. We
spend millions and millions of pounds on this one species, but much less on others. He
argues that it would be better to take all this money we spend on pandas and look after
other natural places such as rain forests around the world. He says we have to
accept that some animals are stronger than others. The panda is a bear that eats a type
of food that isn't very nutritious, it gets diseases easily and it is very difficult to breed. He
thinks that extinction is very much a part of life on earth, and we are going to have to get
used to it in the next few years because climate change is going to result in all sorts
animals disappearing. However, I don’t agree with him. The panda is quite a weak
animal, but this is not why it is going to die, or become extinct. When he says that if you
leave them be, they will die out, that's simply not true. The reason it is in danger is
because of the damage that humans are doing to the forests that they live in. If we don’t
destroy this, then they will survive in the same way that they have for thousands of
years. And also, the places where the pandas live should be protected anyway. The
panda shares its home with the red panda, golden monkeys, and various birds that are
found nowhere else in the world. The panda's numbers are increasing in the wild, so I
don't see them dying out.
Dolphins
Behavior of Dolphins
- almost 40 species of dolphin
- found (1)_____________
- usually in shallower seas
- carnivores
SOCIALISING
- very sociable and live in pods
- super-pods may have more than (2)___________dolphins
- have strong social bonds
- help other animals - Moko helped a whale and calf escape from (3)__________
- have been known to assist swimmers

CULTURE
- discovered in May 2005 that young bottlenose dolphins learn to (4)__________
- dolphins pass knowledge from mothers to daughters, whereas primates pass to
(5)___________

AGGRESSION
- dolphins may be aggressive towards each other
-Like humans, this is due to disagreements over (6. ) and competition for females
- Infanticide sometimes occurs and the killing of porpoises

FOOD
- dolphins have a variety of feeding methods, some of which are (7)________to
one
population
- Methods include:
• herding
• coralling
• (8)______________or strand feeding
• whacking fish with their flukes

PLAYING
- have a variety of playful activities
- common behaviour with an object or small animal include:
• carrying it along
• passing it along
• (9)___________away from another dolphin
• throwing it out the water
- may harass other animals
- playful behaviour may include other (10)___________such as humans
Answers
1. Worldwide
2. 1000 ne thousand
3. shallow water
4. use tools
5. both sexes
6. companions
7. exclusive
8. beach
9. taking it
10. (animal) species

TAPESCRIPT (Dolphins)

Ok, today’s lecture is about the behaviour of dolphins. Dolphins are mammals
closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin, and
they vary in size from 1.2 meters and 90lb up to 9.5 meters and 10 tonnes. They are
found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves and they are
carnivores, eating mostly fish and squid. Dolphins are highly social animals, often living
in pods of up to a dozen individuals, though pod sizes and structures vary greatly
between species and locations. In places with a high abundance of food, pods
can merge temporarily, forming a super-pod; such groupings may exceed 1,000
dolphins. Membership in pods is not rigid, with interchange being common. Dolphins
can, however, establish strong social bonds; they will stay with injured or ill individuals,
even helping them to breathe by bringing them to the surface if needed. This altruism
does not appear to be limited to their own species. A male dolphin called Moko
in New Zealand was observed guiding a female Pygmy Sperm Whale together with
her calf out of shallow water where they had been stranded several times.
Dolphins have also been seen protecting swimmers from sharks by swimming circles
around the swimmers or charging the sharks to make them leave. Dolphins also display
culture, something long believed to be unique to humans and possibly other primate
species. In May 2005, a discovery in Australia found Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins
teaching their young to use tools. They cover their snouts with sponges to protect them
while foraging for food. This knowledge is mostly transferred by mothers to
daughters, unlike primates, where knowledge is generally passed on to both
sexes. Using sponges as mouth protection is a learned behaviour. Another
learned behaviour was discovered among river dolphins in Brazil, where some male
dolphins use weeds and sticks as part of a sexual display. Dolphins may also engage in
acts of aggression towards each other. The older a male dolphin is, the more likely his
body is to be covered with bite scars. Male dolphins engage in acts of aggression
apparently for the same reasons as humans: that is disputes between
companions and competition for females. Acts of aggression can become so intense
that targeted dolphins sometimes go into exile after losing a fight. Male bottlenose
dolphins have also been known to engage in infanticide, which is the killing of their
young. Dolphins have also been known to kill porpoises for reasons which are not fully
understood, as porpoises generally do not share the same diet as dolphins and
are therefore not competitors for food supplies. The main food of dolphins is fish and
squid, and various methods of feeding exist among and within species, some apparently
exclusive to a single population. One common feeding method is herding, where a pod
squeezes a school of fish into a, known as a bait ball. Individual members then take
turns plowing through the ball, feeding on the stunned fish. Coralling is a method where
dolphins chase fish into shallow water to catch them more easily. Orcas and bottlenose
dolphins have also been known to drive their prey onto a beach to feed on it, a
behaviour known as beach or strand feeding. Some species also whack fish with their
flukes, stunning them and sometimes knocking them out of the water. When it comes
to playful behaviour, dolphins show various types, often including objects, self-made
bubble rings, other dolphins or other animals. When playing with objects or small
animals, common behaviour includes carrying the object or animal along using
various parts of the body, passing it along to other members of the group, or taking it
from another member, or throwing it out of the water. Dolphins have also been observed
harassing animals in other ways, for example by dragging birds underwater without
showing any intent to eat them. Playful behaviour that involves another animal species
with active participation of the other animal can also be observed, playful human
interaction with dolphins being the most obvious example. However playful interactions
have been observed in the wild with a number of other species as well, such as
Humpback Whales and dogs.

Listening #3
Aspects of Life in The UK
Questions 11 – 16 Answer the questions below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE
WORDS
AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
What TWO factors can make social contact in a foreign country difficult?
• 11 ...............................
• 12 ...............................

Which types of community group does the speaker give examples of? • theatre
• 13 ..................................
• 14 ..................................
In which TWO places can information about community activities be found?
• 15 ..................................
• 16 ..................................

Tapescript - Aspects of Life in The UK

You will hear an extract from a talk given to a group who are going to stay in the UK.
Good evening, and welcome to the British Council. My name is John Parker and I’ve
been asked to talk to you briefly about certain aspects of life in the UK before you
actually go there. So I'm going to talk first about the best ways of making social contacts
there. Now you might be wondering why it should be necessary. After all, we meet
people all the time. But when you’re living in a foreign country it can be more
difficult, not just because of the language, but because customs may be different. If
you’re going to work in the UK you will probably be living in private accommodation, so
it won’t be quite so easy to meet people. But there are still things that you can do to help
yourself. First of all, you can get involved in activities in your local community, join a
group of some kind. For example, you’ll probably find that there are theatre groups who
might be looking for actors, set designers and so on, or if you play an instrument you
could join music groups in your area. Or if you like the idea of finding out about local
history there’ll be a group for that too. These are just examples. And the best places to
get information about things like this are either the town hall or the public library.
Libraries in the UK perform quite a broad range of functions nowadays – they’re not just
confined to lending books, although that’s their main role of course.
Chapter 3 Reading

Summary Completion
Reading Passage #1
Sample Academic Reading Summary Completion (selecting words from the text)
Note: This is an extract from a Part 3 text about the ‘Plain English’ movement, which promotes the use of
clear English. ‘The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language’, David Crystal, 3rd Edition, © Cambridge
University Press, 2010.

The instructions accompanying do-it-yourself products are regularly cited as a

source of unnecessary expense or frustration. Few companies seem to test their
instructions by having them followed by a first-time user. Often, essential information is
omitted, steps in the construction process are taken for granted, and some degree of
special knowledge is assumed. This is especially worrying in any fields where failure to
follow correct procedures can be dangerous. Objections to material in plain English
have come mainly from the legal profession. Lawyers point to the risk of ambiguity
inherent in the use of everyday language for legal or official documents, and draw
attention to the need for confidence in legal formulations, which can come only from
using language that has been tested in courts over the course of centuries. The
campaigners point out that there has been no sudden increase in litigation as a
consequence of the increase in plain English materials. Similarly, professionals in
several different fields have defended their use of technical and complex language as
being the most precise means of expressing technical or complex ideas. This is
undoubtedly true: scientists, doctors, bankers and others need their jargon in order
to communicate with each other succinctly and unambiguously. But when it
comes to addressing the non-specialist consumer, the campaigners argue, different
criteria must apply
Task: Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the
passage for each answer.

Consumers often complain that they experience a feeling of 1 ………… when

trying to put together do-it-yourself products which have not been tested by companies
on a 2 ………… . In situations where not keeping to the correct procedures could affect
safety issues, it is especially important that 3 ………… information is not left out and no
assumptions are made about a stage being self-evident or the consumer having a
certain amount of 4 ………… . Lawyers, however, have raised objections to the
use of plain English. They feel that it would result in ambiguity in documents and cause
people to lose faith in 5 ………… , as it would mean departing from language that has
been used in the courts for a very long time.

Answers 1 frustration 2 first-time user 3 essential 4 special knowledge 5 legal formulations

Reading Passage 2

'This Marvellous Invention'

Of all mankind’s manifold creations, language must take pride of place. Other
inventions – the wheel, agriculture, sliced bread – may have transformed our material
existence, but the advent of language is what made us human. Compared to language,
all other inventions pale in significance, since everything we have ever achieved
depends on language and originates from it. Without language, we could never have
embarked on our ascent to unparalleled power over all other animals, and even over
nature itself. But language is foremost not just because it came first. In its own
right it is a tool of extraordinary sophistication, yet based on an idea of ingenious
simplicity: ‘this marvellous invention of composing out of twenty-five or thirty
sounds that infinite variety of expressions which, whilst having in themselves no
likeness to what is in our mind, allow us to disclose to others its whole secret, and
to make known to those who cannot penetrate it all that we imagine, and all the
various stirrings of our soul’. This was how, in 1660, the renowned French grammarians
of the Port-Royal abbey near Versailles distilled the essence of language, and no
one since has celebrated more eloquently the magnitude of its achievement. Even
so, there is just one flaw in all these hymns of praise, for the homage to language’s
unique accomplishment conceals a simple yet critical incongruity. Language is
mankind’s greatest invention – except, of course, that it was never invented. This
apparent paradox is at the core of our fascination with language, and it holds many of its
secrets

Complete the summary using the list of words, A-G, below. Write the correct letter, A-G, to answer

The importance of language The wheel is one invention that has had a major
impact on 1 ………… aspects of life, but no impact has been as 2 ………… as that of
language. Language is very 3 ………… , yet composed of just a small number of
sounds. Language appears to be 4 ………… to use. However, its sophistication
is often overlooked.

A difficult
B complex
C original
D admired
E material

Answers 1 E ■ material 2 G ■ fundamental 3 B ■ complex 4 F ■ easy

Reading 3

[Note: This is an extract from a Part 1 text about older people in the workforce.] © The Economist Newspaper Limited, London,

Clearly, when older people do heavy physical work, their age may affect their
productivity. But other skills may increase with age, including many that are crucial for
good management, such as an ability to handle people diplomatically, to run a meeting
or to spot a problem before it blows up. Peter Hicks, who co-ordinates OECD work on
the policy implications of ageing, says that plenty of research suggests older people are
paid more because they are worth more. And the virtues of the young may be
exaggerated. ‘The few companies that have kept on older workers find they have good
judgement and their productivity is good,’ says Peter Peterson, author of a recent book
on the impact of ageing. ‘Besides, their education standards are much better than those
of today’s young high-school graduates.’ Companies may say that older workers are not
worth training because they are reaching the end of their working lives; in fact, young
people tend to switch jobs so frequently that they offer the worst returns on training. The
median age for employer-driven training is the late 40s and early 50s, and this training
goes mainly to managers.
TASK: The list below gives some of the advantages of employing older workers.
A They are less likely to be involved in careless accidents.
B They can predict areas that may cause trouble in the future.
C They are able to train younger workers.
D They can deal with unexpected problems.
E They are more conscientious.
F They are prepared to work for lower salaries.
G They are more skilled in personal relationships.

Choose TWO from letters, A-G. Choose two which are mentioned by the writer
as advantages of employing older workers
1.
2.
Which TWO disadvantages are mentioned by the writer of the text?
A They are too confident of their own skills.
B They may injure themselves.
C They do not stay with the same company for very long.
D Their training has been too theoretical.
E They are not as well educated as older workers.
F They demand higher salaries.

Two disadvantages of employing younger workers

3.
4.

Answers 1&2 IN EITHER ORDER B■ G ■ 3&4 IN EITHER ORDER :C ■ E ■

Reading Passage 4

Lake Baikal Crescent-shaped Lake Baikal, in Siberia, is only the ninth largest lake in
area at 385 miles (620km) in length and 46 miles (74km) in width, yet it is easily the
largest body of fresh water in the world. It holds one-fifth of the world’s total fresh water,
which is more than the total of all the water in the five Great Lakes; it holds so much
fresh water in spite of its less-than impressive area because it is by far the world’s
deepest lake. The average depth of the lake is 1,312 feet (400 meters) below sea level,
and the Olkhon Crevice, the lowest known point, is more than 5,250 feet (1,600 meters)
deep. Lake Baikal, which today is located near the center of the Asian peninsula, is
most likely the world’s oldest lake. It began forming 25 million years ago as Asia started
splitting apart in a series of great faults. The Baikal Valley dropped away, eventually
filling with water and creating the deepest of the world’s lakes.

1. What is stated in paragraph 1 about the shape of Lake Baikal?

(A) It is wider than it is long.
(B) It is circular in shape.
(C) Its width is one-half of its length.
(D) It is shaped like a new moon.

2. It is indicated in paragraph 1 that the area of Lake Baikal

(A) is less than the area of eight other lakes
(B) is one-ninth the area of Siberia
(C) is greater than the area of any other freshwater lake
(D) is equal to the area of the five Great Lakes

3. According to paragraph 1, Lake Baikal

(A) holds one-fifth of the world’s water
(B) holds five times the water of the Great Lakes
(C) holds one-ninth of the world’s water
(D) holds 20 percent of the world’s fresh water

4. According to paragraph 1, the Olkhon Crevice is

(A) outside of Lake Baikal
(B) 400 meters below sea level
(C) the deepest part of Lake Baikal
(D) 5,000 meters deep

5. It is mentioned in paragraph 2 that Lake Baikal

(A) is not as old as some other lakes
(B) formed when sections of the Earth were moving away from each other
(C) was fully formed 25 million years ago
(D) is today located on the edge of the Asian peninsula
Answers 1 A ■ 2 C ■ 3 D ■ 4 B ■

Reading for Information

In recognizing the organization of ideas and find the information in the passage it is
helpful to identify the question and look how the information in the passage is
organized. Check if the information in the second paragraph is related to the
information in the first paragraph.
To find the answer to this type of question it can generally be determined by looking at
the first sentence of the appropriate paragraphs.

1. Read each line of the paragraphs.

2. Look for words that show relationship of each paragraph.
3. Choose that answer that best expresses the relationship.

Reading passage 1
[Note: This is an extract from a Part 1 text about the scientist Marie Curie. Adapted with
from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.]

The life and work of Marie Curie Marie Curie is probably the most famous woman
scientist who has ever lived. Born Maria Sklodowska in Poland in 1867, she is famous
for her work on radioactivity, and was twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With her
husband, Pierre Curie, and Henri Becquerel, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for
Physics, and was then sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was the
first woman to win a Nobel Prize. From childhood, Marie was remarkable for her
prodigious memory, and at the age of 16 won a gold medal on completion of
her secondary education. Because her father lost his savings through bad investment,
she then had to take work as a teacher. From her earnings she was able to finance
her sister Bronia’s medical studies in Paris, on the understanding that Bronia would, in
turn, later help her to get an education. In 1891 this promise was fulfilled and Marie
went to Paris and began to study at the Sorbonne (the University of Paris). She often
worked far into the night and lived on little more than bread and butter and tea. She
came first in the examination in the physical sciences in 1893, and in 1894 was placed
second in the examination in mathematical sciences. It was not until the spring of that
year that she was introduced to Pierre Curie.
 Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage
1? Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the information FALSE if the statement
contradicts the information NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1 Marie Curie’s husband was a joint winner of both Marie’s Nobel Prizes.
2 Marie became interested in science when she was a child.
3 Marie was able to attend the Sorbonne because of her sister’s financial contribution

Answers 1 FALSE 2 NOT GIVEN 3 TRUE

Reading Passage 2
Conflict within an organization is not always viewed as undesirable. In fact, various
managers have widely divergent ideas on the value that conflict can have. According to
the traditional view of conflict, conflict is harmful to an organization. Managers with this
traditional view of conflict see it as their role in an organization to rid the organization of
any possible sources of conflict. The interactionist view of conflict, on the other hand,
holds that conflict can serve an important function in an organization by reducing
complacency among workers and causing positive changes to occur. Managers who
hold an interactionist view of conflict may actually take steps to stimulate conflict within
the organization.

1. How is the information in the passage organized?

(A) The origin of ideas about conflict is presented. "
(B) Contrasting views of conflict are presented.
(C) Two theorists discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their views on conflict.
(D) Examples of conflict within organizations are presented.

2. What type of information is included in the third paragraph?

(A) A comparison of the interactionist and traditional views of conflict
(B) A discussion of the weaknesses of the interactionist view of conflict
(C) An outline of the type of manager who prefers the interactionist view of conflict
(D) A description of one of the opposing views of conflict

Reading Passage 3
IQ, or lntelligence Quotient, is defined as the ratio of a patron's mental age to
chronological age, with the ratio multiplied by 100 to remove the decimal. Chronological
age is easily determined; mental age is generally measured by some kind of standard
test and is not so simple to define. In theory, a standardized IQ test is set up to measure
an individual's ability to perform íntellectual operations such as reasoning and problem
solving. These intellectual operations are considered to represent intelligence. In
practice, it has been impossible to arrive at consensus as to which types of intellectual
operations demonstrate intelligence. Furtherrnore, it has been impossible to devise a
test without cultural bias, which is to say that any IQ tests so far proposed have been
shown to reflect the culture of the test makers. Test takers from that culture would, it
follows, score higher on such a test than test takers from a different culture with equal
intelligence.

1 What type of information is included in the first paragraph?

(A) An argument
(B) A definition
(C) An opinion
(D) A theory

2. How does the information in the third paragraph differ from that in the
second
paragraph?
(A) It presents a contrasting point of view.
(B) It follows chronologically from the ideas in the second paragraph.
(C) It presents real information rather than a premise.
(D) lt presents an example of the ideas in the second paragraph.

Reading Passage 4
The largest lake in the western United States is the Great Salt Lake, an inland saltwater
lake in northwestern Utah, just outside the state capital of Salt Lake City. Rivers and
streams feed into the Great Salt Lake, but none drain out of it; this has a major
influence on both the salt content and the size of the lake. Although the Great Salt Lake
is fed by freshwater streams, it is actually saltier than the oceans of the world. The salt
comes from the more than two million tons of minerals that flow into the lake each year
from the rivers and creeks that feed it. Sodium and chloride – the components of salt –
comprise the large majority of the lake's mineral content. The Great Salt Lake can vary
tremendously from its normal size of 1,700 square miles, depending on long-term
weather conditions. During periods of heavy rains, the size of the lake can swell
tremendously from the huge amounts of water flowing into the lake from its feeder rivers
and streams; in 1980 the lake even reached a size of 2,400 square miles. During
periods of dry weather, the size of the lake decreases, sometimes drastically, due to
evaporation.
1. How is the information in the passage organized?
(A) Two unusual characteristics of the Great Salt Lake are discussed.
(B) Contrasting theories about the Great Salt Lake's salt levels are presented.
(C) The process by which the Great Salt Lake gets its salt is outlined.
(D) The reasons for the variations in the Great Salt Lake's size are given.

2. The third paragraph contains information on

(A) how the size of the lake affects weather conditions
(B) the effects of contrasting weather conditions on the size of the lake
(C) the effects of changes in the size of the lake
(D) the causes of the varied weather conditions in the area of the lake

Reading Passage 5
In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died. She had never married and had no heir, so
the throne passed to a distant relative: James Stuart, the son of Elizabeth’s cousin and
one-time rival for the throne, Mary, Queen of Scots. James was crowned King James I
of England. At the time, he was also King James VI of Scotland, and the combination of
roles would create a spirit of conflict that haunted the two nations for generations to
come. The conflict developed as a result of rising tensions among the people within the
nations, as well as between them. Scholars in the 21st century are far too hasty in
dismissing the role of religion in political disputes, but religion undoubtedly played a role
in the problems that faced England and Scotland. By the time of James Stuart’s
succession to the English throne, the English people had firmly embraced the
teachings of Protestant theology.
Similarly, the Scottish Lowlands was decisively Protestant. In the Scottish
Highlands, however, the clans retained their Catholic faith. James acknowledged
the Church of England and still sanctioned the largely Protestant translation of the
Bible that still bears his name.
James’s son King Charles I proved himself to be less committed to the Protestant
Church of England. Charles married the Catholic Princess Henrietta Maria of France,
and there were suspicions among the English and the Lowland Scots that Charles was
quietly a Catholic. Charles’s own political troubles extended beyond religion in this case,
and he was beheaded in 1649. Eventually, his son King Charles II would be crowned,
and this Charles is believed to have converted secretly to the Catholic Church. Charles
II died without a legitimate heir, and his brother James ascended to the throne as King
James II.
James was recognized to be a practicing Catholic, and his commitment to
Catholicism would prove to be his downfall. James’s wife Mary Beatrice lost a number
of children during their infancy, and when she became pregnant again in 1687 the
public became concerned. If James had a son, that son would undoubtedly be raised a
Catholic, and the English people would not stand for this. Mary gave birth to a son, but
the story quickly circulated that the royal child had died and the child named James’s
heir was a foundling smuggled in. James, his wife, and his infant son were forced
to flee; and James’s Protestant daughter Mary was crowned the queen.
In spite of a strong resemblance to the king, the young James was generally rejected
among the English and the Lowland Scots, who referred to him as “the Pretender.” But
in the Highlands the Catholic princeling was welcomed. He inspired a group
known as Jacobites, to reflect the Latin version of his name. His own son
Charles, known affectionately as Bonnie Prince Charlie, would eventually raise an army
and attempt to recapture what he believed to be his throne. The movement was soundly
defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and England and Scotland have remained
Protestant ever since.

1. Which of the following sentences contains an opinion on the part of the author?
a. James was recognized to be a practicing Catholic, and his commitment to
Catholicism would prove to be his downfall.
b. James’ son King Charles I proved himself to be less committed to the Protestant
Church of England.
c. The movement was soundly defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and England
and Scotland have remained ostensibly Protestant ever since.
d. Scholars in the 21st century are far too hasty in dismissing the role of religion in
political disputes, but religion undoubtedly played a role in the problems that faced
England and Scotland.

2. Which of the following is a logical conclusion based on the information that is

provided within the passage?
a. Like Elizabeth I, Charles II never married and thus never had children.
b. The English people were relieved each time that James II’s wife Mary lost
another child, as this prevented the chance of a Catholic monarch.
c. Charles I’s beheading had less to do with religion than with other political
problems that England was facing.
d. Unlike his son and grandsons, King James I had no Catholic leanings and was a
faithful follower of the Protestant Church of England.

3. Based on the information that is provided within the passage, which of the following
can be inferred about King James II’s son?
a. Considering his resemblance to King James II, the young James was very likely the
legitimate child of the king and the queen.
b. Given the queen’s previous inability to produce a healthy child, the English and the
Lowland Scots were right in suspecting the legitimacy of the prince.
c. James “the Pretender” was not as popular among the Highland clans as his son
Bonnie Prince Charlie.
d. James was unable to acquire the resources needed to build the army and plan the
invasion that his son succeeded in doing.

4. Which of the following best describes the organization of the information in

the passage?
a. Cause-effect
b. Chronological sequence
c. Problem-solution
d. Comparison-contrast

5. Which of the following best describes the author’s intent in the passage?
a. To persuade
b. To entertain
c. To express feeling
d. To inform

6. What can be inferred from paragraph two about the author’s view of 21st
century scholars?
a. 21st century scholars often disregard the role of religious views in historical
political disputes.
b. 21st century scholars make hasty observations about historical political
disputes.
c. 21st century scholars lack the details necessary to understand historical political
disputes.
d. 21st century scholars think that religion is never used in political disputes.

7. What is the nickname of the founder of a group called the Jacobites?

a. Jacob
b. The Deceiver
c. The Pretender
d. The Fool

8. Who does the passage say ascended the throne because someone else did not have
a legitimate heir?
a. King James Stuart
b. Queen Elizabeth I
c. King Charles II
d. King James II
9. Which of the following best describes what the passage is about?
a. The lineage of the current Queen of England
b. The history of religions in Scotland and in England
c. The role of religion had in conflict between England and Scotland
d. The history and origin of the Jacobites

10. What was the result of King Charles I’s political troubles?
a. He was beheaded
b. He was exiled
c. He was hanged
d. He was dethroned

11. Based on the following sentence, what can you infer about the meaning of
the italicized word?
“Mary gave birth to a son, but the story quickly circulated that the royal child had died
and the child named James’s heir was a foundling smuggled in.”
a. A prince
b. An orphan
c. A nephew
d. An illegitimate child

12. What kind of tone does this passage have?

a. humorous
b. informative
c. solemn
d. sarcastic

13. Which piece of information is least important to the purpose of the passage?
a. Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603
b. King James I had a bible translation commissioned
c. Bonnie Prince Charlie attempted to reclaim the throne
d. King Charles II was believed to have secretly converted to Catholicism
14. What was the end result of the conflict after the Battle of Culloden?
a. England and Scotland became Catholic as a result of the battle
b. James the Pretender and his wife had to flee for safety
c. This battle started conflict that would continue for generations
d. England and Scotland have remained Protestant

Answer Explanations

1. D: All other sentences in the passage offer some support or explanation. Only the sentence in answer choice D indicates an
unsupported opinion on the part of the author.

2. C: The author actually says, “Charles’s own political troubles extended beyond religion in this case, and he was beheaded in
1649.” This would indicate that religion was less involved in this situation than in other situations. There is not enough information to
infer that Charles II never married; the passage only notes that he had no legitimate children. (In fact, he had more than ten
illegitimate children by his mistresses.) And while the chance of a Catholic king frightened many in England, it is reaching beyond
logical inference to assume that people were relieved when the royal children died. Finally, the author does not provide enough
detail for the reader to assume that James I had no Catholic leanings. The author only says that James recognized the importance
of committing to the Church of England.

3. A: The author notes, “In spite of a strong resemblance to the king, the young James was generally rejected among the English
and the Lowland Scots, who referred to him as “the Pretender.” This indicates that there was a resemblance, and this increases
the likelihood that the child was, in fact, that of James and Mary Beatrice. Answer choice B is too much of an opinion statement that
does

not have enough support in the passage. The passage essentially refutes answer choice C by pointing out that James “the
Pretender” was welcomed in the Highlands. And there is little in the passage to suggest that James was unable to raise an army
and mount an attack.

4. B: The passage is composed in a chronological sequence with each king introduced in order of reign.

5. D: The passage is largely informative in focus, and the author provides extensive detail about this period in English and Scottish
history. There is little in the passage to suggest persuasion, and the tone of the passage has no indication of a desire to entertain.
Additionally, the passage is historical, so the author avoids expressing feelings and instead focuses on factual information (with the
exception of the one opinion statement).

6. A: 21st century scholars often disregard the role of religious views in historical political disputes.

7. C: The author states that the people of the Lowlands and England referred to young James as the Pretender, as he bore strong
resemblance to the king, but did not hold true lineage to inherit the throne. Later, he would go to attempt to reclaim what he believed
to be his rightful throne.

8. D: Paragraph three states that “Charles II died without a legitimate heir, and his brother James ascended to the throne as King
James II.”

9. C: This passage includes information about lineage, but generally seeks to inform and convince the reader that religion had part
in fueling conflict between nations, particularly that of England and Scotland.

10. A: As a result of his religious and political affiliations, particularly regarding his marriage to the Catholic Princess Henrietta Maria
of France, King Charles I was beheaded. Religious groups at this time were very strict with regulating marriages and divorces and
did not condone intermarriage with other religions and had even more effect when regarding the leadership of a country. This
further reinforced the author’s purpose of demonstrating how religion played a part in political effects within the history of England.

11. B: An orphan makes the most sense in this context and is discernable from the other answer choices. Neither a princeling, nor a
nephew would need to be smuggled in. In addition, an illegitimate child was never referred to in this passage, which leaves orphan
as the most fitting choice in this context.

12. B: Tone refers to the author’s voice, or what kind of appeal he is making to the audience. In this passage, the author is
attempting to inform the audience of a series of events in the history of English and Scottish royalty. The author is making an
appeal, but makes his appeal with a tone that is informative sounding, as he grounds his argument in facts.

13. A: Whereas all of these answers are true, Queen Elizabeth’s death is not necessary to the rest of the story. King James did
commission a Protestant bible translation, which could have been a major contributor to the conflict. Prince Charlie’s and King
Charles II’s decisions also directly affected the conflict which this passage circulates around.

14. D: Whereas all of these answers are legitimate and came from the story, only one came as a result of this battle. The Battle of
Culloden ended the confusion of religion between Scotland and England and became completely Protestant nations
Reading Skills Enhancement
Matching
Reading Exercise #1

Read the text. Match the underlined examples in the text with the grammatical terms
listed A – H. Mark the correct letter (A – H) on your answer sheet. There is one extra
option which you do not need to use.

Grammatical terms
A conjunction
B preposition
C adverb
D superlative adjective
E object pronoun
F demonstrative adjective
G possessive adjective
H demonstrative pronoun

Text
For me the (1) best thing about the weekend is that I don’t have to go to work. I like (2)
my job but I have to spend all day in an office and I’m someone who loves being
outside. Another good thing about the weekend is (3) that I don’t have to get up at half
past six every day. It isn’t (4) too bad in summer but I hate (5) it in winter when it’s dark
in the morning. (6) That’s the time when I dream about moving away from (7) this
country to somewhere light and bright.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Reading Exercise #2
Match the underlined parts of the email with the functions listed A – G. Mark the correct
letter (A – G) on your answer sheet. There is one extra option which you do not need to
use.
Functions
A expressing ability
B making an offer
C making a prediction
D expressing intention
E expressing possibility
F making a request
G expressing preference

Email
Dear Juan,
Thought I’d let you know (1) I’m planning to come to Chile next year and I’m hoping to
visit you there! (21) January is my first choice, but I might stay with Mum then, so (2) it
could be that I’ll visit you in February instead. Anyway, (3) I’d be really grateful if you
could share your knowledge. What’s the weather like in February? How much can I see
in two weeks? (4) I know how to check all this on the internet, but it would be good to
speak to someone who knows the country. By the way, (5) would you like me to bring
you anything special from Britain? Speak soon, I hope.

Frank

Reading #3
Choose the best option (A, B or C) to complete each statement on speaking skills.
Using the correct letter (A, B or C)
1. Adapting your speech to the listener can involve
A giving attention to register.
B making use of prompting.
C politely correcting.

2. A common feature of speech which is not fluent is

A hesitation.
B encouragement.
C turn taking.

3 Interactive speaking involves

A developing a topic.
B using a variety of language patterns.
C exchanging ideas.

4. An example of self-correction is
A No, what I actually said was…..
B I mean coming down the stairs, sorry.
C That’s right. In other words, a lot of people think that…..

5. Trying to help the listener can involve

A requesting clarification.
B interrupting.
C paraphrasing.
6. A speaker uses repetition to
A explain things more simply when communication has broken down.
B speed up the interaction process.
C clarify things for a listener who has not heard properly

7. Linking devices are important when

A giving a presentation to an audience.
B using corrected speech.
C communicating the meaning of individual words

Reading #4
Look at the learning strategies and the three learner activities A, B and C. Two of the
learner activities are examples of the learning strategy. One learner activity is NOT.
Mark the letter (A, B or C) which is NOT an example of the learning strategy on your
answer sheet.
1. Using a written reference resource to clarify meaning
A Learners check pronunciation of a new phrase in a dictionary.
B Learners check the register of a new phrase on the internet.
C Learners use examples on a worksheet to check understanding of a new phrase.
2. notetaking
A Learners record the main points from a lecture in writing.
B Learners make a mind map of what they have learned from a lesson.
C Learners complete gaps in a coursebook text.

3. organizing work
A A learner categorizes vocabulary into words she knows and doesn’t know.
B A learner writes vocabulary quiz questions for his partner.
C A learner notes down important vocabulary under headings according to
topic.

4. guessing meaning from context

A Learners use the intonation of a speaker in a recording to work out what
he is feeling.
B Learners use a picture in a story to identify what a new word means.
C Learners use a picture dictionary to find out what a word in the title of a story means.

5. organizing participation
A A group of learners agree a time limit for a speaking game.
B Learners discuss mistakes in a speaking game.
C Learners agree rules for taking turns to speak in a speaking game.
Reading for Detail

It is helpful to try and determine the pattern how the passage is organized. Find the
introduction, discussion and conclusion. The questions to ask may include but not
limited to : What does the introduction contain? Does it clearly establish the subject?
Does it express or imply purpose?

As a practice you may identify the question to the following:

According to the passage, ...

It is stated in the passage...
The passage indicates that...
Which of the following is true...?

In order to find answers to these questions, look for the pattern from major
paragraph parts or order in the passage. In looking for answers:
1. Choose a key word in the question.
2. Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key word or idea.
3. Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea carefully.
4. Look for the answer that restates an idea in the passage.
 5. Eliminate the wrong answers and choose the best answer from
remaining choices.

Reading Passage 1

Ice ages, those periods when ice covered extensive areas of the Earth, are known
to have occurred at least six times. Past ice ages can be recognized from rock strata
that show evidence of foreign materials deposited by moving walls of ice or melting
glaciers. Ice ages can also be recognized from land formations that have been
produced from moving walls of ice, such as U-shaped valleys, sculptured landscapes,
and polished rock faces.

1. According to the passage, what happens during an ice age?

(A) Rock strata are recognized by geologists.
(B) Evidence of foreign materials is found.
(C) Ice covers a large portion of the Earth's surface.
(D) Ice melts six times.

2. The passage covers how many different methods of recognizing past ice ages? (
A) One
(B) Two
(C) Three
(D) Four

3. According to the passage, what in the rock strata is a clue to geologists of a past ice
age?
(A) Ice
(B) Melting glaciers
(C) U-shaped valleys
(D) Substances from other areas

Reading Passage # 2

The human heart is divided into four chambers, each of which serves its own
function in the cycle of pumping blood. The atria are the thin-walled upper chambers
that gather blood as it flows from the veins between heartbeats. The ventricles are the
thick-walled lower chambers that receive blood from the atria and push it into the
arteries with each contraction of the heart. The left atrium and ventricle work separately
from those on the right. The role of the chambers on the right side of the heart is to
receive oxygen-depleted blood from the body tissues and send it on to the lungs; the
chambers on the left side of the heart then receive the oxygen-enriched blood from the
lungs and send it back out to the body tissues.

1. The passage indicates that the ventricles

(A) have relatively thin walls
(B) send blood to the atria
(C) are above the atria
(D) force blood into the arteries

2. According to the passage, when is blood pushed into the arteries from the ventricles?
(A) As the heart beats
(B) Between heartbeats
C) Before each contraction of the heart
(D) Before it is received by the atria

3. According to the passage, which part of the heart gets blood from the body tissues
and passes it on to the lungs?
(A) The atria
(B) The ventricles
(C) The right atrium and ventricle
(D) The left atrium and ventricle

Reading Passage #3

The Golden Age of Railroads refers to the period from the end of the Civil War to the
beginning of World War I when railroads flourished and in fact, maintained a near
monopoly in mass transportation in the United States. One of the significant
developments during the period was the notable increase in uniformity,
particularly through the standardization of track gauge and time. At the end of the Civil
War, only about half of the nation's railroad track was laid at what is now the standard
gauge of 1.4 meters; much of the rest, particularly in the southern states, had a
1.5-meter gauge. During the postwar years, tracks were converted to the 1.4-meter
gauge, and by June 1, 1886, the standardization of tracks was completed, resulting in
increased efficiency and economy in the rail system. A further boon to railroad efficiency
was the implementation of Standard Time in 1883. With the adoption of Standard Time,
four time zones were established across the country, thus simplifying railroad
scheduling and improving the efficiency of railroad service.

1. According to the passage, the Golden Age of Railroads

(A) occurred prior to the Civil War
(B) was a result of World War I
(C) a period when most of U.S. mass transportation was controlled by the railroads
(D) resulted in a decrease in uniformity of track gauge

2. The passage mentions that which of the following occurred as a result of uniformity of
track gauge?
(A) The Civil War
(B) Improved economy in the transportation system
(C) Standardization of time zones
(D) Railroad schedules

3. The passage indicates that Standard Time was implemented

(A) before the Civil War
(B) on June 1, 1886
(C) after World War I
(D) before standardized track gauge was established throughout the U.S.

Answers:
1.
2.
3.

Reading Passage # 4

The Postage Stamp

The postage stamp has been around for only a relatively short period of time. The use
of stamps for postage was first proposed in England in 1837, when Sir Rowland Hill
published a pamphlet entitled “Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability” to
put forth the ideas that postal rates should not be based on the distance that a letter or
package travels but should instead be based on the weight of the letter or package and
that fees for postal services should be collected in advance of the delivery, rather than
after, through the use of postage stamps. The ideas proposed by Hill went into effect in
England almost immediately, and other countries soon followed suit. The first English
stamp, which featured a portrait of then Queen Victoria, was printed in 1840. Thisn
tamp, the “penny black”, came in sheets that needed to be separated with scissors and
provided enough postage for a letter weighing 14 grams or less to any destination. In
1843, Brazil was the next nation to produce national postage stamps, and various areas
in what is today Switzerland also produced postage stamps later in the same year.
Postage stamps in five- and ten-cent denominations were first approved by the U.S.
Congress in 1847, and by 1860 postage stamps were being issued in more than
90 governmental jurisdictions worldwide.
1. According to paragraph 1, postage stamps were first suggested
(A) in the first half of the eighteenth century
(B) in the second half of the eighteenth century
(C) in the first half of the nineteenth century
(D) in the second half of the nineteenth century

2. It is indicated in paragraph 1 that Sir Rowland Hill believed that postage fees
(A) should be paid by the sender
(B) should be related to distance
(C) should have nothing to do with how heavy a package is
(D) should be collected after the package is delivered

3. What is stated in paragraph 2 about the first English postage stamp?

(A) It was designed by Queen Victoria.
(B) It contained a drawing of a black penny.
(C) It was produced in sheets of 14 stamps.
(D) It could be used to send a lightweight letter.

4. According to paragraph 2, Brazil introduced postage stamps

(A) before England
(B) before Switzerland
(C) after the United States
(D) after Switzerland

5. It is mentioned in paragraph 2 that in 1847

(A) postage stamps were in use in 90 different countries
(B) it cost fifteen cents to mail a letter in the United States
(C) two different denominations of postage stamps were introduced in the United States
(D) the U.S. Congress introduced the “penny black” stamp

Reading Passage # 5

The black widow is the most dangerous spider living in the United States. It is most
common in the southern parts of the country, but it can be found throughout the country.
The black widow got its name because the female has been known to kill the male after
mating and, as a result, becomes a widow. The black widow is rather distinctive
in appearance; it has a shiny globular body, the size and shape of a pea, and is marked
on its underbelly with a red or yellow spot. The female is considerably more ample than
the male, roughly four times larger on the average. If a human is bitten by a black
widow, the spider's poison can cause severe illness and pain. Black widow bites have
occasionally resulted in death, but it is certainly not the norm for black widow bites to be
mortal.

1. In line 4, the word "widow" means

(A) a type of poison
(B) the dead male spider
(C) the human victim of the spider
(D) a female whose mate has died

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "globular" in line 5?

(A) Earthen
(B) Luminescent
(C) Green in color
(D) Round

3. The word "ample" in line 7 indicates that the spider is

(A) feminine
(B) large in size
(C) dotted with colors
(D) normal

4. Which of the following has the same meaning as the word "mortal" in line 10?
(A) Deadly
(B) Painful
(C) Poisonous
(D) Sickening

Answers:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Reading Passage # 6
Smog

The oxidation of exhaust gases is one of the primary sources of the world’s
pollution. The brown haze that is poised over some of the world’s largest cities is
properly called photochemical smog; it results from chemical reactions that take place in
the air, using the energy of sunlight. The production of smog begins with gases are
created in the cylinders of vehicle engines. It is there that oxygen and nitrogen gas
combine as the fuelburns to form nitric oxide (NO), a colorless gas. The nitric oxide is
forced out into the air through the vehicle tailpipe along with other gases. When the
gas reaches the air, it comes into contact with available oxygen from the atmosphere
and combines with the oxygen to produce nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is a gas
with a brownish hue. This nitrogen dioxide plays a role in the formation of acid rain in
wetter or more humid climates and tends to decompose back into nitric oxide as it
releases an oxygen atom from each molecule; the released oxygen atoms quickly
combine with oxygen (O2) molecules to form ozone (O3). The brownish colored
nitrogen dioxide is partially responsible for the brown color in smoggy air; the ozone is
the toxic substance that causes irritation to eyes.

1. The word poised in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to

A interacting
B sitting
C blowing
D poisoning

2. The phrase take place in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to

A position themselves
B put
C are seated
D occur

3. The word forced in paragraph 1 could best be replaced by

A obliged
B required
C pushed
D commanded

4. The word hue in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to

A color
B odor
C thickness
D smoke

5. The phrase plays a role in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to

A makes fun of
B serves a function in
C acts the part of
D moves about in
Chapter 4 Writing
Integrated Writing

The Writing Task requires you to write a summary of at least 150 words in
response to a particular graph (bar, line or pie graph), table, chart, or process
(how something works, how something is done). This task tests your ability to select
and report the main features, to describe and compare data, identify significance
and trends in factual information, or describe a process.

Task Achievement remember to:

 include an overview statement
 report accurate data
 highlight key information or trends
 include enough data
 speculate or give an opinion about why changes have occurred
 use an appropriate tone
 writing required number of words
 including a final summary or concluding paragraph
Writing Task 1
The Difference between Theft and Robbery

To put it simply, someone is guilty of robbery if he steals from a person using force or
makes them think force will be used. Theft means taking someone’s property but does
not involve the use of force. Burglary means illegally entering a property in order to steal
property from it.

The chart below shows the changes that took place in three different areas of crime in
Panama City from 2010 to 2019.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

Model answer

This graph illustrates how crime rates altered in Panama City during the period 2010-
2019. We can see immediately that the greatest change occurred in the number of
burglaries, while incidents of theft remained low but steady.

In 2010, we can see that burglary was the most common crime, with approximately
3,400 reported cases. The figure rose to around 3,700 in 2011, but then there was a
downward trend until 2015. At this point the figure stood at just over 1,000 incidents.
This rose slightly in 2016, then continued to fluctuate for the remaining period.
In 2010, the number of cars being stolen stood at around 2,800 and followed a similar
trend to burglary until 2013. At this point the number rose, standing at around 2,200 in
2014. There was a marginal decrease in the following year, but from then on, the trend
was generally upwards.

Finally, robbery has always been a fairly minor problem for Panama City. The
number of offences committed changed little over nine years. It is interesting to note
that the figure of approximately 700 in 2010 is the same figure for 2019.
(185 words).

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The graph below shows the number of hours per day on average that children spent
watching television between 1950 and 2010. Summarise the information by selecting
and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

There are a number of common mistakes that prevent students from getting a high
score in Task Achievement. These are:
 not including an overview statement
 misreporting data
 not highlighting key information or trends
 not including enough or any data
 speculating or giving an opinion about why changes have occurred
 using an inappropriate tone
 writing fewer than 150 words
 not including a final summary or concluding paragraph, or producing one which
doesn't summarise the main features.

The graph below shows the number of hours per day on average that children spent
watching television between 1950 and 2010.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

There are a number of common mistakes that prevent students from getting a high
score
in Task Achievement. These are:
 not including an overview statement
 misreporting data
 not highlighting key information or trends
 not including enough or any data
 speculating or giving an opinion about why changes have occurred
 using an inappropriate tone
 writing fewer than 150 words
 not including a final summary or concluding paragraph, or producing one which
doesn't summarise the main features.

Model Answer

The graph shows the number of hours per day on average that children spent watching
television. The graph covers the period between 1950 and 2010.

From 1950 to 1960, there was a modest rise in the average number of hours children
spent in front of the television set. This was followed by a marked increase from
approximately one hour to four hours of viewing per day among children between 1965
and 1982. Over the next five years, there was a decrease. However, this trend proved
negligible as the viewing figure then rose again marginally, and it reached a peak of
over four hours in 1995.

Between 1995 and 2010, there was another modest decline in the hours children spent
watching television.

Overall, it can be concluded that there has been a significant rise in television viewing
over the sixty-year period, though there is some indication that this trend may be
changing.

Writing Task 3
Model answer
These two pie charts show the differences between two groups of Canadians (25 to 35
and 45 to 55 year olds) in terms of their post-school qualifications.

The first point to note is the huge increase in the number of people with qualifications.
The younger group is more than two times bigger than the older group (515,600
compared to 213,400).

Comparing the two groups, Humanities and Nursing have experienced an increase in
popularity with older graduates; Nursing rose by 4%. However, the biggest gain was
made by engineering, which increased from 9% to 19% of the whole. Some subjects
were more popular with the younger age group. The biggest loss in graduate numbers
were to Science, Maths and Computers which, as a group, have decreased by 8%.
Administration has declined by 4%.
To sum up, the graphs show a more than twofold increase in the number of graduates.
The most noticeable change in subject percentages is the increase in the
number of engineering graduates. (164 words)

Writing Task 4

Writing an Introduction

Use the following structure for the introduction to a Task 1 answer:

 One sentence to explain what the table shows. (Use different words from the words
used in the heading for the table wherever possible.)
 One or two sentences summarizing the information shown in the table.
 Do not include details in the introduction. Save the details for the main part of your
text, after the introduction.

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The table below shows top ten countries with largest population in 2019, and how it is
projected to change by 2100. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the
main features, and make comparisons where relevant Write at least 150 words.

Model answer
The table compares the population of the world's top ten countries in 2019 with
projected numbers in 2100.

In 2019, China had the highest population of 1,439 million, with India second on 1,380
million. However, by 2100, India is projected to have the highest population of 1,551
million with China second on 941 million - down 498 million since 2019. Although the
USA is projected to increase its population from 331 million to 478 million, it steps down
from third to fourth place, being overtaken by Nigeria, which moves up from seventh
place with 206 million, to a total of 730 million, representing a massive increase of 524
million. Brazil drops from sixth place in 2019 with 213 million, down to tenth in 2100 on
177 million - a decrease of 36 million.

Three of the ten most populous countries in the world will no longer be among the top
ten in 2100, and all three will be supplanted by rapidly growing nations in Africa.

Except for China and Brazil, all other projections show an increase between 2019 and
2100, but there is a significant shuffling of position by some countries, the elimination of
others, and the introduction of new contenders for a top-ten placing (203 words)

EXTRA PRACTICE
IELTS Sample Letters (IELTS Writing Task 1)

The purpose of this section is to help you with the Writing Task 1 of the IELTS General
test. In Task 1, candidates are asked to respond to a given problem with a letter
requesting information or explaining a situation. It is suggested that about 20 minutes is
spent on Task 1, which requires candidates to write at least 150 words. Depending on
the task suggested, candidates are assessed on their ability to:

-engage in personal correspondence

- elicit and provide general factual information
- express needs, wants, likes and dislikes
- express opinions (views, complaints etc.)

Test tip

When you are considering the purpose of your letter, you also need to think about what
you have to do in the letter, e.g. complain, advise, etc. This will affect the language and
expressions that you choose.

You need to use the right tone throughout your letter. You will lose marks if you use an
inappropriate tone or if you use the wrong tone in parts of your letter.

Examiners will ignore any sections of text copied directly from the question. Remember
that this will reduce your total word count and may also reduce your marks.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

You have heard that a developer plans to build a shopping centre near your
home.
Write a letter to the council. In your letter
say how you heard about the plan
explain how you feel about it
ask for more information about it

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Model answer

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a resident of Boundary Road and I have recently read in the local newspaper that a
shopping centre is going to be built near where I live.

This news was rather a surprise to me. I have been living in Boundary Road for five
years now and it has always been a very quiet street with very few tall
buildings. I think a construction like this will change the atmosphere of the area
considerably and, like many other residents I have spoken to, I am not at all happy
about it.

I think people who live in the area have a right to know more about the plan before it
goes ahead, so I would like to request further details regarding the dates of the planned
building work and the size of the centre. Also, I sincerely hope you are planning to
provide a car park, as otherwise parking will become very difficult for everyone in the
area. I look forward to hearing from you.

Faithfully,

John Carlson

(175 words)
Independent Writing

The writing task for independent writing, consists of two separate tasks: an
Integrated Writing task and an Independent Writing task. The Integrated task
requires you to write a response comparing a lecture and an article, whereas the
Independent task requires you to write an opinionated essay in which you agree
or disagree with an idea.

Integrated Writing Task

Divide into four paragraphs: an introduction and three body paragraphs!). But if you
want to write a conclusion, just be sure you keep it short — two to three sentences at
most Paragraph 1 (Introduction) Your first paragraph will introduce the lecture and
how it relates to the reading. This paragraph doesn’t need to be long; a simple two
or three sentences should suffice.

1. Begin with a topic sentence that summarizes the main point of the lecture.

Examples:
According to the lecture, …
Based on the lecture, …
The lecturer states/believes that …
The lecturer talks about …
The lecturer discusses …

2. Next, explain whether the passage refutes or supports the main point of the lecture.

Examples (Contrast):
By contrast, the author of the passage explains/states/posits that …
The author of the passage, however, disagrees with this idea/belief. Instead,
he/she believes that …
The author of the passage, however, doubts this idea/belief and thinks that …
The author challenges this point, however, by explaining/suggesting/positing that …

Examples (Agreement):
This line of thinking agrees with that of the author, who states that …
The author of the passage agrees with this notion/idea/belief, stating that …
Likewise, the author of the passage explains/states/posits that …
The author of the passage supports this idea/belief, explaining that …
Paragraph 2 (Body)

In this paragraph, you’ll want to focus on one of the key points in the lecture
and explain whether the passage refutes or supports this idea.

1. Introduce the main point you’ll be discussing.

Examples:
First, the lecturer asserts/claims/suggests that …
For one, the lecturer thinks/believes that …
The first point the lecturer makes is that …

2. Next, describe this particular point in more detail and then discuss how the
passage either refutes or supports it. I suggest using one to two sentences here.

Examples:
On the other hand, the author asserts/claims/suggests that …
Likewise, the author thinks/believes that …
This concept is refuted/supported by the passage, which asserts/claims/suggests that
…

3. Finally, conclude your paragraph by explaining what this difference or similarity

means.

Examples:

For the Integrated task, you must read a passage on an academic topic for three
minutes and then listen to a short lecture on the same topic. This lecture will either
support or challenge what’s written in the passage. Your response must summarize
the main points discussed in the lecture and explain how these points relate to the
reading.

This difference/similarity ultimately means/indicates that …

Basically, the lecturer/author is saying that …
The lecturer and author are essentially in agreement with each other. Both think/believe
that …
Clearly, the lecturer and author maintain different views on …

Paragraph 3 (Body)

In this paragraph, you’ll focus on another key point in the lecture and again discuss
how the passage either agrees or disagrees with this idea. The structure here is
essentially identical to that of paragraph 2, so make sure you are using new transitions
and varying your word choice.

1. Start by introducing the second point in the lecture you’ll be discussing. Because this
is your second body paragraph, do not use transitions such as “first” or “first of all.”

Examples:

Second, the lecturer argues/contends/asserts that …

Next, the lecturer suggests/proposes that …
Another key point the lecturer makes is that …

2. Next, explain this key point in more detail and elaborate on how it is either refuted or
supported by the passage. As with paragraph 2, I recommend using one to two
sentences here.

Examples:

In other words, the lecturer is suggesting/proposing that …

The author, however, agrees/disagrees with this idea/belief, suggesting/proposing that
…
Similarly, the author argues/contends/asserts that …

3. Finally, explain what this difference or similarity means.

Examples:

What this difference/similarity means is that …

This difference/similarity in thinking tells us that …
Evidently, the lecturer thinks/believes that … , whereas the author thinks/believes that
…

Paragraph 4 (Body + Conclusion)

This final body paragraph will offer your last key point in addition to a brief conclusion.
Once again, try to vary your transitions and words here so that your body paragraphs do
not sound redundant.

1. Introduce and summarize the third point in the lecture. This is your third and final
body paragraph, so do not use transitions such as “first” or “next.” Instead, use
transitions
such as “third,” “finally,” “last,” and “lastly.”
Examples:
Third, the lecturer explains/states that …
Finally, the lecturer introduces the idea that …
Lastly, the lecturer goes on to say that …

2. Then, explain this point in more detail and discuss whether the passage matches or
challenges it. Use one or two sentences here.

Examples:
This point is also made in the passage, which argues/contends/asserts that …
The passage supports this idea, suggesting/proposing that …
On the contrary, the author writes that …

3. Finally, conclude your paragraph by explaining the significance of this similarity or

difference. You should also look at this sentence as the conclusion to your entire
response. Remember, you do not need to write a separate concluding paragraph for
this task; it’s perfectly OK to combine it with your last body paragraph!

Examples:

In conclusion, the lecturer and author appear to be in agreement/disagreement about …

All in all, the lecturer argues/contends/asserts that … , whereas the author
argues/contends/asserts that

Template 2: Independent Writing Task

For this task, you will read a short prompt and then write a response explaining whether
you agree or disagree with the issue or idea. Unlike the Integrated task, here you’ll be
writing an opinionated response (though you do not have to write about your actual
opinion).

You’ll have 30 minutes to write an essay of at least 300 words. Because this essay
should be longer than the Integrated task, it’s best to use the basic five-paragraph
structure, with an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Note that many of the example sentences below are based on the sample
Independent Writing prompt used above. This means that these sentences will not
apply exactly to other prompts! So don’t simply copy the sentences onto your test;
instead, use them as a general guide to help you develop a better sense of style and
flow in your writing. Now, let’s look at our Independent Writing TOEFL template.

Paragraph 1 (Introduction)
In this paragraph, you’ll introduce the main issue or idea and rephrase the prompt in
your own words. Then, you’ll state whether you agree or disagree with the statement
and why.

1. For your first sentence, you’ll want to come up with a hook that introduces the topic of
your essay in a unique and creative way. Most people start broad and then get specific.
This sentence is also a great opportunity to insert a hypothetical question.

Examples:

There is great debate about ...

It is said that ... But is this always true?
Many people wonder whether telling the truth at all times is necessary in order to
maintain a healthy relationship with someone.

2. Next, introduce your opinion on the topic. You may list your specific reasons for your
opinion here or in the following sentence(s). Remember, this doesn’t need to be your
real opinion!

Examples:
In my opinion, …
I believe that … is important because …
I agree/disagree with this idea/suggestion because …
For me, although telling the truth is important, there are many cases in which it’s OK to
lie.

3. Here, state how many points (three is ideal) you’ll be discussing in your essay and
then briefly summarize what these reasons for agreeing or disagreeing are. Your
reasons may come from facts, predictions, personal beliefs, experiences, etc.

Examples:

In this essay, I will address three potential problems with lying in relationships. Lying is
never a smart idea because it undermines trust in relationships, causes feelings of
betrayal, and often leads to more lying.

You’ll have a total of 20 minutes to write your response. Your response should be
around 150-225 words. During this time, you may reread the passage; however,
you may not listen to the lecture again.

Below is an example of an Integrated Writing task borrowed from ETS:

Reading Passage
Critics say that current voting systems used in the United States are inefficient and often
lead to the inaccurate counting of votes. Miscounts can be especially damaging if an
election is closely contested. Those critics would like the traditional systems to be
replaced with far more efficient and trustworthy computerized voting systems.

In traditional voting, one major source of inaccuracy is that people accidentally vote for
the wrong candidate. Voters usually have to find the name of their candidate on a large
sheet of paper containing many names—the ballot—and make a small mark next to that
name. People with poor eyesight can easily mark the wrong name. The computerized
voting machines have an easy-to-use touch-screen technology: to cast a vote, a voter
needs only to touch the candidate’s name on the screen to record a vote for
that candidate; voters can even have the computer magnify the name for easier
viewing.

Another major problem with old voting systems is that they rely heavily on people to
count the votes. Officials must often count up the votes one by one, going through every
ballot and recording the vote. Since they have to deal with thousands of ballots, it is
almost inevitable that they will make mistakes. If an error is detected, a long
and expensive recount has to take place. In contrast, computerized systems
remove the possibility of human error, since all the vote counting is done quickly and
automatically by the computers.

Finally some people say it is too risky to implement complicated voting technology
nationwide. But without giving it a thought, governments and individuals alike trust other
complex computer technology every day to be perfectly accurate in banking
transactions as well as in the communication of highly sensitive information.

Lecture Transcript

(Narrator) Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about. (Female
professor) While traditional voting systems have some problems, it’s doubtful that
computerized voting will make the situation any better. Computerized voting may seem
easy for people who are used to computers. But what about people who aren’t? People
who can’t afford computers, people who don’t use them on a regular basis—these
people will have trouble using computerized voting machines. These voters can easily
cast the wrong vote or be discouraged from voting altogether because of fear of
technology. Furthermore, it’s true that humans make mistakes when they count up
ballots by hand. But are we sure that computers will do a better job? After all, computers
are programmed by humans, so “human error” can show up in mistakes in their
programs. And the errors caused by these defective programs may be far more serious.
The worst a human official can do is miss a few ballots. But an error in a computer
program can result in thousands of votes being miscounted or even permanently
removed from the record. And in many voting systems, there is no physical record
of the votes, so a computer recount in the case of a suspected error is
impossible! As for our trust of computer technology for banking and
communications, remember one thing: these systems are used daily and they are
used heavily. They didn’t work flawlessly when they were first introduced. They had to
be improved on and improved on until they got as reliable as they are today. But voting
happens only once every two years nationally in the United States and not much more
than twice a year in many local areas. This is hardly sufficient for us to develop
confidence that computerized voting can be fully trusted.

Writing Task 1

In 20 minutes, write your response. Your response should be around 150-225

words. Summarize the points made in the lecture, explain how they oppose
specific points made in the reading passage.

Independent Writing Task

For the Independent task, you will write about your opinion on a certain topic. You must
provide clear reasons and specific examples for why you agree or disagree with the
issue or statement. (This doesn’t have to be your real opinion, though!) You’ll have 30
minutes to write your response. A typical high-scoring essay is at least 300 words.
You’ll receive a score on a scale of 0-5.
* level-5 essay effectively addresses the topic, provides clear and ample details,
and contains at most only minor issues with grammar and word choice.
* level-3 essay offers a generally coherent response with occasional slips in clarity.
*level-1 essay offers little to no detail and contains multiple technical errors.

Writing Based on Knowledge and Experience

This section of the test asks you questions about common experiences. You will
be asked to give your opinion and provide reasons and examples. You will not be
required to have any previous knowledge on a topic. You will have 30 minutes to
prepare an essay in response to the question provided.

Question types: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Students
should take out student loans to avoid working while studying. Use specific
reasons and examples to support your answer.
Some people think it’s better to live with a roommate. Other people prefer to live alone.
Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

It is better to grow up with siblings than without. Do you agree or disagree? Use
specific reasons and examples to develop your essay.

It has recently been announced that the public library in your area will be closed for the
summer months for a major renovation and expansion. Do you support or oppose this
plan. Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

Example:

Some people prefer to settle down and start a family in a rural area. Other people
prefer the convenience of the big city. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons
and examples to support your opinion.

Sample Essay:

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? A young couple meets and falls in love in
the city. Later they get married and decide to move to a rural area. They plan to start a
family. This may have been the case years ago, but today more couples are choosing to
settle down in the city. In my opinion a city has more to offer a new family than a rural
area. These things include jobs, institutions, and support systems.

There are more work opportunities for young couples in a city than in a rural area.
Unemployment is much lower in urban centers. One reason for this is that many jobs in
rural areas are seasonal. It is more common for large companies to be based in the city.
Even though the cost of living is higher in the city than it is in a rural area, people who
work in the city tend to have much higher salaries. Furthermore, financial stress
is a leading cause of divorce and leads to the break up of families.

The city offers important institutions such as the best hospitals and schools that rural
areas don't always have. For instance, people who get sick or have babies in rural
areas often have to travel to the city for medical attention. This can lead to bills
and transportation problems. While their parents have to commute to work, kids
sometimes have to travel a long way on a bus to school. All of the travel takes away
from family time. In addition, kids who grow up in rural areas are less likely to go to post
secondary schools. Most have to go to the city to get a good education.

It is more likely that a young couple will have the support of friends and family in the city
than in a rural area. When a young couple moves away from this support system, they
often feel isolated. On the other hand, small communities are usually close and
friendly. It doesn't take long to meet new friends in a small town. People look out for
each other and the crime rate is much lower. Even still, you can never replace your best
friends and relatives. Consequently, birthdays and holidays feel lonely without
grandparents and childhood friends to join in the celebration.

Essay Checklist

Do I have an interesting introductory sentence?

Do I have a thesis?
Does my introduction state the topics that I plan to cover?
Does each paragraph have a topic sentence?
Do I use examples and reasons to support my points?
Is my spelling and punctuation correct?
Do I use simple grammatical structure that I am comfortable with?
Do I use transitional phrases?
Have I covered both sides of an issue fairly?
Did I prove my thesis?
Does my conclusion end with an interesting thought or idea?

Living in the city is a new trend for young families. This is partly because people are
starting families later. I have already established my career and home in the city. My
friends and family and all of the things I need are here. When I meet my future spouse I
hope he agrees to settle down in the city.

The score you receive for this task will be on a scale of 0-5. According to a level-5
essay (i.e., a perfect essay) selects the most crucial information from the lecture
and presents it in a coherent, accurate, and well-organized manner. A level-3
essay is satisfactory but overall vague, with fewer key points and several
grammatical errors.

Finally, a level-1 essay offers minimal coherency and fails to address any of the
main points in the lecture.
Chapter 5 Speaking
Social Functions

This module aimed to familiarize students with certain social functions of English. It
exposed them to real-life situations and adequate practice in using the
appropriate language forms in conversations similar to those used in everyday life. The
unit also gave strategies to help students practice these skills in the classroom

Specific Objectives

At the end of the module, the students should be able to:

1. Be encouraged to speak spontaneously in various social situations;
2. Familiarize themselves with common functions of English such as apologising, giving
clarifications, and giving a description; and
3. Be provided with a vocabulary guide appropriate for different functions

For students, the preparation for participating fully in social life begins at school. In the
classroom as a communication situation, students have opportunities to perform some
linguistic functions like asking permission, asking for information asking for
clarifications, apologizing and giving a description and making a request. However,
these are not the only uses of English in daily life. To enable students to use English
effectively for social communication, we need to have practice performing other
functions in English and give students opportunities to share information naturally in
their peer groups as they would in real-life situations.

Activities to be done in pairs and groups help students feel less inhibited and shy, and
give them a real purpose for speaking, as their group mates will have similar interests
and lead similar personal lives. It is important, therefore, to use an activity-based
approach to teaching, not just in the English classroom, but in other subject areas as
well.

Activity 1

Task 1: Read out the transcript like a conversation

Christina: Hey, Ravi! Why didn’t you turn up at my place last evening? Everyone was
waiting for you to show up, you know! In fact, we waited till 9:00 p.m. to start!
Ravi: I’m so sorry, Tina — I just couldn’t get away from the office!
Christina: Well, since you didn’t call to say you weren’t coming, we didn’t know for sure!
Ravi: I know, Tina — it was really rude of me not to call — can you forgive me,
please?
Christina: It wasn’t just me, you know — Suzie came only to meet you, and I had a real
problem with the seating arrangement at dinner!
Ravi: My sincere apologies once again, dear — I just hope I can make up for it soon!
Christina: It’s okay, but you better not repeat this — I don’t know if I can take it one
more time!
Ravi: Please let it pass this time — I promise this will never happen again!
Christina: All right, all right — you’re forgiven! Now buy me an ice cream, or I’ll tell
everyone about this!
Ravi: Really? Now who’s being mean? Ha ha!

Task 2: Follow-up exercise

Discuss the expressions used to apologise, and have the students brainstorm for more
such expressions. Also draw their attention to the responses made by Christine, and
ask them to think of other ways of responding.

Now break the students into groups of five or six and let them choose from the
devise different communication situations. Have them provide a few more expressions
they may adopt to apologize to others in social situations:
at the bookstore
in a relative’s house
at the airport/on a bus
at the shopping mall
at school

In their groups, the students should think of a situation for an apology, and write a short
dialogue on a conversation The dialogue should contain expressions of apology and
appropriate responses. When the groups are ready, the group members should
perform a role play based on their conversation. The other groups should note
the expressions used for apologies. At the end of the role play session, you can wind up
by discussing once more the different ways of making an apology, and ask
students to practise these at home and in social situations.

Activity 2 Asking for Clarifications

In the classroom and outside, one of the most common language functions one needs
to perform is asking for and giving clarifications. Sometimes we ask someone to repeat
what he or she said because of background noise interference; at other times, the
speaker may be speaking too fast or we may not be paying attention. At home, we use
fairly informal language to ask for clarifications, especially because we use the home
language.

Here is a list of common expressions used to clarify information that the listener did not
understand. Practise using them in the classroom when you do not understand
something said by your teacher or classmates. This will help you use them in real-life
conversations outside the classroom.

1. I’d like everyone to clarify their points, please.

2. Am I on the right track?
3. Please pull this conversation together for everyone’s clarification.
4. Could you repeat what you wanted to say?
5. Could you explain what you have in mind?
6. Can someone explain this from the beginning please?
7. Could you remind me what we were planning to discuss?
8. Could someone explain what this is about?
9. Could you say that again, please?
10. Can I ask you to repeat what you just said?
11. Sorry, I think I missed the point.

Task 1

Read out the transcript like a conversation, and have students complete the worksheet.
Rahila: Okay, everyone, let’s finalise our plans for the Sports Day... Lisa, Ron,
Nick, Didier, Wendy — everyone, please pay attention!
Wendy: Sorry, Rahila — didn’t catch it — ________________?
Rahila: I just said we should start discussing our plans for Sports Day... Did you talk to
Coach Andrews?
Wendy: Me? No — was I supposed to?
Ron: Why, Wendy, wasn’t it you who offered to meet Coach Andrews after classes on
Friday?
Wendy: But I thought we were supposed to meet him together — Lisa and I!
Lisa: Hey — I thought I heard my name _______________________________?
Rahila: Really, Lisa, why are you always so vague? Wendy says she and you were
supposed to have met Coach Andrews together on Friday.
Lisa: Oops! I forgot! _____________________________?
Nick: You don’t remember? I was with you when Wendy called Thursday night,
and I thought she said you two needed to discuss Sports Day preparations.

Lisa: I’m confused now… weren’t we supposed to meet Coach after we’d
made our plans?
Didier: Guys, guys, we’re moving off the tracks now —
________________________________?
Nick: All right — let’s go over this once more. Everyone, please pay attention!
We need to discuss how to start planning the Sports Day events. Wendy
and Lisa are going to discuss it with Coach Andrews. I hope this clarifies
it for everyone now.
Didier: Ummm… I was thinking, like, how about drawing up a plan ourselves
and getting it past Coach? We don’t have much time, y’know!
Rahila: That’s not a bad idea – Didier, ________________?
Wendy: Didier, remem…
Nick: I have an ide…
Rahila: Nick, please don’t interrupt her — Wendy,
________________________________?
Wendy: What I was saying was that Didier and I were just talking about things we could
do and he…
Didier: Yeah, and I was saying we could divide the games into under 14, and over 15 or
something like that…
Rahila: Okay, I think I get it — you are suggesting we have two sets of
competitions — one for kids under 14 years, and the other for the rest of us older kids,
that is, 14 upwards.
Nick: That sounds good…
Ron: Someone ________________________________. Are we going to make a
rough plan now, and everyone will contribute their ideas, and we will then take it to the
Coach for confirmation? ______________?
Everyone: Absolutely!
Nick: Okay, everyone — let’s be serious about this:
________________________________.

Activity 3
Describing an object

This activity should provide some strategies to help your students describe an
object, another common function of any language. All through our lives, we
describe things in our home languages, from what we put in our mouths as children, to
describing creepy-crawly creatures lurking in our homes, to the exotic things we see on
holidays, objects of beauty around us, and finally, in our old age, we are asked by our
doctors to describe what we see with our failing eyesight! In short, we describe
hundreds of things around us — people, objects, processes, beliefs (yes, the
descriptions can be of non-tangible things!) — and some of these we describe in
English.
Task 1 Identify from a set of pictures the object that they will hear being
described.

Task 2. Identify the objects from the descriptions, and number them

An open book: This is a rectangular object about the size of a shoe box. It is made of
thin sheets of paper bound together. The inner sheets are encased in two covers, made
of thick sheets. The object contains printed matter with margins on each side of
the sheets. The object is used for gathering or displaying knowledge or information.

A pair of spectacles: This object consists of two pieces of glass that are held in place
with a frame made of plastic, metal or wood. The two glass pieces are cut into a round,
oval, square or rectangular shape, and held in a thin frame. The frame has two long
sticks, about seven or eight centimetres long, which are bent at the ends to look like the
letter “l.” This object is used to view things at a distance more clearly, or small objects
and written matter that cannot be viewed by the naked eye.

A pencil box: It is a rectangular object, cuboid in shape, about 15 centimetres long, six
centimetres wide and three centimetres high. It is made of plastic, metal or wood, and is
used to store tools used for writing.

A mobile phone: This is a hand-held wireless instrument used to communicate with

people at a distance. It has an in-built computer that allows the user to store the contact
numbers of people they wish to speak to, and many other features that enable the user
to communicate with other people. This object works on a battery and sometimes
includes a torch. The advanced versions of this object can be used to watch TV, audio-
or video- record events and sounds, and even allows the user to be visible to the
listener.

A stethoscope: This is an instrument used by a doctor to listen to a person’s heartbeat.

It consists of a rubber tube, about two feet in length, connected at one end to two metal
tubes with earpieces. At the other end, the rubber tube is connected to a flat, round,
metal object that resembles a medal.

Electric iron: An instrument used to remove creases from clothes, this object works on
electricity. The object, about the size of a book, is conical in shape, and has a flat metal
plate on one surface, which can be heated. The flat surface is attached to a metal or
plastic casing that contains wires and other heating apparatus. The plastic case also
has a non-heating plastic handle for people to hold it. The object may have a wire
attached at one end to connect it to an electric point, or it may be wireless.

A shoe: This object is an article of clothing used by both men and women. It is made of
a sturdy fabric. The object is about the size of a human foot, and is rectangular in
shape, but rounded at the front and back. It is hollow and has a thick bottom called a
“sole,” made of plastic or some other material that uses friction to keep it steady on the
ground. The object has a soft inner lining for comfort. The fabric is stitched to the sole,
and can be held in place by two laces that can be inserted into holes made in the front.

A clock: This is a round object made of plastic or metal. It works on a spring that is
attached to three thin plastic sticks with arrows at the end. The sticks, which go round
and round constantly in a fixed time span, are made of plastic. The longest stick is
about one foot long, while the other two are about seven and five centimetres long
respectively. The front of the object has a paper or plastic sheet glued to it, on which is
printed the numbers 1 to 12. The sheet is protected by a glass cover. The object rests
vertically on two metal feet. At the top of the object, on the circumference, there is a
triangular handle. On either side of the handle, two round metal buttons are attached,
each about the size of a coin. When pressed, these metal coins produce a sound.

Task 3 Expressions used to describe an object

Familiarize them with the expressions used for descriptions

Expressions describing shape:

round, oval, square, flat, long, diagonal, diamond-shaped, pear-shaped, heart-shaped,

zigzag, elliptical, rectangular, triangular, circular

Expressions describing size:

large, small, short, tiny, enormous, huge, average, pint-sized, microscopic, mid-sized

Expressions describing dimensions:

hollow, cube, spherical, conical, cylindrical, concave (turning in), shapely, convex
(turning out), bent, stretched

Expressions describing directions:

up, down, left, right, north, south, east, west, above, below, over, under, between,
beside, along, across, beneath

Colour expressions:

red, blue, yellow, green, amber, azure, turquoise, jade, ashen, grey, brown, crimson,
maroon, magenta, indigo, purple, violet, orange, pink, beige, silver, gold, bluish-green,
greenish-red, purplish-yellow, inky-blue, icy blue, copper, rust

Useful phrases:
a. This object is a…
b. It has…
c. It is used for…
d. It is made of…
e. It comprises…
f. It consists of…
g. The size of this object is

Task 4

For the final part of the activity, bring to the class or draw interesting objects that are not
too easy to describe either some differently shaped objects (see and ask them to
describe them). Working in pairs, they should first write out a description using then ask
them to describe it. One partner should then read it aloud to the rest of the class. The
rest of the students in class will have to understand clearly what object is being
described. Keep a record of the best description, and discuss with the class what made
it so good. The rest of the class can practise and modify their own descriptions to
match the pictures better
 Independent Task Questions

Speaking is being able to communicate effectively and fluently. You do have to use a
‘range of structures’, but that does not mean that you have to use every complicated
phrase and tense in the English language. Focus on real communication and the ‘range
of structures’ will look after themselves.

If you don’t understand one word in a question, it is acceptable to ask to explain what
that one word means. It is also acceptable to ask to repeat the question if you didn’t
quite understand what they said. However, do not abuse this privilege and use it for
every question; only use it when absolutely necessary.

If you really have no idea, be honest and tell them you don’t really know and then have
a guess. It is not an examination of your knowledge, so it is perfectly acceptable to
make something up if you are really stuck. Ask in a polite way that also demonstrates
your English abilities.

Many simply just look with a confused look on their face and expect someone to know
what they are thinking- they can’t. Others might just repeat the sentence or word they
don’t know- again people do not know what you mean when you do this and does not
have to help you unless you specifically ask them. The worst thing you can do is say
‘What?’ or ‘Huh?’; this is not only poor English, but also considered impolite.

Below are some phrases that are not only polite, but also demonstrate quite a high level
of English.

You should vary these phrases if you use them more than once.

Asking to Repeat the Question

 I’m sorry I didn’t quite (catch/get) that, can you say that again please?
 Can you repeat the question please?
 Sorry, could you repeat the question please?

Asking to Explain a Word

 I’m sorry but I don’t quite understand the word (X); can you explain it to me?
 I’m a little confused about the word (X); can you tell me what it means?
 Sorry, can you explain what (X) means?

TOEFL Speaking test records your speaking by the computer; then, your answers will
be rated by human examiners. It takes 20 minutes in total and contains six questions.
The topics are usually related to academic activities, inside or outside school,
such as discussing or summarizing in studying, talking with administrative staff, or
expressing an opinion.

Practice slowly first with old exam questions and think about how you could extend your
answers and even have notes and books in front of you. Think deeply about what
structures you need to use and focus on getting your answers perfect. Then, you can
practice ‘fast’ with new questions and without any help and hopefully, because you have
studied the structures in detail, you will be able to use them naturally without any help.
For practice, draft the topics, analyze the sample answers, and exercise under timing
videos. If you finish these materials and are ready for all listed questions, you can deal
with speaking topics with full confidence.

Try recording yourself and then listen back and think about the following:
 Could you improve the vocabulary?
 Did you make any grammar mistakes that could be fixed?
 Did you speak fluently or did you speak at an unnatural speed?
 How was your intonation?
 Did you extend your answer enough?
 Did you speak clearly?

Try again and keep practicing until you are really confident about talking about
the common topics.

A Speaking test is supposed to represent a ‘normal’ conversation between two

peopleand it is totally normal to be able to ask the person you are speaking to for
clarification if you don’t understand. However, there are some rules that you should
follow.

Don’ts
 Don’t ask personal questions or any questions about the topics being discussed.
There isn’t time for this and the examiner will probably ignore your questions and you
might get offended.
 Don’t ask the to explain what a whole sentence means. You can ask them to explain
what ONE word means in a sentence, but nothing more than that.
 Don’t ask to change the question if you don’t understand it or you don’t know much
about the topic. Always attempt an answer.
 Don’t ask to repeat every question.
 Don’t ask to explain one word for every question. Only use this when you really need
it.
 Don’t wait for help . They won’t unless you ask them to and then only as much as they
are allowed to.
 Don’t simply repeat the question to give yourself more time to think.

Do’s

URS-IM-AA-CI-0175 Rev 00 Effective Date: August 24, 2020

 Do ask to repeat a question if you don’t understand.
 Do ask to explain the meaning of one word if you don’t know it.
 Do attempt an answer for every question. It is better to attempt something rather than
nothing.
 Do use some of the phrases to extend answers

Below are a few ways that you can easily extend your answers from a short sentence to
a more comprehensive answer that will sound better.

Feelings and Opinions

You can easily extend your answer by saying how you feel about the question you were
just asked. It will also make your answer more interesting.
What do you like to do in your spare time?

Short answer: ‘I like shopping.’

Longer answer: ‘I like shopping because I love trying on new clothes and I always feel
more confident when I’m wearing a new outfit.

Contrasting Details
One of the easiest ways you can extend your answer is to simply use the word ‘but’ to
contrast details. How long have you worked there?

Short answer: I’ve worked there for three years.

Longer answer: I’ve worked there for three years, but I’m going to change careers next
year.

Combining Details
Instead of giving a very short answer you can add in some extra details with ‘and’, ‘with’
or ‘also’. Do you live in a flat or a house?

Short answer: I live in a house.

Longer answer: I live in a house with my two brothers and my mum. We’ve also got a
dog and a cat.

Past Comparisons
You can talk about what you ‘used to’ do and how that has changed now in the present.
Do you play sport?

Short answer: I play football.

Longer answer: I used to love basketball, but now I play football more because that’s
what my friends are in to.

Adding Reasons
Always try to explain why you think or do something in the test. You can do this using
‘because’ or ‘so’.
Do you like your job?

Short answer: Yes, I really love my job.

Longer answer: Yes, I really love my job because I get to help people with their
problems everyday.

Future
If something will change in the future, you can use one of the future structures, like ‘will’
or ‘be + going to’.
Do you work or study?

Short answer: I’m at university at the moment.

Longer answer: I’m at university at the moment, but I’m graduating next year and I will
hopefully get a job in advertising.

Contrast Opposite Opinions

You might be asked a question where you have to talk about your opinion or another
person’s opinion. Use ‘even so’ or ‘although’ to show that you have considered both
sides.

Is your hometown a nice place for tourists to visit?

Short answer: Yes, it has a really nice beach.
Longer answer: Yes, it has a really nice beach, although it is getting really busy these
days, so it’s not as pristine as it used to be.

Giving Examples
Real life examples are always the easiest things to talk about because you can talk
about them naturally and in more detail.
Do you get along with your brothers?
Short answer: No, we’re not in to the same things.
Longer answer: No, we’re not in to the same things, like when we are both watching TV
we always fight about what show to watch.

Frequency

You can use words like ‘usually’, ‘never’, ‘always’ and ‘more often than not.’ to extend
your answers.

What do you do at the weekends?

Short answer: I watch TV and play computer games.
Longer answer: I usually watch TV and play computer games, but sometimes I go out
for a drink with my friends

One tactic you can use if you don’t understand the question is to give yourself some
extra time to think and then give an answer.

There are three stages to this:

Paraphrase question
Tell the examiner you don’t really know the answer

Attempt an answer

For example:

Question: How has the internet changed TV viewing habits in your country?
Answer: Do people watch TV differently now because of the internet? That’s an
interesting question, let me think for a second. If I had to give an answer I would
say…….

Do some paraphrasing when needed by simply saying the question in a different way,
but keeping the same meaning This not only gives you extra time to think but also tells
that you know how to paraphrase.

If you are unsure about what to say and give yourself some time to think, here are some
phrases you could use to do that:

 That’s a difficult/interesting/tricky question, let me think for a second.

 I’ve never thought about that before, please give me a second.
 I’m going to have to think about that one for a few seconds.
 I’ve really no idea, just give me a moment.
 It will be far more impressive if you are honest and tell you are unsure than saying
nothing or not answering the question you were asked. You should also not think for
more than a few seconds.

If you can’t think of an answer after a few seconds, just make an attempt answer by
saying one of these phrases when absolutely necessary:
 If I had to say…..
 Off the top of my head…..
 Without knowing too much about this topic, I would say….
 If I was forced to say I guess……

Use the following checklist for all your independent speaking responses so you can
analyze your weaknesses and improve your score. Here’s how you do it:

Step 1: Record your response

Step 2: Listen back to your response with the checklist
Step 3: After finishing the checklist, choose one part of your speaking you would like to
improve.
Step 4: Try the same question again, this time focusing on your one weakness

1. Did I speak for 42-45 seconds?

2. Was my introduction 12 seconds or less?
3. Did I have enough time to include a short conclusion (7 seconds or less)?
4. Did I look at the clock to monitor my time at least twice?
5. Did I include at least two transitional words or phrases?
6. Did I speak at a smooth and even pace for the majority of my response?
7. Did I speak in a natural and conversational tone (no robot voice)?
8. Did I elaborate on the topic with a well developed personal example or anecdote?

2020 Speaking Topics

These are 20 popular TOEFL speaking topics in 2019-2020 exams..

1: Describe a place you have never been to but would like to go someday.
2: If your friends from another country are going to visit your country, where would you
suggest them to go?
3: What are the significant features of a cafe or restaurant you like
4: Do you think we should preserve the old building in the city?
5: Describe a place, for example, a seashore park in your city where you often visit.
6: Describe an important gift you have, tell us why it is important.
 7: Have you had any work experiences before? Describe any of your jobs.
8: Describe the most impressive moment in your life.
9: How do you acquire knowledge? Give us some examples.
10: Do you prefer to choose a profession that requires you to work in a group?
11: Is there any invention that has changed your life most recently?
12: Which study method do you prefer, online courses or traditional classroom?
13: Describe a painting you have seen before. Why do you like it or dislike it?
14: What kind of friends do you like? Tell the main reason.
15: What do you like to read in your free time? For example, magazines, newspapers,
or books.
16: Do you like to live with roommates or live alone?
17: Someone focuses on one job throughout life; others like to change from one position
to another. Which one do you think is better? Why?
18: Some people think life in modern times is easier than our grandparents, do you
agree with it?
19: Do you agree that childhood is the happiest time in life?
20: How do you think about university education? Some people think it's important, and
some don't.
21: Describe one of your favorite songs or one of your favorite movies.

Independent Task's Questions

The first two questions are straight problems about personal preference: usually one or
two sentences. You view the issue, prepare, and then speak.

One independent task is limited in one minute: preparation time: 15 seconds; response
time:45seconds.

Question 1 and question 2 are separate topics and related to different scenarios, such
as person, place, event, or anything you are supposed to know in campus life.

Here over 100 TOEFL speaking topics are collected for Question 1 and 2. They cover
common questions of recent years. Prepare and practice them The topics and
questions are organized into three sections:

The first section includes 80 common topics to prepare draft answers and polish them in
advance, then memorize your works.

The second section provides audio materials for 20 TOEFL speaking questions as well
as sample answers, follow the style to speak loudly to train mouth and tongue. The third
section gives 30 questions in 2 videos that mock the time frame as precisely as in real
TOEFL speaking test circumstance, by which you may familiarise with the actual
TOEFL speaking test pace.

2.2 Common Topics and Questions to Practice

TOEFL speaking topics don't need special knowledge or background to answer. If you
know these common topics and prepare answers before test day, you will show
stronger confidence and fluency in test. Write a draft for each of questions is a shortcut
to up your score, so don't miss anyone of the list.

1. What is the most useful book for you? Why?

2. Is TV positive or negative to modern society? Give your choice.
3. Describe the most important decision that you made in your life.
4. Do you think high school should teach music and art as other basic science?
5. After school, how do you spend your time usually?
6. Should mobile phones be forbidden in some places?
7. Describe a celebration or moment that impressed you very much.
8. Which one acts more influence on you, newspaper, TV, or teachers?
9. Describe social or political celebration events in your culture.
10. Should the government pay bills for museums and theatres? Explain your argument.
11. Where is your favorite place in your city? Why?
12. Where do you like to visit with friends?
13. Do you prefer having meals at home?
14. What park is your favorite one?
15. Big city or small town, which do you prefer to go to college?
16. Magazine, novel, poem, which do you prefer to read?
17. Do you like living alone or with a roommate?
18. Which is a common choice for your party: restaurant, café, or home?
19. Computers have improved our lives while others think computers have caused
problems.
20. Talk about a teacher.
21. Do you prefer to work at an office or at home?
22. Talk about someone you respect.
23. Should a university be open to all students?
24. Should parents lead their children to watch TV? Or the children should choose by
themselves.
25. What is the most efficient transportation in your country?
26. What is the most important invention of the last 100 years?
27. Should college students be successful in careers easier than ones without a college
education? Why?
28. Talk about the characteristics of friends.
29. Someone suggests school to cut the recycling. Try to comment on it.
30. Do you want to be a leader? Or to be a follower?
31. Which one do you think is better to help do research: internet or academic books?
32. In general, where do people get information? From TV, newspaper, and other
media, or family and friends?
33. What is your ideal job?
34. Do you prefer to take an extended vacation or several short vacations in a year?
35. What are the characteristics of a good parent?
36. Do you prefer to study alone on assignment from class or to study in a group?
37. What is your goal in the future?
38. Describe a challenging experience.
39. Do we should choose a major for job hunting or just for our interests?
40. What sort of movies do you like? Comedy, drama, or others?
41. What will you do to relax?
42. Is it essential for students to attend class regularly or study by oneself?
43. Describe an enjoyable event in your childhood
44. Describe one of your schools?
45. Should schools add Sport courses for generic students?
46. What do you miss most when you are away from home?
47. Some people believe that we should give a hand in severe cases without hesitation;
others argue that you should ensure not to cause new troubles.
48. Describe a unique opportunity given to you.
49. Talk about a good leader.
50. Should people always tell the truth?
51. Describe an object which is very important to you
52. Do you agree that we can judge a person by the appearance at first glance?
53. What is your choice: a job or career?
54. If you have a lot of money, how do you spend?
55. What should students do in their vacations?
56. Describe a happy event in childhood, explain why it is memorable.
57. Communicate with your family and friends by letter, e-mail, or by telephone. What is
your option?
58. Your favorite time of a year.
59. Some people want to have a relaxed and unhurried life, do you agree with it?
60. What is your favorite room?
61. In a journey, some used to get destination directly, and some enjoy the procedure to
reach the goal. How about your opinion?
62. When you get a restaurant or café, about what features do you care?
63. In city development, do we keep old buildings? Or replace them with a new
building?
64. Do you prefer to get advice from family and friends, or learning through personal
experience?
65. Do you agree or disagree: Students should wear uniform in school?
66. Compare online courses with traditional courses.
67. Talk about a subject that will lead to a better job.
68. Some think the college experience is essential, and some think not important. What
is your opinion?
69. Describe a letter or poem that is important to you.
70. Forest, desert, where do you like to live?
71. Experience of asking help from others. How do others help you?
72. High salary job or top personal satisfying career, which is your choice?
73. A student should do a part-time job or summer intern, do you agree?
74. What skill do you want to learn?
75. Is it a good idea to have a one-year break before college study?
76. Talk about some good news about yourself.
77. Should first-year students live alone or with seniors in the same building?
78. Students will learn more when they have discussions. Do you agree with it?
79. Do you agree or disagree: The most important lesson can't be learned in class.
80. Should university education be free?
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