IELTS Speaking- Functions Correction

Functional language for IELTS Speaking correction and brainstorming

Work in pairs to correct all the phrases below.

 

I have ever…

I have personally experience of this.

 

My most favourite… is…

I prefer… than…

 

Topic of my presentation is…

I like to speak about…

 

That’s all I can think to say.

It is all.

 

To give example of what I mean,…

For an example,…

 

Almost Japanese people…

In generally,…

 

In my honestly opinion,…

I convinced that…

 

It’s very difficult predict the future but…

It could/ might/ may/ must been…

 

That’s difficult question.

Let me thinking about it for just a moment.

 

It’s (exactly/ almost exactly/ more or less) the same to…

It’s totally similar to…

 

I’m afraid but, could you explain this word here?

Can you say that other way?

 

I meant say…

Let me try answer that again. I…

 

Check your answers as a class.

The phrases above are divided by their function. What is each section of language used to do?

Match the sections above with the functions on the next page.

----------------------------

Asking for confirmation

 

 

Comparing and contrasting

 

 

Correcting yourself

 

 

Ending the presentation

 

 

Expressing preferences

 

 

Generalising

 

 

Giving examples

 

 

Giving strong opinions

 

 

Giving weak opinions/ Expressing uncertainty and speculating

 

 

Pausing for thought

 

 

Starting the presentation

 

 

Talking about personal experience

 

 

 

Brainstorm at least two more phrases for each function, writing them above or on the previous page.

---------------------------

Suggested answers (in the order of the first task)

Including extra phrases in italics

Talking about personal experience

I have…

I have personal experience of this.

(Just) the other day…/ A couple of weeks ago…

A few years ago,…

A memorable/ typical/ shocking experience I had was…

An experience of this which stands out is…

I had a bad experience with this.

I have found that…

I have only experienced this once but…

I once…

I was affected by this when…

I will never forget the time when…

I’d like to share my experience of…

In my (limited/ substantial) experience,…

My first/ last experience of this was…

My own experience of this is…

One day,…

Something happened to me when…

When this happened to me…

During one of the times this happened to me…

When I was in my (early/ mid/ late) teens,…

 

Expressing preferences

My favourite… is…

I prefer… to…

I’m really into…

I’m quite fond of…

I really don’t like…

I don’t really like…

I (absolutely) adore…

I hate/ detest…

 

Starting the presentation

I’d like to speak about…

The topic of my presentation is…

I’ve chosen to talk about…

What I want to talk about is…

I’ve decided to speak about…, because…

The only thing I could think of to talk about is…

I had difficulty choosing a topic, but…

 

Ending the presentation

That’s all I can think of to say.

That’s all.

I think I’ve answered all the questions.

I think I’ve covered everything

That’s the end of my presentation.

That’s it.

Is that enough?

Is that more than one minute?

Can I stop there?

That’s about all I can say about that.

I can’t think of anything else to say.

 

Giving examples

To give an example of what I mean,…

For example,…

For instance

…,e.g….

I’m not sure if this is a good example, but…

The best way of explaining what I mean is with the example of…

The first thing/ person/ place that comes to mind when I think of this is…

 

Generalising

Almost all Japanese people…

In general,…/ Generally,…

The vast majority of people…

People in my generation…

People my age…

There are exceptions of course but…

… tend to…

In most cases,…

 

Giving strong opinions

In my honest opinion,…

I’m convinced that…

I really think that…

Frankly,…

I strongly believe that…

I’m absolutely certain that…

I’m positive that…”

It seems clear to me that…

I would definitely say that…

…without a doubt…

 

Giving weak opinions/ Expressing uncertainty and speculating

It’s very difficult to predict the future but…

It could/ might/ may/ must have been…

I’m no expert on this, but…

To the best of my knowledge,…

As far as I know,…

I would guess/ imagine that…

I guess/ imagine/ suppose…

I’ve never really thought about this before, but…

Off the top of my head,…

I’m not sure, but…

I don’t remember very well, but…

If I remember correctly,…

It was a long time ago, but I think…

I don’t have many memories of… but…

This is just a guess but…

 

Pausing for thought

That’s a difficult question.

Let me think about it for just a moment.

I’ve never thought about that before.

Let me see.

Well…

Errrrr/ Ummmm

I can’t think of the word (in English) but it’s a kind of…

Let me have a look at the question again.

What else was I supposed to say? Oh yes,…

What was the last point again? Oh yes, …

 

Comparing and contrasting

It’s (exactly/ almost exactly/ more or less) the same as…

It’s very similar to…

(much much/ much/ a lot/ a great deal/ considerably/ quite a lot/ slightly/ a bit/ a little/ a tiny

bit) more …than…/ less… than…/…er

(not) (nearly) as… as…

Compared to…,…

Unlike…,…

…, whereas…

In contrast,…

(totally/ completely/ quite a lot/ a bit/ slightly) different

 

Asking for confirmation

I’m sorry but could you explain this word here?

Can you say that another way?

Are you asking me about…?

Can I (double) check (if you mean…)?

Can you repeat the question/ the first part/ the last word?

Can you say it again one more time (more slowly)?

Did you say… or…?

Do you mean… or…?

Does that mean….?

Does the question mean…?

Does …count as…?

Excuse me. Can I ask what one word means?

I didn’t catch the first/ middle/ last part (of…)

I didn’t understand the last word/ last part of the question.

I guess/ suppose you mean… Is that right?

It depends what you mean by…

I’m not quite clear about…

Sorry, I’m (still) not quite sure what you mean.

Should I talk about…(or…)?

 

Correcting yourself

I meant to say…

Let me try to answer that again. I…

I mean…

Let me start again.

What am I saying?

That’s wrong. What really happened was…

I’m not sure that I’ve explained myself properly…

I said… but in fact…