EXPRESSIONS FOR THE SPEAKING

TEST

Introducing personal experiences

 In my experience…
 I remember when…
 What happened was…
 One time (when)…
 Back when I was…

Expressing personal opinion

 Speaking for myself…

 Personally…
 In my view…
 For me…
 As I see it…
 As far as I’m concerned…

If you feel very strongly about the topic in question you can use the
following phrases:

 I’m sure that…

 I’m convinced that…
 I’m certain that…
 There’s no way…

Speculating and expressing possibility

 I suppose…
 It’s possible…
 I would imagine that…
 I’d say…
 Perhaps…
 I think it’s likely/unlikely
Agreeing and disagreeing

Expressing agreement

 I totally agree.
 I couldn’t agree with you more.
 You’re absolutely right.
 No doubt about it.
 Definitely / Absolutely / Precisely

Expressing disagreement

 I’m afraid I disagree.

 I see your point, but…
 That’s not always true.
 Not necessarily.
 That’s one way of looking at it. However…

Comparing and Contrasting

Explaining small differences or no difference

 similar to

‘My daughter is very similar to her dad in many ways.’

 much the same

‘I think both towns are much the same.’

 same + noun + as

‘My best friend is the same age as me.’

 as + adjective + as

‘To me, reading a book is as fun as watching a movie.’

Explaining big differences

 no comparison

‘There’s no comparison. Driving is much faster than biking.’

Contrasting

 in contrast to

‘Brazilians are very talkative in contrast to Germans, who are usually very
quiet.’

 compared to

‘Doctors make a lot of money compared to nurses.’

Asking for clarification

 Sorry, I didn’t get the question.

 Sorry, I’m afraid I didn’t catch that.
 Could you repeat the question, please?
 Could you say that again?

In Part 3, you can also ask the examiner to rephrase a question if necessary:

 Could you explain what you mean by..?

 Could you explain the question, please?
 Sorry, could you rephrase that?