Describing pictures for exams

By -

Exams such as Cambridge PET require candidates to describe a picture in the Speaking Paper. Here's some advice on how to practise for this.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Homophones

By -
Image
Can you say flower and flour correctly? Believe it or not, they both sound the same in English. But since they have different spellings, it may be difficult to believe their pronunciations are identical. That's why learners often mispronounce one of them. Flour and flower are homophones - words that look different but are pronounced in the same way. There are a lot of homophones in English, and many of them are very common words. Here are some examples. Do you think you can find a word that sounds exactly the same as each of the following? You'll find the answers below - you just have to match them in the correct order.
Read more

Prepositional verbs and verbs without prepositions

By -
Image
Verbs are often followed by complements – for example, I’m learning English , I have a cat , and I play baroque music . But depending on their meaning, they require different types of complements – some starting with a preposition, and some without it. As a result, we hear music but we listen to music ; we see things but we look at them . Prepositional verbs are followed by a preposition that depends on the verb: you agree with someone , you wait for a bus , and you laugh at a joke . However, these prepositions don’t occur when there is no object: ‘ Please wait, ’ ‘ Don’t laugh ,’ ‘ Do you agree? ’ She’s waiting for the bus. Not all verbs take prepositions: in English, you enter a building , you phone friends , and you discuss problems . On the other hand, some verbs can be used in more than one way: we may ask a question , but we ask for help ; we pay tax , we pay the rent , and we pay ten euros , but we pay for a coffee . What all this means is that, w...
Read more

It's getting dark, it is dark

By -
Image
Get is a very common verb in English, and it is used in several structures that have different meanings. When followed by an adjective, get often means ‘become’, or ‘start to be’. If you get angry you become angry, and if you get sick you start to be sick. The same meaning is expressed when get is followed by a past participle like dressed or lost : when you put on clothes you get dressed ; if you travel without a map, you might get lost – or become lost. These adjectives and participles are also found after be . The difference is that get expresses a change, whereas be describes a state: They got married in 2005, but they got divorced in 2010. They were married for five years. It ’s getting dark. It is dark. This is also the difference between be used to and get used to : I live in Scotland, so I am used to the rain. When I moved to Britain, I got used to driving on the left. (I wasn’t used to it before; I became used to it in Britain...
Read more