Listening: paraphrase, attitude and changes of mind

At Band 7 the trap is rarely the word — it is the speaker changing their mind or the answer being paraphrased. Play the audio, answer, then check against the written fragments.

1. 1

   'We'll meet on Tuesday — no, sorry, Tuesday's the holiday, make it Thursday.' The meeting is on:

   TuesdayThursdayWednesday
2. 2

   'The deposit is fifty pounds, refundable at the end.' Write the answer for 'Amount to pay up front: £______'

3. 3

   'I did enjoy the first module, but if I'm honest the second one was where I really learned something.' The speaker preferred:

   The first moduleThe second moduleNeither
4. 4

   'Originally I planned to study economics, and I nearly did, but in the end law won.' The speaker studies:

   EconomicsLawBoth
5. 5

   'The lecture isn't cancelled as such — it's just been moved online.' This means:

   It will not happenIt will happen, but remotelyIt happens as normal in the hall
6. 6

   Paraphrase: the question says 'a rise in applicants'. The speaker says 'more people are applying than ever'. Answer the question word: is this the same idea? (yes / no)

7. 7

   'To be fair, the software does work — when it works.' The speaker's attitude is:

   Fully positiveIronic / criticalNeutral factual
8. 8

   Listen to any lesson recording again with the script hidden. Note three moments where a speaker corrects, hedges or reverses. Write the wrong answer a rushed candidate would choose.

   • Signals: actually, in fact, no wait, to be honest, having said that
   • The answer usually comes AFTER the correction
   • Hedges (might, tends to, on the whole) soften the claim