Brainstorming useful phrases for C2 Proficiency Speaking Part 3

Brainstorming useful phrases for C2 Proficiency Speaking Part 3

Write as many suitable phrases as you can for communicating in Speaking Part 3.

Checking what you should speak about

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting your answer without any silence/ Thinking aloud/ Reacting to the question

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weak language

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strong language

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answering “How (much/ adjective)…?” questions/ Answering “To what extent…? questions (adverbs of degree/ amounts, etc)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Talking about importance

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking at both sides

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comparing/ Contrasting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giving reasons/ Cause and effect

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving onto another sub-topic (on the topic card or your own idea)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Compare as a class or with the suggested answers.

 

Suggested answers

Many other phrases are possible, so please check if you wrote something different.

Checking what you should speak about

Sorry, before I start, can I ask a question?

Sorry, can I just check one thing about the task?

Sorry, can I check the meaning of this word here?

Can I (also) talk about…?

Does… mean (that I should talk about)…?

Does… count as…?/ Does… include…?

Starting your answer without any silence/ Thinking aloud/ Reacting to the question

The question is…

That’s an interesting question.

That’s a tough one.

My (initial) answer to this question is…

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this question is…

For me, personally,…

I guess I’d say that…

Weak language

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

I’m no expert on this, but…

It’s difficult to say for sure, but…

I might have a different answer if I had more time to think about it/ if I did some research on this, but…

I suppose/ I guess/ I reckon…

On the whole,…

In general,…

Strong language

I don’t think there’s any doubt that…

I think everyone/ most people would agree that…

Obviously

Clearly

I always find that…

To be honest/ Frankly,…

Answering “How (much/ adjective)…?” questions/ Answering “To what extent…? questions (adverbs of degree/ amounts, etc)

absolutely/ completely/ totally

incredibly/ extremely/ so/ a huge amount

very/ a lot/ a large amount

fairly/ quite a lot/ a considerable amount

not very/ not much/ a small amount/ slightly

completely un…/ not… at all

Talking about importance

vital/ essential/ crucial (for/ to…)

serves a certain purpose

... doesn’t matter (at all/ much)

Looking at both sides

On the other hand,…/ On the other side of the coin,…

pros – cons

advantage – disadvantage

plus point – minus point

positive point – negative point

benefit – drawback

(unique) selling point/ USP

Comparing/ Contrasting

… is far/ much/ a lot more… than…

… is considerably/ substantially/ quite a lot… than…

… is slightly/ a bit/ a little more… than…

… In (complete) contrast,…/… whereas…

Compared to…,….

Comparing… and…,…

I (much) prefer… to…

Giving reasons/ Cause and effect

This is because…

This is due to…

The (chief/ main) reason for this is…

… drives… to…

motivated by…

spurred on by…

made to… by…

forced to… by…

… (inevitably) leads to/ results in…

… causes… (to…)

As a consequence/ result of this,…

Moving onto another sub-topic (on the topic card or your own idea)

(And) looking at…/ As for…

(And) if we think about…

In addition, we need to consider…

… is connected to… as well.

What are the other topics? Oh, yes,…

What else can I talk about? Well, I suppose we also need to take… into account.

And about…/ I’d also like to talk about…

We also mustn’t forget…

Another important factor is…                        

(NOT By the way… X)