Please carefully read the full post to figure out how to master “place” topics so that you can deal with any topic in this category.
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Post Contents
0. About “Place” topics
This post is broken down into 3 parts:
- The idea
- The “how to use”
- Examples of everything in use
I will now discuss with you how you can use transferable vocabulary, and also how you can apply it to any of the “place” topics in Part 2.
Rather than trying to organize random ideas you have for each topic about a place, you can apply this extremely simple formula to any “Place” topics.
So, you might be wondering, what do I mean by “transferable” vocabulary/language?
Whenever I refer to “transferable” language, it means “non-topic specific vocabulary/language” which is appropriate to use in any topic related to places.
You might have already noticed me using this technique in all of my example answers. Also, if you’ve read any of the “about this topic” sections in the blog, you’ll already know most of this ?
So, what is it? Read on.
1. The idea
Like with everything I recommend, you should try to make IELTS Speaking as easy as possible for yourself.
Also, you should always use vocabulary/language that you’re confident and comfortable with. Don’t try to speak above your level, or use any language/grammar structures you’re not familiar with.
That’s why I break everything down into 3 easy to follow steps for my students, trust me, it helps more than any “idiom of the day” ever could.
It gives you less to think about on the day, and it will also make you feel more confident whilst speaking.
(my goal today is to show you exactly how to “set yourself up” to use great language)
So, what can you talk about in every “Place” topic in Part 2?
- Location
- Cue card
- Quality, Frequency, Recommend/Return
In essence, quality, frequency, recommend/return is what I want to focus mostly on in this post.
Read on ?
2. How to talk about the “Location” of a place.
Always try to estimate the distance, use some of our recommended vocabulary/phrases/expressions, etc.
Never say: “It’s 3km away from my home”.
Instead, say: “It’s about/around 3km away from my home, I guess“, etc.
Remember, the location of a place is something you would mention to the listener, you wouldn’t focus on it.
Add great style of speech features
About/around: Always try to add some style to the way you say this. You can gain marks in “pronunciation” and “fluency” by doing so. (Don’t say “approximately” – you won’t impress the examiner as much as adding style to the way you say “around” or “about“)
So, how do you add style? “about” -> “abouuuuuut” – stretch the sound, sound like you’re estimating. Also, try to link “3km-away” “three-kilo-mi-terzaway”.
I guess: Intonation, try to raise the pitch of your voice whenever you say “I guess” – make it sound like you’re guessing.
The pitch of your voice will go up as if you’re guessing. Try practice doing this each day, after a while, it will come naturally to you.
Show off your use of collocations, too
Is the place in a:
“Convenient/inconvenient location”
“Prime location”
“Central location”
“Walking distance”
To top it off, add a phrase/expression
“Just a stone’s throw away from….” – very close by (you could throw a stone the same distance, often used as an “exaggeration”)
“Right next door to…” – very close by (again, often used as an “exaggeration” of how close by somewhere is)
“Heart of the city” – in the middle or central location of a city
“Out of the way” – far away (we’ll often say this when you need to travel a moderate distance to the place)
“Off the beaten track” – very far away
“In the middle of nowhere” – extremely far away ?
_______
These are just a few things you can say when talking about the location of a place, I suggest you read all of my example answers for “places” type topics to get a better understanding of how I do this myself.
Keep in mind, this can be used in Part 1, too.
Q: Where do you live?
A1: “At the moment, I live in Hanoi, Vietnam. I’ve been living here for about 5 years already in a bustling district called Long Bien. It’s not exactly in a prime location, actually, most of my mates say it’s in the middle of nowhere. However, everything I need is just a stone’s throw away, and whenever I wanna go into the heart of the city, it’s just short ride, probably about 4km away, I guess.”
A2: “Right now I live in Long Bien, I’ve been living here for about 5 years. It’s about 5km away from the heart of the city, I guess. it’s a little off the beaten track for most people, but everything I need is within walking distance. My home is right next door to an absolutely huge mall so it’s definitely a prime location.“
At the end of this post, I will show you examples of this in Part 2 answers.
3. How to talk about “Quality” in “Place” topics
In my honest opinion, learning vocabulary/language to talk about the quality of somewhere/something in a creative way, is the most important advice I will discuss with you in this post.
Why? Well, not only can the language you use to talk about the quality of a place be applied to any “Place” topics, but it can also be applied to any “Object/Things” type topic, too.
For the sake of this post, I will keep all of these suggestions relevant to places.
So, what might you say when talking about the quality of a place?
You could talk about the quality of:
- The building/area
- The maintenance (“well-kept” or “falling apart”)
- The atmosphere
- The furniture
- The service
- The products
- The facilities
- The decorations
Always show off your use of collocation before using an expression/phrase, this is the way native speakers do it.
In spoken English, we mostly use expressions/phrases to emphasise the meaning, rather than rely on them to express the meaning ?
Note, I can’t emphasise enough how important this is for you to remember! Write it down.
The building/area: (positives)
- It looks as good as new (phrase, something that is in a very good condition or state)
- Modern – “It’s an extremely modern building” – collocation – “extremely” or “exceptionally”
- Contemporary – “It’s a contemporary building” (in the current style of the times)
- Brand-new (adjective to describe looks/condition)
- Well-built (adjective to describe the structure of something)
- Newly built – collocation
- A new build – compound noun
- Sound construction – common collocation
- Built to last – “This building was definitely built to last”
- Stand the test of time – expression – uncommon, great for band 8+ when describing something’s quality
- for example; “Your old iPhone probably won’t stand the test of time, Apple just paid out a 5 billion USD settlement because they were found guilty of sabotaging old iPhones in the Supreme Court”
- District/Zone/Quarter/County/Constituency
The building/area: (negatives)
- Falling apart (often used as an exaggeration, it doesn’t necessarily mean the building IS falling apart)
- Worn out – “that coffee shop looks totally worn out nowadays”
- Rundown (informal adjective to describe a place in a negative way)
- Has seen better days – “that place really has seen better days, right?”
- Not what it used to be (it used to be better, appropriate in terms of quality)
- Critter’s paradise (critters are pests, like mice, cockroaches, etc)
- Needs some TLC (TLC = tender loving care – it’s a common expression among native English speakers)
- Left to rot (neglected, as if whoever should look after a place has given up)
- Could do with a paint job – “That cafe could do with a paint job, it’s falling apart”
The maintenance:
Well-kept, looked after, taken care of, pride & joy, stood the test of time + many of the above examples
The atmosphere: (positives)
- Cosy (cosy = a place which makes you feel comfortable and warm)
- Warm (often linked with other adjectives to describe the atmosphere of somewhere, “it’s a warm and cosy coffee shop”)
- Sterile (a clean place, hospitals are often described as sterile)
- Intimate (used to describe a place designed for couples to talk easily)
- Welcoming – “the atmosphere in there was so welcoming, I loved it!”
- Inviting – “the atmosphere in there was so inviting, I loved it!”
- Rustic (a place which is plain, simple or homely- often related to a countryside style of home decoration)
- Homely (used to describe a place which feels like a home)
The atmosphere: (negatives)
- Dull & drowsy (used to describe a boring atmosphere)
- Gray & joyless (used to describe a boring atmosphere)
- Cold (blue/uncomfortable places are often described as cold, it’s the opposite to cosy)
- Washed out (the opposite to most of the positive examples above)
- Stale (same as cold)
- Spooky (haunted houses are spooky and so can other places, for example, some pubs in the UK are spooky)
- Spooky +1 – we’ll often link “I wouldn’t want to spend a night alone there” whenever we say a place is spooky.
For services, products and facilities, the suggestions below can be applied.
Let’s start with “high quality” (great), then “standard” (normal), and end with “low quality” (poor).
High quality: (Phrases & expressions)
- “A league of its own” – “Mimmo’s coffee house is in a league of its own.”
- “World-class” – “Our local library is world-class, people travel miles to drop by.”
- “The best of its kind” – “Central Park in NYC is the best of its kind in America.”
- “Top-notch” – “It’s a top-notch club, you should go there sometime.”
- “Nothing compares” – “Nothing compares (+to) Bach Khoa library.”
- “Speaks for itself” – “Their excellent quality coffee speaks for itself…”
- “First-rate” – “The service in Vinhomes riverside is first-rate, nothing compares to it.”
- “Like no other” – “It’s a coffee shop like no other.”
- “Puts the competition to shame” – “Their friendly service truly puts the competition to shame.”
- “Nothing can compete (with)” – “Nothing can compete with the coffee they serve in Vietnam.”
High quality: (Collocations)
- Excellent quality
- Exceptional quality
- Superb quality
- Exemplary quality
Standard quality: (Phrases & expressions)
- “Nothing special” – “To be frank, it’s nothing special there… I won’t go back anytime soon”
- “Write home about” – “I wouldn’t write home about it“
- “So-so” – “To be frank, it’s so-so there…. I won’t go back anytime soon”
- “Run-of-the-mill” – “It’s just your everyday run-of-the-mill coffee shop, you know?”
- “Middle-of-the-road”– “It’s just your everyday middle-of-the-road coffee shop, you know?”
- “Does the job”– “Our local library is nothing special, but it does the job“
- “Exactly what you’d expect” – “Our local library does exactly what you’d expect“
- “Garden variety” – “It’s just your ordinary garden variety coffee shop”
- “A dime a dozen”
- “Nothing out of the ordinary” – “It’s nothing out of the ordinary there”
Standard quality: (Collocations)
- Regular quality
- Everyday quality
- Ordinary quality
- Typical quality
Low quality: (Phrases & expressions)
- “Seen better days” – “I think the coffee shop has seen better days.”
- “Not what it used to be” – “It’s not what it used to be, that’s for sure.”
- “Falling apart” – “Our local library is falling apart, it’s not what it used to be.”
- “Could be better” – “One thing’s for sure, it could be better in there.”
- “Leaves room for improvement” – “I’m not gonna lie, their service leaves room for improvement.”
- “The worst of its kind” – “I’m a big fan of museums, but that one is the worst of its kind.”
- “The bottom of its league” – “Paris Gateaux is the bottom of its league here in Hanoi.”
- “Live up to expectations” – “The hotel didn’t live up to my expectations.”
- “Good-for-nothing” – “I reckon that park is good-for-nothing actually.”
- “Wouldn’t go there even if you paid me” – “to be frank, I wouldn’t go there even if you paid me.”
Low quality: (Collocations)
- Bog-standard quality (negative)
- Substandard quality
- Below par quality
- Third-rate quality
- Inferior quality
- Abysmal quality
The decorations: (positives)
- Deco (short form of “art decoration”, but often used to describe the decorations in a place)
- Feng Sui (Chinese, the orientation/position of objects/decorations in a room)
- Minimal (adjective, not many things in a room/place) – a type of style/design – “The coffee shop has a minimal vibe to it”
- Graffiti (street style of art, more popular among places designed for young people)
- Murals (hand-painted walls, often used in Coffee shops, Libraries, Museums, Public places)
4. How to talk about “Frequency” in “Place” topics
When I say you should try to talk about frequency, I mean “how often you go there“.
It’s totally normal to talk about how often you go to a place, whenever you’re talking about somewhere.
You might have noticed I do this in all of my example answers in the blog. I always talk about frequency, whether I need to describe an object/thing or a place in Part 2; however, with object/thing types of topics, I talk about “frequency of use” that’s how often I use it.
In fact, it has always surprised me over my many years tutoring IELTS Speaking how rarely this is on the Topic cue cards.
There are a few things I’d like to point out to you before I begin.
- Just using an adverb of frequency is never enough in the IELTS speaking test.
- Try to use adverbs of frequency and expressions of frequency appropriately.
- Don’t start a sentence with an adverb of frequency, ever.
- Avoid collocating the intensifier “very” with “often”
Notes for point 1:
“Just using an adverb of frequency is never enough in the IELTS speaking test.”
We should always try to elaborate so the examiner knows we can communicate the “why” effectively in spoken English. Also, try to use both an adverb of frequency and an expression of frequency.
Here are 2 examples: (using an adverb of frequency)
“I always drink coffee in the morning.” (no support)
“I always drink coffee in the morning, it just gives me that extra kick I need, you know?”
Here are more 2 examples: (using an expression of frequency)
“I drink coffee every morning without fail.” (no support)
“I drink coffee every morning without fail, I couldn’t survive without it, you know?”
In Part 2 I recommend elaborating further. Due to this post being about “Place” topics, I will show you an example of this being used in a Part 2 answer:
“Anyway, It’s safe to say I’m a regular there, I even call it my go-to spot whenever I need a quick coffee fix. Thinking about it, I must stop by at least twice a week, but I’m probably there every other day to be perfectly honest with you. I always drink the same black coffee, and more often than not I’ll hang around for a couple of hours to work on my website. It’s definitely a place I regularly stop by, even if it’s just for a few minutes.” – 20 seconds ?
Before I discuss the bulk of the vocabulary below, I’d like to point out these 3 keywords:
“a regular” – noun – used to refer to someone who usually goes somewhere
“go-to” – adjective – used to describe the best place to get a particular thing or service, or the best person to deal with a particular problem or do a particular thing
“spot” – informal noun – used to describe a place/location
“I’m a regular at Aha cafe, it’s definitely my go-to spot whenever I need a quick coffee fix.”
Notes for point 3:
“Don’t start a sentence with an adverb of frequency”
“Sometimes I drink coffee in the morning.”
Grammatically, there is nothing wrong with doing this, however, it’s a bit too basic for candidates who are aiming for band 7. By doing this, you may limit yourself into saying a standalone sentence with no follow-through.
(Keep in mind, you should do that with your responses to Part 1 questions (Remember: Respond, support, stop) as it’s the natural way to respond to a conversational question).
If you only get one opportunity to talk about frequency in the entire speaking test, you will have missed a golden opportunity to show off some of your grammatical range ? (typically, you WILL be asked a “how often” type question in Part 1).
I recommend the following positions for adverbs of frequency:
1st: Between the subject and the main verb of your sentence. (always, often, usually, seldom, rarely, never)
“I rarely drink coffee nowadays”
“I always drink coffee in the morning”
2nd: At the end of your sentence. (frequently, occasionally, sometimes)
“I drink coffee in the morning sometimes”
“I exercise in the afternoon occasionally“
Anyway, let’s begin ?
Adverbs of frequency: (used appropriately)
A nice rule of thumb (most non-native English speakers learn in school, yet tend to forget later in life):
- 90-100% Always
- 80-90% Usually, regularly
- 70-80% Normally, generally
- 60-70% Frequently, often
- 40-60% Sometimes
- 30-40% Occasionally
- 20-30% Seldom
- 5-10% Rarely
- 0% Never
You’d be surprised how many students I’ve had over the years that inappropriately use adverbs of frequency.
“I always eat lobster” – Really!?
If that is true for you, then say “Believe it or not” + “I always eat lobster” – We use “Believe it or not” when you will say something that might surprise the listener or say something uncommon/unexpected. I have used it in my previous IELTS tests, too. In Part 3 mostly.
“I rarely wake up on time” – Really?
If that is true for you, then say “I hate to admit it” + “I rarely wake up on time” – We use “I hate to admit it” when we don’t really want to say the truth about ourself, but say it regardless.
“I occasionally eat” – REALYYYYYY!?
You can imagine what I thought when I heard this ?
Expressions of frequency: (used appropriately)
Be careful with expressions of frequency, they are more flexible than adverbs of frequency as we normally use expressions to ‘intensify’ or ‘exaggerate’.
So, I will widen the % for this list. Note, some of these are not appropriate for “how often you go somewhere”
– Note, you can use these expressions to support the quality of a place.
70-100%
- All the time – “I go there all the time“
- Without fail – “I stop by that coffee shop every morning without fail“
- All-day every day – “I go there all-day every day, it’s like my second home”
- From dusk till dawn (Mostly inappropriate for places, unless you say “I’m at work from dusk till dawn“)
- More often than not – “I’m there more often than not”
- 5 or so days a week – “I go there 5 or so days a week” // 4 or 5 days a week
- Day after day – “I’ve been going back there day after day for years”
40 – 70%
- 1st Every other day – “I tend to go there every other day” (can be linked with “of the week”)
- 2nd Every so often – “I stop by there every so often“
- 3rd Every now and then / Every now and again – “I pay a visit to her shop every now and then“
- (Not/don’t go) as much as I’d like to – “I don’t get to go as much as I’d like to” (notice my use of “get to“)
- A number of times – “I’ve been there a number of times”
- From time to time – “I go there from time to time“
0-40%
- Once in my lifetime – “I’ll probably only go there once in my lifetime” (similar to “once in a lifetime”)
- Hardly ever – “I hardly ever go there, unfortunately”
- Once in a blue moon (idiom, I don’t recommend using it for band 7+ candidates)
- On no occasion (used for places/things that you won’t go back to/use again)
- Once in a while – ” I only go there once in a while“
A good colloquial expression to use is “pretty much” + “never” – rather than saying – “never” – “I pretty much never go there anymore.”
5. How to talk about “recommend/return” in “Place” topics
I’d just like to take a moment to thank you for reading this far down the post.
So, now I’d like to discuss with you why I always talk about if I would recommend or return to a place.
You might have had questions about this earlier in the post, like “why would I talk about that?” or “Jim has completely lost it, there’s no way I could talk about that”
Well, you’re wrong, sorry ?
It is actually normal for native-speakers to mention if they would recommend a place to their friends/family, or if they would return to a place they’ve been to before.
But why?
Once again, it’s a great way to “set yourself up” to use some great “transferable” vocabulary/language.
If you remember the advice I have given you already, this makes difficult/unfamiliar topics easier, plus you should always use the language you’re most confident/comfortable using.
Don’t learn ultra-specific vocabulary that you could only use to talk about one specific thing, that’s just going to make the test more difficult than it needs to be.
IELTS Speaking is surprising straightforward compared to other English language testing systems, especially compared to PTE.
Read on ?
6. Recommend
The reason why I mention if I have/will recommend a place to someone is as follows:
It gives me a good opportunity to change the discourse of my speech.
If you can speak about this in an effective, clear and coherent way to the examiner, she/he will consider it as “spontaneous and situational speech” as there were no cues to do so. Plus, it’s totally appropriate to mention this whenever you talk about recommending a place to someone.
Grammar check (this can be a common grammar mistake for IELTS candidates)
- When you recommend – the preposition is – “to”
Subject + recommend + object + to + pronoun
I recommend IELTS Speaking 123.com to them.
or
Subject + recommended + that + pronoun + should + infinitive verb + XXX
I recommended that they should take my classes.
- Recommend that should
I would like to recommend to him that he should try practice IELTS Speaking with other users on my website someday.
- Recommend + object + to + a person
I want to recommend it to Jack.
However, a thing can be also come “recommended”.
Let’s look at some grammatically correct sentences that use “recommended”
The movie comes highly recommended.
He recommended reading the book before watching the movie.
I recommend using up-to-date materials on my website when preparing for IELTS speaking.
I recommend self-study books.
My doctor recommended surgery.
I recommended against seeing a lawyer.
We recommend you to see a professional IELTS tutor.
These examples are complex grammar structures.
How to apply this to “Place” topics.
I usually say something like this:
I would like to recommend it to (person) + because I reckon they might like it, too + reason why
Notice “would” -> “they/he/she might“
Try to be creative whenever you do this. It’s surprisingly easy to learn how to structure a future recommendation.
“I would like to” – future
The person’s opinion of the place will also be formed in the future.
“they might” – predictive/speculative
Also, try your best to show off your range of vocabulary by doing this, it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate your use of speculative or predictive language.
+ reason
As you already know, one sentence is never enough in IELTS Speaking. You should always provide a reason why or an example to support whenever you make a statement about something like this.
To be frank, this is where most of the valuable “transferable” language is produced.
So, you might be wondering once again, why?
Well, you can set yourself up to use language to describe your relationship with someone.
If you don’t already know how to do that, here are some great suggestions (appropriate for band 7+).
- Like-minded (people) – “I reckon he would love it there because we’re such like-minded people”
- On the same page – “I reckon she would really enjoy going there because we’re usually on the same page when it comes to things like this“
- So alike – “We’re so alike, I’m convinced she’d love it too”
- Things in common – “I reckon he would love it there because we have plenty of things in common“
- Tend to agree on things (like this) – “We tend to agree on things like this so I’m sure he’d love it there”
- 2 Peas in a pod – “I reckon she’d love it there because we’re like 2 peas in a pod“
You could even use your length of relationship as a reason why:
Because we’ve been friends for as long as I can remember, I’m sure he’d love it there.
As soon as I went there I thought of him, so naturally, I sent him a text to tell him about it.
Because I’ve known him all my life, I’m sure he’d love it there.
Naturally, I recommended it to my best friend forever.
Full example:
I would like to recommend it to my closest friendin the world Jack because I’m sure he might like it too. We’re usually on the same page with things like this, you know? As soon as I went there I thought of him.
Actually, I’ve already recommended it to my best friend Jack because I figured he’d love it too. We tend to agree on things like this, turns out, he loves going there as much as I do.
7. Return
For return, I simply recommend that you should mention it briefly before closing. ? (See what I did there?) ?
Some examples of this:
I’d love to go back there someday.
I’m planning to go back there next summer.
I’ll try my best to drop in every once in a while.
I’m trying my best to arrange another trip to Da Nang whenever I have time to.
I want to go there again sometime in the near future.
I’ll probably continue to go there every day for the foreseeable future.
Now, let’s look at all of this put together in example answers.
8. Example “Place” topics & Answers
Note: these are just SOME of the places topics.
There are other topics that are relevant to places which you could apply any of the suggestions above to.
Currently, there are some “storytelling” type topics which are also relevant to “place” topics.
I suggest you look through the up-to-date list of current Part 2 topics and find out which ones you could apply everything I’ve discussed with you. Click here for the full list of current IELTS Speaking March 2020 topics
Also, note the introduction I give in every example answer.
You can learn how to do this step-by-step here
Example 1: A crowded place you have been to
View my article here for a full list of suggested language & advice about this topic
Gosh, this is a sensitive topic because I’m the kind of person that tends to avoid places that are teeming. However, if I had to talk about a busy place today, it would have to be AEON Mall’s supermarket.
(location)
So, if you didn’t know already, AEON Mall is a dead famous shopping centre here in Hanoi. It’s not exactly in the heart of the city, actually, it’s a bit out of the way for most people. Luckily, it’s just a stone’s throw away from my home, so I always go there to buy my groceries ‘n’ other stuff.
(topic & cue card)
Anyway, during the week there aren’t so many people there, it’s relatively chilled actually. That being said, over the weekend it’s absolutely heaving like a beehive. Honestly, sometimes there’s no room to breathe in the supermarket, especially by the check-outs. I feel sorry for the staff there, they do a great job dealing with the queues that look like a sea of people. I guess when there’s no elbow room it’s a sign of a great place to be, right?
(quality)
I’d have to say it’s the best place in town by a long-shot. It has absolutely everything, you know? (filler/redundant language) From designer fashion brands to home appliances and everything in between (spectrum), everything is sold at a reasonable price, too. I suppose that’s why it’s so popular nowadays, I remember 4 or 5 years back, it wasn’t as jammed as it is in recent years (comparison).
(frequency + recommend)
I probably go there twice a week, though I don’t really keep track of that because I’m there every other day. (expression of frequency, estimation, phrasal verb). I think my friends are sick to death of hearing me talk to them about it, every other time I see them I’ll say something like “Hey, guess what I just bought from AEON MALL!” (quotation, use style of speech hacks)
So yeah, anyway thanks for listening. That’s a place I’ve been to that was totally packed.
Example 2: A school you went to in your childhood
View my article here for a full list of suggested language & advice about this topic
Well, looking back to my salad days, I went to 4 different schools whilst growing up, from kindergarten to college & everything in-between. However, if I had to talk about one of them today, it would have to be my Primary school.
(cue card)
It was called Saint Wilfred’s Primary, located right in the heart of Manchester City centre. If my memory serves me well, there were around 200+ or so students there, I guess. Though I was too young to be able to count them all, I’m pretty sure that’s right. I used to go there back in 1993 when I was only 5 years old, so I don’t recall everything about the place. But, from what I can, it was my favourite place in the whole world back then. Like, I wish I could go back in time, and relive all the precious memories I have from in the good old days.
(quality)
Way back then, it wasn’t exactly a modern school… Come to think of it, the school was actually quite poor compared to how it is nowadays, there were no decent facilities, or equipment in the classrooms. Though that didn’t really matter to a 5-year-old me, I was probably too young to notice how bad it was. They had high standards of education, and I always tried my best to live up to the teacher’s expectations, however, I was never the top of my class.
(frequency)
Like most school kids in the UK, I needed to go 5 days a week. At that time, it felt like I was there all day every day, almost like my second home, you know?
(recommend)
Believe it or not, with all that being said, I recently recommend to my brother that he should send his son there next year. Although we’re two totally different people (relationship), I’m sure his son would love it there as much as I did (predictive/speculative).
(return)
So yeah, anyway. One day, I’d love to go back there someday, though I have no idea when that’ll be. I imagine that I’d get all choked up & emotional seeing the place again, I’ll never forget it, and how it made me into the man I am today.
Example 3: A new public building you would like to visit
View my article here for a full list of suggested language & advice about this topic
Well, to be perfectly honest with you… I’m finding it pretty tough to come up with a new public building that I’d like to pay a visit to someday, off the top of my head there aren’t so many I could talk about, right? However, if I had to talk about one today, it would have to be the new swimming pool here in Hanoi.
(location)
The pool is about 12km away from my house, I guess (apply “style of speech” hacks: stretch “about” -> “abouuut”, and show the examiner you are conscious about your intonation when saying “I guess”, up in pitch).
It’s a bit out of the way for me to pop in regularly, but it’s in a central location right in the heart of the city.
(topic Cue card)
Anyway, I don’t know much about it because it’s still under construction, but I do know that it’s gonna’ be great once it’s ready. I’d probably have a gander with a few mates as soon as it opens, or drop by on my own to have a quick dip in the pool. I reckon it’s such a great idea to build a new public swimming pool because the old one is falling apart (maintenance). I’ve been keen on picking up swimming as a hobby/exercise for a while now, it’d definitely help me lose a few extra pounds, you know?
(quality)
From what I’ve heard, the pool is the best of its kind here in Hanoi. It’ll put the competition to shame, that being said, I’ve only seen pictures (“I think they’re called blueprints, right?” – wrong, but it shows you’re trying) so far. The building already looks outstanding and extremely modern in design.
(frequency, recommend)
I’m gonna’ try my best to go at least once or twice a month, but I know I won’t go as much as I’d like to. (frequency)
If it’s any good, then I’ll tell all my mates to stop by and check it out. (recommend)
So yeah, anyway. Thanks for listening, that’s a new public building I’d like to visit.
9. Conclusion
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for reading all the way down to the conclusion.
I’m confident that this advice will help you as much as it has helped thousands of my previous students.
It is an easy enough structure to apply, and I have tried my best to explain it to you in the simplest way possible.
I always try to “tone down” my use of academic language whenever I write articles like this- *in order to make it easier for the reader.
My choice of language is always tailored to “spoken English” and not written English. As an IELTS Speaking tutor, I realize its effectiveness whenever I receive feedback from my readers.
After around 5 years of tutoring the IELTS Speaking test, I feel like this is a “one size fits all” technique to truly master Part 2 topics about “places“.
Once again, I decided to create this website because I was utterly disappointed by what popular youtube channels and websites recommend to students.
If you’ve been finding it difficult to show off your abilities in these types of topics, please re-read this entire post, make notes and practise speaking to our other users.