Page 21 - English Download B1+

Speaking

1 Ask and answer the questions with a partner.

• What do you know about the history of your local area?
• Do you find historical mysteries interesting, or do you prefer to know all the facts?
• Have you or has anyone you know ever seen a ghost? If not, would you like to?

2 In speaking tasks, you’re often asked to compare several ideas and then choose which you think are
most suitable in the situation given. Therefore you need to be familiar with using the comparative and
superlative forms. Choose the correct options from the sentences below.
1 That’s quite a good idea, but I think a best / better idea would be ...
2 I don’t feel that ... is more interesting / as interesting as ... .
3 The most / more useful idea out of all the options is ...
4 I would prefer ... because it is less / least expensive than ... . This type of task is asking you
5 ... is more likely to get results than / as ... . to discuss the advantages and
6 I think I would prefer / rather to do ..., because ... disadvantages of all the options
before you make your final choice,
so don’t just decide which two
3 Work with a partner. Your teacher has asked you and your partner options you think are best and talk
to research and write a project about a mystery in your area. Here only about those. You must discuss
are some ways in which you could investigate and discover what you think about each option
information. First, talk to each other about how useful each idea first, and then choose the best one.
would be. Then decide which two ideas you would choose. Use the
words and phrases in the Language Bank to help you.

get books out of the visit the local
local library How can we find out museum
about local mysteries?

ask elderly people
do research on the for stories from
Internet
their past
speak to local police
officers

4 Work in pairs to discuss these questions.
• Do you enjoy reading books or watching
television/films about mysteries?
• Do you prefer mysteries about the supernatural
(ghosts, vampires, etc) or crime mysteries?
• Would you like to experience living in the past,
if you could? If so, which period? Why do you
say that?

Saying what you think Expressing a preference
I think/don’t think that ... Personally I would prefer to/rather ...
I feel/don’t feel that ... ... is more/less likely to ...
I would say that ... ... would be more interesting/useful/helpful than ...
I believe/don’t believe that ... ... is not as interesting/useful/helpful as ...

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