AWESOME PHRASES TO USE IN YOUR SPEAKING WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO

SAY

During your speaking exams, it's better to say something than nothing. At times the question may
seem weird, abstract or we may have simply frozen. If you answer naturally that you "don't know,"
you can still get a top mark.... but don't do this for every question! Using some of these in
combination will make you sound very natural.

- Oh that's a tough/tricky one.

- I've never been asked that before.
- That's never crossed my mind.
- I had it a moment ago. (you've forgotten what you wanted to say)
- It's on the tip of my tongue.
- I've never thought about that, actually.
- Wow, I really have no idea what to say.
- It's just slipped my mind.
- If i had to say something, I'd/it would...

Now examples of using them in natural combinations:

"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"

- Wow, that's a tricky one because I've never been asked that before. But if i had to say something it
would be something along the lines of bathing in the sun and being waited on, perhaps somewhere
in the Maldives since i plan to retire in the near future.

"What makes a good friend?"

- Well, it's emmm you know, actually, ah sorry, It was on the tip of my tongue. Ah I just had it then.
Sorry, it's gone. I have absolutely no idea what to say.

"How do people from your country usually spend their weekends?"

- Wow, that's a tricky one because we're all different and spend our time... emmm, to be honest I've
never really thought about it. I had an idea a moment ago and now it's just slipped my mind. Ahhhh
it was on the tip of my tongue. So sorry.

As a former examiner, i would award top marks for those answers because the combination is
natural with relevant vocab and expressions. But like I said, try to answer as much as you can.
These phrases serve as a "fall-back option" just in case you can't think of anything.

SPEND 15 MINUTES EVERY EVENING ON REVISING AND PLANNING

Rewriting new collocations and useful phrases will help you memorize them, and setting goals for
the upcoming day

1) Highlight useful new words as you are reading/listening

2) At the end of the day, browse through your notes and rewrite all the phrases you want to
remember
3) Don't stop revising until you get 10 items
4) Draw up a plan for tomorrow: what are you going to do? Exercises, pages, books, activities? You
needn't stick to your plan, it's just a map you can use to get where you want.
5) Now reflect on what you have done today. Have you managed to complete all the tasks? If so,
are you satisfied with the results? Or why do you think you failed?
6) Analyze statistics and possible outcomes:
- low scores
- too little time
- too high expectations
- ...
What lies behind your results? A lack of knowledge, ineffective time management?

Planning is vital, you should not underestimate it. Knowing your pace and your progress will enable
you to plan effectively and to achieve your goals.

P.S. Check out my learning diary.

ADJECTIVES OF EMOTION

Remember that in FCE/CAE/CPE speaking tests, 70% of the time you will need to mention "how
people feel" (in part 2, sometimes in part 3). We need to move away from simple vocabulary:
happy, good, nice etc. To impress the examiners, we need to push ourselves to the next level.
Using these will be a good start.

To write examples for all of these would take too long. So i suggest using a good online dictionary.
If the odd word stumps you, ask me.

A) Accepting, Accommodating, Afraid, Aggressive, Agitated, Alarmed, Amazed, Amused,

Antagonistic, Anxious, Apathetic, Apprehensive, Arrogant, Astonished, Astounded, Attentive

B) Blase, Bold, Bothered, Brave

C) Calm, Capable, Casual, Charming, Cheerful, Cheery, Churlish, Collected, Comfortable,

Competitive, Composed, Compulsive, Concerned, Confident, Conflicted, Conscientious,
Conservative, Considerate, Conspicuous, Contemptible, Content, Convivial, Cool, Courageous,
Covetous, Creative, Critical, Curious, Cynical

D) Dazzled, Debilitated, Defensive, Dejected, Delighted, Demeaned, Depressed, Destructive,

Devious, Devoted, Dictatorial, Diffident, Disdainful, Distracted, Distraught, Distressed, Downcast

E) Earnest, Edgy, Elated, Empathetic, Enthusiastic, Euphoric, Exhausted, Expectant, Explosive,

Exuberant

F) Ferocious, Fierce, Flabbergasted, Flexible, Focused, Forgiving, Forlorn, Frightened, Furtive

G) Gloomy, Good, Grateful, Grouchy, Guilty

H) Happy, Harassed, Heroic, Hesitant, Hopeful, Hostile, Humble, Humorous, Hysterical

I) Idealistic, Ignorant, Ill-tempered, Impartial, Impolite, Imprudent, Indifferent, Infuriated, Insightful,

Insulted, Intense, Intimidated, Intolerant

J) Jealous, Jolly, Jovial, Joyful, Jubilant, Jumpy

K) Kind

L) Languid, Liberal, Loving, Loyal

M) Magical, Magnificent, Malevolent, Malicious, Mysterious

N) Needy, Negative, Neglected, Nervy

O) Opinionated

P) Panicky, Passionate, Patient, Perturbed, Petrified, Petulant, Placid, Pleased, Powerful,

Prejudicial, Prideful

Q) Quarrelsome, Queasy, Quivering

R) Rancorous, Rational, Reasonable, Reckless, Reflective, Remorseful, Repugnant, Resilient,

Resolute, Resourceful, Respectful, Responsible, Responsive, Restorative, Reverent, Rude,
Ruthless

S) Sad, Safe, Scared, Scornful, Seething, Selfish, Sensible, Sensitive, Serene, Shaky, Shivering,
Shocked, Sickly, Simple, Sober, Solemn, Somber, Sour, Speechless, Spooked, Stern, Successful,
Sullen, Superior, Supportive, Surly, Suspicious, Sweet, Sympathetic

T) Tactful, Tenacious, Tense, Terrific, Testy, Thoughtful, Thoughtless, Timorous, Tolerant, Tranquil,
Treacherous, Trembling, Truthful

U) Ultimate, Uncivil, Uncouth, Uneasy, Unethical, Unfair, Unique, Unmannerly, Unnerved,

Unrefined, Unruffled, Unsavory, Unworthy, Uplifting, Upset, Uptight

V) Versatile, Vicious, Vigilant, Vigorous, Vile, Villainous, Virtuous, Vivacious, Volatile, Vulnerable

W) Warm, Wary, Waspish, Weak, Welcoming, Wicked, Wild, Wise, Wishy-washy, Wistful, Witty,
Woeful, Wonderful, Worrying, Worthy

X)

Y) Youthful

Z) Zany, Zealous

15 IDIOMS FOR "GOING CRAZY"

1. Go bananas
E.g. I'll end up going bananas if I have to work in this cubicle for one more day!

2. Go nuts
E.g. The noise caused all the neighbors to go nuts.

3. Lose it
E.g. Mom is going to lose it when she gets home and finds out that we broke her vase.

4. Go mental
E.g. My parents are going to go mental if they find out we had a party here!

5. Freak out
E.g. Mom will freak out when she found out we broke her vase!
6. Go bonkers
E.g. The drivers in this country seem to go completely bonkers if there's even a little bit of snow on
the ground.

7. Go berserk
E.g. She went berserk and strangled her cat.

8. Blow one’s top

E.g. I think he’ll blow his top when you give him the news.

9. Fly off the handle

E.g. I know you're upset, but there's no point flying off the handle like that.

10. Hit the roof

E.g. My parents are going to hit the roof if they find out we had a party here!

11. Go ballistic
E.g. My parents went totally ballistic when they found out I'd wrecked the car!

12. Go off the deep end

E.g. I only put a tiny scratch on your car, so there's no need to go off the deep end.

13. Blow up
E.g. When I saw the look on Sarah’s face, I just know she’d blow up

14. Pop one’s cork

E.g. She tried to hold it back, but suddenly she popped her cork.

15. Go ape
E.g. July will go ape if she ever hears about it.