IELTS Speaking: The Secret Method

Hi, there. Welcome to EngVid. Today, we are looking at how to maximize your points on

IELTS speaking tests, in particular one and three. I'm going to be giving you some very

valuable tips for how to make the most and how to do your very best in these tests.

So what do you need to do? You need to answer with a little bit more detail. You need to

extend your answers a little bit, okay? Answer the question that they ask. Okay. It doesn't

matter if you prepare something and they don't -- they ask a question that your answer is

no good for, drop it. You have to make an effort to answer their question.

Now, today, we're going to be looking at using some relative pronouns and some relative adverbs

to lengthen out your sentences a little bit, okay? So extending your answers, answering

the question. As you may be aware, IELTS speaking tests one and three, they're particularly

looking for you to give information about yourself, to tell people about yourself, okay?

So I'm saying that these pronouns and adverbs are going to be particularly helpful. So these

pronouns you put in the middle of sentences to continue the sentence and give a bit more.

So you'd use "who" to describe people. "The person I met who is a shopkeeper" -- "The

person I went to school with who is now a famous movie star" -- okay? So "who", when

you're giving more information about the person, okay, who's doing something, who's the subject.

Okay? You can also use "whom", but it's not so common. "Whom" would be the indirect version

of this, someone who's not doing something.

Now, you'd use that when you're describing things. Okay? "I went to Bath on Saturday.

That was a fantastic place to visit." Okay? So I'm describing the activity of going to

a place. Okay? Bath itself. So? So it's a proper noun.

"Which" I can throw in there when I want to also describe things in a sorted of non-defining

clause sense. "The film which I saw on Saturday was really good." Okay? You can get some more

information on this on another one of our videos.

"Whose" when I'm describing a possession. So, "The car I drove whose owner was Charlie"

-- okay? So I'm describing an element of possession. Okay?

Now, looking on to the relative adverbs. I can use "when" when I'm talking about times.

"I went to school when I was aged 13 to 18." Yeah? I can use "where" when I'm talking about

the place that something happened. So "I went to the actor's temple, where I learnt a lot

about acting." Okay? So giving more information about that particular place. I can use "why"

-- I mean, "why" normally results in a question. It's difficult to include "why" and then end

in a full stop. So you could say, "I decided to cross the road today. Why do you think

that is? Well, I went to go and buy some food."

Now, I'm going to put some examples here to show you how we can use these.

"I went to school with Charlie who" -- okay, so now the next bit gives more information

about the person, okay? -- "the man who helped me pass my driving test who" -- so I'm giving

even more information about this person -- "now lives in a place in the north of England."

"I enjoyed playing" -- "I played football at school, which was fun." So "which" there

is talking about, you know, the activity as I mentioned here.

"The teacher whose expertise" -- so I'm talking about the skill that that teacher had. Possessive,

okay? -- "the teacher whose expertise helped me pass my exam."

Now, I hope I've shed a little light. I know some of these might be unfamiliar to you.

Should we just have a quick recap of this? So I'm going to use "who" when I'm describing

people. "The person I went to school with, who is now doing well. The person I met at

the shop, who was a very nice person." Okay? So these are kind of small little chunks that

you kind of put on to the end of the sentence. Yeah? "The place that I went today was really

great." So "that I went today" is the extra bit of information.

"Which" -- "The sandwich, which I had at lunch, was really good." So "had at lunch" is that

little bit more information.

"The car, whose owner I really like, was very good to drive." So if you've got a sentence,

you're putting in a little bit more information here, and then finishing it here, okay? "The

car, whose owner I really like, drives fast." Okay? So you'd separate it with two commas.

Now, don't worry if you're a little bit confused by this because you can now refer to a very

clear quiz that I've created on www.engvid.com that should test you with these key words

and make sure that you've really cemented it, made certain of these words for yourself.

So please now go to the www.engvid.com website and check out the quiz if you're not already

there. And hopefully, my answers will make all this a little bit more clear for you.

Do feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and I'd love you also to check out my Exquisite

English page. Thank you for watching today, and I just hope that using these key little

words will help you get that extra bit more information. Well done. Goodbye.