English for Exams Karen Kovacs

typical verb suffix is -ate, as in abbreviate. How many more verbs ending in -ate  do 
you know?
IELTS Speaking Exam: Part 2
Read this Part 2 question. Give yourself one minute to plan your answer, making notes if 
you wish. Then talk for one or two minutes. Practise using the vocabulary you have learnt 
so far in this unit.
Describe a place that you enjoy visiting.
You should say.
where the place is 
what you can see and do there 
how it has changed since you firs t visited it 
and explain why you enjoy visiting this place.
Now listen to the sample answers.
People and places

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Pronunciation: Silent letters
1 0
1 
Do you know how to pronounce these English towns and cities? It may not be as you
expect because they are not pronounced exactly as they are w ritte n . Only one of these 
place names is pronounced as you w ould probably expect. What is it?
Leicester 
Newcastle 
Reading 
Greenwich 
Plymouth 
Cambridge
O
2 Listen and underline the le tte rs representing the follow ing sounds:
23 
a 
/ e / (there are three)
CD2
 
b 
the schwa, / a / (there are two)
c 
the d ip h th o n g /e i/(th e re is one).
3 
Listen to Track 23 again. Notice that in the firs t fo u r place names some le tte rs are not 
pronounced.
11
1 
There are a large num ber of w ords in English w ith silent letters. For th is reason it is
im portant to learn the pronunciation of words, not ju s t guess the pronunciation from
the way the words are spelt. H ighlight the silent le tte rs in words 1-10 below.
1 
island 
6 
vineyard
2 
calm 
7 walk