Mat Clark ielts speaking

4.3. 
Vague language 
One language feature that sounds like native-speaker style English is vague language. 
Vague language is best described language that is not exact. 
Look at the following example: 
―You usually need to buy them in a special shop like a craft shop or somewhere like 
that.‖ 
The phrase ―or somewhere like that‖ is vague language. 
Use the following vague language in your answers: 
Rounding up the the time: 
      
I arrived about half past six. 
    When I arrived it was almost half past six. 
    When I arrived it was half six-ish. 
     It was nearly half past six when we arrived. 
List completers include words such as things and stuff. 
I usually watch documentaries and things like that. 
I usually watch documentaries and stuff like that. 
I’m quite fond of reading magazines and things/stuff. 
I might buy a book or something like that. 

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Mat Clark – IELTS Speaking 
 
 
187
 
I usually buy books and DVDs or stuff  like that. 
I might buy a book or whatever. 
I might go to the park or wherever. 
I might go with my classmates or whoever. 
Do not use too many list completers in your speaking test. A good guideline would be 
4 or 5 examples across the whole interview. 
Quantities 
Vague language is very  common with numbers when expressing quantity, frequency 
or  the  time.  Lower  numbers  are  often  expressed  by  phrases  such  as:  a  couple  of,  a  few. 
Whereas, larger numbers are rounded up with: about, around or replaced with: lots of, loads 
of. 
I usually get up at around three of four o’clock. 
It costs around 15 yuan or so. 
It’s about a 1,000 yuan. 
The weather caused loads of/ lots of problems. 
With vague language, ― a couple‖ does not usually mean  ―two‖; it can  mean ―up  to 
three‖  or  even  ―four‖.  When  you  do  not  want  to  give  accurate  numbers,  you  can  use  the 
following: 
There were about 30 odd students in my class. 
There were about 30 or so people at the party. 
She’s not that old. I’d say she’s about 40-ish. 
There are a lot of / lots of / loads of choices. 
I’ve been to Beijing a couple of / a few times. 
I think I saw about / around 10 or so.