Part 3: how celebrations and free time have changed
You can answer a Part 3 question about change with a clear comparison, a reason, and the right tense for each part.
In Part 3, the examiner stops asking about you and starts asking about people and society. It lasts 4 to 5 minutes. The examiner takes your Part 2 subject further, in a more general and abstract way.
One common kind of question asks how things have changed: Do people value traditional festivals less than they did in the past?
A good comparison answer has a shape, and each part of it has its own tense. You'll practise both, on questions about celebrations and free time.
Warm-up
Which one compares?
The examiner asks: How have weddings changed in your country? Only one of these answers the question that was asked.
Which answer compares the past with the present?
How it works
We've been talking about this topic, and I'd like to discuss with you one or two more general questions related to it.
Let's talk about celebrations and free time.
- How have the ways people celebrate important festivals changed in your country?
- Do families spend as much time together at festivals as they did in the past?
- How is the way young people spend their free time different from their grandparents' generation?
- In what ways are weddings in your country different from weddings in the past?
Part 3 follows on from Part 2. Here, the Part 2 card asked you to describe a celebration you enjoyed.
Building a comparison answer
- 1Answer the question first
Say in your first sentence whether things have changed, and how much: Quite a lot, Less than you'd think, In some ways, yes.
- 2Describe the past
Use used to or would, with something specific: who did what, and where.
- 3Describe the present
Use the present simple or the present perfect: These days most people..., Weddings have become...
- 4Explain the change
Give the reason. This turns a description into a discussion, which is what Part 3 is for.
- 5Add a view or an example, then stop
One sentence on whether the change is a good thing, or one example from your family or your city. Four to six sentences in all is plenty.
The grammar for each part
Past habits and states that have stopped. People used to make their own decorations. My grandparents used to live above their shop.
Repeated actions in the past, once the time is clear. At New Year we would visit six or seven relatives in a day. It does not work for states, such as live, or have when it means own.
A change from then until now. Weddings have become much bigger. Fewer young people have kept the custom.
much bigger than, far fewer, not as ... as, these days. Families don't spend as much time together as they used to.
Mistakes with tenses and comparisons
- I am used to visit my grandmother at New Year.: be used to means be familiar with. For a past habit, say I used to visit.
- In the past, people celebrate at home.: the past needs a past tense: people celebrated, or people used to celebrate.
- We would live in a small village.: would does not work for a state. Say We used to live.
- Nowadays people are more busy.: say busier.
- People didn't used to buy decorations.: after didn't, it is use to.
Watch me do one
The question: Do families spend as much time together at festivals as they did in the past? The words as much ... as ... in the past tell me it's a comparison.
My answer goes first, in a few words: Not as much, I don't think. A bare no would leave the examiner waiting.
The past: My grandparents' generation would spend the whole holiday together, often in one house. Would fits, because it's a repeated action.
The present: These days a lot of people only get two or three days off, and relatives often live in different cities.
The reason: It's mainly work and distance, so families get together for the big meal and then everyone goes home.
To finish, one example: Video calls help, though. My cousin in Canada joins our dinner on his phone every year. Six sentences, and I stop.
A model answer
I'd say they've changed quite a lot, especially in the cities. When I was small, Lunar New Year meant a whole week of visiting relatives, and every family would cook the same dishes at home. Nowadays, a lot of people book a restaurant for the reunion dinner, and some families even go abroad for the holiday. I think the main reason is that people work longer hours than they used to, so they don't have the time or the energy to cook for days. It isn't all bad, though. It's still the one time of year when everyone makes an effort to get together.
The first sentence answers the question. When I was small and would set up the past, Nowadays moves to the present, and the main reason is that gives the cause. The last two sentences add the speaker's own view, so the answer ends on an opinion.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Four questions on the shape and the grammar, then two answers you record. I'll listen to how you compare.
Opening the answer
The examiner asks: Are traditional festivals as important to young people as they are to older people? Choose the best way to start.
Which first sentence is best?
Used to or would
Complete the sentence with used to or would and the verb make.
When I was a child, we our own lanterns out of paper every autumn.
Write no more than 3 words.
Spot the wrong tense
These four sentences make up one Part 3 answer. Find the one with a grammar mistake.
Which sentence contains the error?
Listen: how she builds it
Listen to a candidate answer a Part 3 question. Notice the order of her ideas.
A Part 3 answer about birthdays
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In the exam you hear this once. Here you may play it again after you have tried.
What does she do straight after describing birthdays today?
Record: free time then and now
Answer as you would in Part 3: answer first, then the past, the present and the reason.
How is the way young people spend their free time different from their grandparents' generation?
Record your answer (60s maximum)
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Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Record: weddings
Same shape again. Give one real example from your country or your family.
In what ways are weddings in your country different from weddings in the past?
Record your answer (60s maximum)
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Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
At the present time, compared with the past. These days many families book a restaurant for the New Year meal.
All the people born at about the same time. My grandparents' generation made their own decorations.
Meet as a group, usually to spend time with each other. The festival is the one time the whole family gets together.
Try hard to do something that is not easy. Everyone makes an effort to come home for the festival.
Make sure people go on doing it. Schools help keep old traditions alive by teaching them.
Not as much. A short way to start an answer that compares. Do families cook at home for festivals as much as they used to? Less so, I think.
Before you go
Answer the question in your first sentence, and say how much things have changed.
Use used to or would for the past, and the present simple or the present perfect for now.
Give the reason for the change. That is what turns a description into a discussion.
Talk about people in general, then back it up with something from your family or your country.
Next: Next, a Task 2 essay that agrees with only part of a statement: should museums and galleries be free for everyone?