Vocabulary range: food questions in Parts 1 and 3
You can answer food questions with exact words and natural word pairs, in a style that suits each part of the test.
Lexical Resource is one of the four things an examiner marks in Speaking, so it counts for a quarter of your band. It is about the words you choose, and how well they fit together.
Food questions make it easy to lean on the same few words: delicious, healthy, tasty. You will swap them for exact words and natural pairs, and use them in Part 1 and Part 3 answers.
Warm-up
The exact word
A friend tastes some soup and finds almost no flavour in it. Which word would a fluent speaker use?
The soup was ______.
How it works
Now, in this first part, I'd like to ask you some questions about yourself.
Let's talk about Food and cooking.
- What kind of food do you like most?
- Do you often cook for yourself?
- Is there any food you disliked as a child but enjoy now?
- Do you prefer eating at home or eating out?
Part 1 questions are about your own life, so everyday, conversational words fit.
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 Food and modern life.
- Why do many people eat more processed food than they did in the past?
- Should schools teach children how to cook?
- How have eating habits in your country changed in recent years?
Part 3 asks about people in general, so you need words for ideas as well as words for dishes.
What the examiner listens for
The public Speaking band descriptors show the step from band 6 to band 7. At band 6, vocabulary use may be inappropriate but meaning is clear. At band 7 there is some ability to use less common and idiomatic items and an awareness of style and collocation.
A collocation is a group of words that English speakers put together: strong coffee, a balanced diet, eat out. Style means choosing words that suit the situation.
Four ways to show range
Spicy, filling, greasy and bland each tell the examiner something that delicious and tasty cannot.
Pairs that sound right together: a sweet tooth, cook from scratch, cut down on sugar, a quick bite.
Saying the same thing in other words. Asked Do you often eat out?, you might answer Not really. I go to a restaurant maybe once a week, usually a noodle place near my office.
Part 1 is a conversation, so grab a sandwich fits. In Part 3 you also need words for ideas: convenience food, eating habits.
One question, two answers
What kind of food do you like most? I like Chinese food. It is very delicious and healthy. I eat it every day.
What kind of food do you like most? Mostly Cantonese home cooking, the kind my grandmother makes. Steamed fish, a bit of rice, some greens. It's light, but it's surprisingly filling.
Watch me do one
The question is Do you like cooking? A plain answer might be: Yes, I like cooking. I cook many kinds of food. Cooking is very interesting.
Cook or cooking comes three times in three sentences, and interesting could describe anything.
First I answer without repeating the question: I do, although I only cook properly at weekends. That already says something exact about me.
Then one real detail, in the words that fit it: During the week I just throw something together, like fried rice with whatever's left in the fridge.
Throw something together is how people describe quick, simple cooking, and whatever's left in the fridge is how they talk about leftovers.
I thought about I prepare culinary creations and dropped it. Nobody describes their dinner like that, and an examiner hears the difference.
A model answer
Why do many people eat more processed food than they did in the past?
I think it's mostly a question of time. In a lot of families both parents work full time now, so in the evening there isn't an hour to spare for cooking from scratch. Ready meals and takeaways fill that gap, and with delivery apps they've become much easier to get hold of. There's also the taste. A lot of processed food is high in salt, sugar and fat, which is exactly what makes it so hard to resist. So I'd put it down to busy lives and food that's designed to be moreish.
- VocabularyA collocation for cooking with raw ingredients. It says more than the verb cook on its own.
- VocabularyTwo exact names for food people buy ready to eat, where a weaker answer would say unhealthy food.
- VocabularyAn idiomatic phrase that suits the point about time.
- CoherenceA short spoken signpost. The listener knows a second reason is coming.
- VocabularyA natural collocation for food people eat even when they don't mean to.
- VocabularyAn informal way to name a cause, which suits speech.
- VocabularyA less common, informal British word for food that makes you want more.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Four questions on words that fit, then two answers you record for me.
Less sugar
Choose the verb that completes the phrase.
I'm trying to ______ down on sugar.
Words that go together
Match the start of each phrase with its end.
A word that doesn't belong
In one of these sentences, one word does not go with its noun in English. Choose that sentence.
Which sentence contains the error?
Natural or memorised?
The examiner asks: What is a typical meal in your hometown? Decide how this answer would sound.
My hometown offers a cornucopia of gastronomic delights that tantalise the taste buds.
Record: food you grew up with
Give a Part 1 answer of two or three sentences, with at least one exact word for taste or texture.
What kind of food did you eat most often as a child?
Record your answer (45s maximum)
0:00 / 0:45
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Record: a Part 3 question
Give a Part 3 answer of four to six sentences. Use words for ideas as well as words for food.
Should schools teach children how to cook?
Record your answer (90s maximum)
0:00 / 1:30
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
With very little flavour. Without salt, this soup is bland.
Making you feel full. A bowl of noodles is cheap and filling.
A love of sweet food. My brother has a sweet tooth, so he always orders dessert.
Someone who refuses many kinds of food. My daughter is a fussy eater and won't touch vegetables.
Cook with raw ingredients, without ready-made parts. I only cook from scratch at weekends.
Eat or use less of something. My doctor told me to cut down on salt.
(Of food) So tasty that you want more. Informal. These crisps are far too moreish.
Before you go
Swap general words like delicious and tasty for exact ones: filling, spicy, bland.
Learn words in the pairs they come in: a sweet tooth, cut down on sugar, strong coffee.
Answer in your own words, and keep Part 1 conversational.
In Part 3, add words for ideas: convenience food, eating habits, a balanced diet.
Next: After this comes a Task 2 essay on who wastes more food, supermarkets or households, and the links that hold its sentences and paragraphs together.