IELTS Energy 1452: Powerful Parallel Expressions for IELTS Listening
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This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1452, Powerful Parallel Expressions for IELTS Listening.

Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams. Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz.

go to allearsenglish.com forward slash myscore. What is a parallel expression? And why do you need to recognize them on IELTS Listening and Reading? Today, you'll learn common paraphrases exam writers use and strategies for spotting them on IELTS.

On this podcast, we are all about your IELTS score. What the examiner is looking for in speaking and writing. What tricks to watch out for in listening and reading. And what strategies you need for all four sections. We want you to get the score you need on IELTS and be done with this exam.

Before you pay all that money to take the exam, you have to be sure that you'll get the score you need. Find out now with our free IELTS band score quiz at allearsenglish.com slash myscore. It only takes five minutes and we'll give you extra free study materials for your exact score. Check it out now. All

allearsenglish.com/myscore. Hello, Aubrey. How's it going? I'm great. How are you, Jessica?

- Fantastic. I'll tell you what, before we get into today's vocabulary and listening parallel expressions, which guys, you are going to learn so much great stuff today. I'm just gonna tell you, there is an unfrosted cake sitting on my counter waiting to be frosted. And that's what I'm excited for right now. - That is so fun. It's fun to frost a cake. It's fun to eat a cake. - It is. - I am excited for you. - I know. - How are you even here recording with us when you have an unfrosted cake staring at you?

- I know, I'm so distracted. Just kidding, I love talking about IELTS. The cake can wait. - I do wanna point out really quick a great phrase you used for IELTS speaking when you said, "I'll tell you what," and then you said that. What a fun way to start an answer. - Yeah, totally. - Pretty much any answer. Be like, "I'll tell you what, there's a restaurant down the street that's bomb."

It has to be a fun answer. It has to be an interesting answer that shows some sort of personality and opinion, or you can't use that phrase. Like, you can't be like, I'll tell you what, my hometown is Carson City, Nevada. Like, that's just a fact, you know? And it needs to be pretty positive. It couldn't be like, I'll tell you what, whales are going extinct.

No, no, that doesn't work. All very good points. All right, guys, let's get into today's episode. So if you did not listen to our last episode, 1451, the listening practice that was on Tuesday's show, guys, go back and listen to that first, because today we are really picking apart the questions.

questions and the audio to show you parallel expressions. And we're going to teach you more parallel expressions that you should watch out for because

Often, guys, this vocabulary, these synonyms are repeated in a lot of IELTS listening. You're going to notice the more practice you do, you're going to be hearing similar words a lot. Yes, you are going to learn a lot of strategies today. This is a super helpful episode. I hope you heard the last one. If not, go back and listen to it. Great listening practice for IELTS. And yeah, I'm excited to dive in here.

All right, let's do it. So Aubrey's going to go through the first two questions and we'll talk about the vocab. And then I will go through the last two questions and we'll talk about the vocab. So let's get to it. Remind us, Aubrey, what was the first question from last time? All right. So the first question was, the googly eyes have been appearing in the town of blank.

and we went through the prediction strategies, highlighting keywords, what you would do before you hear the audio. Now we're going to talk about what's actually in the audio, what you should have listened for. The first thing we're going to talk about is that verb, have been appearing.

This is interesting because that is in the audio word for word that have been appearing. This might happen, right? We talked about that there's a trick that that might be a distractor, but it can, it can be word for word that would definitely want to spike your radar. Like, okay, have been appearing. I know I'm about to hear an answer here, right? But there are a lot of other options. The test writers could have had that say, have been showing up.

are being found, have been seen. All of these mean the same thing. And one of those is even more likely to be what you would hear in the audio. Yeah, for sure. And another thing to be aware of here, guys, is that the question said the googly eyes have been appearing in the town, right?

of, but the in the town was not actually in the audio, right? So I think that would throw some students off. Guys, you might not hear, you probably won't hear the complete question paraphrased in the audio. That would make it too easy.

right that's very unlikely so if you get in your mind like when i hear the word town then i know i'm going to hear a town name you would have missed this right in the actual passage it just says sculptures in bend oregon this is also tricky because the town name bend is also the verb bend and you may not be familiar with this pretty small town in oregon it's not new york city

So you have to be listening for, you know, listening to the context of the question to realize, oh, they just named a town. Well, that's the thing. Like, trust yourself, guys. Your English is good enough. You know that that would make no sense if bend was a verb. You're like, wait, that wasn't a verb. They're naming a place that's happening. That's a town name. I got this. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, that's another good tip, though, guys, is to trust yourself because, oh,

A lot of times when I see students like erasing things and rewriting things, it's because they're doubting themselves and then they change their answer and it's wrong. So you do have to trust yourselves, which

You will only do if you're preparing well. If you've practiced a bunch, right? You've also worked on improving your English. You know you've done everything you can before the exam. Then you can and should trust yourself. Yes, absolutely. Okay, let's move on to number two. So the second question was, the story has been written about by many blank.

And we had made the prediction this is going to be a noun, someone who could write. So adults, journalists, like there are options here. But then you hear in the audio, it's even been covered widely by news reporters and featured on a popular late night talk show.

So this is a tricky parallel expression we want you to be aware of, that when you hear in the audio covered, it has been covered widely. Covered doesn't just mean covering, you know, a couch with a blanket. It also means to write. News reporters cover a story. That means they do their research and they write the story.

And that might seem like some high-level weird vocab to some people out there because it's not something that you're taught in traditional classrooms, I believe. However, this is a verb that is common when we are talking about news and media. And we know that that topic comes up a lot on IELTS.

Yeah, this seems like an outlier vocabulary word, but it's not, guys. This is something that should be part of your media vocabulary knowledge before you do the exam. Absolutely. And there are other options. It's certainly not for sure going to be covered. It could be featured, like they said here, featured on a popular late night talk show or highlighted.

There are other options here. So you need to be looking for anything, any parallel expression for written about and be aware of those so that when you hear one of them, you know, to really listen closely, you're about to hear the answer. Like that could even say, you know, it doesn't have to follow the structure of the question either. It could be like news reporters have published many articles, right? Instead of like written about. Absolutely. Absolutely.

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All right. So let's get into the third and fourth questions today, guys. So the third question from last episode's listening practice, the art was being damaged by blank on the googly eyes. In the audio, we heard these googly eyes were different because the adhesive was damaging the art. So we do see the exact words there, right? Art was being damaged, was rephrased as damaging the art.

So that one is sort of one-to-one, but we wouldn't necessarily hear damaging the art. And damaging, guys, that is a verb that often comes up as a keyword in questions, in reading and listening, and because there are so many parallel expressions for damaging that you should know. Right? Right.

So instead of damaging, we might hear harming or tarnishing even, or maybe even reframing it completely and saying impacting the art noticeably. That could be a parallel expression for damaging the art.

It could be more specifically detailed in the audio, like taking off the bronze. Even if you don't know what bronze means, you know, like taking off something like that's damaging the art. So here, guys, you can really see with these possible parallel expressions why we say parallel expressions and not synonyms. And there are so many options here ruining the surface.

hurting, injuring. There are so many ways to say that. So this is actually unlikely that you'll actually hear damaging in the article. Like it would be one of these parallel expressions. And then when you hear that, you know, okay, the answer is right here. Close.

Exactly, exactly. So the last question was, it has cost the city blank to fix the damage. In the audio, we hear it has cost the city $1,500 so far to remove them and repair the damage. So there we hear repair as a synonym for fix. And we've gone over parallel expressions for damage, right? Hurt, harm, damage.

Here, I think we might hear a parallel expression for cost the city. We can reframe that to be like the town has had to spend $1,500 or local government has had to pay $1,500. So spend, pay, budget. These are all parallel expressions you will listen for if you see cost or money in the question.

Right, it might have been rephrased to something like this has been extremely expensive for the city, you know, at a price of $1,500. There are all kinds of ways this could be said. So you're listening more for the meaning, the parallel expression is the meaning of those keywords and not necessarily those exact words. Exactly, exactly. Awesome.

All right, Aubrey. What a fantastic pair of episodes this week. Guys, today's episode really is a companion to Tuesday's. So scroll up if you missed last episode and hit follow right now so you don't miss another amazing series like this one. Absolutely. Awesome. We will see you guys next week. Awesome. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy. Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.