IELTS Listening: Predicting answers with prepositions
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Before every IELTS Listening Test, you are given a few minutes to read the questions to understand what answers you should be looking for in the audios.
Reading these questions before hand, can help you to listen for answers in the audios. But how do we know what we’re looking for?
This prediction can be made easier with the help of prepositions.
We can meet _________.
Look at the sentence above, we are going to add a preposition before the blank and guess what the answers could be. We will also look at the predicted answers for the blank in cases where there’s no preposition.
Let’s look at some of the prepositions that help us predict the answer:
1. AT
We can meet at _________.
| Preposition | Prediction | Example |
| at | Time of day | 5 pm |
| Part of day | Night | |
| Part of the week | The weekend | |
| Place | The station |
Did you notice ‘THE’ in part of the week and place?
The above sentence ‘We can meet at … ‘will be incorrect if you don’t add ‘the’ to part of the week or place.
Thus, it can only be the answer if your questions states, ‘Answer in two words or more’. If your question states, ‘Answer in no more than one word’, you cannot write your answer as ‘the weekend’ or ‘the station.’
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Written by professional IELTS teachers to help candidates on the big day
2. IN
We can meet in ________.
| Preposition | Prediction | Example |
| in | Period of time | 3 days |
| Month | February | |
| Year | 2021 | |
| Season | Autumn |
3. ON
We can meet on ______.
| Preposition | Prediction | Example |
| on | day | 3 days |
| date | 20th May (British English) May 20th (American English) |
4. No Preposition
We can meet ________.
| Example |
| Now |
| At once |
| Tomorrow |
| This afternoon/ evening |
| Next year/ next week/ next month. |
| Sena |
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Ann Smith
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