A Question of Taste
B2/C1
Discuss with your partner:
1. Do you read much? Why (not)?
2. Do you do exercise much? Why (not)?
3. Do you cook much? Why (not)?
4. Do you travel much? Why (not)?
5. Do you see your famiily much? Why (not)?
LISTENING
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1 🔊 Listen to the answers to eight questions such as Do you read much? or Do you watch TV much? Listen and decide which Do you ... much? questions were asked.
GRAMMAR
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Habits
We use the present and past simple and a number of different structures such as tend to and used to to talk about habits. We use words and phrases such as rarely, all the time and not as much as I'd like to to show how often.
2 🔊 Listen and complete the sentences with the expressions and structures used to talk about habits.
1 I don't ________ during the week, though.
2 Yeah, ________. My headphones are glued to my ears!
3 Not as much ________, because I really love it.
4 ________ summer, to be honest. I guess I might in the summer.
5 I don't pay much attention to it most of the time. ________ a big game, if there's one on.
6 Yeah, I guess so. I usually play football on a ________ and I go running ________.
7 No, ________. I tend to watch films on demand through my TV at home.
8 Not as much as I ________. I was addicted to this online game, until my parents banned me. ________ sometimes play for five hours a day!
4 Complete the sentences about your own leisure interests. Then find out about your partner. How much do you have in common?
1 I ____ all the time.
2 I don't ____ as much as I used to because ____.
3 I tend to ____ at the weekends and now and again I ____.
4 As a rule, I don't ____, but I will if ____.
5 I used to ____ a lot. I'd ____.
5 Write five Do you ... much? questions about other areas.
Think about:
- work
- study
- holiday
- eating
- family
Then find out about your partner. Use some of the structures from Exercise 2 in your answer.
VOCABULARY Describing films, music and books
_____________________________________________
When we describe things, we often use pairs of adjectives that have similar meanings to emphasize what we mean. We sometimes repeat the same adverb with each adjective.
It's very moving – just very, very sad.
It's great, absolutely amazing.
6 Which of these words are new for you? Ask your teacher.
awful catchy commercial disturbing dull gripping hilarious over-the-top uplifting weird
Work with your partner and complete the sentences with these words.
1 It does nothing for me. It's quite boring, quite ________.
2 It's one of those tunes that's very easy to remember – very ________.
3 It's ________ – just really, really funny.
4 It didn't do much for me. It's typical big-budget Hollywood – very ________.
5 I can't explain it. It's really strange – really ________.
6 It's just too much for my liking – really ________.
7 You can't stop reading. It's so exciting, so ________.
8 It's good, but it's quite upsetting – quite ________.
9 It's a really inspiring story, really ________.
10 Don't go and see it! It's dreadful, absolutely ________.
Think of 5 movies/books/TV shows which you can describe using these words. Take 2 minutes to think then introduce these films etc. to your partner.
LISTENING
10
4 Listen to two people talking about films and decide which statement is true.
They agree on everything.
They agree on most things.
They don't agree on very much.
They don't agree on anything.
11
4 Take notes about the two speakers to answer these questions. Listen again to check.
Do they go to the cinema much?
What kind of films are they mainly into?
Have they seen any films recently?
What did they think of them?
CONVERSATION PRACTICE
15
Work in pairs. Have conversations about your habits using the guide below. Then swap roles.
A: Ask question: Do you read / listen to music / go to the cinema / watch TV much?
B: Ask follow-up question: What kind of stuff are you into?
A: Answer, giving as full an answer as possible.
B: Have you ever seen ...?
What other things do you read / watch? etc.