Understand FAST English Conversations [Advanced Listening Lesson]

In a conversation, taking turns speaking and responding to one another.

Tone and use: Casual and common. Use it to describe an exchange of comments, messages, or conversation turns.

The way people speak changes with the situation, relationship, and purpose.

Tone and use: Neutral explanatory wording. Use it when comparing a lesson, interview, broadcast, or casual conversation.

Reduce the size, amount, or difficulty of something.

Tone and use: Practical and neutral. Use it when making a task or plan more manageable.

Small, manageable portions of information or work.

Tone and use: Informal and encouraging. Use it when dividing a large task or lesson into short parts.

Taking part by doing the task rather than only watching or listening passively.

Tone and use: Instructional and motivating. Use it for lessons that require the learner to answer, write, or practise.

A sudden realization or moment of understanding.

Tone and use: Informal and vivid. Use it when someone suddenly understands an idea or sees how something works.

Record the spoken words in writing as accurately as possible.

Tone and use: Direct learning instruction. Use it for a dictation or close-listening exercise.

Exactly as spoken or written, without paraphrasing.

Tone and use: Neutral and precise. Use it when exact wording matters, such as in dictation or a quotation.

Accept responsibility and actively direct what happens.

Tone and use: Empowering and action-focused. Use it when someone takes responsibility for a task or their own learning.

Record the spoken message as accurately as you can.

Tone and use: Clear and instructional. Use it for dictation or detailed listening practice.

A speaker says they had repeatedly submitted job applications there over a three-year period.

Tone and use: Conversational; “like” is a casual filler in this example. The past perfect progressive “I’d been applying” describes an ongoing past activity before a later past point.

Very difficult to be accepted by or enter a competitive place or organization.

Tone and use: Informal and emphatic. Use “hard to get into” for a selective school, workplace, program, or venue.

One organization among those with the greatest number of workers in a local region.

Tone and use: Neutral and descriptive. Use it to describe a major local source of jobs.

A contraction of “I had been applying”; the past perfect progressive emphasizes an ongoing past activity.

Tone and use: Natural spoken grammar. Use had been + verb-ing for an activity that continued up to a later past event or point.

Be accepted into a school, organization, program, or place; the exact sense depends on context.

Tone and use: Common and conversational. Use it for gaining admission or entry: get into a college, team, or building.

May not fit: In other contexts, “get into” can mean become involved in an activity or start discussing a topic.

In the nearby city, region, or general local surroundings.

Tone and use: General and conversational. Use it when the precise city or neighborhood is not important.

Try the task independently before looking at the answer or explanation.

Tone and use: Encouraging and instructional. Use it for practice that reveals what you can currently understand.