How to talk about friendship in C1 Speaking? Let’s find out!
Hello, this is Kristian from Cambridge Advanced Speaking, how are you doing today? I hope you’re feeling better than me, because right now I’m a bit under the weather – my voice might sound a bit differently – but no worries, I’ll be fine.
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That is all. Thanks for listening. Let’s start the episode 🙂
Topic
Today we’re going to be talking about the topic of friendship. We’ll start with a warm up question to get you in the groove. Then we’ll go through a list of 10 phrasal verbs that you can use to talk about friendship. Finally, we’ll look at a part 1 question and I’ll give you my model answer.
Are you up for it? Are you keen to give it a go?
All right then, let’s kick off!
Warm-up Question
Do you agree or disagree with the following statements about friendship? Why?
- True friends will always be supportive.
- Friends are bound to fall out at times.
- Friendships are more easily damaged than family relationships.
- Shared experiences are extremely important in a friendship.
- Complete honesty isn’t always advisable.
These are the type of statements you could get in Part 3 or Part 4 of the Speaking Exam.
In the final part of this episode I’ll answer one question, but first I want to teach you 10 phrasal verbs that you can use to talk about friendship.
Let’s do this.
10 Phrasal Verbs
All right, just a minute ago I read aloud the following statement:
Friends are bound to fall out at times.
1 bound to fall out =Â If you say that something is bound to happen, you feel confident and certain of it, although you have no definite knowledge or evidence.
And if you fall out with someone, you have an argument and stop being friendly with them. You can also say that two people fall out.
Great, we got the first bit done! Let’s continue with the second verb phrase:
2 have/experience ups and downs = If a friendship experiences ups and downs, a mixture of good and bad things happens to it.
3 take offense = If someone takes offense at something you say or do, they feel upset, often unnecessarily, because they think you are being rude to them.
4 take to someone = like
5 bump into = meet by chance
6 let down =Â disappoint
7 put up with = tolerate
8 dwell on = keep thinking or talking about
9 hit it off = become friends quickly
10 fall apart = breaks up, doesn’t function anymore.
BTW, If you say that someone is falling apart, you mean that they are becoming emotionally disturbed and are unable to think calmly or to deal with the difficult or unpleasant situation that they are in.
All right, now you know 10 advanced phrasal verbs you can use to talk about friendship.
Lets move onto the final part: an exam question + model answer
Model Answer
Question:
Some people say that shared experiences are extremely important in a friendship. Do you agree?Â
I totally agree with this statement. I’ve come to realise that the strength of a friendship lies in things you’ve done together. I mean to say, having shared memories is a vital part of connecting with someone. Sure, you can experience ups and downs over the years, and maybe even fall out. But I truly believe that the disagreements aren’t as nearly as significant as the good times you share.
Closing Notes
Okay then, There you are! A 13-minute lesson about the topic of friendship. All natural spoken English.
I hope you enjoyed this episode! If you did, please share it with someone who could benefit from it.
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So, if you want to practice, repeat and review the language in this episode to become a better English speaker, you can subscribe to my email lessons on the homepage.
All right, that’s all from me. Take care of yourself, and each other.
Speak soon, my friends.
Bye!
Bonus:
hang out with & meet up: Simple yet effective phrasal verbs you can use to talk about friendship.
be as dear to me as a family member: This is a lovely expression and it means that you deeply care about someone (who is not a family member).
