IELTS Listening: synonyms and opposites

Often you don't hear the exact words given in the question. Instead, you hear a synonym, a similar word, or an opposite. For example, if the question contains the word difficult, you might hear too hard or not easy.

Try the following exercise (from Cambridge IELTS 4, page 85). The speaker explains the problems involved with 4 different school science experiments.

Listen and choose the correct problem for the 4 experiments.

Click here to listen

A) too messy
B) too boring
C) too difficult
D) too much equipment
E) too long
F) too easy
G) too noisy
H) too dangerous

Experiment 1: ______
Experiment 2: ______
Experiment 3: ______
Experiment 4: ______

Comments

[Mark J]

HBEC

[Amelia]

1. too dangerous
2. too boring
3. too long
4. too difficult

[minimor]

1. H
2. B
3. E
4. C

[BoXiang]

Experiment 1: ___too dangerous___
Experiment 2: __ too_boring__
Experiment 3: __ too_long__
Experiment 4: __ too difficult___

[atiti]

h-b-e-c
risky-hurt=dangerous
interesting opposite of boring
fortnight means two weeks=long
ambitious=difficult

[Andrea]

1 H
2 B
3 E
4 C

[Tinh]

1 H
2 B
3 E
4 C

[Mirabella]

1. H
2. B
3. E
4. C

[Ehssan]

1. H
2. B
3. F
4. C

[ilovemetoo]

1-H
2-B
3-E
4-C

[Alisa Yefanova]

1-H
2-B
3-E
4-C

[jaggy]

H
B
E
C

[Raon]

H
B
E
C

[Danila]

1. H
2. B
3. E
4. C

[Susan]

H
B
F
C

[Simon]

CORRECT ANSWERS FROM SIMON:

1. H
too dangerous = risky, someone could get hurt

2. B
too boring = it needs to be more active and interesting

3. E
too long = we had to wait up to a fortnight (two weeks)

4. C
too difficult = a bit ambitious for this age group

[Hung]

1.H
2.B
3.E
4.D

[ec]

h
b
e
c

[daisy]

h
b
e
c