Adverbs for Cambridge English Advanced and IELTS interviews

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Exam tips: the Cambridge English Advanced and IELTS interview
Upper intermediate to advanced levels (B2-C1)

You only have a short time to show how good your English is in the Cambridge English Advanced (CAE) or IELTS interview. How can you do it?

It is certainly a challenge because there are quite a few things you need to do at the same time such as, understanding the examiner’s questions, being careful with your grammar, and pronouncing your words and sentences appropriately. Here I want to focus on one area: using adverbs and adverbial expressions to spice up your English.

The ‘family’ of adverbs and adverbial expressions is very large in English so you have an extremely wide choice. Let’s look at how some can be used to answer questions that you might be asked in Cambridge English Advanced (CAE).

Check the ones you do not know and practise using the ones you do.

Q: How important is the salary when choosing to apply for a job?

Possible answers:

  • It’s undoubtedly / certainly one of the most important things to bear in mind.
  • Ideally, I’d like to make enough to live a normal, comfortable life but the kind of job is really important too.

Q: What do you think makes a good neighbourhood?

Possible answers:

  • Without a doubt, having places where you can meet other people helps make a community far more successful.
  • In my experience, people are remarkably good at creating vibrant neighbourhoods when they have shared goals and ambitions.

Q.: Are you good at organising your free time?

Possible answers:

  • I’m terribly bad at using my free time because, for me, it’s primarily a time for chilling out.
  • I’m unbelievably / totally useless at organising anything, including my non-work time.

Q: What kind of things annoy you?

Possible answers:

  • Somewhat strangely, I’m irritated when people are overly kind to me.
  • Interestingly, my brother asked me the same question last night! I couldn’t actually think of anything in particular but having slept on it, I realise that the answer is unnecessary rudeness.

Q: What in your opinion are the most important things in life?

Possible answers:

  • Logically, the most vital should be food and water but, ideally, love would also be there.
  • Presumably, it should be health and happiness.