Search concise PET grammar, vocabulary, speaking phrases and exam strategy without leaving the course to hunt through past lessons.
In my opinion, …
I think / I'd say …
To be honest, …
neutral / slightly informal
From my point of view, …
If you ask me, …
informal, confident
I completely agree.
That's a good point.
Exactly! / Definitely.
You're absolutely right.
I see what you mean, but …
I'm not sure I agree.
That's true, however …
I'd look at it differently.
How do you spell your surname?
Do you work or are you a student?
What do you like doing in your free time?
Tell me about your hometown.
Sorry, could you repeat that?
Do you mean …?
I'm not sure I follow.
Just to check — you're saying …?
Shall we start with …?
How about …?
That's a good idea, but maybe we could …
So, are we agreed on …?
It all started when …
Suddenly, …
In the end, …
Looking back, …
PET S1 examiner: 'What's your name?' / 'How do you spell your surname?'
Lesson 1
PET S1 examiner: 'Where do you live?' / 'Do you work or are you a student?'
PET S1 extender: 'I work as… and at the moment I'm…'
PET S1 extender: 'I've been doing that for about…'
PET S1 closer (Phase 2): 'Now, please tell me something about…'
I'm in year…
I go to…
At school this term I'm…
I'm really into…
On Saturdays I usually…
I usually…, but at the moment I'm…
Lesson 2
I'd say… because…
It depends on the day, really.
That's a good question — I suppose…
I hardly ever…, to be honest.
I usually message rather than call, because…
Lesson 3
How about we…? — I use that a lot when I'm planning something.
To be honest, I hardly ever…
It depends who I'm writing to.
It takes me about twenty minutes, door to door.
Lesson 4
I usually leave at half past seven.
It costs around ten euros a week.
I try to book in advance because it's cheaper.
I usually…
Exam Boost Session 4
The night before, I…
I always… because…
On exam day, I…
I think it's important to…
PET S4 reaction: 'Oh really? / No way! / I see what you mean.'
Lesson 5
PET S4 mirror: 'Have you? / Did you? / Are you? / Can't you?'
PET S4 linking phrase: 'Well, to be honest, … / The thing is, …'
PET S4 preference: 'I'd rather … than …' / 'It depends on …'
PET S4 bounce back: 'How about you? / Do you feel the same?'
The best trip I've ever been on was…
What I liked most was…
I'd much rather…
How about you?
Oh really? / No way! / That sounds great.
Lesson 6
Have you? / Did you? / Are you?
Well, to be honest, … / The thing is, …
How about you? / Do you feel the same?
So, I was… when suddenly…
Lesson 7
At that moment, I realised…
You'll never guess what happened next.
In the end, it turned out that…
What were you doing when that happened?
I think… because…
Lesson 8
I'm not sure I agree — I'd say…
What about you?
For example, …
I prefer… because…
Review Lab 1
For example, when I…
It depends on…
On the whole, I…
On the whole I think…
Lesson 9
The main reason is that…
For example / For instance…
Having said that…
It really depends on…
I'd say definitely…
The main reason is…
For example, last term…
So I'd go for…
That's a good point, and...
Lesson 10
I see what you mean, but...
On the other hand...
Shall we say...?
Let's weigh up the options.
Surprisingly, ...
Lesson 11
What struck me most was...
I couldn't help but feel...
In my view, ...
Overall, ...
In my opinion, ...
Lesson 12
Personally, I think...
On balance, ...
Schools/Parents ought to...
To sum up, ...
On the whole, I'd say…
Exam Boost Session 1
Having said that, …
The main reason is that at school we…
For example, in my Spanish class…
It really depends on the teacher…
I think it's a great idea because…
Lesson 13
On the other hand…
It depends on the age, really.
For example…
I agree, but…
The text shows that…
Lesson 14
In my experience, …
If I had…, I'd…
Lesson 16
To be honest, I'd probably…
As far as I know, …
Review Lab 2
In the end, it usually…
What do you think about…?
Lesson 17
I'd say the most useful is…
I see your point, but…
Shall we agree on…?
So we both choose…
I'd prefer something that...
Lesson 18
It needs to be suitable for...
That doesn't really work for me because...
What about something more flexible?
That sounds perfect for both of us.
Could you spell that for me, please?
Lesson 19
Sorry, could you repeat the time?
So that's... , is that right?
Is there a reference number for the booking?
Sorry, I mean...
Is there a reference number for the trip?
This photo shows...
Lesson 20
In the foreground/background...
It looks as if...
They seem to be...
I think this might be...
On the whole, I'd say museums…
Exam Boost Session 2
For example, last time I visited…
It really depends on the kind of museum.
Having said that, a screen can't replace…
What strikes me most is…
On the whole, I'd say school trips…
For example, last time our class visited…
It really depends on the kind of trip.
I really believe…
Lesson 21
However…
What do you think?
For example, at lunch…
So my idea is…
As a result of this...
Lesson 22
However, on the other hand...
This meant that...
Despite this...
For this reason...
My strategy is to...
Lesson 23
I always check...
One thing that helps me is...
I used to..., but now I...
Let's start with a hook like...
Lesson 24
We could develop that by saying...
As a result... / However...
Let's finish with the opinion that...
I quite like that one, but…
Review Lab 3
On top of that, it saves time.
Having said that, it's not always necessary.
So shall we go for…?
I'd go for…
Lesson 25
I do my homework at…
I take six lessons a day.
I'd say I pay attention in…
I'm interested in…
Lesson 26
I'm good at… but bad at…
I'm looking forward to…
I get on well with…
I was going to… but actually…
Lesson 27
In the end, I…
On second thoughts…
It turns out that…
Could I have…, please?
Lesson 28
Would you mind…?
Shall I…?
Would you like me to…?
That would be great, thanks.
I'm afraid…
On top of that, it's cheap.
Review Lab 4
Having said that, it's not for everyone.
I think since…
Lesson 29
I've believed for years that…
Although…
On Saturday I…
After that we…
Although it was raining…
While I was waiting…
In spite of…
Lesson 30
As well as…
Even though…
As long as…
I think this verb should be…
Lesson 31
Have you checked your tenses here?
This preposition doesn't sound right —
Well spotted!
Let's proofread together.
That's a good point, and…
Lesson 32
On one hand… on the other hand…
I think we could compromise by…
Sorry, I mean…
That's a good point, and I'd add…
Exam Boost Session 3
I see what you mean, but…
Shall we go with…?
On balance, I think…
Let's agree on…
Honestly, I think…
Lesson 33
Apparently…
I'm not so sure because…
What's your experience?
You'd probably enjoy…
It's not perfect, but…
I'd say it's worth a try.
Hmm, maybe — what's it about?
I felt quite anxious about…
Lesson 34
To be honest, I was reluctant to…
In the end, I was relieved/delighted because…
I suppose it turned out better than expected.
Looking back, I feel differently now because…
You'll never believe what happened...
Lesson 35
Suddenly, / Just then, / Without warning,...
In the end, / Eventually,...
I nearly gave up, but then...
I couldn't believe it when...
although / however…
Lesson 36
On balance, I'd say…
Review Lab 5
I'd say the most important is…
Lesson 37
I lost most time on…
I'd say my strongest part was…
Next time I'll definitely…
I ran out of time on…
Lesson 38
Next time I'll try…
One thing that helped me was…
I always double-check…
I often mishear…
Lesson 39
One thing that helps me is…
I always wait for…
In the long run, what matters is…
Exam Boost Session 5
To be honest, though…
For example, in my case…
In the end, it's about…
For example, in my case at school…