Tool or game
Lesson
Speaking Part 2: A difficult decision, with tense range
Band 8 speakers move easily between past perfect, past continuous and "if I hadn't…". Learn to tell a story with precise tenses and natural idioms, then record your talk.
Range, used naturally
The Band 8 grammar descriptor asks for "a wide range of structures, flexibly used". A decision story invites exactly that:
| Structure | Example |
|---|---|
| Past perfect | I had already accepted a place at a local college when the offer arrived. |
| Past perfect continuous | I'd been thinking about it for weeks. |
| Third conditional | If I hadn't taken the risk, I would never have discovered how much I enjoy design. |
| Mixed conditional | If I had stayed, I would probably be working in my uncle's shop now. |
Idiomatic language, accurately
weigh up the pros and cons · be in two minds about · sleep on it · take the plunge · a leap of faith · in hindsight · second-guess yourself
Use one or two where they genuinely fit. Forced idioms sound memorised.
Practise freely
Questions 1–4
Choose the correct form.
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By the time the second offer arrived, I ___ the first one.
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I ___ about changing courses for months before I finally told my parents.
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If I ___ that job, I would never have met my business partner.
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If I had studied engineering, I ___ in a factory now.
Questions 5–9
Complete each sentence with an expression from the box.
in two mindstook the plungesleep on itthe pros and consIn hindsight
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For weeks I was about whether to leave my job.
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My father told me to weigh up carefully.
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Instead of answering immediately, I decided to .
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In the end, I and moved to Dhaka.
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, it was the best decision I have ever made.
Your turn: the cue card
Describe a difficult decision that you made.
You should say:
- what the decision was
- when you made it
- why it was difficult
and explain how you feel about the decision now.
Preparation
1:00
Your recording stays on this device. Nothing is uploaded.
Check your answer
Model answer
I'd like to talk about the decision to switch from a science degree to a business course, which I made about two years ago, at the end of my first year at university.
I'd always assumed I would study pharmacy. Both my parents work in healthcare, and I'd been preparing for it since school, so in a sense the decision had been made for me long before I was old enough to question it. But during my first year I realised I was far more interested in the small online shop I was running on the side, selling handmade notebooks, than in my lectures.
What made it so difficult was the feeling of letting people down. My parents had invested a lot in my education, and I was genuinely in two minds for months. I'd been thinking about it constantly, but I hadn't said a word to anyone. Eventually my older cousin told me to sit down, write out the pros and cons, and then sleep on it before saying anything. That helped, because once it was on paper, the answer was fairly obvious.
So I took the plunge and told my parents. They were disappointed at first, but surprisingly supportive.
In hindsight, it was absolutely the right choice. If I hadn't changed, I'd probably be sitting in a pharmacy now, wondering what might have been. Instead, the shop has grown, and I actually look forward to my classes.
