Ways of Organizing Texts – Lead In
A. Context Speaking
- How do you plan your shopping?
- Tell me about creating shopping lists.
- What’s your opinion on discounts?
- How do you compare prices?
- Tell me about online shopping methods.
- What’s your way of budgeting?
- Tell me about your shopping preferences.
- How do you prioritize shopping needs?
B. Context Listening
You are going to listen to a student interviewing a woman for a survey on shopping habits. Look at these questions. How would you answer them?
Interviewer: How many times a week do you do the shopping? Do you always shop on the same day? Do you always shop at the same place?
Listen and compare your answers with the woman in the interview.
Listen again and fill in the gaps. Underline the subject of each verb.
- ‘No, _______ I live with my family – my husband and three children?’
- ‘And how many times a week _______ the food shopping?’**
- ‘Oh, _______ it on my own. If _______ with the others, _______ too many things in the trolley and _______ me a fortune!’
- ‘ _______ the food shopping on Thursdays because _______ Monday to Wednesday and _______ fewer people in the supermarket on Thursday than on Friday?’
- ‘Well, _______ it once but _______ it?
‘And _______ why didn’t you? ‘Well, what I like is being able to see the products and walking around the shop and maybe buying things that aren’t on my shopping list, you know. _______ do that on your computer, can you?’
Now read part of the student’s written report. What is the difference between the kinds of words that are used as subjects in the spoken text in Exercise 3 and the underlined words that are used as subjects in the written report?
| Nowadays people appear to do their shopping every week at large supermarkets. These supermarkets seem to have largely replaced the smaller individual shops. Most people tend to go to the same store on the same day of the week and. according to my survey results, it is still the women who do most of the shopping. In general, the people who were interviewed were not positive about online shopping. However, it is important to note that the respondents were interviewed at the supermarket and were not a random sample of the general public. |
The spoken text in Exercise 3 uses personal pronouns and nouns (e.g., “I,” “you,” “it,” “we,” “they”) as subjects. The underlined words in the written report are more general and impersonal (e.g., “people,” “supermarkets,” “respondents”) and do not refer to specific individuals or actions.