Essential IELTS Skills: Use the language of speculation

 
In the IELTS exam, you will be asked to discuss how certain things may change or evolve in the future. In this case, you have to use LANGUAGE OF SPECULATION. When we speculate about future events, we guess about what we think might or might not happen.

Here are some phrases you can use:

I suppose…
I expect …
It’s possible…
It’s probable that…
I guess that…
I imagine that…
I’d say…
Perhaps…
Bound to…
I think it’s likely that…
I’m sure/I’m convinced that …
Some people would say that …
It is unlikely that …
It is improbable that …
I doubt that …
There’s no way…
I can’t see …  
You can also use verbs like may/could/might

Pay attention to the use of speculative language in the following answers

How might the education system in your country change in the coming years?
Well, I think it’s likely to become more technologically advanced. More and more people have access to high-speed internet these days so I expect that distance learning will become even more popular. Perhaps more students will have access to tablets and computers in their classrooms as well…


How do you think your city might change over the next 15 years?
I imagine that it’s going to expand and get a lot bigger. As a result, traffic is bound to get heavier and it will become more crowded. However, I think it’s unlikely that the culture of the city will change too much. It might change a little but things don’t move very quickly here!

How do you think gender roles will change in your country in the future?
We are already seeing massive change so I’d say we can expect to see a very different landscape in the future. More women are working full-time than ever before and men are taking more responsibility for housework… I’m sure that these trends will continue in the coming years.

Do you think public transportation will improve in your city in the future?
Definitely. The government has promised to invest a lot of money and so we hope that it will lead to a more efficient system and ultimately, less traffic congestion. However, I can’t see it happening in the next couple of years… It’s a long-term project.


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