Preparation
1. Complete the collocations with the verbs below.
buy eat go go hire lie play visit
1) _____. for a walk / for a bike ride / on a boat trip
2) _____. souvenirs
3) _____. a castle / a mosque / a museum
4) _____. a car / a kayak / a bike
5) _____. table tennis / beach volleyball
6) _____. abseiling / mountain biking / surfing / shopping / kayaking
7) _____. on a beach
8) _____. out
Show answers
1) go 2) buy 3) visit 4 hire 5) play 6) go
7) lie 8) eat
2. Read the blog post. Find two more activities you can add to 1-8 in exercise 1.
7.35 pm @Sam2020
Having a great time on our cycling tour of Provence in the South of France. We arrived on Saturday after a long journey on the train from London. We’ve cycled about 150 km since Saturday morning and I’m exhausted! Danny is tired too, but he’s fitter than I am. The countryside is beautiful, but there are lots of hills!! The weather has been warm and sunny – maybe a little too hot for me. We’ve stayed at a different place every night so far. Two nights ago we stayed at a farm, and last night we stayed in a small hotel. Staying in a castle tonight, which is amazing! Tomorrow, we’re visiting a lake. It’s quite a long way from here, in the mountains. We’ll stay there all afternoon and go swimming. Looking forward to it! I’ll post again in two days.
Show answers
visit a lake, go swimming
Writing Strategy
In informal style (e.g. in emails, blogs and postcards) we can omit sentence subjects / and we.
Must go now! Wish you were here!
With the present continuous, we can also omit the auxiliaries am and are.
Having a great time in Italy!
However, only do this once or twice in a text. Do not omit every instance of / and we.
3. Read the Writing Strategy. Then find these sentences in the blog post. What word or words did the writer omit from the start?
1) _____. having a great time on our cycling tour ___
2) _____. staying in a castle tonight ___
3) _____. looking forward to it!
Show answers
1) I’m / We’re 2 We’re 3) I’m
4. Read the sentences below. Cross out the words which could be omitted to make them more informal.
1) I wish I could stay here longer!
2) I’m taking lots of photos to show you.
3) I’ll see you soon!
Show answers
1) Wish I could stay here longer!
2) Taking lots of photos to show you.
3) See you soon!
5. Read the task. The prepare to write your blog post by inventing answers to questions 1-5 below.
You are on holiday with a friend, touring around a country. Write a blog entry with information about:
– where you are touring and how you are travelling
– the weather
– some places you have stayed
– something you plan to do in the next few days.
1) Where are you touring?
__________.
__________.
2) How are you travelling?
__________.
__________.
3) What is the weather like?
__________.
__________.
4) Where have you stayed?
__________.
__________.
5) What are your plans?
_________.
_________.
Show answers
your own answers
Writing Guide
6. Write your blog post using your notes from exercise 5.
Show answers
your own answers
IELTS Practice Tests Online
