Attitude and function questions are the ones that replay a line and ask what the speaker meant by it. They test pragmatic understanding: polite disagreement, hedging, an unfinished sentence that says no without saying no. These 40 items work through the signals — hesitation, stress, ‘well…’, ‘actually’ — that carry meaning beyond the words.
When the recording says you will hear part of the lecture again, the line being replayed almost never means what it literally says. Listen for the tone, not the vocabulary.
Put a small plus or minus beside a point when the speaker sounds convinced or unconvinced. It takes a second and it answers the question later.
But, though, actually, having said that. The speaker’s real position usually arrives after one of those words.
A pause, a drawn-out ‘well’, or an unfinished sentence is normally a refusal or a doubt delivered politely.
Academic speakers are cautious. Cautious, skeptical, impressed and surprised beat furious, delighted and indifferent almost every time.
Setting up an expectation, conceding a point, postponing a digression, inviting a student to say more. Name the move before you read the options.
Not every hesitation is loaded. If the speaker simply restates a fact, the function is exactly that: clarifying.
These items reward a first, confident reading of tone. Rereading the options rarely changes a correct instinct but often overturns one.
Not thisAnswering a replayed line literally.
ThisAnswering with the speaker’s intention.
Lines are replayed precisely because the literal meaning and the intended meaning differ.
Not thisChoosing ‘the professor is angry with the researcher’.
ThisChoosing ‘the professor is unconvinced by the study’.
Academic disagreement is measured, so options naming strong personal emotion overshoot the register.
Not thisReading ‘Well, you don’t need to know all of them’ as ‘no dates are needed’.
ThisReading it as ‘some dates are needed’.
Negating ‘all’ leaves ‘some’; candidates hear the negative and drop the quantifier.
Not thisIgnoring a long pause before an answer.
ThisTreating it as a signal of bad news or reluctance.
In conversation, delay before a reply is itself a message, and the item is usually built on it.
Not thisChoosing an option that states a fact from the lecture.
ThisChoosing an option that names a function.
Function questions ask why a line was said; a correct summary of its content is still the wrong sort of answer.
Not thisAssuming every repeated word signals doubt.
ThisChecking the intonation.
Repetition can equally mark emphasis: ‘Three weeks. That’s all it took.’ is stressing speed, not questioning it.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
2Complete with one verb (third person) beginning with m.
5Complete with one noun beginning with d.
6The professor quotes the textbook and then says “Hmm.” Explain what that signals.
One good answer
It signals that the professor is not convinced by the textbook’s claim and is about to question or qualify it.
7Complete with one noun beginning with s.
9Complete with one verb (third person) beginning with f.
14Complete with one noun beginning with t.
16Write one sentence a professor might use to disagree politely with a published claim.
One good answer
That’s the standard account, though I think the evidence behind it is thinner than people usually assume.
17Complete with one noun beginning with d.
19Complete with one verb (third person) beginning with m.
21Complete with one verb (third person) beginning with c.
23Complete with one noun beginning with p.
25Complete with one noun beginning with e.
27Complete with one noun beginning with w.
29Complete with one verb beginning with p.
30Explain why “the professor is angry with the researcher” is usually a wrong attitude option.
One good answer
Academic speakers express disagreement in measured terms, so an option naming a strong personal emotion overstates what the tone supports; “unconvinced” or “cautious” fits the register far better.
31Complete with one noun beginning with c.
35Complete with one noun beginning with q.
37Complete with one adjective beginning with m.
39Complete with one noun beginning with o.
40Student: “The library closes at six? But I have class until six.” What is the student implying?
One good answer
That the closing time makes it impossible for them to use the library after class, so some other arrangement is needed.
Note
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Listen to recorded academic talks and podcasts and stop whenever a speaker hedges, pauses or says ‘well’. Write what they meant rather than what they said; that is the whole skill.
Yes, and they are often easier to spot there, because a student’s reluctance or an adviser’s discouragement is carried almost entirely by hesitation and intonation.
One, unless the question explicitly asks for two answers. If two options both look plausible, the more moderate one is nearly always the intended answer.
No. It can mark emphasis, a joke, a concession, or a decision to move on. Ask what move the speaker is making rather than assuming disagreement.
During. A plus or minus beside the point costs nothing at the time and cannot be reconstructed once the recording has stopped.