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WorksheetsTOEFL LISTENING STRATEGIES: SHORT DIALOGUES
Total questions: 12
Worksheet time: 7mins
Short dialogues questions are basically a two-lined dialogue between two speakers followed by a multiple choice question.
TRUE
FALSE
How do you answer short dialogues?
Focus on the second line of the conversation.
Note that the correct answer is probably a restatement of a key word or an idea in the second line of the dialogue.
Note that the structure of the sentence and expressions are mostly tested in this kind of questions.
What other strategies can you do to answer short dialogues?
Note that questions usually progress from easy to difficult.
Read the four answer choices carefully and choose the best answer to the question.
Try to look for synonyms or even the exact same words of the dialogue among the answer choices. (only if you don't understand the complete dialogue.)
Put in your mind that you only have 12 seconds between every two questions.
Strategy 1: Focus on the last line.
What does it mean?
The dialogue is a conversation between two people.
The answer to a short-dialogue question is mostly in the second line of the conversation (but not always!)
Strategy 2: Choose answers with synonyms.
Woman: Why is Barbra feeling so happy?
Man: She just started working in a real estate agency.
Question: What does the man say about Barbra?
She always liked her work in real estate.
She began a new job.
She just bought some real estate.
She bought a real estate agency.
Strategy 3: Avoid similar sounds
Man: why couldn't Mark come today?
Woman: He was searching for a new apartment.
Question: What does the woman say about Mark?
He was in the department office.
He was looking for a place to live.
He was working on his research project.
He had an appointment at church.
Strategy 4: Draw conclusions about WHO, WHAT, WHERE.
Woman: Can you tell me what assignments I missed when I was absent from your class?
Man: You missed one homework assignment and a quiz.
Question: Who is the man?
a newspaper editor
a police officer
a teacher
a student
Strategy 5: Listen for "who" and "what" in passive.
Man: Did Sally go to the back this morning?
Woman: Yes, she did. She got a new checking account.
Question: What does the woman imply?
Sally wrote several checks.
Sally wanted to check up to the bank.
A new checking account was open.
Sally checked on the balance in her account.
Strategy 6: Listen for "who" and "what" in multiple nouns.
Man: Do you know who is in the band now?
Woman: I heard that Mara replaced Robert in the band.
Question: What does the woman say about the band?
Robert became a new member of the band.
Robert took Mara's place in the band.
Mara didn't have a place in the band.
Mara took Robert's place in the band.
Strategy 7: Listen for negative expressions.
Man: How did they get to their grandmother's house in Maine in only 5 hours?
Woman: They didn't drive slowly on the trip to Maine.
Question: What does the woman say about the trip?
They drove rather quickly.
They couldn't have driven more slowly.
They wanted to travel slowly to Maine.
They didn't drive to Maine.
Strategy 8: Listen for double negative expressions.
Man: I can't believe the news I heard about the concert.
Woman: Well, it isn't impossible for the concert to take place.
Question: What does the woman say about the concert?
There's no possibility that the concert will take place.
The concert will definitely not take place.
The concert might take place.
The concert can't take place.
Strategy 9: Listen for "almost negative" expressions.
Woman: Were you able to pay the electric bill?
Woman: I had barely enough money.
Question: What does the man imply?
He had a plenty of money for the bill.
He didn't have enough money for the bill.
He paid the bill but he has no money left.
He was unable to pay the bill.
