IELTS Speaking Part 3 Vocabulary: Compare, Predict, and Speculate

The question is: Will people spend less time in city centres in the future?

"Maybe. It is possibly plausible that perhaps people will probably go less, but nobody can know. Cities are different now and in the future."

The answer contains six signals of uncertainty and almost no claim. Careful speculation is not the same as refusing to commit. A strong Part 3 answer can identify a pattern, compare cases, project a direction, and state exactly how certain the prediction is.

IELTS describes Part 3 as a discussion of issues related to Part 2 in a more general and abstract way. It tests the ability to explain opinions and to analyse, discuss, and speculate. That does not require an artificially formal voice. It requires vocabulary that controls the reach and strength of what you say.

This guide focuses on seven choices: tend to, whereas, analogous, plausible, trajectory, tentative, and largely.

Four jobs in a Part 3 answer

You do not need all four jobs in every answer. Let the question decide. A why question may need a generalization and cause. A how are they different question needs comparison. A future question needs a basis for prediction, not merely I think.

1. Tend to: a pattern with room for exceptions

Tend to + base verb presents something as a usual or typical pattern rather than an exceptionless rule.

"Younger commuters tend to combine trains with shared bicycles."

The sentence does not supply a percentage, cause, or universal claim. It also does not describe a one-time plan. People tend to visit the new station tomorrow is wrong for a single future event. Use intend to for a plan.

Natural forms include tends to, tended to, and tend not to. Do not say tend to using. In Part 3, the phrase is useful only when you can name a meaningful population and behaviour. People tend to do different things is grammatically correct but analytically empty.

2. Largely: the greater share, not the whole

Largely means for the most part. It lets you identify the dominant share while leaving room for a remainder.

"The decline is largely due to higher rents, although changing work patterns also matter."

The noun-phrase pattern is largely due to + noun phrase. With a clause, use largely because + clause or largely because of + noun phrase. Largely does not mean completely, and it is not an intensifier meaning greatly: prices rose largely does not clearly mean a sharp rise.

Mostly and mainly overlap in the shared sense. Do not force largely merely because it appears more formal.

3. Whereas: put two contrasting facts side by side

Whereas joins two clauses that present a direct contrast.

"Large employers can redesign commuting policies, whereas small shops depend more heavily on passing customers."

Both sides contain a subject and finite verb. The usual pattern is clause, whereas clause. You can also begin with the whereas-clause and follow it with a comma.

The word does not itself express cause or surprise. Although introduces concession: one fact is unexpected given another. Whereas simply sets the facts beside each other. While can express either contrast or simultaneous time; whereas removes that time reading.

Use it for a real dimension of comparison. Two unrelated observations do not become analytical merely because whereas connects them.

4. Analogous: similar in a relevant structure

Two situations are analogous when they share a structure, function, or relationship that makes comparison informative.

"The move from high-street shopping to online retail is analogous to the earlier shift from local cinemas to home streaming: convenience changes where the activity happens, not necessarily whether people value it."

The useful frame is X is analogous to Y. Analogous things are not identical, equal in scale, or guaranteed to produce the same result. State the shared dimension. In the example, the analogy concerns a shift in location and delivery, not every feature of retail and cinema.

Similar and comparable overlap substantially. Analogous is valuable when you need to make the shared relationship explicit, especially across things that look different on the surface. An analogy can clarify a prediction; it cannot prove it.

5. Trajectory: direction across multiple points in time

A trajectory is a pattern of movement over time and, by extension, the path something appears to be following.

"If remote work continues on its current trajectory, weekday footfall may remain below its previous level."

One event does not establish a trajectory. One quiet Saturday, a single survey, or one new office closure is a data point. A trajectory needs a pattern across time. Name its direction where possible: an upward, downward, gradual, current, or projected trajectory.

Do not treat trajectory as a synonym for growth. A trajectory can flatten or decline. Natural frames include on a downward trajectory, the trajectory of demand, and change/reverse the trajectory. The metric rises or falls; avoid saying the trajectory increased when you mean visits increased.

6. Plausible: reasonably possible, not probable

A plausible explanation or scenario could reasonably be true on the available facts.

"One plausible scenario is that city centres become more residential while remaining important for entertainment."

The word does not mean proved, certain, or more likely than not. Possible is broader: an outcome may be technically possible without having a convincing basis. Probable makes a stronger likelihood claim. If two futures are both plausible, you can still judge one more probable.

Do not use plausible as another vague softener in a stack. Name the scenario and the facts that make it reasonable.

7. Tentative: a conclusion held open to revision

Tentative marks a conclusion, prediction, date, or plan as not yet firm. It labels the status of the thing, not the personality of the speaker.

"My tentative prediction is that city centres will change function rather than disappear."

That is a real answer held open to revision. It is different from preliminary, which often describes an early-stage version that still needs more work, and conditional, which depends on a stated if. A tentative prediction may be fully formed but not firmly confirmed.

Avoid I am tentative to say. For a person’s reluctance, use I am hesitant to say. For status, use my conclusion is tentative or I would tentatively predict.... In a short spoken answer, my tentative view can sound heavy; use it only when the degree of commitment matters.

A worked Part 3 answer

Question: Will people spend less time in city centres in the future?

"My tentative prediction is that weekday visits will fall, but city centres will not become irrelevant. Office workers tend to commute less often when hybrid work is available, whereas tourists and local residents still use central areas for services and entertainment. The downward trajectory in daily office attendance makes lower weekday footfall plausible. However, the shift is largely about the purpose of a visit rather than the disappearance of visits altogether. An analogous change happened when online shopping reduced routine retail trips but did not remove demand for restaurants, events, or public spaces."

The answer stays committed while marking limits:

• tentative labels the forecast as revisable;
• tend to generalizes without saying all;
• whereas compares two complete facts;
• trajectory links the prediction to a pattern through time;
• plausible says the outcome is reasonably possible, not certain;
• largely identifies the main interpretation while leaving a remainder;
• analogous names the relevant structural similarity and then states it.

Calibrate, do not accumulate

Compare these answers:

"Maybe city centres could possibly perhaps decline."

"A decline is plausible if weekday commuting continues on its current trajectory."

The second is not stronger because it sounds more advanced. It separates two decisions: plausible calibrates likelihood; trajectory provides the basis. Adding perhaps and probably would blur that calibration.

The same rule applies to generalization. People generally tend to usually prefer... piles up overlapping signals. Choose one. Then spend your remaining words naming the group, behaviour, comparison, or exception.

Common Part 3 mistakes

• Universal groups: young people always... Use tend to only if a defensible pattern exists, and name the group narrowly enough.
• False percentages: tend to and largely do not provide numbers.
• Clause fragments after whereas: include a subject and verb on each side in the controlled pattern.
• Analogy as proof: structural similarity supports thought; it does not guarantee the same outcome.
• Prediction from one event: a trajectory requires several points over time.
• Plausible equals likely: a reasonable scenario is not necessarily the most probable one.
• Tentative equals hesitant person: keep the status of a conclusion separate from a person’s manner.
• Rigid formality: precise everyday words can carry abstract reasoning; do not replace every plain verb.

Quick check

1. The survey shows a common pattern but includes many exceptions. Which statement fits?

A. "Residents always avoid the centre." B. "Residents tend to avoid the centre at peak times." C. "Residents intend to avoid the centre every year."

2. Which sentence uses whereas as a direct contrast between complete clauses?

A. "Bus use rose, whereas car use fell." B. "Bus use rose whereas during the summer." C. "Whereas because fuel became expensive."

3. Two systems differ greatly in size but both move services from fixed locations to on-demand access. Which claim is justified?

A. They are identical. B. They are analogous in how they reorganize access. C. They are probable.

4. Three years of data show a steady decline. What can that support better than one isolated month can?

A. a downward trajectory B. a tentative date C. an obvious analogy

5. Which phrase makes the weaker likelihood claim?

A. a plausible outcome B. a probable outcome C. a guaranteed outcome

6. Seventy percent of the change came from rent, and thirty percent from other causes. Which wording preserves both shares?

A. entirely due to rent B. largely due to rent C. barely due to rent

Answers: 1-B, 2-A, 3-B, 4-A, 5-A, 6-B. A tendency permits exceptions. Whereas contrasts clauses. Analogous names relevant structure without identity. A trajectory needs a pattern. Plausible is weaker than probable. Largely leaves room for a remainder.

Fresh practice item

Question: Will schools rely less on physical classrooms in the future?

Give a five-sentence answer that includes:

1. one tentative but clear prediction;
2. one group-level pattern with tend to;
3. one contrast using whereas;
4. one forecast based on a multi-year trajectory or a sentence explaining why no trajectory is established;
5. one plausible alternative.

Use largely only if you can name a dominant share or explanation. Use analogous only if you state the shared structure. When you replay your answer, delete every uncertainty word that does not change the strength of a specific claim.

If you want to practise calibrated comparison and speculation in IELTS-style contexts, try Lyra Practice.

Sources

• IELTS Academic Speaking test format — IELTS
• IELTS Speaking band descriptors — IELTS
• Demystifying the IELTS Speaking test — IELTS

Related

• IELTS Vocabulary Practice
• Exam English Vocabulary Practice
• IELTS Speaking Vocabulary: Parts 1, 2, and 3
• IELTS Vocabulary for Opinions and Arguments
• IELTS Vocabulary for Cause and Effect

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