Shadowing Practice: Describe Image for PTE Speaking 2024 with Answers - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Describe image is the most difficult PT speaking task.
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Many students find speaking spontaneously challenging because they can't find the right grammatical structures to describe the image.
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In this video, I'm going to show you the best ways to describe any image you see on test day.
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Let's quickly recap what you're going to see and what you have to do on test day.
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So you'll get three or four describe image tasks that look something like this.
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This is a line graph, but you might also get a bar graph or pie chart or a combination,
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a table, a process or diagram, a flow chart, a map,
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a timetable, a floor plan, a photo, or even a Venn diagram.
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You'll have 25 seconds to prepare to speak and then 40 seconds to describe the image.
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You need to introduce, describe and conclude your description of the data in the image.
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Okay, so before we look at key grammatical structures you need for describe image,
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make sure to click that subscribe button and subscribe to this YouTube channel for trustworthy the PT videos.
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Okay, let's analyze a describe image together.
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All right, so imagine the time starts and we have 25 seconds to understand the image before we begin saying anything.
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The first thing you need to do is read the title.
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Every graph or image you see will have a title.
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Music, album, sales in the United States by format.
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And if you look carefully, you can see three different formats, CD, digital and LP.
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These formats correspond to the colours of the lines.
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So you can see the green, purple and black line.
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Let's now check the x axis or the horizontal axis down the bottom.
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It's showing years from 2011 to 2021.
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Now the y axis or the vertical axis
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shows the number of sales in increments of 50 million from zero to 250 million.
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Obviously you wouldn't be this slow on test day, but I wanted to do a more rigorous analysis with you because you'll see lots of line graphs.
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Let's now take a look at the actual data because this is what you need to describe.
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All the stuff I've just shown you only helps you to understand the movement or the trends of the data.
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All right, what's the first thing you notice?
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Take a look at the green line.
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There was a steady decline in CD sales over the years.
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Or you could say CD sales declined steadily over the years.
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Notice the two ways I can describe data here.
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I can describe that decline by saying there was a steady decline, an adjective and a noun.
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And I'm using the phrase there was.
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Alternatively, I can use verb adverb, declined steadily.
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Keep these two sentence structures in mind.
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They will help you to vary your sentences.
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What about the purple line?
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Well, you could say sales of digital rose slightly and then fell steadily.
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Here we're using a verb adverb combination, rose slightly, fell steadily.
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And instead of saying digital sales, we're saying sales of digital to vary our sentences.
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I don't want to give you the wrong idea here.
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Your focus in describe image should be on the delivery of your speech, your pronunciation and your fluency.
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But by practicing these types of phrases and getting a better idea of how to rearrange your sentence types, you'll get much better at describe image.
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It's all about your ability to quickly read data, and then your ability to formulate sentences rapidly.
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If you look at the black line, the sales of LPs, well, it remained relatively stable before a late surge.
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Why relatively stable?
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Well, it's relatively stable relative to the other lines or the other music formats.
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That's why we say relatively, it's a nice adverb.
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Okay, before I show you a full top scoring example,
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I want to talk to you about the importance of doing high quality describe image practice questions with model answers.
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Sign up for free at E2 to get access to dozens
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of high quality describe image practice questions with model answers designed by test experts that replicate the actual test.
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These questions and answers will allow you to be fully prepared on test day for any image you see.
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Click the link in the description to sign up for free.
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Okay, I'm now going to do a full describe image answer for you and put it all together.
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Listen to the various sentence structures and phrases I've just shown you.
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Listen for there was adjective noun and verb adverb combinations.
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This line graph represents the number of music albums sold by format in the United States from 2011 to 2021,
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including CD, digital and LP.
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There was a steady decline in CD sales over the years,
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dropping from about 240 million at the start of the period to less than 50 million by 2021.
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While sales of digital music rose slightly at the start of the period, they then fell steadily.
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As for LP sales, it was relatively stable over the period before a late surge around 2019.
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Overall, CD and digital sales have fallen considerably.
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Okay, let's do another one.
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This time we'll look at a map and we'll focus on active and passive sentences.
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Maps are a little less common, but still very important.
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Here's what it looks like.
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Let's read the title.
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It says average CO2 emissions per capita in selected regions in 2019 in tons.
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What does per capita mean?
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Per capita means per person.
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So if we look back at the map, we can see that North Americans emitted, that's an important verb here,
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about 21 tonnes of CO2 per capita or per person,
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while sub Saharan Africans only emitted 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per capita or per person.
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Now, when you describe any image, you have to make quick decisions, very quick decisions about which data you're going to describe.
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And you'll have to ignore, neglect, leave out a lot of data because you simply don't have time to describe it.
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My recommendation in PT speaking describe image is keep it really simple.
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Choose the highest, as we saw in North America, and choose the lowest as we saw sub-Saharan Africa.
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And if you find yourself with 20 seconds left, then pick the second highest or the second lowest.
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Simple as that.
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All right, now let's think about some critical language structures that we can use.
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So we can use the verb emitted here in an active sentence, we can say North Americans emitted the most CO2.
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Or we can use a passive sentence and put CO2 at the start and say, the most CO2 was emitted by North Americans.
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So keep in mind switching between active and passive sentences.
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That can be very helpful.
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Also, if you want to use a different verb than emitted, you can just say used.
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It's not quite right, but PTE doesn't expect you to be 100% accurate with your language in this task.
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Again, we're talking about grammar and sentence structure, but your aim should be to speak clearly and fluently.
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Let me show you a complete response.
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Listen for the active sentences.
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I'll highlight them in green.
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And listen for the passive sentences.
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I'll highlight them in purple.
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This map of the world shows the average CO2 emissions by capita in various countries in 2021 measured in tonnes.
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North Americans emitted the highest amount of CO2 at 20.8 tonnes per capita.
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This was followed by Europeans who used nearly 10 tonnes of CO2.
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The lowest amount of CO2 was used by sub-Saharan Africans.
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They emitted only 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per person, substantially less than all the other countries.
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Overall, there are substantial differences between regions of the world in terms of how much CO2 they emit it.
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Hopefully you heard my use of both active and passive sentences and how I kept my description very simple.
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Remember to sign up for free at E2 and practice your describe image with our high quality practice questions and model answers.
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Also, if you sign up for free, you can join our live classes with expert teachers to conquer any PT speaking task.
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Click the link in the below.
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Thanks very much for watching.
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Hopefully I'll see you on E2.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Describe Image for PTE Speaking 2024 with Answers”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: describe, image, sentence, sales, emitted. This video has 107 sentences and 1368 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:44. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| emit verb | /iˈmɪt/ | To send out or give off. |
| caput noun | /kəˈpʊt/ | The head. |
| tonne noun | /tʌn/ | A unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| steadily adverb | /ˈstɛdɪli/ | In a steady manner; with a steady progression. |
| passive adjective | /ˈpæs.ɪv/ | Being subjected to an action without producing a reaction. |
| graph noun | /ɡɹæf/ | A data chart (graphical representation of data) intended to illustrate the relationship between a set (or sets) of numbers (quantities, measurements or… |
| axis noun | /ˈæksɪs/ | An imaginary line around which an object spins (an axis of rotation) or is symmetrically arranged (an axis of symmetry). |
| adjective noun | /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/ | A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent. |
| grammatical adjective | /ɡɹəˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/ | Not breaching any constraints of the grammar, or morpho-syntax, of the relevant language. |
| noun noun | /naʊn/ | A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea… |
| emission noun | /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/ | Something which is emitted or sent out; issue. |
| surge noun | /sɝd͡ʒ/ | A sudden transient rush, flood or increase. |
| diagram noun | /ˈdaɪ.ə.ɡɹæm/ | A plan, drawing, sketch or outline to show the function or operation of something, or to show the relationships between the parts of a whole. |
| subscribe verb | /səbˈskɹaɪb/ | To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| leave out verb | To omit, to not include, to neglect to mention. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- All right, what's the first thing you notice?
- That's why we say relatively, it's a nice adverb.
- I'll highlight them in green.
- I'll highlight them in purple.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've just shown · have fallen |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is read · was emitted · was followed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 25 contractions and reduced forms, such as you'll, I'll, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, combinations /kɑmbɪˈneɪʃənz/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: grammatical /ɡɹəˈmæt.ɪ.kəl/, spontaneously /spɑnˈteɪ.ni.əs.li/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, alternatively /ɔlˈtɝ.nə.tɪv.li/, combinations /kɑmbɪˈneɪʃənz/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like emit, caput, tonne.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.