Shadowing Practice: Linking Words to Get Fluent in English - Learn English Speaking with Video

Do you want to be more fluent in English?

How you connect your ideas and sentences is key to better fluency.

So here I'm going to show you some advanced linking words and connectors that will help you speak English more fluently.

Hello, it's Keith.

I'm so happy.

Keith from the Key Speaking Academy, here to help you become a more confident speaker of English and today a more fluent speaker of English.

OK, now fluency depends a lot on cohesion.

And that, as I said, is how you connect your ideas and your sentences together.

And this is really key.

Now, a lot of students use words like and, but, so, because.

And that's fine.

And that's, they're quite simple, very common.

And if you're actually an IELTS student, in IELTS part one, that's perfect.

Nice, simple connectors.

However, at the same time, proficient speakers of English, band nine in IELTS or native speakers,

also use more advanced linking words to connect their ideas and to just help them speak more fluently and more effortlessly.

So here today, I'm going to show you 10 advanced linking words that'll help you speak more fluently,

effortlessly in your conversations or your IELTS speaking test.

Are you ready?

Let's begin.

Okay, so 10 advanced linking words and connectors.

the way I'm going to show you this is through examples from the IELTS speaking, in particular part two and part three.

If you're not an IELTS student, don't worry, this will still make sense, right, in everyday conversations.

So as you probably know, in IELTS speaking part two, you have to speak for one to two minutes about a place, a person, a thing, an experience.

It can be a story, but it's a long term.

So typically you're going to start, maybe go on to talk about, emphasize something or give examples,

maybe then contrast ideas, then finally end up finishing, right?

So you need that cohesion or that flow.

So let's take an example here.

A question could be, describe a time you visited a new place.

You know, it's like an everyday conversation, right?

Talking about a new city or a country you've been to.

So let's start starting your answer.

You could say, well, I'm going to talk about India, for example, right?

But more advanced, you could say, actually, what comes to mind is a time I went to India.

Or actually, what comes to mind is a time I travelled to India.

Really nice, okay?

Now, you could follow that with another advanced connector.

To give you some background, Da da da da da da.

Okay, for example, to give you some background, I was working for an IT company and they asked me to go to India for a conference.

So here you're giving the setting, literally the background.

To give you some background, really nice phrase.

You could say, well, to give you some background, I had just finished university and had started working with an IT company.

Now let me help you with the grammar because what's really interesting here, when you're talking about the setting is typically there are two

tenses we use one is the past continuous to give you

some background i was working i was living i was studying right the other tense is the past perfect something

that had happened before that point in time in the past to To give you some background, I had just finished university.

I had started working.

And you can level up even higher by using a contraction.

I just finished.

I just started working.

Got it?

Great.

Let's move on.

Now, let's imagine you want to emphasize something.

You could say, I really liked the food in India.

But much better or more advanced kind of linking is what really stands out was how good the food was.

Or even what really stands out is the food.

Different ways of saying it.

How would you put that in the past?

What really stood out was the food.

So you could use it in the present

or the past depends on your feeling in the story nice

let's move on let's talk about reflecting not reflecting in a

mirror reflecting as in thinking about often towards the end of

a story you kind of reflect on what happened there you

could say looking back right looking back i think it was one of the best trips I've ever had.

Looking back.

Nice.

Something very similar is in hindsight, in hindsight, I should have stayed there longer.

Now, the important thing with in hindsight, hindsight is kind of looking back, but it's where you would change something.

So you only use this if you're talking about something that you would change in the past, or you would have changed in the past.

So typically we use should have.

I should have.

I could have.

I ought to have.

Right.

In hindsight, I should have stayed there longer because it was so wonderful.

Something like that.

Right.

Again, leveling up, you could use contractions.

I should have.

I should have stayed there longer.

Can you say it?

I should have stayed there longer.

The whole thing.

Such a good student.

In hindsight, I should have stayed there longer.

Very, very nice.

And at the very end of part two, or at the end of your conversation, or at the end of your story, to finish, you could say in sum or in summary,

but really nice is all in all.

All in all.

Kind of link it.

All in all.

Right?

All in all, it was a trip that changed my life.

All in all, it was the best trip I've ever taken.

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All in all, with a summary.

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Okay?

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Lovely.

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That's kind of ideas for part two.

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Let's move on and have a look now at deeper conversations.

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For example, part three in IELTS Speaking and how we can make your ideas flow.

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Right, let's talk about deeper conversations.

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IELTS Speaking part three, you have to talk more.

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You have to give your opinion.

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You have to give reasons, speculate, justify, summarize.

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It's more complex.

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So let's have a look at some ideas here.

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Giving an opinion.

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You can say, I think.

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Okay. And that's fine.

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But in addition, you could also say, personally speaking.

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Okay.

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For example, personally speaking, I think young people spend too much time on their mobile phone.

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personally speaking.

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Notice it's not personally, it's personally, personally, personally, personally speaking.

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I think young people spend too much time on their mobile phone.

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Here's a little tip for you.

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If you say I think, that's great.

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You can actually start automating another one, which is I tend to think.

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I tend to, I tend to, like ten, I tend to think,

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I tend to think young people spend too much time on their phone, on their mobile phone.

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What's different here is that you're getting a nuance.

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And this is what advanced speakers pick up, is the nuance of English.

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I tend to think means that you're more thoughtful and more open to other ideas.

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I tend to think young people spend too much time on the phone.

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That means, you know, maybe I'm wrong, but, you know, that's my feeling.

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There's a nuance there.

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Okay.

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Great.

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Let's move on.

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Let's talk about now giving a reason.

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Usually just people just say, well, because, because, right?

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But what we could say instead of that here is one possible explanation is

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one possible explanation is people are addicted to social media.

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Okay.

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Again, it's nuance.

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What that is suggesting is that I'm open to other ideas.

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You know, I'm not completely sure.

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One possible explanation is, you see that?

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And then you're going to say, well, Keith, actually, what if I am 100% sure?

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Okay, then you can say, it's undoubtedly because...

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It's undoubtedly...

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Notice doubt, you don't pronounce the B.

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Undoubtedly.

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It's undoubtedly because, you know, people are addicted to social media.

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The nuance, that feeling is so important at the advanced levels.

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Are you getting that?

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Okay, great.

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Next.

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Okay, speculating, looking at possible explanations or speculating about the future.

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Here, very often we say, well, maybe, right?

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But higher level, you could say, it could well be that, it could well be that,

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it could, it's great, right?

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You can say, it could be that, or it could well be that, much nicer.

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It could well be that parents are responsible for this because they give their children a phone when they're so young, right?

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Speculating.

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Let's move on and talk about the last one, summarising.

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Now, if you've been looking at a kind of an argument or a debate in your part three answer or conversation, you've been looking at the pros and the cons,

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the good and the bad, there's this side and that side, and then you're summarising, you can say,

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all things considered, for example, all things considered, I would say,

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social media companies should be better regulated.

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It's nice, right?

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Another one is on balance.

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Balance, right?

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You've got the good and the bad.

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On balance, on, on balance, I think social media companies should be better regulated.

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Okay, that's it.

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So there you've got a bunch of advanced connectors and linking words to help you speak more fluently.

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I think the key to remember is, first of all, you need a mixture of simple and advanced, right?

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Secondly, practice using them.

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And if you're doing IELTS, part two and part three in your practice, start using them, record yourself,

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listen back, and do they sound natural or do they sound forced?

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If they sound forced, just be careful, Be aware that they don't always work in the same situation.

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Be aware of the nuance you may have.

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And as you're listening to English, start noticing when you hear these and the context you can use them in.

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OK, but have that balance, simple and complex connectors and linking words.

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That's it for today.

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Thank you so much for watching.

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I do appreciate it.

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Remember, there is that.

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Remember, I'm telling you the first time there is a PDF up here.

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you can get that, download it, really simple, put on your laptop, help you review.

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Or you can just go to the description of the video, paste, copy and paste.

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Not as easy, but you can do that.

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Is it easier?

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Maybe it's easier.

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Either way.

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Also, to let you know, you can now join my YouTube channel as a member,

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join the membership to get access to more and more private videos to help you become a more fluent speaker of English.

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That's it for today.

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Thank you so much for watching.

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I'll see you very, very soon.

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Take care.

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Bye-bye.

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.

Shadowing Practice: Linking Words to Get Fluent in English - Learn English Speaking with Video

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