English dictation exercises

Crossed wires

You arrive for a meeting on Tuesday, but your colleague expects you on Thursday. Neither person meant to cause a problem. How can you describe what happened?

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Cut to the chase

Cut to the chase means to stop wasting time on minor details and talk directly about the most important subject.

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Cynical Meaning: How to Use It

6-second sample
American, British, Australian

Despicable Meaning: Strong Moral Judgment

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Dichotomy Meaning: Two Opposing Sides

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Distributive Adjectives: Choose Each and Every

3-second sample
American, British, Australian

Easier said than done

Someone tells you to stop worrying before an important interview. The advice is sensible, but following it feels much harder than giving it. How can you respond?

5-second sample
American, British, Australian

Educational Goals Essay: Planning Your Main Steps

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Elicit or Illicit: How to Choose

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Elusive: Meaning and Everyday Use

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Empathy meaning: how to use it

6-second sample
American, British, Australian

Epiphany meaning: sudden clear realization

6-second sample
American, British, Australian

Expressions with get

Get in touch means start communicating with someone. Get rid of means remove or throw away something unwanted. Get used to means become familiar and comfortable with a new situation.

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Eye to eye

Two team members have different working styles, but both want to delay the launch until the product is safer. How can you describe the opinion they share?

6-second sample
American, British, Australian

Facetious: Meaning, Tone, and Use

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Finite and non-finite verbs: find what changes

3-second sample
American, British, Australian

For the time being

Your office is being repaired, so you are working from a library until another arrangement is ready. The plan is temporary, but there is no exact end date. What phrase fits?

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Foreign Phrases in English: Clear Everyday Guide

3-second sample
American, British, Australian

Free TOEFL preparation: A daily study plan

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

From scratch

A damaged spreadsheet cannot be repaired, and there is no clean copy. You open a blank file and recreate every part. How did you start?

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

From the ground up

A company does not make a few changes to its service. It redesigns the basic rules, the technology, and every customer step. How can you emphasise the complete rebuild?

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Future perfect continuous: measuring ongoing time

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Gerund or Participle: Tell Them Apart

4-second sample
American, British, Australian

Get it out of your system

You keep thinking about an unfair decision. After telling a friend exactly how you feel, the frustration becomes easier to leave behind. What have you done?

4-second sample
American, British, Australian