Start with a clear message
Choose a familiar topic. Listen for the main idea before trying to write every word.
Focused listening library
B1 English listening practice
Turn familiar vocabulary into reliable listening through connected sentences and progressive support.
Advice that changed meaning
The speaker has remembered one sentence for years, but no longer understands it in the same way. What changed?
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Articles exercises with answers: Choose A An The
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Articles in English: How to Choose
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Auxiliary verbs: be do and have
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Awesome Meaning: Praise and Clear Feedback
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Back down
A manager changes a policy after staff challenge it. She does not move backwards, but people say she backed down.
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Back up
A colleague backs you up, research backs up a claim, and software backs up a file. What changes when the object changes?
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Beside or besides: position and addition
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Beside, Besides, or Except: Choose the Right Word
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Blow away
A performance blows the audience away while a gust blows the programmes away. Emotion and wind create different meanings with the same form.
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Booking a hotel room
A guest books three nights and asks for one room feature. Which services are included, and when does free cancellation end?
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Bored or boring: Talk about your class
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Bother
Noise can bother you, a thought can bother you, and you may not bother to reply. The first two affect feelings; the last describes effort.
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Brake or break: Choose the Right Spelling
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Break up
A couple breaks up, a meeting breaks up, and a phone call starts breaking up. Only one involves a romantic relationship.
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Breathe when public speaking: Pause before each point
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Bring about
A small decision can produce a large result. Bring about connects the cause to the change that follows.
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Bring up
You can bring up a difficult topic, bring up a child, or bring up a file on a screen. Context tells you which action is happening.
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Bump into
If you bump into an old friend, you meet unexpectedly. If you bump into a table, the surprise may hurt a little more.
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Burn out
A worker, a campfire and a motor can all burn out, but each one reaches a different kind of end.
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Business English phrases: clear workplace communication
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Call off
You can call off a match before it starts, call off a search already in progress, or call a threatening dog off.
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Can or may: Ability and permission
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Cancelling a subscription
The customer cancels renewal today but keeps access until the thirtieth. Does that mean another monthly payment is due?
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How this practice helps
You may recognise a word on paper but miss it in a sentence. B1 practice gives you short recordings to work through with support.
Listen for the message, then check the words around the part you missed.
Your level route
Practise with support, try a test, then review the words you missed.
Use support in steps
Replay, ask for a hint, and listen again. Open the transcript when another replay is no longer helping.
Try a new clip
Use Test after Practice. You can replay in Test, but hints stay off until the exercise is over.
