IELTS Preparation Series 2, Episode 16: Glass Artist
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Hello. I'm Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
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Today we're going to look at how English users indicate negative meanings. One of the ways
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we can do that is with the word not.
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And we're going to hear a glass artist talk about his craft. The ancient art of hot glassblowing
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dates back 5,000 years to the Egyptians. Listen to Mark Douglass, the artist, talking about
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glassblowing today.
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I think people are fascinated about glass, in a sense, I know my grandmother had a beautiful
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glass vase on her dressing table or whatever, and it was always, "Don't break the vase,"
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you know, it's this precious thing.
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The techniques I use for glassmaking aren't that dissimilar than what has been around
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for, like, centuries.
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When English speakers want to give something a negative meaning, they use negative words
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such as:
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not - She's not coming
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no - There's no music
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nobody - Nobody saw the crash
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nothing - There's nothing to eat
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nowhere - He's nowhere to be seen.
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All these sentences have only one negative. When constructing negative sentences, English
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only allows one negative.
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Using two negative words, such as 'nobody' and 'not' together in a sentence, can give
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the opposite meaning to the one intended.
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So, for example:
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I did not see nobody.
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With this double negative, this literally means:
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I saw somebody.
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However, watch Mark Douglass again, and see how he uses a double negative to give a positive
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meaning.
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The techniques I use for glassmaking aren't that dissimilar than what has been around
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for, like, centuries.
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Mark says:
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The techniques aren't dissimilar.
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Aren't is a contraction of are and not.
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So he uses the negative word form not.
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Dissimilar is made up of the negative prefix dis- and the word similar.
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So he uses not and dis-, both negatives, in one phrase.
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These cancel each other's effect, giving a positive meaning:
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Look what happens when we leave them both out.
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The techniques are not dissimilar.
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The techniques are similar.
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By saying the techniques are not dissimilar, he is drawing attention to the fact that this
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may be surprising, and not what you might expect.
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He's saying that it's surprising that the techniques used today are similar to ancient
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techniques.
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This idea is reinforced by Mark using the negative word unchanged when talking about
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the techniques.
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Listen to how he uses unchanged.
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So the basic techniques of gathering, blowing glass, putting a bubble into some glass, shaping
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it, pretty much have been unchanged for a long time.
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Mark says the basic techniques of blowing glass have been unchanged for a long time.
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He does not say the techniques are the same. He chooses a negative to draw attention or
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emphasise that something has not changed.
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Let's try another example:
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The student was not unhappy with her test score.
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Cancel out the negatives not and un- and you have:
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The student was happy with her test score.
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The two negatives cancel each other out, leaving a positive statement.
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However, not unhappy is not the same as happy.
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The student may not have received an excellent score, but she didn't receive a bad one either.
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The student is not happy, but not unhappy either.
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So this sentence expresses a subtly different perspective and attitude than the simple positive
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statement:
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The student was happy.
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You can practise this construction by adding the prefix dis- or un- to many words:
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not disloyal
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not dishonest
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not uncommon
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not uncomfortable
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not unkind
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Before you know it, it will 'not' be 'unusual' for you to use negative expressions!
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In part 3 of the IELTS Speaking test you'll be discussing something linked to the topic
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you spoke about earlier in the interview.
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Let's focus on the features of a good response to part 3.
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You'll be expected to use more complex language because of the diverse tasks.
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You could be:
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describing something
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speculating
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suggesting
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stating an opinion
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comparing
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contrasting or explaining
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Let's imagine Mark Douglass is participating in the third part of the interview.
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Earlier we heard Mark talking about glassblowing as an art form. As a follow-on question from
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Part 2, the examiner could ask, for example:
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Do you think some countries value glass art differently?
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Let's listen to how Mark answers this question.
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I think Australians' perception of glass is a lot different than European or American.
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Like, Europeans, because they've had you know Venetian glass around for a long time, they
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tend to appreciate how hard it is to make glass or the value of it. Australian people
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tend to look at whether it's mass-produced, then sit it next to a piece of art glass and
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can't really see the difference in it that much.
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It's not as if it's sort of the money of it, I think it's just a psyche of collecting,
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which, I don't think Australian people have that passion as much as European or American
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people.
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In response to this type of question, you'd be expected to state your opinion about people's
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perception and appreciation of glass art.
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Did you notice the words he uses when giving his opinion? He says:
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I think Australians' perception of glass is a lot different.
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I think it's just a psyche of collecting.
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I don't think Australian people have that passion.
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Europeans tend to appreciate how hard it is.
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Australians tend to look at whether it's mass produced.
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It is clear from his word choices that he is expressing his own views.
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You would also be expected to make comparisons, like Mark does when he says:
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Australians' perceptions are a lot different than Europeans'.
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It's important to vary your sentence structure. Mark uses a variety of sentence structures
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that are grammatically correct.
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He makes complex sentences - sentences that have more than one clause.
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He uses the subordinate conjunction because:
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I think Australians' perception of glass is a lot different than European because they've
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had Venetian glass around for a long time.
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He also uses the coordinate conjunction or:
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They tend to appreciate how hard it is to make glass or the value of it.
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Mark's speech flows smoothly because he uses contractions. He says:
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they've had Venetian glass
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it's mass-produced
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can't really see the difference and
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it's just a psyche of collecting
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How would you assess Mark's response to the question? I think his answer was relevant
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and effective.
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He demonstrated good grammatical range and accuracy. He spoke at a good pace, and he
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used clear pronunciation.
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These are all goals you should aim for too!
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To find more information and tips for your IELTS test, just visit our website at abcasiapacific.com/studyenglish.
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That's all for today. I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.
