IELTS Speaking Part 1: How I use the PPF technique to say more and improve grammatical range

What is the PPF technique/ method?

PPF stands for past, present and future. You can use the PPF technique to extend your  answers to IELTS speaking part 1 questions and increase your grammatical range. 

How does the PPF technique help? The PPF technique helps you to extend your answers and improve your grammatical range by including statements about the past, the present and the future. Most IELTS speaking part 1 questions can easily be answered using only the present tense, but that doesn’t mean you have to do this. The PPF technique helps you say more, and use a wider range of grammar.

Have a look at these speaking test part 1 questions from IELTS 19 Test 1:

1. Can you find food from many different countries where you live?

2. How often do you eat typical food from other countries?

You could easily answer these questions using only the present tense. For example for question 1:

Sure, there are a lot of foreign restaurants in my town. You can find Indian food, Chinese food, a Thai restaurant, and there’s even a new Vietnamese restaurant.

And for number 2:

I eat foreign cuisine pretty often. I love Georgian food, so I go to the local Georgian restaurant at least once a month.

How to say more and improve grammatical range using the PPF technique

Now, both of these answers are fine. The problem is, if you always use the present tense, you’re missing a chance to show a wider range of grammar and you might  not have very much to say. So, when you answer part 1 questions, you can think about the past and the future as well, not just the present. Think about what you used to do, or what was different in the past. You can also think about what you are going to do in the future, or what will be different in the future. Let’s look at those questions again and apply the PPF technique.

Question1:

Well, in the past, there wasn’t a big selection of foreign food. There used to be an Indian restaurant and that was all. But these days, there are loads of different restaurants. As well as Indian, you can find Chinese food, Thai food, and a new Vietnamese restaurant is going to open very soon too.

And for question 2:

I used to eat homemade food almost all the time, as there wasn’t a great selection of foreign cuisine in my town, but since a new Georgian restaurant opened, I’ve been eating out far more often. It looks  like an Italian restaurant is going to open soon too, so if it’s good, I’ll probably go there quite often too, as I’m a big fan of Italian food.

As you can see from these examples, thinking about the past and the future, as well as the present, can help you to say more and to increase the range of grammar in your answers. If grammatical range is a problem for you, or if you often don’t have very much to say, this technique could really help improve your answers.

Thanks, and best of luck with your IELTS preparation!