Your even-if
Read out only your even if sentence. Your partner has to reconstruct what the objection was.
If they cannot, the concession is too vague — it is conceding nothing.
Six phrases for moving between the branches of a hypothesis. Match each to what it signals.
Where the extra minutes come from
The same argument at ninety seconds and at four minutes
Ninety seconds: I would make it illegal to advertise gambling. It causes real harm, especially to young men, and the money the industry makes is not worth it.
Four minutes adds: the actual scale, with a number; what would happen to the sports clubs that depend on the sponsorship, followed two steps further; the objection that people would gamble anyway, conceded in full; the answer to it, which is about how much they gamble rather than whether; the requirement that the ban includes apps and not just billboards; what happens without that requirement; a comparison with what happened when tobacco advertising went; and the honest admission that the speaker would still support it even if the clubs lost money.
Four questions about the list of additions.
1. How many of the eight additions are new arguments for the change?
2. Three additions deal with the objection. Why spend so long on it?
3. The last addition admits the speaker would support it even at a cost. What does that do?
4. What is the comparison with tobacco doing?
Six ways to make a minute
Where the extra time comes from
| Add | Question | Form it wants |
|---|---|---|
| A number | How big is this, actually? | Present simple — it is a fact |
| A chain | And if that happened, then what? | Second conditional, two steps further |
| The objection, in full | What is the strongest thing against this? | Stated straight, not softened |
| The answer | What does that objection miss? | Even if… · What that misses is… |
| A requirement | What has to be true for this to work? | As long as… · otherwise… |
| A precedent | Has anything like this been done? | Past simple — it already happened |
Six additions. Put them into the order they would fall across four minutes.
Build the four minutes
Task card · Planning · Individual · 6 minutes
Four minutes on one law, from a page of notes. Words only — a written sentence gets read aloud.
A page with six headings and three or four words under each.
- The law, in one clause, and one number.
- Consequence one, two, three.
- The strongest objection, written as somebody who disagrees would say it.
- Your even if answer.
- The requirement, and the otherwise.
- A precedent, or an admission that there is not one.
One to four words per gap. Chain, objection, answer, requirement.
If gambling advertising banned tomorrow, the clubs that depend on it have to find new sponsors, about a third of them would drop to a lower budget within two seasons. The obvious objection is that people gamble anyway, and that is fair up to a point. What it misses is that the question never whether, it is how much. the ban covers apps as well as billboards, it works. you have moved the same money onto a smaller screen.
Four minutes, twice
Task card · Speaking · Round one · 4 minutes each
Your partner disagrees with you, or is going to pretend to. Notes on the table; six headings only.
Four minutes on one law, with the objection answered before it is raised.
- Open with the change and a number.
- Follow the consequences three steps.
- State the strongest objection in full, without softening it.
- Answer it with even if, then attach the requirement and the otherwise.
- Close with either way or a precedent. If you run out at three minutes, extend the chain.
Listener’s job. Three columns:
1. Every if-clause, and whether a main clause arrived. Mark O for orphans.
2. Every conditional type, marked 0, 1 or 2 — and flag any place the type changed mid-chain.
3. One objection they did not answer. You must find one.
Between the rounds — three minutes, silent. Read column three. That objection goes into round two, conceded and answered.
Then look at column two. If your type changed mid-chain, decide which one the whole chain should be in.
Task card · Speaking · Round two · New partner · 4 minutes
Same law, new listener, same clock, notes face down.
Four minutes with the new objection answered and the chain in one consistent type.
- No notes. You know the argument by now.
- The objection your first listener found is the one to concede early.
- Your new listener keeps the same three columns and must also find an unanswered objection.
- Compare the two pages. Column one should have fewer orphans.
Orphans and type changes
Five sentences from round one. Fix each.
1. If they would ban it, the clubs would lose money.
2. If the clubs lost money, some of them will fold.
3. Even if it would cost more, I would still support it.
4. As long as they will cover the apps —
5. Otherwise, if they do not cover the apps, nothing changes.
The objection you missed
Two questions about your own two rounds.
1. You ran out at three minutes. What is the fix?
2. Your listener marked three orphans. What causes most of them?
Before next lesson. Keep both listeners’ pages. Count the orphans and note every place the conditional type changed inside one chain.
Next lesson is built from exactly those two, plus the comma and the would that keeps getting into the if-clause.