Describe a building you like. Please say

– What is it?
– Where and when did you see it?
– Why do you like it?

Answer:

Invest one minute in brainstorming about this topic’s questions. If you’ve not read my advice on developing each answer in a proper way, please read the lesson on speaking.

PLUS, you can implement the idea of collocations in this answer. Here is the link to a truly useful article: Lessons in speaking – collocations.

I love exploring the world and have visited more than ten countries in the last decade. (General Statement) During this (reference – cohesion) phase, I’ve seen numerous buildings (collocation) and I admire the Eiffel tower the most. (What is it?) In 2014, I organized a trip to France with my friends and visited Paris, the capital of this country. It is here that I saw this iconic building (collocation).

It is a world heritage site and I love it for two reasons (helps the examiner understand that the answer has a proper structure). Firstly (cohesion), unlike other famous buildings which are made of bricks or concrete, it is made up of iron (cohesion – Unlike X, Y). This is unique since iron rusts really fast (collocation) and during construction, a special coat was applied to increase the life of the metal. Secondly (cohesion), while buildings such as the Taj Mahal, White House, Versailles Palace were constructed for residential purposes, this building represents the culture of Paris (cohesion – While X, Y). There is a famous museum (collocation) in the building and a few excellent restaurants (collocation) that serve exquisite French food (collocation).

The following question appeared in the July 2018 IELTS exam:

Describe any building that you have visited recently. Please say

– What and where is it?
– What does it look like?
– What is it famous for?

Discussion:

– What is the building used for? Well, the building primarily attracts a large number of tourists and it serves as an important source of revenue for the local government. As I said earlier, it houses a few restaurants as well.
– Have you been inside this building? Of course, I’ve taken a tour of the building and really enjoyed the experience.
– Do you like to visit it often? Well, since I’m not a native of France and live in India, it is practically impossible to visit it often.
– Should the government be responsible for maintaining such buildings? I guess the government is the only agency which has the resources – both financial and human – to meet the maintenance requirements of such a huge structure.
– What essentials are to be kept in mind when constructing a building? Well, I’m not an engineer. So, other than technical points such as foundations, I guess the most important element is the purpose of the building. A building for attracting tourists is built differently from the one meant for residential purpose. Similarly, the design of a commercial building is different.
– Should money be spent on the exterior design of a building? Well, I think the appearance of a building is as important as the functionality. So, money should be spent on the exterior of the building.
– Are people influenced by buildings surrounding them? Indeed they are deeply influenced. Beautiful buildings often make us happy and motivate us to achieve more. Dilapidated ones, on the other hand, make us unhappy.
– What types of buildings are the most popular today? Well, I’m not sure. But I guess people prefer to live in tall buildings due to compulsions of space.

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