Here's an example of a question from Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking Test (with a sample answer).
This question asks about a situation in which you had to be nice (polite) to a person you didn't like.
The important words in this cue card are: situation, had to (obligation), polite/nice, and dislike.
In some variants of this cue card, the wording might be similar but different.
- Describe a time when you had to be polite to someone
- Talk about a person who was polite (nice) to you whe you didn't expect it
- Describe a time you were friendly to someone you did not like
- Describe a situation where you had to be polite
- Describe a person you dislike but have to be polite to
- Talk about a situation where you had to be polite
- Describe a polite person you know that you dislike
The sample answer gives an idea of how you could respond to this type of question about being polite.
There are many different ways to answer it - depending on your own experience and knowledge.
Describe a situation when you had to be nice (polite) to someone you dislike
You should say:- who this person was
- why you didn't like him/her
- why you still had to be nice/polite to him/her?
and explain how you felt about the situation.
New speaking topics IELTS Part 2 Cue Cards
Describe a situation when you had to be polite to someone you disliked
Topics for speaking | IELTS answers
I can remember one occasion when I had to work as part of a team for a group project last semester at university.
In our group there was one person who I disliked (a little) because he was always trying to force his opinions on the other members of the group and wasn't very interested in hearing the ideas and views of the other people in the group.
The idea of group work is that everybody can make a contribution for the overall benefit of the group and not just follow the person who is most opinionated or bossy.
Anyway, we had to work together over a period of about four months and it was difficult at times because of his personality.
However, it was important for the group to develop the project as part of our coursework and therefore it was necessary for us to all work together and try to maintain a good working relationship even though it was strained at times.
Although it was difficult at first because of his personality and the fact that he always thought that he was right and had the best ideas, eventually we all managed to work as a team and by the end of the project he wasn't really as bad as he had been at the beginning and was more willing to collaborate with the rest of us in the group.
And that was my experience of being nice or polite to someone I disliked.