Many of the questions on the TOEFL ITP exam for Short Conversations involve questions about meaning and details from a conversation and the speakers have many different reasons for talking to each other. The first speaker may ask for some information while the second speaker may either provide the information, state the information is not known, or give suggestions about where the information could be located. Look at the example and the steps to finding meaning that follow it.
Example
You will hear:
| woman | Why don't we go to The Pinnacle again for dinner tonight? |
| man | No way! I'm never eating there again. |
| narrator | What does the man mean? |
- Concentrate on the purpose of the conversation.
The woman's question sets the context: She is suggesting a place where they can have dinner. - Concentrate on the context.
"The Pinnacle" is most likely a restaurant because the woman wants to go there for dinner and the man mentions "eating there." - Concentrate on the response.
The man doesn't like eating there for some reason because he "never" wants to eat there again. Although it is unclear why he feels that way. - Concentrate on the question.
The man doesn't like the restaurant, so his meaning is that he disagrees with the woman's suggestion and is refusing her invitation.
Key questions that you will see for this type of question are:
- What does the man mean?
- What does the woman imply?
Exercise
Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.