Lesson 16 of 41 in the Test Ninjas TOEFL course: Listen to a Conversation, Listening. Short reactions like Not always, Really? or I wouldn’t bother rarely mean only what their words say.
Test Ninjas Research · Updated October 1, 2026
Lesson at a glance
Detail
This lesson
Module
Listen to a Conversation (Listening)
English focus
What utterances do: check, point out, doubt, concede, predict, hint and soften; the intonation of surprise and doubt
Task skill
Questions about why a speaker said something and what a quoted line implies
Time
About 55 minutes
Access
Included in the TOEFL plan
What this lesson teaches
Short reactions like Not always, Really? or I wouldn’t bother rarely mean only what their words say. Each one does a job: it checks, points something out, doubts, concedes, predicts, hints or softens.
This lesson teaches the English of those jobs, including the tones of surprise and doubt.
Then it shows you how to answer “Why does the man say…?” and “What does she imply…?” questions in Listen to a Conversation by looking one line back and one line forward.
By the end of the lesson, you can
Recognize and use short lines that check (echo questions, You mean…?, So you’re saying…?), point out (See that…?, Hear that?, Listen to this bit.), doubt (Not necessarily., I wouldn’t be so sure.), concede (Maybe, but…, True, but…) and predict (Let me guess., Don’t tell me.).
Hear what hints, short advice replies (I wouldn’t bother.), softeners (might want to, kind of) and tones of surprise and doubt (Saturday?, Really?) mean beyond their words.
Answer “Why does the speaker say X?” by finding the trigger before X, naming X’s job with a to-verb and confirming it with the words after X, and reject literal, word-match and true-elsewhere options.
What’s inside
Around the 3 teaching cycles below, the lesson opens with a quick check and closes with applied practice, a Check and a debrief. How every course lesson is built.
Teaching cycles in lesson 16
Cycle
Focus
What it teaches
Drills
Cycle 1
English
Lines that check, doubt, concede and predict
6
Cycle 2
English
Hints, softeners and tone of voice
7
Cycle 3
Task skill
Why did the speaker say that?
7
Word bank
The 10 words and phrases this lesson teaches. They come from the real course questions you practice on in the Apply step, so you meet each one again in context.
itinerary noun
a detailed plan of a trip, with times and places
Our choir’s itinerary lists every train, hotel and concert for the trip.
Goes with:
check / print / follow an itinerary
Word family:
itineraries (plural); schedule (near-synonym); travel plan (everyday phrase)
head toward verb phrase
to move in the direction of a place
After the game, most fans headed toward the train station.
Goes with:
head toward the station / the parking lot
Word family:
head for (near-synonym); head back (return); headed toward (past)
line up phrasal verb
to stand one behind another in a queue
Fans started lining up for the concert at noon.
Goes with:
line up for tickets / line up outside the door
Word family:
lineup (noun: a list of performers or players); line (noun: a queue); line up + noun (= arrange: line up a speaker)
hang on to verb phrase
to keep something and not lose it
Hang on to your receipt in case the jacket doesn’t fit.
Goes with:
hang on to a receipt / a ticket / your notes
Word family:
hold on to (near-synonym); hang onto (also written this way); keep (plain verb)
make sense verb phrase
to be reasonable or easy to understand
It makes sense to book early when prices are low.
Goes with:
it makes sense / make sense of something
Word family:
sensible (adj: showing good judgment); make sense of (= understand); it makes sense to + verb (= it’s a good idea)
redo verb
to do something again
The printer smudged my poster, so I had to redo it.
Goes with:
redo a project / an assignment / a whole section
Word family:
redid, redone (past forms); do over (informal near-synonym); rewrite, rebuild, reheat (other re- verbs)
mix-up noun
a mistake that happens when things are confused
A mix-up at the print shop meant our flyers had the wrong date.
Goes with:
a mix-up over / with something
Word family:
mix up (verb: I mixed up the dates); mixed up (adj: confused); confusion (near-synonym)
alternate verb
to take turns between two things
The study group alternates between the library and the student union.
Goes with:
alternate between A and B
Word family:
alternate (adj: every other: on alternate days); alternately (adv); alternative (noun or adj: another option)
point out phrasal verb
to make someone notice something
My lab partner pointed out a mistake in our graph before we submitted it.
Goes with:
point out a mistake / point out that…
Word family:
point it out (a pronoun goes in the middle); point out that + clause; point at (physical: aim your finger)
halfway through phrase
in the middle of a period or activity
Halfway through the semester, the class moved to a bigger room.
Goes with:
halfway through the film / the semester / the meeting
The takeaway: To know why someone said a line, look one line back for what triggered it, then look ahead: at the speaker’s next words and at how the line was taken.
In the full course
Why did they say that? is part of the full TOEFL course
Unlock all 41 lessons with the TOEFL plan, or try one of the free lessons first.
✓All 3 teaching cycles of this lesson, with 20 drills and feedback on every answer
✓The 10-word bank, each word with a recall drill
✓A walk-through, guided practice and a Check on Listen to a Conversation