📙 Part 2: Describe a time a vehicle you took broke down during your trip

You should say: where it happened, when it happened, who you were with at that time, and explain why it broke down.

This episode's vocabulary

Reliable (adj.) - consistently good in quality or performance; able to be trusted.

Breakdown (noun) - a mechanical failure.

Cold snap (noun) - a short period of cold and icy weather.

Open-air (adj.) - used to describe a place that does not have a roof, or an event that takes place outside.

To chance (verb) - to risk something.

To keep someone amused - to keep someone interested and help them to have an enjoyable time.

To take the edge off something (idiom) - to make something unpleasant have less of an effect on someone.

Well-versed (adj.) - knowing a lot about something.

To withstand (verb) - to be strong enough, or not be changed by something, or to oppose a person or thing successfully.

Questions and Answers

R: I'm very lucky, because almost exactly a year ago this happened, so thank God. But let's get started, shall we? To be honest, we have pretty reliable public transport in my country and reliable transport in general. So breakdowns are relatively uncommon. However, one time last year, I was travelling back home at Christmas, and the train broke down. So that wasn't great. In more detail about where it happened, this was between Glasgow and Dundee on what must have been one of the coldest nights of the year. As it turned out, I'd picked the worst time to travel since there was a massive cold snap, and a load of trains stopped working and got cancelled. And then on top of that, a lot of people are travelling at that time of year, so I was stuck with a whole lot of people. So all of these cancellations meant that we were forced to wait for hours in this open-air train station with minimal heating while things got fixed and replaced. As for the when of it all, I'd just returned from a trip to Paris, and was making my way home to be there in time for Christmas the following day with my family. So that means that this would have been Christmas Eve, to be exact, when the train broke down. So it's not the best time to get stuck anyway, since there are so few drivers and other staff available, and the weather is bad anyway, but I had just chanced it, and things, unfortunately, didn't go my way. When it comes to who I was with at the time, I was actually by myself. I should have just stayed in Paris or Glasgow or something, because my friends would have been nearby. So it was just me and my phone. I'd blown through all the books I had with me on holiday, so I didn't even have them to keep me amused. Still, at least I had some videos to watch online to take the edge off the cold and boredom. But I still wasn't very happy. I'm honestly at a loss for words as to why it did break down. I'm not really well-versed in train mechanics, and I'm surprised they aren't built to withstand this kind of weather. Scotland is known for cold winters, and yet, every year, things like this are a problem, not a huge one, but they're still a problem. Thank heavens. The people in charge managed to find a replacement train, or we'd have been stuck there overnight, but I made it back, and just in time for Christmas too.

M: Hey! Thank you, Rory, for your story!

Discussion

M: Right, dear listener, you can talk about a time when a car broke down, a car that you rented, for example. You rented a car, it broke down. Or like a bus, a train, a taxi broke down, for example, on your trip, while I was travelling, Rory told us the story about a Scottish train in the middle of nowhere in winter. Poor Rory. Almost froze to death.

R: Well, not quite. It was just cold and uncomfortable, but that's life.

M: So you can start off, like, to be honest with you, transport in my country is pretty reliable, but there are some breakdowns. Some breakdowns are common, like sometimes happen. And then you start your story. Once, like one time last year or one time in winter I was travelling... And the train broke down. Or I was going back home when the bus broke down, past continuous and past simple. In more detail, it happened in... I don't know, London, Glasgow, in my hometown. And it was one of the coldest nights of the year.

R: So it's important to mention when it happened, and to give more detail, talk about the weather conditions as well, or what they must have been like.

M: Or dear listener, lie to make the story more dramatic. You know, it was at night, in the middle of nowhere, in winter. And the examiner goes like, oh, what happened next? You know? So make your story more dramatic with your lies. So make it up, imagine. And as it turned out, like it was true that I picked the worst time to travel. I chose the worst time to travel at night, in the middle of nowhere, in winter. What did you mean by a massive cold snap? What is a snap?

R: A cold snap is just, well, a period when, a short period when it's extremely cold, and then massive is to talk about the size of it. So even though the period was short, the size of the drop in temperature was quite big.

M: So a lot of trains stopped working, or got cancelled, or buses got cancelled or planes got delayed. A load of trains means lots of trains. And we were forced to wait for hours. I was forced? I had to wait for a long time. And because it was winter, the train station had minimal heating, so there was like no heat. Ooh... Horrible. I was making my way home. So when the train broke down, I was making my way home, I was going home.

R: Yeah, it's just a fancier way of saying I was going home.

M: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very nice. And I got stuck. I got stuck in the middle of nowhere. So the car broke down, or the bus broke down, so I got stuck. And very few taxes were available, or if you're talking about a bus or a train, so there were no drivers available. The weather was bad, but I decided to travel anyway to go home. I chanced it anyways. So if you chance something, kind of you do it. You know that it's not the best time, but you just do it.

R: So you take a chance.

M: Yeah, I took a chance. I chanced it, but I chanced it, and things didn't go my way. I was by myself, I was alone, or I was with my friends, with my parents. So it was just me and my phone. No books even to keep me amused. And if we take the edge of something, what do we do?

R: It just means that we make it less severe.

M: So, for example, I started playing games to take the edge of it. Take the edge of something? To make something unpleasant have less an effect on something. For example, I'm hungry. Oh yeah, go ahead, have an apple. It will take the edge of your hunger. I'm at a loss for words as to why it did break down. So I don't...

R: I can't explain.

M: I can't explain. I have nothing to say. I'm at a loss for words. So I don't know why it broke down. And then you can say, like every year, trains break down. But people managed to find a replacement train, so a new train or a replacement bus or a replacement, I don't know, plane. So I made it back. I made it back home just in time for, I don't know, my work, just in time for my parents' birthday or Christmas, as in Rory's story. Ooh, yeah, travelling during Christmas time, Rory, in Scotland. Risky, very risky.

R: Yeah, that was not a great idea, and I didn't do it this year, and that was fine.

M: So dear listener, please make sure you know your story. You can talk about a train and steal Rory's story completely, or a taxi or a car. All right? And make your story dramatic. It was night, it was raining. We were in the middle of nowhere, and the bus broke down. Rory, what helped you to organize the story?

R: As always, I followed the task, but I wanted to draw attention to some special phrases to help us organize the task or organize our answers. So here, instead of saying where it happened, I said in more detail about where it happened, and then I moved on to say, as for the when of it all. So this is to talk about when it happened, but you could say, as for the where of it all, as for the why of it all, just for different purposes. And then back to when it comes to who I was with at the time. But you could also say when it comes to where I was, I wouldn't say when it comes to when I was, because that sounds a bit strange if we're repeating things, but it's a good phrase to use in general. We just replace the word. And then I rounded off by saying, I'm honestly at a loss for words as to why it did break down. So here we had to answer the question why it broke down, but here I changed it to why it did break down for the emphasis and to introduce the point as well.

M: Yeah, sweet. And it's a new IELTS speaking part two topic, dear listener. And in speaking part three, we're going to be talking about transport, private transport, in general. Okay?

R: See you next time!

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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