📙 Part 2: Describe an occasion when many people were smiling

This episode's vocabulary

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe an occasion when many people were smiling. You should say when it happened, who you were with, what happened, and explain why most people were smiling. What a lovely topic. Rory, could you give us your story? Rory's story.

Rory: Well, there are lots of times this has happened in my life, but I think the most recent one for me at least, was my little brother's birthday party. He just turned thirty-three earlier in January, and my parents decided to throw a party for him in their home. So, when it comes to who I was with, it was my brother, obviously, but also his girlfriend and my partner and I, and my parents of course, because it's their house. Oh, and my brother's girlfriend's dog was also there, if you can follow that. That sticks out in particular because we were all quite taken with her. She's just a big lump of a dog that doesn't really bother anyone and just sits and chills. So that was quite nice. In terms of what exactly happened, nothing terribly out of the ordinary for a birthday party. We talked a lot because, well, a lot of us had just come back from various holidays over the winter. So we had a lot of news to share, and that was interesting. My brother had been away to South Africa for a month, and that was very fun to hear about. And we had just been back from the Canary Islands. So that took a long time to cover and go into detail about. And once we were done talking about that, we settled into our usual sharing stories from the past and telling people from outside the family how things seem to have changed over the years. As for why most people were smiling, well, not only was it a fairly positive occasion already, what with it being a birthday party and all. But it's also just par for the course since most of the stories we were sharing were rather funny, which naturally makes people more inclined to smile, I think anyway. I'm glad we had the chance to do that. If we hadn't, it probably would have been ages before we all got together again. I hope we get the chance to do the same thing soon.

Discussion

Maria: Hey, thank you Rory for your story. So, dear listener, a new topic. Describe an occasion, an event, a time when many people were smiling. Yeah, past continuous. So at that moment, people were smiling. Yeah, it could be a birthday party or, I don't know, a wedding, a time when you met up with your friends. So something when many people were smiling. But make a wise choice, you should be able to describe this event. Yeah? Rory told us about his little brother's birthday party. Yeah, and a nice choice because usually people smile at birthdays. How old is your brother?

Rory: Thirty-three now.

Maria: Yeah, little brother, thirty-three. And you can start it off with, there are lots of times this happened, this meaning events when many people were smiling. But the most recent one for me was my brother's birthday. Okay? So the most recent event when people were smiling was my brother's birthday. He turned thirty-three. So he kind of became thirty-three years old. He turned thirty-three. A nice expression to use. And my parents decided to throw a party. We have a party, we throw a party, like organize a party. When it comes to who I was with, it was my brother, his girlfriend, parents, yeah? One of the bullet points is who you were with. And we make a link. When it comes to who I was with, it was my brother, his parents, my parents. And the dog.

Rory: Yeah.

Maria: The dog is the most important part.

Rory: Absolutely.

Maria: Yeah, the dog is the main member of the family. And that sticks out because ta-ta-ta. Like sticks out, it's something memorable. It's something you remember very well. Like the most memorable moment, the moment I remember well is the dog. So that sticks out. Because everybody liked the dog. The bullet point in the question, in the task, in the card says, what happened?

Rory: It's a birthday party, so what do you think happened?

Maria: In terms of what happened, or in terms of what exactly happened, nothing extraordinary. So nothing terribly out of the ordinary for a birthday party. So nothing sticks out, or stuck out in the past. We talked a lot, we ate, we shared the news. We had fun, we settled into our usual

Rory: Way of doing things.

Maria: Yeah, we settled into something, we started doing something. Like we shared stories from the past, stories about our families. And Rory, can you use any synonyms for like people were smiling?

Rory: Well, this is it, not really. There is more about describing the occasion than things connected to smiling, which is what I think is the most important. If you describe a happy occasion, then it will be obvious why people were smiling. So for me, it's easier to talk about a birthday party, a wedding, what other reasons or what other times do people smile?

Maria: New Year party.

Rory: Yeah. When a photograph is being taken, maybe.

Maria: Oh, yeah. Yeah, something like when you were on holiday, right? So yeah, you can say like people were laughing. Okay? When people laugh, they smile, right? But we don't have a clear synonym to smile. Smile is smile. Everybody was happy, everybody was glad, people were laughing. You can say we cracked jokes, we told jokes, we made jokes. So we had fun. Or maybe you were watching a funny movie, or maybe just a movie, and everybody was laughing, people were smiling, everyone was happy, right? But do use the past continuous. So people were laughing, we were watching a film and everybody was happy, laughing. And then we finish off with, as for why most people were smiling, it was because blah blah blah, right? So it was a fairly positive occasion. Fairly is like pretty positive. It was rather positive, right, occasion. Fairly positive occasion. It was a birthday party, so everyone was happy. And most of the stories we were sharing were rather funny. See? So fairly positive, rather positive, rather funny, which naturally makes people inclined to smile. So if people are inclined to smile, they want to smile. But yeah, no need to use any synonyms for smile here. So to be inclined to do something, to want to do something. And you can say that I'm glad we had the chance to do that. So we had this opportunity to do that. I'm very glad we had the chance to do that. And usually Rory finishes off with a conditional. And here it's the third conditional with past perfect. We imagine that it didn't happen. So if we hadn't had this party, but we did have it, it would have been ages before we got together again. Get together, meet up with each other, meet all together. Yeah, so if we hadn't had this party, I would not have seen my brother for ages. If it's too difficult for you, dear listener, just don't bother, forget about it. You just say that I'm glad we had the chance to do that. And I hope that we'll do the same thing sometime very soon. Rory, Rory, Rory, Rory, so why didn't you say anything about the presents? Like what did you give to your little brother, who is thirty-three years old?

Rory: That's a good question, actually. I should have said that. Although my present wasn't very exciting, I just gave him money.

Maria: Boring, boring, boring.

Rory: How much money?

Maria: Oh, that's none of your business.

Rory: Alright, fine. But how did your brother feel?

Maria: I'm guessing he was quite happy, although I didn't know because I'd already given him his present before he left. He was in South Africa for a month, so I sent the money beforehand.

Rory: Even more boring.

Maria: I know. However, I think that we or at least I made the right decision here. I didn't talk too much about describing smiles in different ways. I just talked about the people there and then described what we did in detail and it should be obvious from that why we were smiling and what the reason was.

Rory: Absolutely. That will do.

Maria: Do you think so?

Rory: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Maria: Do you want to talk about how I organized my beautiful answer?

Rory: How did you organize your smiley answer, Rory?

Maria: I'm so glad you asked. I would just like to draw my attention to something new that I am doing. I have been doing it for a while, but I would like to focus on it again, just to talk about the introduction to this, saying there's lots of times this has happened or I know lots of people like this or places like this. But one that stands out in particular is, and then you go into more detail about it. This is a nice introduction to the task because already we say one that stands out or one that sticks out and that's an idiom or a phrasal verb. I think it's a phrasal verb for this one. So it's nice for the examiner to hear. And then of course we go back to the classics in terms of what happened, when it comes to who I was with, as for why people were smiling. And then I managed to finish off with my conditional sentence again. If we hadn't, it probably would have been ages before we got together again.

Maria: But conditionals are necessary for a nine, dear listener. So if you want a nine, well, you should be able to use conditionals. Okay? To show off your super grammar.

Rory: If you have the time. I was talking to one of my students about this the other day, and she asked, do I need to include a finishing phrase? And I said, if you're very skillful and very lucky with your timing, then yes, but you don't know how much time you have left because you're busy talking. So it's not immediately clear if you have the time to do this or not, really.

Maria: Yeah, dear listener, it's okay if the examiner stops you, because the examiner controls the time. Two minutes. Thank you very much. Next. Next questions. Okay? So that's fine. If you don't have time to finish everything you want to say. Yeah, just do what the examiner tells you to do.

Rory: I remember when I had my exam and the examiner coughed, and I thought that meant it was my time to stop speaking, so I stopped speaking. And then she motioned to me and was like, why you stop talking? Keep going. And so I had to start up again, and then I started my conditional sentence and then she said, stop. And I was like, well, that was pointless, wasn't it?

Maria: Oh, but at least you started your conditional, you know, because if we hadn't, okay, so the third conditional, well done. Thank you very much for listening and do listen to our part three section where we talk about smiling. Okay? Bye.