📙 Part 2: Describe an occasion when you lost something

This episode's vocabulary

To misplace (verb) - to lose something temporarily by forgetting where you have put it.

Minor (adj.) - having little importance, influence, or effect, especially when compared with other things of the same type.

To resort to something - to do or use something because it is the only thing available

Sentimental (adj.) - giving too much importance to emotions, especially love or sadness.

All in all (phrase) - considering all the different parts of the situation together.

Distraught (adj.) - extremely worried, nervous, or upset.

Loose (adj.) - (of clothes) not fitting closely to the body.

To wander (verb) - to walk around slowly in a relaxed way or without any clear purpose or direction.

To restrain (verb) - to control the actions or behaviour of someone by force, especially in order to stop them from doing something, or to limit the growth or force of something.

To be over the moon (idiom) - to be very pleased.

Bereft (adj.) - not having something or feeling great loss.

Prohibitively (adverb) - in a way that is too expensive or too much.

To restore (verb) - to return something or someone to an earlier good condition or position.

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Questions and Answers

M: He's going to say what he lost, when and where he lost it, what he did to find it, and he's going to explain how he felt about it. Rory, are you going to tell us about your heart? Maybe you lost your heart or your soul?

R: I'm going to talk about my earphones. I feel like people are gonna be really disappointed of my boring story about my earphones. But I don't care. It's my story. And I was very upset at the time.

M: Okay, Rory, tell us your upset story. Rory story. Off we go.

R: A few years ago, I actually misplaced my case for my earphones. That sounds rather minor, but actually, it was quite upsetting because it was the thing that let me charge the things it carried. So without that, I couldn't listen to anything without resorting to earphones with the cable. And the whole idea of having wireless earphones in the first place was so I wouldn't have to do that because it's much more convenient and I think it's more stylish as well, which is not something that I'm used to. So it is rather important for me to have wireless ones. This whole set was quite expensive as well, actually, now I think about it. And it had some sentimental value since it was one of the first things that I bought when I got my first salary in my new job in Russia. So all in all, I really, well, I was really quite distraught at the fact that I wouldn't like have them with me. Initially, I thought I'd lost the case on the metro when I was sitting down. My trousers for work had quite loose pockets, so I thought maybe they'd fallen out then, well, fallen out from them on the metro then. With that in mind, I didn't really do much to find them and I gave up since the metro is huge and it was really unlikely that anyone would pick up the case and hand it back. And I suppose without that I couldn't charge my earpods and so I couldn't wander around the apartment without a cable restraining my every move. And the sound quality on the earphones with a cable, well, it wasn't that great compared to what the wireless earphones were like, to be honest. Anyway, as it turned out, I was quite mistaken. And the next day when I caught the bus to work, the driver had found it on the floor and he gave it back to me. And I was absolutely over the moon about the whole thing, since I'd been left quite bereft the day before about it, when I was thinking about how much a new set would cost. It wasn't prohibitively expensive, but still quite a bit. So that was great news. It really restored my faith in people for the whole day.

M: And what would you have done if you hadn't found them?

R: Well, I would have had to buy a new set.

M: Thank you, Rory!

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Discussion

M: Oh, what a nice story. Rory story. Wow. He just gave them to you. Not them, it.

R: Yeah. I miss my old job. It was really nice.

M: Oh, sweet. Oh, happy ending. Happy ending. Yes, it's not a good idea to look for something on the metro because Moscow Metro is huge. Oh, but that was so nice. Sweet.

R: It's nice when a story has a happy ending.

M: So, dear listener, describe an occasion when you lost something, right? An easier option is going to be to talk about an object. So your phone, passport, earphones. Ladies, maybe a shoe. No, I'm joking. I don't know, lipstick, keys. Right? So something as simple as this, right? But also you can talk about a situation, when you lost your heart, you were head over heels in love and you lost your heart. You can do that. But, well, again, think of an object, but again, an object which is quite easy to describe. If you cannot describe your passport and you don't know how to describe a situation, don't do that. All right? Even if you have never lost anything, just imagine it. And Rory said that I misplaced my case for my earphones. So earphones - headphones. Misplace - he put it in another place and he didn't find it. Yeah? My case, case for earphones. And you said that it was quite upsetting. Upsetting like I was sad. It was a sad situation. It was quite upsetting for me. I was upset.

R: Yeah, you don't just sit there and say I felt sad.

M: Yeah, it was upsetting. The situation was upsetting. And then we have wireless earphones and earphones with a cable. Right? And Rory, you didn't want to use earphones with a cable because of the sound quality?

R: Well, I just explained why I didn't, but it's just to go into greater detail. The sound quality is how clearly you can hear something. And I find that with the wireless ones, I can hear things a lot better, which is ironic because, you know, there's not a physical connexion. So you would imagine things being broadcast would be much duller, but apparently not.

M: Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you can refer to earphones as set. Right. So you have this case, you have earphones, and the whole set was expensive. So set meaning earphone set was quite expensive and it had some sentimental value. Right? And even if your object that you lost didn't have any sentimental value or it wasn't important to you. You can just use this word, oh, it was important to me, it had some sentimental value because this and that gave it to me. And it was my favourite unicorn ever, you know? Yeah.

R: But if you just want to talk about it being expensive, then you could say it has significant monetary value, which is another way of saying it's dear.

M: Nice. It was really dear to me. It had a significant monetary. Monetary value. So instead of it was quite expensive. Monetary and sentimental value. And so you can say initially I thought I'd lost it on the metro. Right? So initially, like first of all, firstly, I thought I had lost it. Past Perfect. Yeah. Here the story is about the past. So we can use the third conditional and Past Perfect. I thought I had lost it. Had lost it before I thought. So I first lost it and then I thought. So I thought I'd lost it. I had lost it on the metro or on the bus because Rory's trousers had loose pockets. Loose pockets like they were loose. They were wide and open your pockets.

R: Well, they weren't that loose, but it just seemed the only logical conclusion.

M: Yeah. And the set might have fallen out, right? Out of my pocket, for example. So I didn't do much to find them. And I gave up, right? So I just gave up. Or you can say I was looking for them everywhere. Or I spent the whole day looking for it. But then I gave up, right? So I stopped my search. And it was really unlikely that they were there or I was unlikely to find them or it. Yeah? Depending on what you are talking about. So these are nice words. Without them I couldn't wander around the apartment without a cable of restraining my every move. Oh, gripping story, Rory. And then a happy ending, as it turned out, right? So it's, again, nice to say that you found it. Or again, if your story doesn't have a happy end, you just lost it for good, well, yeah, then you lost it. So as it turned out, the bus driver had found it. Again Past Perfect before on the floor, and he gave it back to me. Nice. Did you kind of, did you say hello to this bus driver? Did he recognise you?

R: Well, it was a bus for the school so it was quite, well I was quite recognizable.

M: Oh okay. So... Exotic from Scotland.

R: No this was, this is on the metro, sorry, not on the metro. This was in Moscow.

M: Oh. So it wasn't just a special bus to school, just a regular bus?

R: No, it was a special bus to school.

M: Oh, okay. All right, fine.

R: I worked at a private school.

M: Ah, right, sure. Private school. Okay. So kind of private transfer.

R: Yes.

M: Oh, that was nice. Yeah.

R: It was very nice.

M: Maybe if you had lost it on the Metro, not on the metro, just on a regular bus. Oh, yeah. That would have gone.

R: That would have been terrific.

M: Although I remember this story. Brandon, do remember Brendan, our super IELTS expert? We recorded a few episodes with Brandon and he told me a story how he in Japan. In Japan, he lost his wallet with all the cards and money and then he got his wallet back by post. So somebody found it and they just sent the wallet by post because his address was in the wallet.

R: Nice.

M: Can you imagine with all the cards, all the money.

R: Good for Brandon.

M: Everything was there.

R: This was in Moscow?

M: Yeah. Can you imagine? Oh no, in Japan. In Japan.

R: Yeah. I can believe that in Japan.

M: Really. Wow. So people are like this? Japanese listeners, can it be true in Japan? Really? I can just go ahead and lose my expensive watch or, you know, I don't know, Rolex and my expensive new iPhone and then get it back? Amazing. And then Rory said I was absolutely over the moon. I was really happy. Right? I was over the moon. I was ecstatic. I was happy. I was, I don't know. Dancing and singing from the rooftop. Were you, to express your happiness?

R: Well, I was very happy. Let's just say that.

M: Yeah. And then it restored my faith in people for the whole day. Oh, for the whole day.

R: Well, I mean, still had a difficult job to do, but it was nice. What I was going to say about that is when you have your faith back, it's restored.

M: Yeah. Restore. Have it back. Nice. Now, what helped you organise the answer to make it logical?

R: Well, actually, there's quite a few organisational phrases here because when I talked about what I lost and when and where I said a few years ago and then went into what it was. And then moving into what I did to find it, I was like initially and then to introduce to how I felt when I got it back then I was like, as it turned out, and then launching into what actually happened and then explaining my thoughts and feelings about that. So here there are some quite clear ones. A few years ago, initially, as it turned out.

M: Yeah, initially is a good one. Usually, students don't use initially, but it's a good word for what?

R: It's a good word for writing. I mean, if you didn't want to use it for speaking.

M: For process. For the process.

R: Yeah.

M: Initially you kind of the first stage of the process is initially, blah, blah, blah. Yeah.

R: However, you could also say at first if you don't like the word initially.

M: Yeah. Yeah, at first. At first would be good. Right, dear listener, thank you for listening! So please make sure you know an occasion when you lost something. Choose a simple object or you can use Rory's ideas. You can also talk about how you lost your case for your earphones. Why not? And we're gonna get back to you with speaking part three. Losing things. Bye!

R: Bye!

M: Never lose yourself, though!

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