📙 Part 2: Describe an occasion when you lost something in a public place

You should say: what you lost, when and where you lost it, what you did to find it, and explain how you felt about it.

This episode's vocabulary

To keep track (idiom) - to make certain that you know what is happening or has happened to someone or something.

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

To rummage (verb) - to search for something that is difficult to find among other things.

Immediate (adj.) - used to refer to something or someone that is close to, or is a cause of or an effect of, something or someone else.

To keep your/an eye on something/someone (idiom) - to watch or take care of something or someone.

More trouble than it's worth/not worth the trouble (idiom) - if something is more trouble than it's worth or is not worth the trouble, it is not important or useful enough to make an effort doing it.

Alcove (noun) - a small space in a room, formed by one part of a wall being further back than the parts on each side.

Questions and Answers

R: I'm usually pretty good at keeping track of where everything is, since I'm, well, pretty organized. But recently, I actually misplaced one of my necklaces in the changing room at my local yoga studio. This was about two or three months ago at aerial yoga, and I'd taken, well, I'd taken it off, since it's not particularly safe to have these kinds of things on when you're doing that sort of exercise, and it took a day or two to find it, actually, since I wasn't sure what to do beyond rummaging around for it in the immediate area, and when that didn't work, I just asked the guys who run the place if they could keep an eye out for it. It didn't seem worth the trouble of disrupting other people nearby, and it wasn't likely that it would be stolen or taken away by anyone, well, by anyone who goes there if they found it. I mean, I doubt people who do yoga are the kind of people who would steal something in general, and certainly not something like that. Regardless, I was rather... I was still rather annoyed with myself, since I'd taken it off and I'd placed it in the alcove where my clothes were in order to keep it safe, and I wound up losing it anyway, which is pretty ironic when you think about it. Still, there wasn't much that could be done to change that, so I just waited until I could go back and try again. Like I say, it wasn't likely to go anywhere. So the next time I was there, I actually came across it under one of the benches. It must have fallen off the edge when I was moving around and I couldn't see it on that part of the floor. Needless to say, I was quite pleased to get it back at that point, and since then, I've made a point of taking off any jewellery I have on at home and keeping it in a safe place there. I even set reminders in my diary to remind myself to do that, and then to remind myself to put the jewellery back on so I don't do that again. I prefer to avoid that happening again in the future, for obvious reasons.

M: And do you often lose things?

R: No, like I said, I'm quite organized.

Discussion

M: Yay! Thank you, Rory, for your story. Right, dear listener, so we often lose jewellery, okay? Rings, earrings, necklaces, especially in the gym. Maybe you lose your documents, unfortunately, it's a horrible thing to happen. So documents, bags, keys, hats, umbrellas, but choose an object that is easy for you to describe. Okay? If you have never lost anything, lie.

R: Have we had this conversation before? Because you've mentioned umbrellas, and I'm always just like, how do you, why do people lose umbrellas? How do you lose an umbrella?

M: Yeah, just leave it in the cafe and just, you forget to take it with you. You just, you kind of, because it's, um, an umbrella is something that you don't usually carry with you. So kind of it's, it could be easily left, you know, in a cafe, just, you know...

R: Well, I'll take your word for it. I always like, think, well, I never have one. So I suppose this really doesn't count for me, does it?

M: Ah, okay, all right. Because, like, once the rain is over, and then like, you don't need an umbrella anymore, and then you just leave it. So it's actually a common topic. It's actually a common IELTS Speaking topic like losing things in part one, like describe a time when you lost something in part two. So it's an ongoing thing. Rory told us a story about how he lost his necklace. Necklace is something like you wear, like a piece of jewellery.

R: Around your neck.

M: Yeah, around your neck. And he lost it in a yoga studio.

R: Specifically in the changing room. I think if you're going to lose something, probably a changing room is where it will happen.

M: You can start off with, I'm usually pretty good at keeping track of things. So to keep track of things? You know where your things are, or I'm quite an organized person, or, like, I lose things all the time, I'm absent-minded, okay? I usually misplace things. Or I'm pretty organized. I'm like, I'm really organized, but once, I misplaced one of my necklaces. So you put it in the wrong place, you misplaced it, or I misplaced my keys. I misplaced my umbrella, sunglasses, documents in the changing room or at a cafe or in the gym.

R: I have a funny story about that, actually, for when it comes to documents. One of my friends left some documents in a changing room, but the best part was they realized it and ran back to the shop, but the documents for it were for a legal case.

M: Ooh...

R: And instead of reading the name of my friend, they read the name of the person in the legal case out over the loudspeaker, but mercifully, like I say, my friend recognized the name. At first they were like, why are they in here? And then they were like, oh, no.

M: You can say that I lost it while I was training, or I lost it while I was changing in the changing room, and then it took a day or two to find it.

R: Yes. I was lucky. I found the thing I lost. But if you haven't, or you never did find it, then you could just say, and I've never seen it since.

M: Yeah, you can say that I didn't find it. So it's okay. The task said, like, what you did to find it, so, kind of what, what did you do? Like, I was looking for it. I tried to find it. I came back to the changing room, I asked the manager. So I asked people if they saw the keys. I wrote a note, okay? But I didn't find it. And it took like a week for me to find it. I rummaged around for it. So if you rummaged around, what did you do?

R: Well, you looked desperately for it, looking in different places, moving things to the side.

M: Rummage.

R: You might rummage around in your bag when you try and find something.

M: Yeah, to search for something that's difficult to find. Rummage in your drawers looking for a pen. So rummage in or through. So you can say, like, oh, I lost my keys in the changing room, and I was rummaging around for it.

R: Or for them.

M: For them, yeah, keys for them. It didn't work. So I didn't find my necklace. I didn't find my keys. I asked the guys who run the place. The guys... So the managers, I asked people who run the place. So who, whose place it was. So the managers, the directors, keep an eye out for it, for my necklace. So if I keep an eye, if I keep an eye out for something...

R: Well, that just means that you're looking for something in particular and paying special attention for it when you see it.

M: Yeah, keep an eye out for something.

R: Keep your eyes peeled.

M: Or keep your eyes peeled. Yeah, the same idiom. Watch carefully for something. Like keep an eye out for something. I always try to keep my eyes open for good recipes. Or I always keep my eyes peeled for good recipes. Or I always keep an eye out for good recipes when I cook. So I disrupted everybody around me. I kept asking questions, oh, did you see my necklace, did you see my necklace? But it didn't seem worth it.

R: Or I bothered everyone around me with my questions.

M: Yeah, I bothered everybody around me, I disrupted everybody, but it didn't seem worth the trouble. It wasn't worth it. Somebody may have stolen it, and here we use the past. So somebody may have stolen it or may have taken it.

R: But in the yoga studio, that wasn't likely, or it wasn't likely, that it would be stolen or would have been stolen or taken.

M: As for your feelings, you can say I was rather annoyed with myself. So I was irritated. I was annoyed with myself.

R: Or annoyed at myself.

M: I had misplaced it, or I was annoyed because I had taken it off before. Past Perfect. So you first took it off and then you were annoyed. So I was rather annoyed because I'd, I had misplaced it. And I wound up losing it. So I ended up losing it. And there wasn't much that could be done about it. So kind of you lost it and you lost it. There was nothing you could do. There wasn't much that could be done about it, that could be done to change it. So I just lost it. And then happy ending, I came across it under one of the benches. So I found it. So when you kind of you like, you were looking and then like, oh, wow, it's there. So I came across it. Like, suddenly I found it.

R: Yay!

M: I was quite pleased. I was happy. I was glad. I was over the moon, super happy. And then I love Rory's organization. I even set reminders in my diary to kind of remind myself of putting my jewellery in the right place.

R: So it wouldn't happen again.

M: Yeah. I'd prefer to avoid that happening again. Avoid doing something. So now I avoid misplacing it. I avoid putting my things everywhere. Yeah, what a happy story... Rory, what helped you organize this answer?

R: Well, I follow the prompt mostly. I deviated slightly in two ways, because it can be very difficult, especially if you're like me, and you're organized to think of these times. So to fill up the remaining time, or to attempt to fill up the time, I just explained that I'm rather organized to begin with, and then talked about one time, and I didn't remember the details, so I used things like, this was about two or three months ago. I don't really remember it, and I don't really want to remember exactly when. And then, in the same way, I said it took a day or two to find it, because, again, I'm not really clear on the time frame here, I also added a little bit to the end, because I found it. I was talking about my feelings, of how I felt about it. So at first, I was annoyed with myself, but then I was happy. So I'm still talking about my feelings, and I'm adding extra detail about why.

M: Hey, thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our next episode, speaking part three about losing things! Losing your heart and your soul and your brain.

R: Losing your mind.

M: Bye!

R: Bye!

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