📙 Part 2: Describe an occasion when you were not allowed to use your mobile phone

This episode's vocabulary

Surgically attached to my hand (idiom) – to be constantly holding or using something, especially a mobile phone. → My phone is basically surgically attached to my hand at this point.

Stand out (phrasal verb) – to be very noticeable or memorable. → One time that does stand out is actually when I had my IELTS exam.

Squarely (adverb) – directly or exactly. → This was almost squarely in the center of the city.

Hand over (phrasal verb) – to give something to someone in authority. → I had to hand over all my personal items before taking the test.

High-stakes (adjective) – involving serious risks or important consequences if there is a failure. → This is a high-stakes assessment and having a phone would allow you to cheat.

Distraction (noun) – something that prevents someone from giving their full attention to something else. → Having a phone could be a distraction to others.

Policy (noun) – a set of rules or a plan of action adopted by a group or individual. → It makes sense that that would be a policy that they have in these test centers.

Put out (phrasal verb) – to be annoyed, upset, or offended. → I wasn't actually that put out about it.

Take issue with (idiom) – to disagree with or challenge something. → I don't really take issue with rules like that.

Not only... but also (conjunction) – a structure used to present two related pieces of information, with the second one adding to the first. → Not only because I like the city, but also because it was the closest IELTS center.

With regards to (phrase) – a formal way to introduce a topic; concerning. → With regards to when it was, this must have been about nine months ago.

When it comes to (phrase) – used to introduce a new aspect of a topic being discussed. → When it comes to where it was, I know I already said Edinburgh.

As for (phrase) – used to begin talking about a new subject that is connected to the previous one. → And as for how I felt about the whole thing, I wasn't actually that put out about it.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe an occasion when you were not allowed to use your mobile phone. You should say when it was, where it was, why you were not allowed to use your super mobile phone, and how you felt about it.

Rory: Well, this doesn't happen very often since my phone is basically surgically attached to my hand at this point, but one time that does stand out is actually when I had my IELTS exam. It was for listening and reading and writing, and not speaking. With regards to when it was, well, this must have been about nine months ago roughly. I'd gone through to Edinburgh at the start of the summer for the big day. Not only because I like the city, but also because it was the closest IELTS center as well. So, I had to travel quite far. When it comes to where it was, I know I already said Edinburgh, but to be more exact, this was almost squarely in the center of the city where these old Edwardian townhouses are located. It's actually quite a nice part of the place, regardless of why you're there. I had to go into one of these converted apartments and hand over all my personal items before taking the test, and that included my mobile phone. To explain why I wasn't allowed to use it, well, I think that should be clear. This is a high stakes assessment and having a phone would either allow you to cheat or perhaps worse, be a distraction to others and nobody really wants that, do they? So it makes sense that that would be a policy that they have in these test centers. And as for how I felt about the whole thing, I wasn't actually that put out about it. I don't really take issue with rules like that and I think I'd prepared well enough for the test that I didn't feel a really strong need to cheat or anything. Not that I would do that anyway, but it's good to not be able to do that. Even if I'd had my phone, I think I'd have put it on silent mode anyway just to avoid disturbing others because that's the polite thing to do. Hopefully, I won't have to do it again though. I think one time was enough and even though I survived the test, I prefer to have my phone on me at all times.

Discussion

Maria: Right dear listener. So, a time when you were not allowed to use your mobile phone, your smartphone, they said, "No, no, no, no, no, you can't use your phone." Wow, it's a nightmare.

Rory: But it's something that everybody who's taking the exam will have to do. So, if you're really lucky, this could be your story. Some people take the speaking first these days.

Maria: Oh.

Rory: But apparently, you could take it after you're writing and listening and reading. So, this could be good.

Maria: Yeah, dear listener, you can just steal Rory's story and imagine that you've taken IELTS, okay? And now you're just speaking, it's for the second time and you just say, "Oh right, okay, so I took IELTS already, like last week."

Rory: Or I already took these parts of the test and now here I am. Although, their answer might change a little bit. For example, if it's on the same day, you wouldn't say it must have been about nine months ago, you would say it was roughly about an hour ago, for example.

Maria: No, no, no, no, last week I can away go.

Rory: Well, no, if they take the speaking and different parts of the test on the same day and the speaking is later in the day, then it makes sense.

Maria: Yeah, so it's your test day and you took listening, reading, writing, and then you have the speaking and then you say, okay, right. So I've just done an IELTS test. Yeah, or maybe it's your second test. You can just imagine. So, the beginning of the story is very nice because Rory told us that his smartphone is part of his hand. He's attached to his smartphone and this means that I take my smartphone everywhere, I can't live without it. So you just say, my phone is basically surgically attached to my hand. Surgically, like surgery. If something is not quite all right, you go to surgery in hospital, right dear listener? Kind of surgical procedures, like operation. So, it's kind of surgically attached, but it's a joke, right? My phone is not attached to my hand. It's separate, but here we are adding drama to the story. My phone is surgically attached to my hand. But one time that does stand out, like one time that I do remember, something stands out, it's memorable, is when I had my IELTS exam or is when I had my school exams. Maybe... theater. Theater, there we go.

Rory: Oh.

Maria: Yeah, I went to the theater and they told me I am not allowed to use my mobile phone, so at the theater, at the museum for example, in some museums you are not allowed to use your mobile phone, you are not allowed to take pictures.

Rory: Really?

Maria: Yeah, especially with diamonds, you know, when you have gold, diamonds, maybe some documents. So yeah, yeah, some museums.

Rory: Okay.

Maria: Right dear listener. Just talk about an exam, okay? At school, at university, IELTS, your IELTS exam, exactly.

Rory: Unless you do your speaking first, in which case, I have no idea what to tell you because I wouldn't have had any other ideas apart from that.

Maria: You lie and you say, "I took IELTS last week. And this is my second speaking."

Rory: I'm terrible at lying, so that wouldn't work for me. But if you're a good liar then good luck to you.

Maria: So you just say, okay, one time that does stand out is when I took my IELTS exam last week. And here I am again, dear examiner, taking the exam the second time. What a bunch of lies. Okay, so when you change the topic, you say, "With regards to when it was, as for when it was," it was last week. It was two months ago. It was five days ago. It was yesterday. Rory took his IELTS about nine months ago. Really? Nine months ago? Wow.

Rory: I think so. I'm pretty sure I took it at the end of May last year. So that's about nine months ago, I think. Maybe ten months. I'm not a mathematician.

Maria: I went to Edinburgh, one of my favorite cities in the world, Edinburgh. So Rory went to Edinburgh, or maybe you went to London, you went to Rome, again, you can just make it up, dear listener, to Paris. What a lovely place to take IELTS. Just go to Lisbon, Paris, and take the exam. Yay. A romantic test. It was the closest IELTS center. It was the closest place to go to. Or I just like the city. You need to comment on the grammar too. There's good grammar.

Rory: Oh.

Maria: Inversion band nine. Kind of inversion.

Rory: It is not kind of inversion. It is inversion. Not only but also.

Maria: Yeah, but you didn't say, "Not only do I like the city, but I also..." It's a kind of part of inversion is here.

Rory: What? No, it's complete inversion. What are you talking about?

Maria: For the inversion to be complete, you need, "Not only did I like the city, but it was also the closest." So you can, "Not only did I like the city, but it was also the closest," but you didn't.

Rory: Oh. I do. I have, "Not only because I like the city, but also because it was the closest IELTS center." I still think it counts.

Maria: Yeah, it does count because not only because I like the city, but also. You see, a very nice linking, not only...

Rory: It's just a nice linking structure. That's all.

Maria: Yeah, yeah, it's just a nice linking structure. I went to Edinburgh to take the test, not only because I like the city, but also because it was the closest IELTS center. To make it simple, you just say, "I went to Edinburgh because I like the city and because it was the closest center." But it's too simple. So you say, "I went to Edinburgh, not only because I like the city, but also because it was the closest IELTS center." So kind of, "I like pizza, not only because I like cheese, but also because it's delicious. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum." Yeah, very sophisticated reasons to like pizza. Then we change the topic with a new phrase. "When it comes to where it was," it was in Edinburgh, it was in London, in Paris, in Rome, in Moscow, in Lisbon, in Japan. My personal items were taken before the test. So they took my personal items. Personal items like your bag, your smartphone, your watch, everything, your passport. No, actually you have your passport with you.

Rory: Everything else must go.

Maria: Yes, everything like your chewing gum, your chocolate, your burger.

Rory: And it goes into a plastic box.

Maria: So, they took all my personal items including my smartphone. Ooh disaster. I wasn't allowed to use it. I wasn't allowed to use my phone because it was a test. So it's a high stakes assessment. Assessment is like test. High stakes, kind of Rory what what what what what is it? High stakes.

Rory: High stakes? Oh, it just means that there's a lot invested in the result. So it's a very important test. High stakes test. IELTS is a high stakes test.

Maria: Involving serious risks for example, like a high stakes negotiation or involving a lot of money, for example, if you play cards, so a high stakes poker game. So IELTS is a high stakes test. Very important. Having a phone could either allow you to cheat or could be a distraction. Again, Rory connects his ideas in a very band nine way. He doesn't say, "Having a phone helps you to cheat and could be a distraction," right? But he says, "Having a phone could either allow you to cheat," cheat is when you Google something, yeah, okay this word, or translate this word. So cheating. So, "Having a phone could either allow you to cheat or could be a distraction to others." So could distract other people because if you have your sound on and your mother calls you during the test, some some funny music like this, all of a sudden. Can you imagine like everybody is writing a report graph...

Rory: And then you get called by your parents.

Maria: So distraction, something that prevents someone from giving their attention to something else. It's a C1 word.

Rory: Is it?

Maria: It is. A distraction. I know, C1 band 8.5.

Rory: Very nice.

Maria: So this was a policy at the test center. It was their policy. Policy, not politics, but a policy, a rule, a regulation, dear listener, okay? So no phones are allowed in the test room. It's their, it's the policy of the test center.

Rory: And if you don't have a problem with the rules, you don't take issue with them, which means you don't have a problem with them. I don't take issue with rules like this which makes sense. I might take issue with other things that don't make sense.

Maria: Yeah, for example, they take your pens away. So you are not allowed to use your own pen or pencil.

Rory: Oh.

Maria: Yeah, they give you everything and then perhaps you are allowed to bring a bottle of water, but just without any words on the bottle, okay? They check your bottle. Do you have any words? Do you have, what do you call this thingy that is wrapped around the bottle?

Rory: Crib notes? Is that what they're called? The thing on the bottle is the label.

Maria: Label, yeah yeah yeah, no label.

Rory: But the things that you would use to cheat would be crib notes. That's like summarized notes.

Maria: You write something on the bottle of water, dear listener, to cheat. Yeah, no label. If you bring water with you, so make sure that there's no label on it.

Rory: That's kind of clever. If I caught someone doing that, I would be like, just just have the bottle if it's so important to you. Although, I don't really understand how you're going to use that to cheat in an exam.

Maria: I don't know. Maybe remembering the letters of the alphabet. Oh, it's a K. We change the topic again, and then we say, "As for how I felt about the whole thing," I was okay with this. Okay? So the first time we change the topic, "With regards to when it was, blah blah blah blah blah." "When it comes to where it was," "As for how I felt about the whole thing," I wasn't actually that put out about it. A super phrasal verb, band nine. Rory?

Rory: Oh, if you're put out about something, then you have a problem with it.

Maria: Put out.

Rory: Yeah, you don't feel very happy about it.

Maria: Yeah, to be put out about something...

Rory: You don't have it? Okay. If you're put out by something, then it's something that bothers you. For example, I was not invited to the party, so I was quite put out about it.

Maria: Yeah, put something out actually like we put out a fire. You have a fire and then, you put it out. Yeah, and put someone out means to annoy or upset someone. For example, "He ate my cake and I was really put out about it." So I was upset, I was annoyed. Yeah, and "She was very put out when they were late for her birthday party." I was put out when I got my IELTS scores. It's upset. They gave me a nine and I wanted 8.5, okay? I was upset. Yeah, I complained, I complained about the situation. So you can say, I was okay with this or you can say, I was annoyed, I was really upset, I was irritated. What? I couldn't use my smartphone during the test?

Rory: How dare they?

Maria: What's what what... Yeah. No, no, don't say that because you're going to be talking to an examiner, dear listener, all right? So you can say, "I don't really take issue with rules like that." Yeah, I'm okay with policies like this. So it's a good policy. I was, I was prepared for the test. I didn't need to cheat. I didn't need my phone. Okay, I had my brain. Yeah, I just, I don't need my smartphone. I'm precious. Then we can use the third conditional. So if you are aiming for an eight or a nine, it's a very nice strategy to finish off with the third conditional where imagining something which was in the past, but actually didn't happen in the past, but we are imagining. So, "If I had used my phone, let's imagine that I did have my phone on me. If I had used my phone, I would have been taken out from the test." Okay? Because people would have noticed and would have carried me out of the room. Because you are not allowed to use anything like smartphones. Actually, there is no paper IELTS anymore. Maybe in some test centers there still is, dear listener, but now IELTS people decided to keep only computer delivered test. So, you're using a computer, not even a pen or a pencil, a computer. So, but no phones.

Rory: That's the rules.

Maria: Sweet. Thank you very much for listening.

Rory: And we'll get back to you next time.

Maria: In our part three.

Rory: Bye.

Maria: Bye.