📙 Part 2: Describe something that surprised you

This episode's vocabulary

Catch sb off guard - to surprise someone by doing something that they are not expecting or ready for.

Plastered over sth (adj.) - spread.

Numb (adj.) - not able to feel any emotions or to think clearly, because you are so shocked or frightened, etc.

To be taken aback - to be very shocked or surprised.

Hindsight (noun) - the ability to understand an event or situation only after it has happened.

A breath of fresh air - someone or something that is new and different and makes everything seem more exciting.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory is gonna say what it is, how he found out about it, what he did, and he's going to explain whether it made him happy. Rory, are you okay? Are you okay? Are you ready?

R: Yes. Although this topic comes as a surprise.

M: What a surprising topic. Off you go!

R: Well, I think like many people, I was caught off guard by the election of Donald Trump in 2016. It wasn't easy to miss, since it was plastered all over every newspaper, news show and social media blogger outlet with every manner of headline and title. I can still remember waking up in the morning of that winter in 2016. And picking up my phone to see what the latest was. And then seeing that was the only headline. If it had been a movie, I think that would have been the moment I sat up in shock. But I just sort of raised my eyebrows and looked out the window thinking the sun hadn't even risen yet. And there was already going to be drama that day. I suppose I was quite numb to the whole thing in comparison to other people. But I was still quite taken aback. Since his opponent was a well known candidate with a history of working in public office, and a great deal of legal and political experience. It seemed to turn many people's worlds upside down, actually. She was also quite unlikable. So in hindsight, this shouldn't have come as that much of a shock. But there wasn't much calm for reflection at that time in the morning, because I had to get on my way to work. It didn't make me particularly happy since I knew a lot of my friends would be pretty upset about the whole thing, and you shouldn't really take pleasure in someone else's discomfort. But I wasn't really upset either, since as I said, Hillary Clinton wasn't exactly a breath of fresh air either. It definitely made for interesting times, though. There's no denying that. The world has definitely changed since then. And I think, despite the fact it was a surprise, what wasn't a surprise was the fact that everything just changed so radically since then, maybe the specific ways it's happened have been come as a shock. But definitely the fact that it happened shouldn't really be that much of a surprise.

M: What about your friends? Were they surprised?

R: Oh, I think everybody was. Thank you, Rory, for your surprising answer!

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Discussion

M: Rory talked about Donald Trump. This is as close to politics as Rory could get on this.

R: It's as close to politics as Vanya would allow me to get.

M: Yeah, dear listener, you know that we are off politics. But this one is a nice story of something that surprised Rory and the story shouldn't be in the past. Because the task is talk about something that surprised you. So in the past.

R: I think a lot of people can relate to that story, though. Like, that's something that happened recently. And you just look back and you think, oh my god, like how did that happen?

M: Yeah, yeah. When you found out that Trump is going to be, would be president. Do you remember that moment? I was also quite surprised. I was like flabbergasted. I was like, oh! Flabbergasted.

R: I was quite incredulous. To be honest. I was like, wow, I can't believe this is happening.

M: Yeah. Cool. But, dear listener, could you now think about a situation when you were really surprised. So what surprised you? So Rory talked about a moment when he found out that Donald Trump would be president, what about you? What surprised you? Maybe your IELTS Mark surprised you. Right? Or some results of your exam or a present. Could be a present. Like choose something simple. And Rory, you started off with "I was caught off guard by the election of Donald Trump". To be caught off guard.

R: That's just another way of saying really surprised by something.

M: Yeah, yeah. To be caught off guard.

R: Although it fits with the whole thing like to be caught off guard. And usually by something.

M: Yeah.

R: Is it passive voice?

M: Yes, I was caught. Yeah, to be caught. Like catch, caught, caught. Off guard. Guard - like security guard. For example, I took my IELTS exam and when I found the result I was caught off guard. It was all nines. All four nines. Wow. What a surprise. I didn't even prepare. It was like a mistake in the system. Maybe. Okay. And then you said that the news about Donald Trump was plastered all over every newspaper. So the news was plastered.

R: So this doesn't really connect to being surprised. But it is a way of talking about how you found out. Because if you say it's like plastered all over something, it just means it's everywhere. So plastered all over every newspaper, it's like, just, it's the thing that you see the most evidently.

M: And then coming back to synonyms of I was surprised. You also said I was quite taken aback. So to be taken aback.

R: Yeah. Again, it's like being, it's being suprised but in an uncomfortable way. Just because you don't really know what to think when you see that sort of headline, you're just like, okay, the world's gone a bit mad.

M: So is it the same as like, I was shocked. I was like whoa.

R: Yes, but I was running out of ways to use the word shocked.

M: Right. So you can say I was really surprised. I was shocked when I found out. I was caught off guard by something by my results, or I was quite taken aback or I was taken aback to be taken aback by something. By something, right? Or when I saw it, I was taken aback. And also, you can say like, it was really surprising, shocking. Yeah. Something like that. And Rory, you've used the third conditional.

R: When, where, how?

M: Whoa. So Rory was speaking about the past, about imaginary past, unreal situation in the past, and he goes like this. If it had been a movie, that would have been the moment when I... Which moment?

R: The moment I start up in shock?

M: Ah, yeah, yeah. The moment you set up in shock, so if it had been a movie, but it wasn't a movie, because Donald Trump didn't win the elections, right? So if it had been a movie, if it had been a movie, that would have been the moment I set up in shock, right? So that would have been. Wow. The third conditional. Again, the story is in the past, and we can imagine an unreal situation in the past. So if Donald Trump hadn't won, the world would have been different, for example, yeah? And unreal situation in the past. So Rory would have set up in shock and would just raise his eyebrows. So yeah, or you can say like, oh, I was so surprised. I just looked at it, I raised my eyebrows like what. Like that. And Rory's eyebrows are pretty nice.

R: Expressive.

M: Oh, yes, expressive. There we go.

R: You will have seen this if you watch me on video, my eyebrows do the talking.

M: His eyebrows do the talking. Nice. And then you go like I was quite numb to the whole thing. Numb. In this context, what does it mean?

R: It's like when you're in shock, and you sort of don't feel much about it. Whereas other people were going crazy.

M: So numb. Numb is like when you're for example, your leg goes numb. You've been sitting on your leg for quite a while and then it goes numb. You don't feel anything in your leg. So I was like, oh, I was quite numb to the whole thing. To this election thing. And then I was taken aback by something. And Rory, you said that it seemed to turn many people's worlds upside down. So this event turned many people's worlds or lives upside down? Did it turn your life upside down?

R: Well, probably not to the same extent as everyone else's. But still I was just, we've all been affected by that particular change, that surprising change. So when your world gets turned upside down, it just means it's difficult to make sense of things because the change is so radical.

M: And then you've used a nice expression. In hindsight, it shouldn't have come as that much of a shock, right? In hindsight, hindsight like hind and sight, one word. Looking back, yeah. But actually looking back, it shouldn't have come back as such overshock, right? Or in hindsight, it shouldn't have come as that much of a shock, right? It shouldn't have come. Again, because we're talking about something unreal about the past. That's why perfect, right? It shouldn't have come. He shouldn't have done it. But he did it. So unreal situation.

R: And actually, if something comes as a shock, it's like another way of saying it was a surprise.

M: Yeah, but surprise could be positive or negative. Also, a shock could be positive or negative, right? Or a shock is always kind of close to negative.

R: Well, a shock is closer to negative than surprise.

M: Hmm. Yeah. So if, for example, you were negatively surprised, dear listener, you can say, well, it was shocking. It came as a bit of a shock. Right? Shocking news. And the last bullet point in our task is explain wherever it made you happy. And Rory goes it didn't make me particularly happy since blah, blah, blah. Since it means because, right? So it didn't make me particularly happy. And we now know that we shouldn't take pleasure in someone else's discomfort. Okay, dear listener? Please write it down as a mantra. Rory's quotes. Rory's quotes part 2.

R: Well, we really shouldn't. Although sometimes it's difficult not to.

M: Some people also do take pleasure in other people's discomforts.

R: Yes.

M: No. So take pleasure from something right? Or take pleasure in something. And I liked when you said like, Hillary Clinton wasn't exactly a breath of fresh air. What did you mean by that?

R: Oh, well, a breath fresh air. Sorry. It's like something new. A nice new surprise. Whereas, you know, Hillary Clinton has been in politics since at least what, the 1990s? I don't think that's considered to be, well she definitely wouldn't be considered a breath of fresh air in that context. Anyway, regardless of whether you support her or not, it's like, she's not. She's, she's got this experience. But the downside of that is that it's quite dull.

M: Yeah, so you can use this about people. He wasn't exactly a breath of fresh air. He's been working in this company for over 25 years, doing the same stuff. But we need a new person, somebody who has just started working fresh from college, for example. Cool. What helped you organize your answer?

R: Donald Trump helped me organize my answer.

M: Hello, Donald Trump. Please give us your money.

R: And if he wants to sponsor us, that would be very, well, that'd be controversial, so maybe not. Anyway. So actually, to be honest with you, I think I answered almost all of the bullet points in the first couple of sentences. So what it is, I said, I was caught off guard by and explained. And then how I found out about it was in the, just in the next sentence, it was plastered all over every newspaper, like youjust look at your phone in the morning to check the news and it's there. What I did, I described in more detail when I introduced I suppose, oh sorry, I can still remember waking up and then explaining what happened there. And then talking about whether it made me happy or not, I started off with I suppose I was and then went into detail but feelings. And then I concentrated in particular on happy. So it didn't make me particularly happy, since I knew and then I explained why it wouldn't make me happy. So we've moved quite smoothly in a logical order from one point to the next. But you can see the first two points are covered in a little detail, and more details given to describing my feelings about it.

M: Cool. And, dear listener, you can use since to mean because. It didn't make me particularly happy since my friends would be very upset about it. It didn't make me happy because my friends would be really upset about it. Yeah? So since is a nice one. Cool, cool. Excellent.

R: Jolly good.

M: Thank you very much for listening! And we'll come back with speaking part three, where we talk about happiness in general. Happy, happy, happy. Cause I'm happy...

R: I think people will be happy we end up there.

M: Bye!

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