📙 Part 2: Describe a risk you took

You should say: when you took the risk, why you took the risk, how it went, and explain how you felt about it.

This episode's vocabulary

• Risk-averse (adj.) - unwilling to take risks or wanting to avoid risks as much as possible.
• Ultimately (adverb) - finally, after a series of things have happened.
• Convenient (adj.) - suitable for your purposes and needs and causing the least difficulty.
• Call (noun) - a decision.
• Untoward (adj.) - unexpected and not convenient or unpleasant.
• Boxed in (adj.) - prevented from doing what you want to do.
• To resolve (verb) - to solve or end a problem or difficulty.
• To weigh someone down (phrasal verb) - to make a person feel worried and unhappy because of problems, responsibilities, and duties.
• A leap of faith (idiom) - an act of believing something that is not easily believed.

Questions and Answers

R: Hmm, this is a hard one. Since I'm usually quite a risk-averse person, to be honest. But I think it was a big risk buying my house when I think about it. It was a significant investment of time and resources. But it seems to have paid off, ultimately, which makes me feel a lot better about it. Though, at the time I made the decision, it was very terrifying. This was about nine months ago, and I made the call to buy the place almost the moment I saw it. It had three bedrooms, and I was sure that would make a good investment since I might want to rent one or two of them out to students if money was thin on the ground. It was also in my hometown, which made it convenient to live in since I knew the area and all my best friends were close by. It was still a bit of a tough call since I might not have liked the neighbours or found all sorts of problems. It's quite an old place. So it could have been falling apart and I would never know it until something untoward happened. And if I settled in my hometown, I might not get the chance to see as many other parts of the world as I might like to in the future. And no one wants to be boxed in with no escape. Despite all of that, though, the thing is, you have to settle down at some point and make all these grown-up decisions. So I went forward with it. And it's gone mostly to plan. The place cost a fair amount. And there have been some growing pains. But overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Most of the issues have been resolved, and I have a tenant staying with me. So I have company, help if I need it. And also made more friends in my hometown. So we always have a reason to see people and go out and I don't feel weighed down at all. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right call and how life might be different if I picked another place. But the thing is, I'd have had different challenges to face. And at least here I didn't have to go through it alone. In the end, I feel that life would have been much more boring if I hadn't made that leap of faith.

M: And what did your friends think of it?

R: My friends love it. They think it's a great place.

M: Hey! Thank you, Rory, for your story!

Discussion

M: Right, dear listener, a risk you took. So Rory told us about buying his flat. Okay? Which is, well, a risky thing to do. What about other things that we can talk about? So a risk you took.

R: Taking an IELTS exam.

M: Taking an IELTS exam, moving to a new country, getting married.

R: Choosing a university.

M: Yeah, choosing a university. What else?

R: Changing jobs, changing careers

M: Setting up your own business, starting up your own business. Getting a loan, dear listener.

R: Going shopping with Maria.

M: Going shopping with Maria is a life-changing experience, dear listener.

R: Yes, it could be a risk to your health.

M: And memorable. You can also talk about risky activities like base jumping, skydiving, and swimming with sharks.

R: ooh, I didn't think about that. I've done all of those.

M: Yeah? Diving. Skydiving is like when you jump with a parachute, diving is like when you swim with sharks and you have this tank, an oxygen tank. Okay? So Rory started it off with this is a hard one. So this is a hard question. This is a hard one. I'm usually quite a risk-averse person, which means Rory avoids risks. Yeah, I told you that Rory is super risky. It was a joke. But Rory did all these risky stuff like skydiving and diving. But he says like he avoids risk, which is weird, Rory.

R: Maybe I should have said I avoid financial risks.

M: And then you bought the flat, right? Okay. No, Rory, you are a risky person.

R: You avoid risk. But eventually, you have to do something risky. You can't just sit and think about it forever.

M: So if you tend to avoid risks in your life, you can say I'm usually quite a risk-averse person. So I kind of, I'm, I don't enjoy taking risks. We take a risk.

R: But regardless of what the risk is, it could be a significant investment, time and resources. Or maybe it's not a significant investment of time and resources. The point is that we need to talk about what you need for it, and you invest resources, you invest time, if you use it to do something.

M: And when you start talking about a risk you took, you can say, it was a big risk buying my house. It was a big risk choosing a university, it was a big risk setting up my own business, but it has paid off, ultimately. Ultimately? It means finally. Pay off? Well, you do something and then it pays off, you kind of, you have the positive results, you set up your own business, and now you have money from it. Making the decision was really terrifying. Terrifying? Like I was scared to make this decision. And the collocation is to make a decision. So when I made that decision, I was terrified, or it was terrifying. I made the call to buy the place. Made the call? Kind of you called them literally.

R: Made the decision.

M: And if I'm choosing a university, what do I say with make a call? The call.

R: Well, if you're choosing a university, it's the same idea. It was a tough choice. But I made the call to go to... And whatever the name of the university is.

M: And I'm sure now that it is a good investment. So I chose the university, I paid for my education, and it is a good investment. Or you bought your new place, a house or a flat, or you invested money into your old business. And if money was thin on the ground. Ooh, this is an idiom. Thin on the ground.

R: But that just means you don't have a lot of it.

M: So to be thin on the ground - to exist only in small numbers or amounts. What could be thin on the ground?

R: It's usually money. But it could be anything, to be honest, any resource that we need to use for something.

M: So it was still a bit of a tough call. So this decision, this risk, this action was a bit of a tough call, which means like it was really tough. A tough decision. Yeah, like it was risky. I was afraid. And I could have all sorts of problems. I might not have liked the neighbours. I might not have liked the neighbourhood. I could have died. Nah...

R: Not from buying a house, surely.

M: Yeah. And here we imagine what could have happened, dear listener. Very good structures. But they didn't happen. That's why we use present perfect. So I could have died. Right? But I didn't. But it was possible. I invested into my old business. I could have spent all my money, right? Or I may not have liked it myself, right? Or I could have gone bankrupt, for example. Yeah? So might not have done something or could have done. Okay? Despite all that, everything was okay.

R: And I didn't get boxed in which is a phrasal verb for having no options.

M: Hmm, yeah. Could you give us an example with this?

R: Oh, sure. If you've bankrupted yourself, then you could get boxed into, well, some kind of horrible situation where you can't do anything.

M: Yeah, like boxed in. If someone is boxed in, they can't move. And you can use it, for example, when you park your car and somebody else is blocking you. So I was boxed in, I had to wait for the driver of the other car to get back. To kind of move. Or if you are boxed in, you are prevented from doing something that you want. Like, ooh, I feel boxed in at work. I want more freedom. But I feel boxed in. I made all these grown-up decisions. Okay, dear listener? I took this risk.

R: Adult decisions.

M: I made adult decisions. Yeah. I went forward with it. So like I kept going. I did it. I was scared to death, but I went forward with it. And it went to plan. Everything was fine. I'm pretty happy with it. Yay! The issues have been resolved. We're using present perfect because Rory bought the flat in the past but now it has this influence on him. So everything has been resolved. I've been happy there. And Rory has a person who is staying in one of the rooms.

R: A tenant. Well, I'm told that I shouldn't call him a tenant because apparently this has all kinds of connotations which are very negative. But I always just think of a tenant as someone who pays you rent.

M: Sometimes I wonder if I made the right call. So kind of, it's interesting if I made the right decision. Okay? Sometimes I wonder if I made the right call when I decided to swim with sharks. Was it an okay thing to do?

R: Well, actually, that's a good point. Is it an okay thing to do? To exploit animals for your entertainment.

M: It was challenging, I was challenged, I did it. In the end, I feel that life would be much more boring if I hadn't made that leap of faith. What is a leap of faith? An idiom.

R: But that's just another way of saying you take a risk.

M: But like an idiom kind of way of saying. So an act of believing something that is not easily believed. So kind of you could believe that you would have this flat Wow, that this flat would be yours. Wow. It was a leap of faith.

R: And it would be drama-free.

M: It took a big leap of faith to decide to quit my job. Okay? So I couldn't believe it. But I did it. It took a big leap of faith to do something. Can I say that I had a leap of faith? It was a leap of faith?

R: I think I made a leap of faith is the more natural one.

M: Yeah, and here, you can say like now I feel good. Now, kind of I feel great. My life would be much more boring now if in the past, I hadn't made that leap of faith, but I made it. Yay!

R: I have one more thing to mention. Because we're talking about risk, we talk about the potential for things that could or that might go wrong. So modal verbs are very important. And I said it could have been falling apart. So modal verbs with have are talking about the potential for things to go wrong. Very important to avoid generalizing using these modal verbs, and show flexibility with grammatical resources for a band nine score. I've been doing this a lot with my students, this is why I picked up on it.

M: Sweet. Thank you very much for listening. And we'll get back to you in our next episode, where we talk about risks. Taking risks in general. Bye!

R: Bye!

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