📙 Part 2: Describe a time when you lost an important and valuable item

You should say: when and where it happened, what it was, how important and valuable it was, how you lost it, and explain how you felt about the experience.

This episode's vocabulary

• Slip up (phrasal verb) - to make a mistake.
• Planner (noun) - a document or software program that helps you plan something.
• To not be thinking straight (idiom) - to not be thinking clearly or using good judgment.
• To give a moment's thought (phrase) - means to briefly consider or think about something, even if only for a short time.
• Orderly (adj.) - well arranged or organized.
• To keep something to hand (phrase) - to keep something with you or near you, ready to use when needed.
• To fish something out (phrasal verb) - if you fish something out from somewhere, you take or pull it out, often after searching for it for some time.
• Vague (adj.) - not clearly expressed, known, described, or decided.
• From memory (idiom) - If you say something, such as a poem, or sing a song from memory, you speak or sing without looking at any words or music.
• Distraught (adj.) - extremely worried, nervous, or upset.
• Thrilled (adj.) - extremely happy about something.
• Possession (noun) - the fact that you have or own something.
• To keep track (idiom) - to make certain that you know what is happening or has happened to someone or something.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, I'm usually quite good at keeping track of things, but sometimes even I slip up and can't find what I'm looking for. Most recently, I accidentally left my diary planner at the school I was working in. This was just last month towards the end of a training course I was delivering and I was quite tired and not thinking straight, so I put my diary down and just left without giving a moment's thought. And since I'm quite an orderly and organized person, it's really important for me to have my diary to hand all the time so I can make decisions about my work hours and how my day is planned. So I'm usually good about keeping it to hand at all times. Needless to say, when I realized I didn't have it with me after I got home, it was like someone had cut my right arm off, and at that point, the school had closed so I couldn't go back to find it, and I had to wait the next day, or I had to wait until the next day and fish it out of the pile of stuff that I'd left it in. Despite having a vague idea about where it was, I was still rather anxious about losing it and never finding it again. I didn't want to have to work from memory to go about my day. Since I usually, well, I write things in my diary so I don't have to remember them, and I can free up my memory for other more important things. So that was a very long 12-hour period when I was without it, I suppose. On the plus side, I was able to come up with some good ways to deal with the loss, and I did get it back again eventually, after the school reopened and I was able to go in and find it. However, if I hadn't been able to find it, I would have been pretty distraught about the whole experience. So, well, you can imagine how thrilled I was to have it back in my possession. I'll never let it get out of my sight again, and just in case it does happen, I made a point of writing a few notes on my Google calendar as well to help me keep track of exactly everything that I need to do.

Discussion

M: Hey, thank you, Rory, for your story! So Rory told us about his diary planner. So his diary, like Bridget Jones diary. Rory Jones diary. Where Rory writes everything about his life, his plans. And as you know, dear listener, Rory plans all his life 10 years ahead. So in this book, he has his life 10 years from now all planned out. Rory is super organized. What else can you talk about here? You can talk about something expensive, but you can talk about something cheap, but some object which is important to you, which has a sentimental value.

R: A wedding ring.

M: Right...

R: People lose their wedding rings. My math teacher, when I was in high school, lost his wedding ring twice.

M: Wow.

R: He must have had a very tolerant wife.

M: Jewellery, bags. You know, passport, you know, is quite valuable. Laptop, smartphone, documents. So, yeah. But choose an object that you can describe. So you know how to describe it. So choose this one. You can start off with I'm usually pretty good at keeping track of things.

R: That's just knowing where things are.

M: Like I know where my things are. I'm good at keeping track of things. Slip up. So in this context, what does it mean?

R: If you slip up, you make a mistake.

M: So if you lose something. If I slip up, I can't find my objects or I can't find my things. So slip up - to make a mistake. C2 vocabulary. Okay? Band nine.

R: Is it? Oh, wow.

M: Yeah, yeah. Slip up.

R: Maria is like an expert at finding C2-level words that I don't think are C2-level.

M: Yeah. Kind of like, um, when something goes wrong, you can say, oh, but sometimes I can slip up.

R: Well, but that's if it's a verb. It can also be a noun. You can make a slip-up.

M: Yeah.

R: Or say something was a slip-up.

M: I accidentally lost my phone or passports. Like accidentally? It wasn't my intention. Like, oops, I lost it. I lost my mind. And you can say it like I left my something at school, at work, during the flight, I don't know, somewhere. I lost my...when I was working in Brazil. I lost my smartphone when I was flying to Egypt, when I was relaxing in Madagascar.

R: When were you doing that?

M: No, I've never been to Madagascar. I'm just using interesting names. And you can say like what you were doing, like I was working there, I was having holiday, I was swimming, and I lost my watch, for example. Ooh, you know, like one story from my childhood, my friend lost his father's watch that he was wearing in the lake. He was diving, and then, like, his watch like slipped from his wrist and stayed on the bottom of the lake

R: Oh, God...

M: Yeah, and he would dive several times to find it. And then, you know, like he kept doing this, he kept diving to find it. It took him three days, and on the third day, he found the freaking watch. Can you imagine?

R: Well, at least he found it, though.

M: The watch worked.

R: My God... Really?

M: I know. It's insane.

R: Hey! That's cool!

M: It worked. And when he was diving, he heard some noises from the watch, and then like he found it. Some magic. Yeah, dear listener, so you can tell the examiner this story. All right? And make it up, if you, you know, if you don't have it. So I put down my smartphone on the table, and I left without giving it a moment's thought. So if you don't give it a moment's thought, you just don't think about it.

R: What other things do we not give a moment's thought? Oh, we can also not give it a second thought. But that's, that's not the point. If you don't really give a second thought to things like... What do you not give a second thought to? Breathing. That just happens.

M: Yeah. For example, like, without a second thought. You just don't think about it. You do it without considering if you should do it or not. You just, you know, you leave your smartphone and you just go out. Then you explain why this object is important to you. So I'm an organized person, I write things down, I make decisions about my work. So my day is planned. So I use this diary. So it's important to me. And when I realized I didn't have it with me, it was like someone had cut my right arm off. So this is a sentence that you should use. So when I realized I didn't have my smartphone with me, I was shocked. Or it was like... It was like what? It was like somebody killed me, or it was like my heart stopped.

R: Well, here it's like someone had cut my right arm off, meaning I can't do anything, or I can't do things as efficiently as I would normally do.

M: And it could be true about your smartphone. So when I realized that I didn't have my smartphone with me, it was like somebody had cut my right arm off. Because your smartphone is your right arm. Here we use Past Perfect, dear listener. You realized that you didn't have your smartphone, and it was like someone before had cut my right arm off. So I couldn't go back to school to pick it up, I had to wait. I couldn't find it. I called people.

R: I did all of that. I was in quite a panic.

M: Or also, Past Perfect, I couldn't remember where I had left it, dear listener. So Past Perfect, because you first lost it, you first left it, and then you couldn't remember. So please write down this sentence. It could be used about any object you lost. So I couldn't remember where I had left it or where I had lost it. Ooh, it's quite horrible if you lose things in a taxi. Or on like public transport, for example. But there are some successful stories when people actually got it back.

R: That's true. I left my phone in a taxi once, and I got it back.

M: Sweet. Me too.

R: Yay! I love a story with a happy ending.

M: I had a vague idea about where it was. A vague idea, not a clear idea. I didn't know where it was. I had a vague idea where it was. About your feelings. I was rather anxious. Like worried.

R: When I say rather anxious, I mean, I was climbing up the walls. I was so worried.

M: Aw... I thought I would never find it again. Would, okay? I thought I would. On the plus side... So there were some advantages. You can say on the plus side, like, fortunately, I was able to call some friends to help me, or I was able to do something. On the plus side, I was able to get help, and I did get it back again eventually. So finally, eventually I got it back. Hey! And then we can use the third conditional. Imagine that you didn't get it back. If I hadn't found it...

R: I'd have had a nervous breakdown.

M: Yeah, I would have had a nervous breakdown. The third condition. But Rory found it, and he didn't have a nervous breakdown. But imagine he didn't find it. If I hadn't found it, I would have had a nervous breakdown. You can say I had a nervous breakdown. I didn't find it, I was devastated. Devastated, like very sad.

R: Bereft.

M: I was thrilled to have it back. I was thrilled? Like, yay! Happy, excited. To have it back in my possession. Possession? Something you have. My phone is my possession, my laptop is my possession. So I was thrilled to have it back in my possession. I'll never let it get out of my sight again. So I will always keep it with me. I will always like keep an eye on it. I will never let it get out of my sight.

R: And I won't. It's next to me right now. Hello, diary!

M: Right, dear listener, thank you very much for listening! Make sure you decide on what you're going to be talking about. Smartphone, your, I don't know, favourite jewellery item, but it should be something that is easy for you to describe. Okay? Or you can imagine. Feel free to lie. All right? It could be a successful story, something you got back eventually or not really successful. I lost it for good. And I had a nervous breakdown. Oh, yeah, I lost...

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

R: Oh, Maria lost the end of her sentence. Bye!

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