Hello, everyone.
I'm Mariam.
And my name is Rory.
And we're the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
Right.
We started this podcast to give you a look at how a native English speaker would answer some of the most common IELTS speaking questions.
I asked Rory some of these questions and Rory gives answers using vocabulary and grammar for a high school, Band 9 school.
Today's topic is sharing.
Rory, are you ready to share your answers with us?
I'm eager to share my answers, yes.
Perfect.
Do you like sharing things with other people?
It really depends on what those things are.
If they have some kind of sentimental value to me, then no, I don't like to share them.
But if it's something that is not so valuable, then that's fine, I think.
What things do you like to share with others?
Well, I quite like sharing books with people, because I've built up quite a collection over the years but there's not anywhere to put them really.
So I wind up having to give them away really.
So it's okay to share books in that sense, I think.
Do you think it's important to share?
It's like I said previously, some things are quite important to share with other people.
So we could talk about things like physical things, for example.
We could also talk about things like space.
You need to be willing to share space with other people.
Or...
If we talk about work environments as well, then you need to be willing to share your ideas with other people as well.
So in these senses, it's important to share, but there are some things that just cannot be shared.
So for those things, it's not so important to share them.
Did your parents teach you about sharing?
Well, my parents did partially, but I also grew up with several siblings as well, and they taught me about the value of sharing as well, in their own way.
What are the things your parents told you not to share with anyone?
Well, if we can be a little bit sappy for a moment, they told me not to share my heart with too many people.
Because, of course, it's important to share your life with someone, but only one special person.
Oh, I'm deeply touched.
Dear listeners, Rory is sharing his hearts on this podcast.
Rory, do you think that more people will share cars in the future?
I actually think carpooling is a really cool idea.
And yes, I'm pretty convinced that it will be.
Well, more prevalent.
Yes, that's the word I'm looking for.
You already have carpooling apps, but there seem to be more and more as time goes by, and the reason for that, I think, is money in the main, because it's cheaper when you share things, but also there's the social advantage as well, when you are meeting new people, when you're sharing a ride, for example.
So yeah Rory, thank you very much for your answers.
Thank you for your questions.
Dear listeners, Rory has just used gorgeous vocabulary, precise words and lovely grammar for high school.
So Rory, while talking about sharing, you mentioned sentimental value.
Mm-hmm.
How can I use it in sentences?
The sentimental value is used to describe not the value in terms of money, but the value in terms of the emotional connection that you have to an object.
So you could talk about, well, for example, I wear my grandmother's wedding ring.
It's not worth a lot of money, but it has a lot of sentimental value to me, because I was very close to my grandmother, for example.
Yeah, or my shirt has a sentimental value.
Well, not the shirt I'm wearing right now.
I don't think it costs so much.
No, not so much.
While talking about books, you mentioned that you built up a collection of books.
Built up is a phrasal verb.
A very good phrasal verb.
Especially if you use it in the phrase built up a collection or to build up a collection.
This is very specific vocabulary for talking about the amount of things that you've collected over time.
And another phrasal verb you've used, wind up.
Wind up having to give books away.
Wind up, what does it mean?
It's my favorite phrasal verb wind up.
Wind up is just to talk about the end result after a lengthy process.
So after building up my collection, I wound up having a lot of books that I had to give away.
So there you are.
You can have several phrasal verbs and it sounds quite natural, actually.
So why not? wind up and in the past wound up.
Yes, absolutely.
Maybe it's easier for some listeners who have problems with their grammar.
If it's not wind up, then it could be end up or ended up.
So that's maybe easier to say.
So I ended up having to give it away.
Yes.
Or I ended up giving away all of the books.
Or I often end up having to give them away.
That would be another good thing to mention.
End up plus I-N-G.
Yes, plus I-N-G.
Okay, you also said like people are willing to do something or I was willing to.
What does it mean?
It's how much people want to do something, really.
But again you could talk about want to do something, but again a higher score, more confidence, specific willingness, willing to do something.
Willingness is more coming from the inside, whereas want can be coming from the outside or the inside.
It's not very clear.
And we always say, I'm willing to do something.
Yes, absolutely.
Could you give us a sentence?
I'm willing to work if I get paid a lot of money.
Ah, right.
While talking about your family, you said that I grew up with several siblings.
Siblings?
Siblings.
What is it, siblings?
Siblings is a very nice way of talking about your brothers and your sisters.
Even if you don't like them, you can still talk about your siblings.
Does it sound a bit formal?
It is quite formal, actually, yes.
But, of course, you could use it in a casual sense if you're making a joke, for example.
Yeah.
So, for example, how many siblings do you have?
Yes, I have, oh gosh, I have four siblings, actually.
Wow.
So, Rory has four brothers, or two brothers and two sisters?
Actually, I have three brothers and one sister.
She's very lucky.
Okay, she is like a girl.
Yeah, I have a brother, so can I say I have one sibling?
Yes, why not?
Rory, you said be sappy.
Sappy?
What is it?
Sappy.
It's like when you say something that's almost... It's sweet, but it's almost too sweet.
You have to be sappy, to be cheesy.
They're kind of the same thing.
You're talking about something.
It's too emotional almost. of all the girlish stuff?
I don't know, I think men can be quite sappy as well, don't you?
Yeah, absolutely.
Could you give us a sentence?
I'm quite sappy whenever I'm paying compliments to my partner.
Right, so what are you feeling?
You are emotional?
I'm just really sweet.
I'll say things like, you're a thief because you stole my heart.
Things like this.
Okay.
We've talked about car sharing and you said carpooling apps.
Pooling?
Carpooling apps?
Carpooling is, again, a very specific way of talking about sharing a car.
I think it's actually a more common phrase in America, but it's increasingly becoming more popular, especially like we were talking about American culture being quite widespread last time.
So carpooling, people use this expression quite often.
And of course, app is just short for application.
But new one says application fully.
Yes, it's too long, it is, it's like refrigerator.
No, it's just a fridge.
Application apps.
Uh, and when the examiner asks you like about car sharing, it's nice to paraphrase and use like another word coupling, exactly right.
And we can say like people will share rides, share a ride.
Yes, exactly.
And I think I did say share a ride.
Absolutely, you did, yes.
You've used a nice adjective, more prevalent.
Could you give us a sentence and the meaning of the word?
Well, if we're using the word more, then we're comparing two things.
So, if we say, let's talk about Russia.
We live in Russia.
People speak Russian.
Absolutely.
So we could say that in Russia, Russian is more prevalent than English.
Or we can say that car sharing in Moscow is more prevalent than in other towns.
Probably it's becoming... More widespread.
Yeah, absolutely.
But prevalent is a precise word or a less commonly used word for a high school.
Exactly.
Dear listeners, now you can listen to Rory's answers again, and this time notice gorgeous grammar and precise words he's using.
Do you like sharing things with other people?
It really depends on what those things are.
If they have some kind of sentimental value to me, then no, I don't like to share them.
But if it's something that is not so valuable, then that's fine, I think.
What things do you like to share with others?
Well, I quite like sharing books with people, because I've built up quite a collection over the years, but there's not anywhere to put them really, so I wind up having to give them away really.
So it's okay to share books in that sense, I think.
Do you think it's important to share?
It's like I said previously, some things are quite important to share with other people.
So we could talk about things like physical things, for example.
We could also talk about things like space.
You need to be willing to share space with other people.
Or If we talk about work environments as well, then you need to be willing to share your ideas with other people as well.
So in these senses, it's important to share, but there are some things that just cannot be shared.
So for those things, it's not so important to share them.
Did your parents teach you about sharing?
Well, my parents did partially, but I also grew up with several siblings as well, and they taught me about the value of sharing as well, in their own way.
What are the things your parents told you not to share with anyone?
Well, if we can be a little bit sappy for a moment, they told me not to share my heart with too many people.
Because, of course, it's important to share your life with someone, but only one special person.
Oh, I'm deeply touched.
Dear listeners, Rory is sharing his hearts on this podcast.
Rory, do you think that more people will share cars in the future?
I actually think carpooling is a really cool idea.
And yes, I'm pretty convinced that it will be quite, well, more prevalent.
Yes, that's the word I'm looking for.
You already have carpooling apps, but there seem to be more and more as time goes by.
And the reason for that, I think, is money in the main because it's cheaper when you share things.
But also there's the social advantage as well, when you are meeting new people, when you're sharing a ride, for example.
So yeah.
Ta-ta!
Bye!
