Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS Speaking Part 2 | Sample ANSWER with PDF

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back  to our advanced English lessons. And this  

is a vocabulary lesson. In fact, we're  focusing on Part 2 of the speaking test  

for those of you who are considering doing  IELTS. So we're going to look at vocabulary,  

but in particular at the question  that you'll be asked in part 2.

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So just to remind you, when you  take the IELTS test, in part 2,  

you will get what they call a cue card. Sometimes  it's called a task card. And written on that task  

card will be a particular topic, you don't get  any chance, unfortunately, to change the topic,  

but there are some questions there and how you  will approach it. So you get approximately one  

minute to read and prepare yourself. And then  you have to speak for two to three minutes on  

the topic. And of course, then there will be  some follow-up questions by the examiner. Okay,  

so what we're going to look at here is a typical  example of one of those type of cue card questions  

or task card questions. So I'm going to give  you an idea of a topic that I would talk about,  

then I'm going to give you some words that  I've selected from that particular topic  

just to give you a flavour and understanding  as to what they mean and how to use them.

Okay, so let's get cracking. So as  I said, it's a vocabulary lesson,  

and it's in relation to part 2 of the IELTS exam.  So this is my particular question that I was  

selecting, okay. And it's about an occasion where  you have to describe an occasion when the weather  

prevented you from doing something. Okay, so this  is what appeared on the task card describe an  

occasion when the weather prevented you from doing  something. And the follow up questions that they  

asked you to look at and to consider when  you're thinking about this as when was it?  

Why did it prevent your activity? What did you  do? And then explain how you fell? So you've  

got to cover those four particular  points in your answer. As I said,  

you get one minute to prepare, and then you're  expected to talk for two or three minutes.

Okay, so here's my particular situation. A few  years ago, I decided to take my young family  

camping. I'd always wanted to do it, and they  were excited about spending a few nights under  

the stars. We all had our hearts set on it. Little  did we know that it was never going to happen. Not  

that week anyway. The bags were packed, the tent  rented from an outdoor activity centre, and the  

food provisions bought and neatly packed in our  backpacks. We looked like real adventures. At the  

very last minute when everything was packed and  ready, we decided to check the weather forecast  

just out of curiosity. To our shock and horror  the forecast was simply awful. The report advise  

people not to travel that weekend as an adverse  weather front was fast approaching. We knew then  

our plans were in imminent danger. A menacing  storm forced the whole week to be cancelled  

and postponed until a later date. Our decision  to call it off turned out to be a smart move.  

The very next day we awoke to huge thunderstorms  and heavy downpours of rain. The news was even  

more shocking. Overnight, all flights had been  grounded. The main roads were flooded. Cars and  

people stranded for hours in rising flood water.  Incoming flights would have diverted to other  

cities, and everyone was advised to stay put in  their homes. The idea of camping out suddenly  

took on another perspective, we put up the tent  in the living room, and the kids had a ball. So  

what looked like a disaster initially turned out  to be a different, but fun adventure in the end.

Okay, so that's my story as to what I would say  about a situation that's something happened in the  

weather, put an unfortunate end to a plan. Okay,  so, I've given you there the little story. Now,  

let me just give you some of the words  that I've picked out and I'm gonna try  

and explain them to you. And you'll find  all of these words in the transcript.

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So the first one, neatly, well, neatly, it's an  adverb. And when we pack, usually on our week,  

travelling for a holiday weekend, whatever, we  always try to pack neatly. In fact, you probably  

remember that you pack more neatly on the way  to your holiday than you do on the way back. So  

neatly means every thing fits into its little  place. Everything is easy to see and access.  

So when we were packing our bags for this  particular camping trip, we had a backpack  

so they were packed neatly so they were easy to  carry. And everything could be fitted in. Indeed,  

with one that kids wanted to put in a particular  type to take with them, there was a small space  

left in the bag. And we said, Oh, yeah, that will  fit in there just neatly. So it's the right size.  

And the right shape for that particular  bag so neatly is when everything is tidy.  

So we can use neatly to pack our bags neatly.  Or if one of the children offers to help you  

with the garden or the garage or the shed, we'll  make sure you put everything back neatly. Okay,  

so if they're pulling out books from  the library, or pulling out books on  

the bookshelves are pulling out games in the  storage room, is it okay, you can play with  

those but make sure you put them back neatly so  that everything is in its place. I don't want to  

open the cupboard and everything fall on top of  me. Yeah. So make sure you put it back neatly.

Next, out of curiosity. Well, when we use this  expression out of curiosity, it means we are  

curious to find out something. Okay, so in my  particular story, I turned on the radio to listen  

to the weather forecast out of curiosity,  meaning, I wanted to know what they were  

forecasting what the weather was going to be like.  Okay. So when we do something out of curiosity,  

it's out of a deep interest. When you pass by an  empty shop, you might look in the window just out  

of curiosity to see what's going to happen to the  shop, there's some other shop going to take its  

place. Or if you see an advertisement for a new  apartment development... development in your area,  

you might just click onto the website to look  at the apartments. What they're selling for,  

how big they are, what the interior looks  like, just out of curiosity. You may not  

be interested in buying them, but you have a  curiosity and interest as to what's happening.

To our shock and horror. So these words are often  used together to our shock and horror means when  

we get a nasty or bad surprise. So when we tuned  into the radio to listen to the weather forecast,  

to our shock and horror, we got a really bad  surprise. Yes. So when we open the envelope  

to a shock and horror and find that all the money  has gone, okay, or we're driving along the country  

road and we get a first tire and to our shock and  horror, we realise that we don't have a spare tire  

so we have to try and phone for somebody to come  and help us. So shock and horror are two words  

that we use together to describe a bad situation.  To my shock and horror, I discovered that the  

weather forecast was going to be terrible. To my  shock and horror, I realised that I had forgotten  

to order the Christmas turkey. Okay, so all  of these situations where something bad could  

happen or did happen, and we can use those words  to describe our feelings, our shock and horror.

Adverse weather. Well, something that's adverse  is opposite to what you're expecting. So adverse  

weather conditions means bad weather conditions.  So you're expecting blue skies, a little bit of  

wind, nice warm weather. But to your shock and  horror, you advise that there were adverse weather  

conditions approaching whether it's going to be  strong winds, gale force winds, heavy downpours,  

tropical downpours, whatever, where you would  like to describe the bad situation, the weather  

was certainly not going to be very favourable. So  adverse meaning against you. Yeah, an adversary,  

somebody who is against you in a competition. So  adverse weather conditions, really bad conditions  

that were going to spoil your fun, as they  did spoil our fun on our planned camping trip.

Imminent danger. Well, when something is in  or somebody is in imminent danger, it means  

immediate. Yeah. So you have to be really, really  careful. There's an imminent danger of a very  

heavy storm. If you continue to travel along that  road, and there are flood warnings, then you could  

be in imminent danger, meaning immediate danger.  So it's not something that's going to happen over  

a long period of time, it's going to happen  immediately. So you have to be really, really  

careful. So when they give out these warnings,  and they have a yellow or orange or red warning  

for the weather forecast, the red warning is that  you're going to be in imminent danger, meaning  

something's likely to happen or is about to happen  very, very quickly, imminent, meaning immediate.

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A menacing storm. Well, a menacing anything is  something that is going to threaten you like a  

menacing dog that when you walk along the  street and the dog is there are gnarliness  

teeth at you and growling and looking ready  to lunge and bite you well, then this would  

be a menacing dog. So a menacing storm is a  storm that's really going to threaten you.  

It's not just a blow over in five minutes.  It's a stone that's going to last for some  

considerable time. And it's going to be strong  winds, thunder and lightning, heavy downpour,  

risk of flooding all of these aspects will  come together to create a menacing storm a  

storm that's likely to threaten you and  the people with whom you are travelling.

To call something off. When we call something  off, we cancel or postpone. Usually, when it's  

called off, it means completely postponed. So  the football match was called off because the  

pitch was covered in snow and ice from the fall  of snow of the last few days. So they called it  

off because they couldn't clear the snow or  the ice from the pitch and therefore no game  

could be played. When the rains come, and they're  very heavy and the roads are flooded or there's a  

risk of flooding to the roads. We had to call  off the planned camping trip so it was called  

off at the last minute. So anything that is  cancelled permanently would be called off.  

It's a phrasal verb. To call is the verb. Off  is your preposition. So to call off something  

or to call something off, means to postpone. The  wedding was called off when the bride or the groom  

got cold feet, meaning they didn't want to go  ahead with the wedding. So they called it off.

A heavy downpour on a downpours when  the heavens open and all the rain comes  

down with a very very sudden for Okay.  Just one minute you're standing there.,  

two minutes later, you're really completely  wet from a heavy downpour of rain. So a  

very thunderous shower could be like a  tropical storm where past passes within  

a few minutes. But in that few minutes,  a lot of rain falls and you get very very  

wet if you happen to be underneath that. So  a heavy downpour it's a very heavy rainfall.

To be grounded well, when planes cannot take off  and the announcement from the airport is that no  

planes will fly tonight then all of the planes  from all airlines have been grounded, they are  

forced to stay on the ground and cannot leave  the airport because of the fear of heavy rain.  

Strong winds thunder and lightning all conditions  coming together will make it impossible for flying  

and there's a great risk to the passenger.  So the planes are grounded for that period,  

whether it's for a few hours or even until the  next day so all planes have been grounded. We  

also use grounded when we're talking about a  punishment for children who have misbehaved.  

So the parents might say you're grounded which  means you cannot go and meet you Have friends, you  

can't go to your club, you can't play football,  you can't do anything, you're gonna have to stay  

in a room. So you're grounded for one to three  days, depending on how strong the punishment is,  

depending on how strong the missdead you did,  okay. So you're punished badly, you're grounded  

for three days of the punishment is not so bad,  you might only be grounded for one day. But to  

be grounded means not to be permitted to leave  your bedroom or leave the home. And in the same  

way the aeroplanes have been grounded because of  the problems in the atmosphere with the weather.

And then finally, stranded. When you're  stranded, it means you're stuck somewhere,  

you cannot move you kind of go in or  out. So if we're driving along the road,  

and we've haven't listened to the warnings,  or we're not aware of the warnings,  

and we suddenly see lots of water ahead, and  our car is stuck, we are stranded in the car,  

we can't go forward and we can't go back. So what  do we do we sit there waiting and hoping that the  

water levels won't rise any further. And you'll  often see pictures on the TV where cars have been  

people have been stranded there sitting actually  on the roof of the car. Now, if they're fortunate  

enough to be in a little bit of high ground, they  can still be stranded but they're not going to be  

in any immediate danger. But the problem is they  cannot leave that piece of high ground because to  

do so would be dangerous and they're not able to  go down so they have to stay there and hopefully  

be rescued. And again when we watch some scenes  from devastation across the world where they've  

been heavy storms and rivers have broken their  banks. Then you find a lot of people stranded or  

animals stranded so people in remote areas  they are seek higher ground and wait to be  

rescued because they have been stranded our  cut off because of the rising floodwaters or  

the heavy rain water that has caused the river  to burst its banks. Okay, so that's stranded.

So let me give them to you again. Neatly.  Out of curiosity. To our shock and horror.  

Adverse weather. Imminent danger, in imminent  danger. Menacing storm, a menacing storm.  

To call something off or call off something.  

Heavy downpour. To be grounded.  And then finally stranded.

Okay, well, that ends that particular lesson  in relation to vocabulary. And particularly  

for part two of the speaking task for IELTS. And  if anybody is contemplating doing IELTS over the  

next few months, I wish you luck. There's a lot  of work you have to do but if you plan carefully,  

you can be successful. And this is one lesson  of a series that I'll be putting together for  

those of you who are contemplating  those types of exams. As always,  

thanks for listening. Thanks  for watching. Join me again soon