arrow back icon Top Answers

Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned.: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What was it & when did it happen?
  • How was it damaged?
  • How did you react?
Show all 41 answers

Cue 1:What was it & when did it happen?

  • Begin by clearly identifying the item that was damaged and provide context about its significance to you.
  • Mention the time frame of the incident, including the location and the occasion during which it occurred.

Example

It was a beautiful ceramic vase that my grandmother had gifted me on my birthday. This incident happened about six months ago during a small gathering at my house.

Cue 2:How was it damaged?

  • Describe the specific actions that led to the damage, ensuring to highlight your friend's involvement.
  • Explain the circumstances surrounding the incident, including any distractions or accidents that contributed to the damage.

Example

While we were playing a game, my friend accidentally knocked the vase off the table while reaching for a snack. It fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

Cue 3:How did you react?

  • Share your immediate emotional response to the incident, whether it was anger, sadness, or understanding.
  • Discuss how you communicated with your friend about the damage and any steps taken afterward to resolve the situation.

Example

At first, I was really upset because it was a cherished item. However, I quickly realized it was an accident, so I took a deep breath and reassured my friend that it was okay. We cleaned up the mess together, and I appreciated their willingness to help.

Conclusion

  • Summarize the overall impact of the incident on your friendship and any lessons learned.
  • Reflect on how such experiences can strengthen relationships through understanding and communication.

Example

In the end, this incident taught me that accidents happen, and it’s important to handle them with grace. Our friendship grew stronger as we learned to communicate better and support each other during mishaps.

Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.

Tips to answer this Cue Card

1: Vague Descriptions

Using vague language can make your answer unclear. It's important to provide specific details about the item and the incident to engage the listener.

bulb icon

Tip

Use descriptive language to clearly explain what was damaged and the circumstances surrounding the event.

2: Lack of Emotion

Failing to express your feelings can make your story less relatable. Sharing your emotional reaction helps to connect with the examiner.

bulb icon

Tip

Include your feelings about the damage and how it affected your relationship with your friend.

Ignoring the Timeline

Not mentioning when the incident occurred can confuse the listener. A clear timeline helps to structure your response effectively.

bulb icon

Tip

Start by stating when the event happened to provide context for your story.

calendar icon

IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
anonymous person icon

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

location icon

Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

Answer

I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.
Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
anonymous person icon

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

location icon

Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

Answer

The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.
Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
anonymous person icon

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

location icon

Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

Answer

As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.
Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
anonymous person icon

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

location icon

Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

Answer

When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.
Describe a book you recently read
anonymous person icon

Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

location icon

CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

Answer

It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

All Answers

Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

Band 6-7

Well, I have always been extremely protective of my motorbike. So, a few years back, one of my friends borrowed my motorbike to take his girlfriend on a ride. So, by putting a stone on my heart, I handed over him the keys to the bike. And after around half an hour, he called me and told me that he has crashed my bike, which made me extremely upset. I was angry, I was furious at him that how could he do that to my bike. How can he not be careful, even though he knows how much that bike means to me. But eventually it turned out that he was pranking me and he came back after half an hour. And he and his girlfriend were both laughing at me. And I was a little bit humiliated in a funny way. But was glad that nothing had happened to my bike. For more UN videos visit www.un.org

Band 6-7

Once I was doing an experiment in my lab during my graduation, my best friend Manasi Ji, we were partners so we were very close as she was my best friend also. So one day while performing the experiment all the things were done very nicely but at last moment just because of one mistake our whole experiment got failed. So we have to repeat the same experiment and it was a very time consuming experiment as you see for performing a single experiment one have to take like six to seven hours to get a proper result. So we have to like repeat the same experiment and it was not a fulfilling because the result we were expecting did not came. So yeah, it destroyed my experiment.

Band 6-7

There was a time when my friend damaged something that I owned, which is definitely my feelings. So when I was in 9th grade, I used to be extremely close with one friend. Her name was Kavanka. However, one day we fought over something that was so petty and it was definitely her fault because she just backstabbed me. And from that day on, she stopped talking to me and I stopped talking to her. And she became friends with people who spoke ill about me. And I was completely lost and I was so depressed. However, I slowly overcame from that particular situation and till day I do not talk to her. But I am always a well-wisher and we do follow each other on Instagram and I occasionally do like her stories and definitely wish the best for her. And I would assume that she would do the same. So although this has been a learning lesson for me, I am extremely grateful to have really good friends now. Thank you for watching!

Band 6-7

Yes, my friend destroyed, damaged my trust once and actually many times. It was in 2020. I have shared some, my personal thing to her and she just tell to everybody which was, I just feel devastated when I get to know about it and I, I don't know how should I react at that time. I was very, very, you know, angry or, but I don't, I didn't say, said anything to her because I don't want to create a fuss, I don't want to fight. So I didn't fight with her, but definitely I told her that please don't interfere in my things and you don't have to tell someone the thing which I have, I own. So she didn't make that mistake again. So yeah, I'm thankful to her that she's apologized for her mistake and promised me not to do that again. Thank you. So from, from that day onwards, I, I was, I assure that the, the person I'm sharing my secret, is it worth it or not? Is it okay or not? So I'm very careful now.

Band 6-7

So, the thing which my friend damaged was actually a spectacle which was gifted by my dad actually on my birthday. On my, actually to be precise, on my 20th birthday, he just gave me a spectacle, okay, so that was very close to my heart because he just gifted me around, he just woke me up around 12 o'clock and he just gifted me that. And what happened was when we were in a conversation, like when in my college when we were in a conversation, my friend suddenly, like normally we were having a conversation, like he was giving some guesses and postures and by somehow, I don't remember exactly, somehow I hit my spectacle with his elbow and it just fell off. And what happened later, it just fell on the ground and the rim part has got broken actually. So because of which I was completely pissed off, the way I reacted was like, I literally, I kind of screamed in front of others and literally screamed like, why did you do this, like can't you be safe, don't you know all these things, like in this manner I was shouting at him. And at the heat of the moment, I know I was at my peak and later I just apologized as well to him because I know he was not intentionally doing that. So that really hit me hard actually. So this was a thing which happened during my college first year and yeah, that's all.

Band 6-7

There was a time when I was in my 12th standard when one of my best friends gifted me a ring. It was a heart ring. I gave it to my friend. She wanted to see it because she was so fond of rings and she liked, she had a variety collections of rings and she was, you know, very mesmerized to see that ring and she wanted to see it. And when I gave her, it just slipped from her hand. It slipped from her hand and in the process of getting it into her hands again, in the process of picking it up, she mistakenly stamped the ring. She mistakenly stamped the ring and I was heartbroken. That ring got into two pieces. That ring broke into two pieces. She just handed me my broken ring and she was like, dude, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, but it just happened. It just slipped away from my hand. It fell down and I, you know, wanted to pick it up. I stepped on it and the ring broke. I'm very sorry. It was very heartbroken. It was very heartbreaking because that was the first ring I and my best friend gifted each other. It was very close to my heart. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't get angry on her. I couldn't do anything. So I just nodded in her way, it's okay.

Band 6-7

I recall it too. In my university, one of my friend damaged my earpods. She takes from me to listen music. That earpods are important for me. But she did not wantedly. But in case she fall down and my earpods are like broken. So that day I remember very well because that earpods are very helpful for me and someone give me for my occasion. That's why that earpods are very important to me. That one friend apologize me and say sorry. I say okay okay fine. But I remember that day don't give your own things with others. So that give me one lesson.

Band 6-7

Nikita is my best friend and when we were 10 years old, she came over to my house and we were playing at my place. And I still remember, it's a funny story. So we were playing with a basketball. Now I know that playing with a basketball inside home is not a good idea, but we were playing. And we were playing with basketball. And suddenly she hit my favorite mug, which was made of glass, with the basketball. And it flew in the air and was crushed on the ground. Now the thing is that glass mug was one of my favorite glass mugs. It had a cute Pooh bear on its surface and I got it just a month ago on my birthday. And I really wanted to cry, but also she is like my bestie, so I cannot cry over a tea mug. And she saw me, she hugged me and she was like, I'm very sorry. And literally on the next day, she gifted me a beautiful glass mug and I still have it.

Band 6-7

It was a bright sunny day and I had called my friends over for a lunch gathering. After my friends arrived in my house, they were served with lunch that was prepared by my mother. One of my friends got my favorite plate to eat. That friend ate the entire food in the plate, enjoyed it, relished the food, appreciated my mother for her food. And once she was done with her lunch, while she was getting up, she put her hand inside the plate by mistake, which resulted in the plate flipping over and dropping on the floor and breaking. This really disheartened me because that was my favorite plate since childhood. Besides, she did apologize for it and I did forgive her for the mistake that she made. But I will miss my plate very much.

Band 6-7

Yeah, this was very long back like 5 to 6 years back, when I was in my, I was doing my engineering in Kenraijan College. I was very fond of and fascinated about cricket, so I had, so I had collected all my pocket money and took a new, purchased a new bat, which was very favourite to me and the brand was also very Nike and it was really favourite for me. One fine day, like one fine day during match, it was in, it was in Mangalore ground and I had given my bat to my friend and he was my roommate. He took it and while batting, he just broke, he just broke it and the handle was apart from the bat, so it was really sad for me, seeing my bat broken in front of me. In addition, like I, I had, I was sad and as well as angry on him because he was so irresponsible of my bat, but also he was my friend, so I didn't react much on that. I just told him to pay back me the money or purchase me a new bat. So, this was a small instance where my bat was broken by my friend, my roommate basically. He was my best friend and yeah.
1 2 3 4 5
ielts logo

Get the IELTS Prep App

Star rating icon

4.2

1M+ Installs

 app download banner image

Get the app link on your phone

+91

Or download app from

google play storeapp store
master ielts speaking ad