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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.

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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.

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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.

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Tip

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

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Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 8

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 6.5

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7

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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
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Reported by

Anonymous student Band 7.5

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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 don't remember anything that my friend damaged in the past but yeah, there is a febble in my heart that still hurts me whenever I think about that. My mother bought me a cup of glass and one day I took that to my school to show to all my classmates and friends as it was very beautiful. So my friend named Shweta broke it by mistake as she was running all over the corridor and I was holding that glass and she slightly pushed me but not deliberately to be honest. So she pushed me in order to hug me and suddenly the cup fell off from my hands and it broke into a parts. So I felt really bad and suddenly I started crying, everyone was looking at me, I was embarrassed and hurt at the same time, it was all like mixed emotions but I didn't react it a lot as she didn't meant that, it was all a misunderstanding, everyone there was looking at us like how I am going to react but I didn't react it well according to them as everyone was watching in order to see some spice up in the corridor or something spicy is going to be happen, so yeah that's all. But still as my mother bought it by her heart so I really feel sometimes very bad whenever I think about that cup as it was really very special to my heart.

Band 6-7

One of my friend, best friend, she had borrowed a wallet from me during my college time. Actually she bought it from me for a function, family function from her side. And after two days she returned it to me. Unfortunately she told me that it was damaged because it was just by her mistake. Even though I am disappointed but I thought I should well behave with her because she is a good friend of mine. Also conveyed her apology to me. So I thought she did it unintentionally. So even though she is a good friend of mine so I have to forgive her. I strongly believe that friendship is more important than material. So I can easily forgive her even though it's my favorite thing.

Band 6-7

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. The four buttons wouldn't operate anymore and as a kid, I was really sad on that but looking back, I think it was the funniest moment of my life because even she felt a bit bad about breaking my favorite pencil box. It was one of a kind but it's alright. It happens. It's a whole part of the life. I reacted quite strongly as I got emotional and I broke down in tears because given the fact that I was in 6th grade but I was okay around a day or two because I completely forgot about the whole pencil box case situation.

Band 6.5

I distantly recall the time during my college days when I had a tape recorder that I really used to treasure. As I am a person who likes to listen to music, this had always helped me to return to music at whenever time that I really wanted to listen. So my friend who had borrowed my tape recorder wanted to record a competition and listen to the song over and over again, to which I agreed. And when I received my tape recorder, I found that it was damaged with the keys popping out and I was unable to play my tape recorder at that point of time. When I had opened up my tape recorder, I found that the tape was strangled in and I had really hard time removing the tape and its contents from the particular slot that it was placed in. I did find it very hard to believe that a person was incapable of looking after a device that was borrowed and even though I was upset, I had just told her that she can actually redeem, get it rectified and pay the price for getting it better. So this was a very particular incident that happened in my college days.

Band 6

A few months ago, one of my closest friends had asked for my vehicle for him to use for two days. I am a proud owner of a motorcycle. I had paid around 1 lakh rupees for it and that was the first major purchase of my life. I had bought that motorcycle with my first salary and that is one of the happiest moments in my life. My friend had asked me for my vehicle and he wanted to use it for a long ride over the weekend. This was in August of 2024. I had given him the vehicle and asked him to take good care of it. He had taken the vehicle and a few hours later, I get a message from him telling that he had met with an accident. My first response to that was about his well-being and when he said that he was alright, my next thought went about my motorcycle. I had questioned him about the status of the motorcycle's health, whether it was doing good or not. He said there were a few minor damages to the motorcycle. Moreover, he informed me that a major part of the motorcycle, i.e. the fuel tank, had been damaged and there are multiple scratches to the right side of the vehicle as he had fallen on the right side. Unfortunately, repairing such a motorcycle would have been a great deal of financial distress and I was fairly upset about it, but I was happy that my friend escaped the accident and it's only a monetary issue.

Band 5-6

I would like to share something a thing which I own and my friend damaged that my friend Junaid I have I had borrowed some money from him and I got addiction of betting app so then I used that money on betting app so I lose there and I have not money to return him back so he got angry and he come back to my home then he took my phone and broke that phone so I got emotional and I was I was not able to speak anything to him cause I was broken or you can say as well I was

Band 5-6

One of my friend damaged my thing. It was a bat in the year of 1957. The bat brought from my father. It is a gift from my father. He gave as a birthday gift for me in 18th of my year. The bat cost was more than Rs.1500. I love that bat because of my father's gift on my birthday. In the year of 1957, he damaged the bat. He is the best friend. I can't react what he did for me. But it was my father's gift. I reacted as a normal. It is a damaged thing my friend did for me. The bat is not about cost. The bat is a gift from my father. That is the day of my friend.

Band 5-6

My friend damaged my notes which I prepared for exams and it was really very important for me at that time. Moreover, I never often because she reuned but I would like but I really lost my few time because of she spilled water on my notes and ultimately I was not able to reverse this situation. So, yes I really feel often but I never tell her because she was my friend so that was time when I tried to control myself because somehow it was my mistake too. Even I have to, I need to.

Band 5-6

hi how are you what was the damage what happened to the product damage we want to cure the process what is the technology we can use and that will cure please explain to that I want to cure my product because it is very important to me and I using regularly and regular activity up to my life so I want to cure the product please help me how can I cure the product

Band 5

Yeah, I am going to talk about a time with my friend, because when I was in a college, so I just go to the college to study, so that is why, and once upon a time my friend was, we are walking to the college, so unfortunately my friend was, and take my mobile phone from me and he unfortunately drop it on the road and it was broken, my mobile phone, so that was very unfortunate I think, so and also how it broken, how it broken, I am going to explain about how it broken is that, so he hold it in the right way, but he was not going to broke in his intention, so it was happened in an unfortunate, so unfortunately he hold it in a easy way and it was very unpleasant time, so he had to broke that, he has not broke it intentionally, so I just, at that time I had to experience a lot of things when I was moving with my friends, but broken the mobile phone, it hurt me a lot, because without mobile phone at that time, it was not able to, it was not able to free and it was not able to, it was not able to stay.
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