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Hello, hello, dear listener, and welcome into IELTS Speaking Part 2. Describe a time when you met a friend by surprise. Surprise, surprise. You should say when and where you met him or her, who he or she was, or who your friend was, what you did together, and explain how you felt about the experience.
Wow, what a strange topic, Rory. Like, a time when you met your friend by surprise. It's like you're walking down the street and then go, oh, hello, Rory. Wow. Yeah. And thank heavens I live in such a small country where that's possible to happen because otherwise I would have no idea what to say. Yeah, dear listener, here you should lie. If you've never had the situation where you met a friend, so somebody you know,
by surprise, you know. You are at the airport and then, bam, your friend is there, right? And you haven't agreed to meet at the airport. So, this is how you meet people, by surprise. Yeah, or maybe you, I don't know,
If I met my ex-partner by surprise, does it count? I think that's more of a nightmare than a surprise. No. Or like an ex-husband, an ex-wife. Yeah, you can kind of imagine that they were your friend or maybe you are still friends with them. So you see, dear listener, like a strange topic and you may not have a story, so you can steal Rory's story. Rory, off you go. ♪
Well, generally, my schedule is so well organized that this rarely happens. But I did bump into one of my old classmates from university. Well, we well, well, we were both climbing a few months back, although we were with other people.
I was with some friends at this climbing centre where I live and it turned out that she went to the exact same place. The only reason we ran into each other actually was because my group of friends and I had changed our usual day from Wednesday to Tuesday. And this was the day that she normally went. It was funny actually because, like I said, we were at university together and I hadn't seen her in ages and I was just idly thinking, hmm, I wonder what became of Holly?
actually. And then, just a few days later, there she was, saying hello and getting me caught up on all her experiences with teaching and what she'd been getting up to since university. It was just a short time we spent talking since we were both with people that wanted to climb. And really, I didn't want to be rude to my friends and I didn't want to take her away from her friends. So we just exchanged the basic information.
But it was nice seeing her again and finding out how she was getting on. If I hadn't run into her, I think I'd still be speculating wildly about what she was doing. So it was good to have that clarity. And it still is. Although now that I think about it, I haven't actually seen her since then. So I wonder what she's up to now.
To give you a little bit more detail about the kind of person that she is, she's actually not from my country. She's from Ireland, which is a different part of this country, although she lives in Scotland now. And she also lives in my hometown, although I'm not quite sure where. But it must be close by since she's so close to, well, she was able to go to that particular place.
And do you often meet this person? No, not regularly. Not anymore, at least.
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In a museum. I think those are the big things, to be honest. I can't think of anything else. I was walking down the street and then I saw my friend. Wow! Surprise, surprise. Here, dear listener, it's very important for you to use synonyms. So, I bumped into my friend.
bump into somebody is a synonym to meet somebody by surprise. You bump into people like, oh, wow, like I was walking down the street downtown and then I saw Rory. Wow, Rory. Nice. This has happened on numerous occasions.
So I bumped into my old classmate or my old friend. Maybe you met your classmate. Okay, so you went to school together. So it was my classmate. Or from university, for example. From school, from university.
And usually we use the past continuous. So I was walking, I was sitting on a bench in a park when I bumped into my friend. And then more details to the story. I was with some other friends or I was alone. I was at a climbing center. So a climbing center is where you climb, like mountain climbing.
And Rory does climbing really well, actually. I do not do climbing really well. My friends are much better than I am. Yeah, but you have spectacular photos, Rory, with all your arms and stuff, and you are kind of like a Spider-Man, like... Like this, you do like this. Maria has a very liberal interpretation of how good my climbing skills are. They are not that good. I just go casually. My friends are much more serious about it than I am.
And another synonym is "we ran into each other". So, I bumped into my friend. We ran into each other. Run into somebody is to meet somebody by surprise. So, I ran into her at a climbing test center. Test center, yes. Test center. IELTS test center.
So, at a climbing center or we ran into each other in a cafe when I was buying a latte. And the reason why we ran into each other was because my group of friends had changed our usual day, right? So, we had done something before and that's why we ran into each other. Nice, past perfect.
It was funny, it was fun, it was unexpected. You know, like you met a friend by surprise, like "Oh, wow, I haven't seen you for years, how are you?" So, it was funny. For all of you it was funny, but maybe... Well, talk about a pleasant meeting, okay? So, don't talk about something strange or unpleasant.
like with people you don't like, so imagine that it was a nice meeting. The examiner doesn't want to hear your stories, you know, when you cried and when you weren't happy, you know. So it might be difficult for an examiner to hear this story. So just kind of like neutral or just it could be a dramatic story. And then I saw my ex-boyfriend.
Like, okay, but if you can do it, right, well, but you have two minutes. But usually, well, it's difficult. So, it was funny, it was a nice meeting, I didn't expect her to be there. We were at university together and I hadn't seen her for ages. So, I hadn't seen her before we met by surprise.
And there she was, alright, there he was, my friend. And we caught up on our life. So, to catch up on something, pretty much like talk about the events from our life, like just talk about our life.
So we caught up on our life, gave each other the latest news or information. It was a nice chat. We chatted about our university life, about our school days, I don't know. And it was a short time. So it was just a short time we spent talking because I had to go. It was nice seeing her again.
So, it was nice talking to her or him, it was nice meeting her again, it was nice finding out how she was getting on. So, to get on, pretty much like you live your life, like how are you getting on, how are you? So, it was nice to find out how she was getting on in life.
And you can say that I haven't seen her since then, so we haven't met after the meeting. So I bumped into her and we haven't seen each other since then, like we haven't talked to each other since then. Rory, do you have any other synonyms?
that we could use about like meeting a friend by surprise. I was really struggling here. Run into, bumped into, came across, maybe, but usually we come across things rather than people. Yeah, yeah. We come across different things like information. I came across this information. But yeah, just like two synonyms to listen, all right? And how you felt about the experience? Like I was surprised. I was shocked.
to meet her at such a strange place. Maybe you went to sauna and then you bumped into your friend in a sauna, you know, in a swimming pool. Or you went travelling to Africa and then you met your friend there. In the jungle and then you say "Oh my God! Hello!" What about the feelings? When we are surprised, how do we usually feel? Well, surprised?
I think that's it really, surprised, shocked perhaps to see someone unexpectedly. Yeah, I was really shocked to see her. It was an unexpected meeting. I didn't expect to see her or him. To my surprise, I saw my classmate. Rory, what helped you organize this answer?
I mostly followed the prompts to be honest with you however I did struggle towards the end to come up with things to say so I just said hmm now I think about it I haven't seen her since then I wonder what she's up to now however she must be living close by because and then just talking about her as the person as well so just adding more detail about who that person is and perhaps
perhaps trying to find an explanation for how we met each other. So that's a good thing to do. If you still have time and the examiner hasn't said stop, you could just go back to things in the prompt and give more information. And you can even say that. Just say, I forgot to tell you that, and then tell them what you forgot.
Yay, dear listener. And this answer is in the past, right? So, when you met a friend by surprise. So, make sure you're using past continuous. I met her when I was doing something. And also, you can use past perfect. So, we ran into each other, but we hadn't seen each other for a long time before. And at the end of the talk, you can use the present perfect.
And I haven't seen her ever since. Yay. Nice grammar. Nice. Thank you very much for listening. Love and hugs. And we'll get back to you in our next episode, speaking part three about meeting friends. Bye.
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Prep for your next trip with the ANF Vacation Shop. Get their newest arrivals in-store, online, and in the app. Describe a time when you met a friend by surprise. Surprise, surprise. You should say when and where you met him or her, who he or she was, or who your friend was.
What you did together and explain how you felt about the experience. Rory, off you go. Well, generally, my schedule is so well organized that this rarely happens, but I did bump into one of my old classmates from university. Well, we, well, well, we were both climbing a few months back, although we were with other people.
I was with some friends at this climbing centre where I live, and it turned out that she went to the exact same place. The only reason we ran into each other, actually, was because my group of friends and I had changed our usual day from Wednesday to Tuesday. And this was the day that she normally went. It was funny, actually, because, like I said, we were at university together, and I hadn't seen her in ages, and I was just idly thinking...
Hmm, I wonder what became of Holly, actually. And then, just a few days later, there she was, saying hello and getting me caught up on all her experiences, the teaching, and what she'd been getting up to since university.
It was just a short time we spent talking since we were both with people that wanted to climb. And really, I didn't want to be rude to my friends and I didn't want to take her away from her friends. So we just exchanged the basic information.
But it was nice seeing her again and finding out how she was getting on. If I hadn't run into her, I think I'd still be speculating wildly about what she was doing. So it was good to have that clarity. And it still is. Although now that I think about it, I haven't actually seen her since then. So I wonder what she's up to now.
To give you a little bit more detail about the kind of person that she is, she's actually not from my country. She's from Ireland, which is a different part of this country, although she lives in Scotland now. And she also lives in my hometown, although I'm not quite sure where. But it must be close by since she's so close to, well, she was able to go to that particular place.
And do you often meet this person? No, not regularly. Not anymore, at least.