Jay!
Chris, how are you?
Oh! It has been such a long time since I've seen you.
We have been separated by COVID.
How are things?
Pretty good, pretty good.
It's been a long six or seven months, I would say.
Yeah, so here in our country, we've been in isolation.
We haven't managed to make any videos, but we're back.
We're back today to talk about IELTS speaking part one questions.
And this topic is about tidiness.
Are you a tidy person?
I'm a very tidy person.
I might almost be considered OCD.
OCD.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
That means somebody who really, really is obsessed with cleaning.
So I have some vocabulary for the students to learn.
Shall we start?
Okie dokie.
So the first word,
and we've got two words here which are mess and messy.
Jay,
what is the difference between mess and messy?
Well, mess is a noun usually.
And we use that to say that you are making a mess,
or there is a mess in the bedroom.
Whereas messy is an adjective
that describes someone or someplace.
Great.
Could you say that a person has a messy appearance?
Yeah, absolutely.
I think so, yes.
You say somebody's got messy hair.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So if you were saying you're talking about your tidiness,
you could talk about whether a room is tidy,
or whether your appearance is tidy.
What about somebody in this... maybe is a little bit about you,
a compulsive cleaner.
Now, let's talk about your obsession with cleaning.
Why are you so obsessed with cleaning?
I don't know,
it's just who I am.
It's part of my personality,
and I feel good when I get to clean,
or when the house is cleaned.
And it just makes me feel nice,
and I actually kind of look forward to a good clean on the weekend.
So you look forward to it,
you're excited about it.
Yes.
Wow,
I can never say that I'm excited about training.
I'm a bit strange.
The next words are,
and two words,
the first word is: hoarder
and to hoard.
And I have a bit of a story on this one because my dad is a hoarder.
Oh.
Could you explain to the students what the word hoarder means?
Well, a hoarder is someone who cannot let go of material things.
They... everything they've purchased,
or accumulated,
or gathered over their life,
they usually keep it.
And it becomes a problem
because their house becomes very full of these items,
and it becomes also very cluttered.
Yeah,
my dad loves collecting everything and anything,
or anything and everything.
He will collect old newspapers.
He even collects nails.
You know, those things that you hammer into the wood, it's so strange.
Really?
Yeah.
So I said to him,
"What's going to happen when you die, dad?
Because I'm going to have to clean all these things that you've collected."
A hoarder is a person who is obsessed with keeping things.
Shall we have a look at some more words?
Right, let's go.
Okay, so the next words
might be something that a British person,
an American person,
might have a bit of confusion over.
We just might say it slightly differently.
So, in the UK,
we say something like,
"Your room looks like a bomb site."
Is that what you would say in America?
No, not exactly.
Though I do know what you're trying to say.
You're saying my room is very messy.
However,
in the United States,
we usually would say something,
"Along the lines of your room looks like a bomb hit it".
Excellent.
So, does your room look like a bomb hit it?
Because I know for many teenagers,
if you go into their room,
there are clothes and books all over the floor.
I would say it looks like a bombsite.
Maybe even food hidden under the bed.
So, the next words are something called a binomial.
And a binomial is when two words
must be in the same position each time.
A great example is fish and chips.
We would never say chips and fish.
We usually say black and white.
We don't often say white and black.
So this one,
we're talking about neat and tidy.
Neat and tidy.
What was that?
What would you say that means, Jay?
Well, just an area,
or even yourself that is kept clean.
Exactly.
So, my room is really neat and tidy.
I like to keep my house clean and tidy.
Let's talk about the phrasal verbs:
to clean out,
to clear out,
to clean up.
Some of them can be used slightly in the same way,
but others not so much.
So,
if I wanted to, you know,
clean out my garage,
or if I wanted to clear out my garage,
or if I wanted to clean up my room,
would you say there's much difference?
There isn't much difference.
But definitely,
if someone is going to clear out versus clean out,
usually,
clear out would probably have a connection to
getting rid of old, or unwanted materials things.
Yeah.
I know many people nowadays
often have too many clothes,
or clothes they don't wear as much as they want to.
So I know that every few months,
I will have a clear out of my old clothes.
Maybe they're a little bit worn,
so I get rid of them.
Yeah.
It's quite common to hear someone say
they're going to clear out their wardrobe.
Yeah.
And in America,
is it a wardrobe?
A closet.
So there's some American, and British, and Australian English for you.
Jay,
it is great to have you back here at IELTS Daily.
I'm so happy to see you.
And I'm sure all the viewers are happy to see you.
Did you enjoy this class?
Leave your comments in the section below.
And something very exciting is happening.
You don't know about this, Jay.
The IELTS Daily app.
We are really close to launching it to all you guys.
And if you're watching this in the future,
we've already launched it and you can download it now.
So we're super excited about the IELTS Daily app.
You can get feedback on your speaking and on your writing.
So, come and download it.
Or wait for the next piece of information and news
when you can download it.
Thanks very much for coming today, Jay!
Thanks, Chris.
Nice to see you all.
Take care of yourselves.
Bye for now.
See you, everyone!