Hiya, I'm Andrew and welcome to this my latest video on my youtube channel these
videos are for any of you that are learning English and want to sound like very
natural native speakers using things like idioms and collocations they will
also help anybody that's taking an English language exam they are designed
to help you with a speaking part of English exams such as the IELTS exam in
this video I'm going to show you two common questions that appear in the
IELTS exam that ask you to describe relationships with people that you know
I'm going to give you two sample answers one after the other and then I'm gonna
explain to you at the end of the video everything that I have said in the
sample answers so on with the video first question describe an old person
that you know and like well I'd like to talk about my grandfather he's a real
jovial type always game for a laugh I swear that it's impossible for anyone to
spend any time with him without dissolving into a fit of the giggles but
he's also really smart pretty much Mensa material there is no problem that he
can't solve or help you solve he's a great listener and he can really relate
to other people I remember one time I was having a problem with my boss and I
told my grandfather all about it he helped me arrive at a solution but
I'd never a thought of on my own and the problem was solved at a stroke
my grandfather is also a really honest person he's straight down the line he
doesn't pull his punches simply to spare people's feelings and he'll definitely
tell you if he thinks you're out of line okay so there's probably lots of new
vocabulary that which I will explain a little bit later before that we're going
to look at an answer to another sample question describe a friend that you've
known a long time I want to tell you about my
friend John we've been buddies ever since we were in kindergarten together
so we go back or some 24 years now our friendship is mainly based on shared
interests one of these those interests is practical jokes we've never been able
to resist pulling people's legs with a variety of pranks so clearly I think
John has a great sense of humor occasionally though he can be a bit
picky if criticized criticizing him can really
get his back up and once he starts to get tetchy then if you don't back off
then the red mist can really descend for that reason we tend to have a very
light-hearted relationship we seldom talk about serious subjects or give each
other personal advice basically John is the guy to call if you want to lock
around so let's look at this Picabia arey he's a real jovial type always game
for a laugh I swear that it's impossible for anyone to spend any time with him
without dissolving into a fit of the giggles so jovial means somebody that is
really happy and in a good mood a lot of the time if you were always game for a
laugh then you're always interested in laughing and having fun if you swear
then in this case this doesn't mean to say a word like oh shit swear can also
mean to promise that something is true if you dissolve into a fit of the
giggles then you laugh so much that you can't stop yourself laughing anymore you
know that feeling you sometimes get when you're watching a really funny film or a
great comedian it's that kind of thing but he's also pretty smart pretty much
Mensa material now Mensa is an organization for people with a high IQ
iq is something you get from doing an intelligence test it's a measure of
intelligence so if we say he or she is Mensa material we mean that they are
very very intelligent or clever he's a great listener and he can really relate
to other people so to relate somebody else means to be able to understand them
easily and also to understand their problems easily
he helped me arrive at a solution that I'd never have thought of on my own so
to arrive at a solution means to work out a way to deal with something number
five and the problem was solved at a stroke my grandfather is also a really
honest person he's straight down the line he doesn't pull his punches simply
to spare people's feelings and he'll definitely tell you if he thinks you're
out of line if something is sold that a stroke then it's sold instantly or
immediately or straight away if a person is straight down the line they are very
honest to pull your punches is a term that comes from boxing this is a punch
if you pull your punches then you don't punch hard you stop punching in this
case it means to avoid stating your opinion or your view strongly and
finally on that section to be out of line means to have behaved badly or
wrongly now let's look at the vocabulary from the second answer we've been
buddies ever since we were in kindergarten together so we go back some
24 years now buddies simply means friends to go back a period of time
means that's how long you've known somebody for so if you go back five
years then you've known each other for five year
our friendship is mainly based on shared interests one of those interests is
practical jokes shared interests simply means when two or more people like the
same things practical jokes are tricks played on somebody in order to make them
look silly and make other people laugh we've never been able to resist pulling
people's legs with a variety of pranks so a prank is just another word for a
practical joke and if you pull somebody's leg then you make a joke with
them but really it's normally at their expense which means that the joke is on
them because of the joke that you play on somebody people will laugh at them
occasionally though he can be a bit prickly if criticized criticizing him
can really get his back up and once he starts to get tetchy then if you don't
back off then the red mist can really descend so prickly if you are prickly
then you get offended easily to get somebody's back up that means to annoy
them to make them angry tetchy if you are tetchy then you lose
your temper quickly you are short or quick tempered you show it when you are
annoyed so you might look like this if you're annoyed to back off if you back
off from doing something you stop doing something in this case you stop
criticizing your friend the red mist if the red mist descends that means that
somebody gets really really angry for that reason we tend to have a very
light-hearted relationship we seldom talk about serious subjects or give each
other personal advice basically jon is the guy
to call if you want to lock around light-hearted
simply means not serious always joking around to lock around means to have fun
if you lock around you have fun okay so that's it from me today thank you for
joining me if you have any questions or comments please leave them in the
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goodbye