IELTS Speaking for Success - 🛠 Breaking and fixing things (Part 3) + Transcript

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Get our premium episode archive: https://www.patreon.com/ieltssfs What kind of things are more likely to be broken by people at home? What kind of people like to fix things by themselves? Do you think elderly people should teach young people how to fix things? Is the older generation better at fixing things? Do you think handmade clothes are more valuable? Do you think clothes produced in the factory are of better quality than those made by hand? Tune in and have a great day! - Book a class with Rory here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://successwithielts.com/rory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Our course on Phrasal Verbs: https://successwithielts.com/podcourses Transcript: https://linktr.ee/sfspremium Find an IELTS Speaking Partner: https://links.successwithielts.com/ieltspartner Our social media: https://linktr.ee/successwithielts © 2025 Podcourses Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get the yes you've been waiting for at Capital One.ca.ca. slash yes terms and conditions apply hello hello de lisner and welcome into is iL speaking part three we're talking about my favorite topic breaking things yeah because i break unexpected things de lister i just can break something that is that can't be broken i can break it what was the last thing that you broke oh um a bad i broke i broke only What? Yes. How?

I was jumping on the bed. I was jumping on this bed, you know, having the time of my life, you know, and then it broke. Oh, well. So I break jewelry, earrings, candles, technology. I should say, in the previous episode, I said I don't really break things myself, but I'm having a morning where everything is breaking now because I broke. my um I broke my necklace when I was getting dressed this morning and then I thought I broke my computer so there you go I'm not as uh tragedy free as I might appear yeah de listener before complaining that your computer is broken just turn it on okay just turn it on

oh I should say before we get into the episode there is a theme for this episode and I don't mean the theme in terms of the content I mean the theme in terms of the language So throughout this episode, I will be using language for uncertainty and guessing, because sometimes in part three we are asked about things that we do not know anything about and we have to guess. So this is the focus here. When we come to the end of the episode, we will talk about that. But maybe while you are listening, you can spot some of these. What kind of things are more likely to be broken by people at home? Oh, well, I mean, what aren't you likely to break? Especially if you have kids. I suppose the most common thing is stuff like plates and glasses, since they're, well, they're being handled all the time.

But it could be anything, even windows, if children are playing football in the garden or something like that. What kind of people like to fix things by themselves? And not a psychologist. But maybe people who are pretty independent or isolated from places and people that can fix things up for them. That could be the physical location, like someone on a mountain or in the Antarctic,

or it could be financial isolation, like a family that isn't so well off. Of course, you could just be a very knowledgeable or independent person, and that just comes naturally to you, so you don't really bother to do it or don't really bother to ask other people to do things for you.

Do you think elderly people should teach young people how to fix things? I've never heard. really thought about it, to be honest. I've certainly never seen it, but I don't think there's any harm in assuming the support they give is useful. They might have some pretty sage advice about less technological things, though I'd be skeptical if, well, I'd just be skeptical about anything they had to say about computers, since it's not really an area of expertise you'd expect an older person to cover. I'd be willing to be proven wrong, though. I mean, some old people

are very wise about these things. Is the older generation better at fixing things? Like I said, it depends on what we're talking about. Stuff that's been around longer, like simple electrical devices, like lamps, should be pretty easy to advise on how to fix. But more modern and complex gadgets, that might be a struggle for them. It would be hard for anyone to fix, frankly speaking, unless you have a degree or something like that.

Do you think handmade clothes are more valuable? Well, it could be, I guess, especially if they're particularly vintage, or they use valuable or unusual materials or a particular style. I'm not well-versed in fashion, though, so I have no idea what specific things that might involve, just the generalities. Obviously, quality matters as well. No one wants to buy something that falls to pieces easily. Do you think clothes produced in the factory are of better quality than those made by hand?

Well, that's a pretty broad question, to be honest. So much of that depends on the technicalities of it all. I mean, a factory that uses something like substandard materials that fall apart in days of being bought, then clearly that's not much good. But if you buy something made by a barely trained person with a home business who uses good stuff, has no idea how to put things together, then that's not going to be much better. So, I suppose it's less about the process and more about how it interacts with the other parts of the equation. At least that's how it seems to me.

As you know, we now release all of our premium content for free, and it's available for one month. After one month, it goes into our super secret archive. To sign up for the archive, click the link in the description below. See you soon. So, dear listener, we break things and we fix things. Fix or repair. Rory, any other synonyms for break? Depends on what it is because you can, if it's a glass, for example, you can shatter a glass or you can smash a glass and you can smash a plate.

You can crack your iPhone screen. You could crack a computer screen. You see, we have different verbs for these things. example, you can say that, yeah, like, my screen is cracked. Or in the bathroom, the taps keep dripping, right? So the water is running nonstop, right? My screen is cracked or chipped? My roof is leaking. But, like, you didn't break it, right? But still, you know. Or, for example, like, my jeans are torn. I tore my jeans. tear or there is a hole in my clothes or for example I spilled wine on the carpet my

carpet is stained or I dropped something heavy I dropped a mug I busted my mug busted yeah I busted a heavy mug with tea in the bathroom and now the bathroom tiles are chipped and when we have the them into pieces, like you drop something heavy, bam, and then it's kind of like, the tiles are chipped. And the most common thing to break is plates, glasses, right in the kitchen, so we smash them. And it could be everything, windows, beds, something in the garden, like when children are playing football in the garden, so they could break windows. Some people enjoy fixing things. Some people enjoy fixing things by themselves. So they just repair things themselves. And they can fix things up. So they enjoy

fixing things up. Like furniture, for example, broken furniture. Broken hearts. Fixed by broken heart. Yeah. Actually, we break hearts, right? So you can crack a joke about, yeah, some people break hearts and... Well, like, you feel like it's not something that, a physical that we fix for the broken heart. If you break a plate, you could glue it back together, for example. So that's an example of it being fixed up. What else do people fix? Pictures, mirrors, if they're broken.

Maybe you can fix a glass. I don't know. It depends on how badly broken it is. You can fix a glass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can fix a manga, like, glue it together. You should be very knowledgeable to do that. And you should kind of be good with your hands.

and this comes naturally to some people. So some people are just, you know, good at fixing things, technology or just some simple things as glasses. My father is pretty good at it. He can fix it or anything. Yeah, my dad's like that too. They're very handy people. Yeah, handy, yeah, so. Useful.

Useful. And fixing up things just comes naturally to them. Oh, that's huge smell. If something comes naturally to you, it means you are good at it. without making it look difficult for you. It's like you know how to do it. Intrinsically, it's part of your soul. Elderly people or older people usually teach younger people how to fix things.

Do they? Well, you know, they might like grandfathers or grandmothers? No. Fathers, grandfathers. Maybe teach their sons or grandchildren? Like, I feel like maybe grandmothers could teach something as well. Yeah. Like fixing something in the kitchen in terms of food, how to cook food, how to fix something up, you know, how to cook some delicious food for your family.

Ah, maybe clothes. There you go. We mend clothes, dear listener, when we fix clothes. Oh, darning, darned clothes. What, what? Darning clothes. Darning, wow. Yeah, that's like fixing. It's fixing for clothes specifically. the very old one that works. The holes in your socks.

Yeah, if there are some holes in your socks, dear listener, again, classical literature, you done holes in your socks. Do we do anything else? You can say that I've never really thought about it. I've never seen it. But they might give some advice about something. And Rory, you said some like sage advice.

What? sage advice. If something is sage, it's like, it's wise advice, usually from an older person. It's also a kind of herb that you can put on things. I don't know what things you put it on, but it's something you can cook with. And we can assume that older generation is better at fixing things. Like young people usually break things and they don't know how to fix them up, but older people tend to be good at repairing things, at fixing everything. app up. But you can talk about technology. So if we talk about things around the house, like simple electrical devices or simple electrical appliances. Like a lamp. You can fix a lump,

surely. I can't fix a lamp. I will break it. It's pretty difficult to break them in the first place. If you had to change a light bulb, if you had to change a light bulb, you could do that. believe in you, Maria. I think you could... You don't know my skills. I mean, you don't know mine. They're probably terrible. So you see, like, Maria, the great break-er, and Rory the fixer. Oh, I don't know about that. You can say, like, older generation can give some advice on how to fix things.

But younger people are better at fixing modern complex gadgets. like complex technology, right? So smartphones, perhaps some laptops, computers, right? Especially if something, there's a virus in a computer or something doesn't work because of certain programs. So kind of like these kind of things. And all the people usually struggle with technology. Chad GPT doesn't work. What do we do about that? Then some questions could be about handmade things. So we say handmade clothes or clothes made by hand. Or something, some products made by hand.

Some people think that handmade clothes or products are more valuable. Like valuable? Well, they have more value because they haven't been made at a factory. They're worth more money. Like worth more money and also they're more very. for people because some other person created this thing by hand, not just at a factory. Yeah, that's pretty impressive. For me, I couldn't do it. And we talk about vintage things, vintage items are like old things, for example, vintage clothes produced in the past,

vintage books, vintage cars, vintage dresses. Oh, I have a vintage clothes. dress from the States. Very nice. Oh, very nice. Unusual materials are used. Such things have particular style. So handmade clothes are usually stylish. If you are not into fashion, as Rory, you can say, I'm not well versed in fashion. So I don't know. I have no idea why handmade clothes are more valuable. Quality matters. You can say like it doesn't matter where and how clothes were made, but quality matters. You see, careful, clothes are stylish. Clothes are valuable. Clothes which were produced in the factory or made by hand. So what's better? Again, clothes are produced or clothes have been produced at a factory. And it depends on the technicalities. So

technicalities like technical details. And then explain what you mean. If a factory uses quality materials, that's good. But if a factory uses substandard materials, materials with poor quality, so that's not good. The standard is not good. It is substandard. substandard, yeah, like below a satisfactory standard. Not good. And if such clothes fall apart in days, that's not good. But if you buy something made by a trained person, and they have a home business, so, yeah, that's much better.

And they use the quality materials, such clothes last longer. again, clothes last, clothes are of good quality. So, how are you doing, dear listener? Are you more like Rory, who fixes things and is not careless, or are you like me, the breaker, Maria the breakerer, Maria who breaks the unbreakable? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We did talk about the theme. What if you are not confident about fixing things?

So I added in some things, because sometimes we're not sure about the, these things and we have to make a guess. So, for example, when Maria asked me what kinds of people like to fix things, I said, oh, I don't know really. And then maybe here, the maybe part will be important because you're just guessing, it's like in a real conversation, if you have no idea, then you say, oh, I don't know, but maybe this, or it could be. And in the same way, when I was asked if older people should teach young people how to fix things, I said, oh, I've never really thought about it and I've certainly never seen it but I don't think so or I don't see the problem so here we talk about what we think it's not a hundred percent sure we're

just saying our opinion as we see it now and then we were asked we were talking about do handmade clothes or hell do have hand-made clothes have more value and I said hmm it could be or I guess so, but I'm not sure. And then I said, I'm not well versed in this, so I have no idea. But then I said, I don't know exactly about the specific things, but just the general things. And I talked about the general things, the generalities. So here you go.

It's like a normal conversation. You don't have to be an expert in everything. You can't just say, I don't know. And then guess, as long as it's grammatically correct, then you'll be okay. Yay. Thank you so much, Rory, for all this guessing. and uncertainty. Bye.

Bye. What kind of things are more likely to be broken by people at home? Oh, well, I mean, what aren't you likely to break? Especially if you have kids.

I suppose the most common thing is stuff like plates and glasses since they're, well, they're being handled all the time. But it could be anything, even windows, if children are playing football in the garden or something like that.

What kind of people like to fix things by themselves. I'm not a psychologist. But maybe people who are pretty independent or isolated from places and people that can fix things up for them. That could be the physical location, like someone on a mountain or in the Antarctic, or it could be financial isolation like a family that isn't so well off.

Of course, you could just be a very knowledgeable or independent person and that just comes naturally to you, so you don't really bother to do it or don't really bother to ask other people to do things for you. Do you think elderly people should teach young people how to fix things? I've never really thought about it, to be honest. I've certainly never seen it, but I don't think there's any harm in assuming the support they give is useful.

They might have some pretty sage advice about less technological things, though I'd be skeptical if, well, I'd just be skeptical about anything they had say about computers, since it's not really an area of expertise you'd expect an older person to cover. I'd be willing to be proven wrong, though. I mean, some old people are very wise about these things. Is the older generation better at fixing things? Like I said, it depends on what we're talking about. Stuff that's been around longer, like simple electrical devices, like lamps, should be pretty easy to advise on how to fix. But more modern and complex gadgets, That might be a struggle for them. It would be hard for anyone to fix, frankly speaking,

unless you have a degree or something like that. Do you think handmade clothes are more valuable? Well, it could be, I guess, especially if they're particularly vintage, or they use valuable or unusual materials or a particular style. I'm not well-versed in fashion, though, so I have no idea what specific things that might involve, just the generalities. Obviously, quality matters as well. No one wants to buy something that falls to pieces easily. Do you think clothes produced in the factory are of better quality than those made by hand?

Well, that's a pretty broad question, to be honest. So much of that depends on the technicalities of it all. I mean, a factory that uses something like substandard materials that fall apart in days of being bought, then clearly that's not much good. But if you buy something made by a barely trained person with a home business who uses good stuff but has no idea how to put things together, then that's not going to be much better. So, I suppose it's less about the process and more about how it interacts with the other parts of the equation. At least that's how it seemed to me.