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IELTS Speaking Task # Cue Card

Describe something useful you borrowed from another person

You should say:
• What it was
• When it was
• Who you borrowed it from
• Why you borrowed it
• Explain how you felt about borrowing the item.

SAMPLE ANSWER One-

To be honest, I avoid borrowing as much as I can. However, sometimes it becomes the need of the hour. Today, I’d like to talk about one such incident.

I work as a senior tour executive in a multinational travel company. Meeting clients and providing information about our top tourist attractions are my primary responsibilities. We have a large customer base and this keeps me very busy on most of the days. Normally, the workload is manageable but it increases considerably during the peak seasons.

I can vividly recall a day when four 1-hour presentations were scheduled in the first half of the day. Fortunately, three of them went smoothly without any problem. But, in the last one, my laptop stopped working. Its screen became blue and no key seemed to work. It was a helpless situation at a client site, for a moment I felt embarrassed.

Without thinking too much, I asked the audience if I could borrow a laptop from someone. A gentleman came forward and gave his laptop to me. Luckily, I had a pen drive with all the required details. Setting up the borrowed laptop and combining the data didn’t take long and I could finish the remaining presentation without any more hiccups. In the end, I apologized the organizers for the inconvenience caused and thanked everyone for their co-operation.

From the piece I just narrated, one can tell I didn’t give the action much consideration. Although looking back now, I see how this could have easily flustered me, had this occurred earlier on in my career; back when I considered relying on others to be a weakness. Now though, I didn’t feel any shame in asking for help via borrowing of that laptop, working in a team helped me understand that giving and borrowing is a big part of any team’s success.

Another Similar Cue Card

Describe a thing that you borrowed from someone that was very useful.

• What was it?
• Who you borrowed it from?
• Why you borrowed it?

And explain why it was useful.

SAMPLE ANSWER Two-

Borrowing things is way better than buying when it comes to living an economical way. I can recall many situations when I borrowed or lent things to my closed ones at the time of need.  At this point, I would like to talk about a time when I lend a market space to commence a startup business with my college friend.  

It was the time when I completed my University and had an innovative idea of starting a bakery with a friend. At that point, my parents did not support me with this idea as they wanted me to go for a more stable profession. Then, I approached my paternal uncle hoping that he could provide us with some assistance. He turned out to be so benevolent that he offered to lend me his commercial space for the bakery.  

As I mentioned earlier, my friend and I had planned to open a joint bakery in our hometown. And when my uncle offered us his place, we decided to decorate the interiors to attract more customers.

This commercial space proved to be a pragmatic choice for our business startup. As my uncle did not pressurized us much with the rent, we were able to run this place at our own pace. I’m indebted to him for his help and support. Today our patisserie is quite well known in my hometown and is running profitably.  

(233 words)

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