Page 1 of 1

something you bought but don't often use.

Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 12:32 pm
by durai
Describe something you bought but don't often use.

You should say:

what it is
when and where you bought it
what it is used for
why you bought it
and explain why you don't often use it.

Re: something you bought but don't often use.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 10:10 pm
by lmoore
Hello, Durai,
When you say “camcorder,” be sure to pronounce the “R” at the end. It sounds like you are dropping the last letter, and this can be confusing for the listener. Also, you said, “features,” but it sounded like “fee-uh-tures.” The “ea” combination is just “ee” here. As we say to children who learn to read vowel combinations in English, “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” Other than these mistakes, the pronunciation was very clear.

Your pacing was good as well. You sounded very fluent most of the time. There were a couple of instances when you had to stop and correct yourself with “I mean.” This is fine, but perhaps slowing down a little would help you concentrate on the correct verb structure and to find the words that you want to say.

The transitions you used like “Let me explain in detail,” “in short,” etc. are good. They help connect your ideas. However, I know that you know these. Try to find a few more to broaden your vocabulary a little. You sound a bit repetitious from recording to recording. I know that it doesn’t matter that you use just these transitions in your one IELTS interview, but I would challenge you to find new ones just to make yourself a better speaker in general.
Your vocabulary is sophisticated with words like “capture,” “picturesque,” and “high-pixel.” Keep using these words and find as many new ones as you can on a regular basis. Keep reading and listening to English to find at least a couple of new words a week to incorporate into your vocabulary.

As far as grammar/sentence structure goes, there were a few hiccoughs. For example, “Also, I pictured…took photos when they would be had gone on a family trip. . .” This should have been, “Also, I took photos when we went on a family trip,” or “Also, I took photos when we would all go on a family trip.” You also said, “The photos I took using this camera was terrible.” Watch the subject/verb agreement. This should just use “were” before “terrible.” In addition, you said, “The reason I don’t often use it because. . .” This should have the word “is” before “because.”

Finally, you said “This is the reason I’m not using the camcorder very often” twice and with a few reasons. This is more a coherence/organization mistake than anything else. You might have said, “This is one reason that I don’t use the camcorder very often. Another reason is that. . .” or you might have said, “These are the reasons I don’t use the camcorder very often” after you list the reasons.

Keep at it. I can see that you’re practicing hard, and it’ll pay off in the end.