Cue Card # 114: When you bought a book as a gift item

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card # 114

Describe a time when you bought a book as a gift item.

You should say:

• when it was
• what book it was
• for whom you bought it

and explain why you bought this book as a gift.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you are going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer:

Not sure about others, but I have always considered the job of buying gifts for children to be a very challenging thing since they are usually the toughest to please. So, when I was told by one of my colleagues that his daughter’s 8th birthday was coming soon, I knew that I was in for big trouble.

But, trouble or not, I knew that I needed to find a perfect gift item for the 8-year-old girl since she has been very much like my own daughter to me for the last couple of years or so. But, it was easier being said than being done since I already knew that the little girl had pretty much all kinds of things in her room to make her happy.

So, I started to search for perfect gifts in all kinds of markets. In fact, this search had continued for well over a week at the end of my office hours, only to find out, of course, that I still couldn’t make up my mind about the perfect gift. I even searched on the internet for hours and days, but the result was the same as I just couldn’t find anything that I would like as great gift item for an eight years old girl. Then, it suddenly hit my mind that buying a nice ‘storybook for children’ would be a great idea since I knew that the girl loved reading books, and they were not just some books on art lessons or math puzzles, but they were also storybooks. So, I just went to a bookstore and bought a nice storyteller for children.

Anyway, I bought the storybook, which was just loved by the 8-year-old, primarily because I wanted to surprise the girl with some unique gifts, instead of just some conventional gift items. I bought the book also because I thought that it would help her become more intellectually sound and smart. Finally, I also wanted her to think that I put a lot of my efforts and thoughts before choosing a gift for her.