When you had an argument with someone

IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card 510 with Model Answer:

Describe a time when you had an argument with someone.

You should say:

• when it was
• who you had this argument with
• how it started

and explain how you felt about this.

[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 1:
Having arguments with other people is just a part of our life. So, it is only expected that I also have had my fair share of arguments with other people, and today I would like to share the story of one such argument that I had not too long ago.

It happened only about a month ago when I was talking to one of my neighbours – a neighbour who thinks that he knows better than all other people no matter what the subject is. Now, I am not too sure as to why exactly he thinks that he is smarter or more intelligent than other people, but I guess that it must have something to do with his “teaching” profession.

But, anyway, it all started when this otherwise good neighbour of mine, in a casual afternoon conversation with me, was trying to suggest that the children should not be allowed to play in their neighbourhood since they create a lot of noise. In response, all I had said was that it was better for the children to carry on playing in the playgrounds of their own neighbourhood because of safety and security reasons.

But, as soon as I expressed this opinion of mine, he seemed to have gotten a bit agitated saying that I was actually trying to prevent the children from “growing up” since I wouldn’t want them to take any risk, especially, by allowing them to go out of their own neighbourhoods and play. The argument had continued for almost 15 minutes, only to find that we didn’t have any room for any sort of agreement between us. So, in the end, we just changed the subject to call it a day.

Now, even though we changed the subject, I didn’t really feel very good about that episode of argument since it had made me say a lot of unnecessary things that were not at all related to our subject of argument. Having said that, however, it also made me feel that I was actually arguing about an issue which was important for our community.

Model Answer 2:
Thank you so much for this nice topic. This question reminds me of a time when I had an argument with someone, and that made me realise that arguments can sometimes be devastating, and if we don't stop such arguments, they can have serious consequences.

Well, it was about a few months ago, and I had this argument with my best friend - "Emily". We had been friends for a long time, and we had never had a serious disagreement before. But this time it was different.

The argument started when we were discussing a mutual friend's relationship troubles. I had a different perspective on the situation than my friend did, and we ended up getting into a heated debate about it. I was trying to point out that our mutual friend should end the relationship that is somewhat toxic in nature, but she disagreed and was trying to counter my argument that I possibly don't understand a serious relationship.

At first, I felt frustrated and upset because I couldn't understand why my best friend couldn't see my point of view and was trying to debase me. I felt like my friend was not listening to me and was only focused on her perspective. As the argument continued, I grew angrier and more frustrated as I began to believe that she was trying to violate me.

The argument lasted for at least 20 minutes, and we both said things that we regretted. However, after some time, we were able to cool down and talk things through. We both apologised for our behaviour. The argument made me realise that we should sometimes keep our opinions to ourselves, especially about relationships, because people, even our best friends, will have different opinions.