You promised your friend Sam a homemade birthday cake. Things have not gone entirely to plan. Restore the missing conversational expressions in your voice-note transcript.
Use each expression once. Think about the job it performs: honesty, a side note, a discovery, a small consolation, a worsening situation, a conclusion or a change of mind.
Expression bank: at least · by the way · in the end · on second thoughts · to be honest · to make matters worse · turns out
“Hi Sam! (1) ______, I’ve made a bit of a mess of your birthday cake.
(2) ______, I borrowed your mixing bowl. Hope that’s okay.
I thought I’d bought plain flour, but it (3) ______ I’d bought self-raising.
(4) ______, the cake rose beautifully. That was the high point of the day.
Then I dropped it on the floor. (5) ______, the dog ate it before I could rescue it.
(6) ______, I bought one from the bakery down the road.
I was going to pretend I’d made it myself, but (7) ______, let’s give the bakery the credit it deserves.”
Extra challenge: Tell the same story as a short, professional explanation to a colleague. Which expressions would you keep, replace or remove?
