English Vocabulary in Use Pre-intermediate and Intermediate » Unit 17: The place where you live

Word List
  • air conditioning
  • apartment
  • balcony
  • block of flats
  • central heating
  • character [good qualities]
  • charming
  • cottage
  • dark
  • downstairs
  • flat n
  • front door
  • heat v
  • lift n
  • light [not dark]
  • location
  • lots of character
  • move
  • on the first/second (etc.) floor
  • on the outskirts
  • own v
  • rent n, v
  • space
  • steps
  • top floor
  • upstairs
  • view
Exercises

17.1 ‣ Are the sentences about the people on the opposite page true or false? If the sentence is false, change it to make it true.

  1. They live in a house.
  2. They used to live on the outskirts of town.
    _____
  3. They own their flat.
    _____
  4. They’ve got nice views from their flat.
    _____
  5. They live on the first floor.
    _____
  6. There’s a lift in the building.
    _____
  7. A French couple live downstairs.
    _____
  8. They own a cottage.
    _____
  9. The cottage has lots of character.
    _____
  10. The cottage is quite cold.
    _____

17.2 ‣ Are these generally positive or negative features of a home?

  1. views
    • positive
    • negative
  2. dark
    • positive
    • negative
  3. air conditioning
    • positive
    • negative
  4. charming
    • positive
    • negative
  5. character
    • positive
    • negative
  6. no central heating
    • positive
    • negative

17.3 ‣ Label the pictures.

  2. _____
  3. _____
  4. _____
  5. _____
  6. _____

17.4 ‣ Complete the sentences.

  1. Our flat doesn’t have air .
  2. I live _____ the second floor, and my cousin lives _____, on the first floor.
  3. My old flat was very small, but this one has much more _____.
  4. The flat’s in a great _____: it’s near the centre of town but opposite a park and very quiet.
  5. We live on the _____ of town, but it’s only a twenty-minute walk to the centre.
  6. The flat is on the third floor, but we can sit outside on the _____.
  7. It’s a very big house, so it costs a lot of money to _____ in the winter.
  8. I’m on the second _____. I usually use the stairs, but take the _____ if I’m feeling lazy.
  9. I live in Paris. I used to live in Marseilles, but I _____ to Paris when I left university.
  10. I love my apartment. It has big windows, so it’s nice and _____ inside.

17.5 ‣

Over to you

Answer the questions about your home.

  1. Do you live in a house or flat?
  2. If you live in a flat, what floor is it on?
  3. Do you own your home or rent it?
  4. Are you in the centre, or on the outskirts of your town?
  5. How long have you lived there?
  6. Do you have these things:
    air conditioning?
    central heating?
    a balcony?

_____

Answer Key
A ‣ Location*

“We live on the outskirts of town1, and it’s a very nice location. We used to live in the centre, but we moved2 to our present flat when we had children because there’s more space3 for them to play and it has nice views4.”

* the place and position of something
1on the edge of town
2changed the place where we live
3an area that is empty or not used
4the things you can see from a place

B ‣ Our flat

“This is where we live. We rent1 a flat on the second floor. There’s a family in the flat downstairs2, and a young French couple upstairs, on the top floor. It’s a modern block of flats3, and it’s quite good, although the lift4 is small, and there’s no air conditioning5.”

1pay money every week/month to use it because it isn’t ours
2on a lower level of a building
3a building with a number of flats in it
4the machine that takes people up or down a floor
5a system that keeps the air cool

Language help

Flat is more common in British English; apartment is used in American English but is becoming more common in British English. Apartments are usually in large buildings; flats can be in a large building or part of a larger house.

C ‣ A house in the country


cottage
“My parents own1 a cottage2. It’s a charming3 house and has lots of character4, but like many old buildings, it’s quite dark (opp light), quite difficult to heat5, and it doesn’t have central heating6.”

1they bought it
2a small house, that is old and attractive, and usually found in the country
3pleasant and attractive
4it is interesting and unusual
5make warm or hot
6a system that heats a whole house

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