Beyond the Phrases. Lesson 5. Let me show you around

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1 Beyond the Phrases Lesson 5 Let me show you around Copyright Robert Burgess, March 2010

Common Phrases Let me show you around / Would you like a tour? This is the Over here is the I live here I share this place kitchen / living room / bathroom. alone. with a couple of friends.

2 Common Phrases Let me show you around / Would you like a tour? This is the Over here is the I live here I share this place kitchen / living room / bathroom. alone. with a couple of friends. Lesson aims Vocabulary: Rooms and features of a house or flat Grammar: Prepositions of place/ The past passive to say something was done A. Look at the house below. What type of house is this? Would you like to live in a house like this? Why? What do you think are the best and worst things about this house? Where are the vocabulary words in the picture? Vocabulary the shed the roof the garden downstairs a wall the front door the bedroom the garage the bathroom the kitchen the utility room the living room the driveway a window upstairs My Room Fully furnished Rent = 300 per month Rent due = Housemates Bills Gas Electricity B. Ola, a girl from Poland, is moving into this house. Listen to the conversation between her and her landlord and answer the questions below. 1. What does Ola think about: The kitchen? 2. The bathroom? The living room? Upstairs? What is she unsure about? C. Listen to the recording again and complete Ola s notes on the left. Copyright 2010, Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases 2

3 1. Match the words on the left from the recording with their meanings on the right. Rent Mortgage Landlord Tenant Due date Instalments Bills Electricity Gas Housemates Someone who lives in a house belonging to someone else Money that we must pay each month for certain services The people that you share a house with Money that we must pay each month to stay in a house A loan we take out to buy a house Something that s used to heat houses and cook The person who owns a house When we must pay something (a bill or rent) Paying for something slowly in small pieces Something that s used to light homes and operate appliances 2. This recording talked a lot about where things are. To do this, it used some very important words called prepositions. Match the pictures below with the correct word and then use this to complete the plan of Ola s house. behind above next to on opposite over in under between Listen to the recording again and complete the plan of the house below. Downstairs Upstairs Dining room Master bedroom Stairs Claude s room En suite bathroom Utility room Toilet Hallway Study Ola s room Landing Front garden Copyright 2010, Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases 3

1. Using this map, complete the sentences below.

The stairs are the hallway. Lisa s room is Claude s room.

Can you use these prepositions and rooms to describe your own

How are the rent and other bills paid for in your house? 3.

What is the difference between this correct word and the two

) Which of these are most important when finding somewhere to

Utility room Driveway Corridor Outhouse Pantry Off-street

4 1. Using this map, complete the sentences below. Ola s room is the bathroom. Ola s room is the living room. The stairs are the hallway. Lisa s room is Claude s room. The study is Lisa s room. The garden is the house. 2. Can you use these prepositions and rooms to describe your own house? Say: What rooms are in your house? Where are these rooms? How are the rent and other bills paid for in your house? 3. Look at the pictures below, all of which show different features of a house. Decide which of the three words describes each picture best. What is the difference between this correct word and the two alternatives? (Use a dictionary to help you.) Which of these are most important when finding somewhere to live? A B C D Hallway Bathroom Kitchen Garage Landing En suite Utility room Driveway Corridor Outhouse Pantry Off-street parking E F G H Chimney Basement Veranda Balcony Central heating Loft/attic Patio Mezzanine Fireplace Cellar Conservatory Porch Copyright 2010, Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases 4

5 The extract below is taken from Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Read the extract and decide: What is so unusual about Menachem s house? Why does it take four minutes to walk from one cellar to the other? What work has Menachem had done recently? What is his favourite thing about the house? What are his hopes for the house? The house was actually two houses, connected at the attic when Menachem s risky trout venture proved so remarkably lucrative. It was the largest house in Trachimbrod, but also the least convenient, as one might have to climb and descend the three flights of stairs and pass through 12 rooms in order to get from one room to another. It was divided by function: the bedrooms, children s playroom and study in one half, the kitchen, dining room and lounge in the other. The cellars one of which housed the impressive wine racks, which, Menachem promised, would one day be filled with impressive wines, the other used as a quiet place for Tova s sewing were separated by only a brick wall, but were, for all practical purposes, a four-minute walk apart. The Double House revealed every aspect of its owner s new affluence. A veranda was half completed, jutting like broken glass off the back. Marble newels of idle spiral staircases connected floors to ceilings. The ceilings were raised on the lower flowers, rendering the third floor rooms liveable only for children and midgets. Porcelain toilets were installed in the outhouse to replace the seatless brick stools on which everyone else in the village took shits. The perfectly good garden was uprooted and replaced with a gravel walk, lined with azaleas that were cut too short to flower. But Menachem was most proud of the scaffolding: the symbol that things were always changing, always getting a little better. He loved the skeleton of makeshift beams and rafters more and more as construction progressed, loved them more than the house itself and eventually persuaded the reluctant architect to draw them into the final plans. Workers, too, were drawn into the plans. Not workers, exactly, but local actors paid to look like workers, to walk the planks of the scaffolding, to hammer functionless nails into gratuitous walls, and to pull those nails out and examine blueprints. (The blueprints themselves were drawn into the blueprints, and in those blueprints were blueprints with blueprints ) Menachem s problem was this: he had more money than there were things to buy. Menachem s solution was this: rather than buy more things, he would continue to buy the things he already owned, like a man on a desert island who retells and embellishes the only joke he can remember. His dream was for the Double House to be a kind of infinity, always a fraction of itself - suggestive of a bottomless money pit - always approaching but never reaching completion. risky = ryzykowny venture = przedsięwzięcie lucrative = korzystny convenient = dogodny impressive = imponujący practical = praktyczny affluence = dostatek newel = poręcz midget = karzeł scaffolding = rusztowanie budowlane rafter = krokiew functionless = bez funkcji gratuitous = niczym nie uzasadniony blueprints = szczegółowy plan działania to embellish = upiększyć fraction = część Copyright 2010, Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases 5

Menachem had a lot of work done on his house. 1. Look through the text for details of the different things Menachem changed in his house and use this to complete the sentences below.

6 Menachem had a lot of work done on his house. 1. Look through the text for details of the different things Menachem changed in his house and use this to complete the sentences below. A veranda was half completed. The ceilings were on the lower flowers. Porcelain toilets were in the outhouse. The garden and with a gravel walk. Workers into the plans. 2. Who did each of the jobs above? Can we tell from the sentence? 3. Compare the following sentences: Somebody built this house in 1983.(active) This house was built in 1983.(passive) The first sentence is active. It tells us exactly who built the house. The second sentence is passive. In this sentence, the person who actually built the house is unimportant. The actual building of the house is more important. The Passive Word order is much stricter in English than in Polish. In Polish, two sentences like: Ela sprzątała kuchnię. Kuchnię sprzątała Ela. Mean exactly the same thing. In English, however, we cannot do this. English word order is fixed in active sentences. Subject + Verb (conjugated) + Object Ela cleaned the kitchen yesterday. Ela is cleaning the kitchen now. Ela won t clean the kitchen tomorrow. Sometimes, however, the object of a sentence is more important than the subject, or we don t want to mention the subject for some reason. In this case, we need to use a passive form. Object + to be (conjugated) + verb (past participle) The room was cleaned (by Ela). The room is being cleaned (by Ela). The room won t be cleaned (by Ela). Note: we don t need to say by Ela. The sentence makes sense without it. As you can see, this rule applies to almost any tense in English. Copyright 2010, Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases 6

A. Look at these before and after pictures.

BEFORE AFTER The car was yellow The car is now black A mechanic painted the car black a few days

Yesterday, Mathew s hair was long. Today it is short. A hairdresser cut Mathew s hair yesterday.

A watchmaker fixed this clock last week. This clock by a. 3.

The photographer modified this picture. This picture by a. B.

Decide which is which and fill the gaps with the correct form. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

He and his sister (bring up) by their grandparents. I saw an accident last night.

7 A. Look at these before and after pictures. For each one, change the active sentence into its correct passive form. Follow the example below. BEFORE AFTER The car was yellow The car is now black A mechanic painted the car black a few days ago. The car was painted black a few days ago by a mechanic. BEFORE AFTER 1. Yesterday, Mathew s hair was long. Today it is short. A hairdresser cut Mathew s hair yesterday. Mathew s hair by a. 2. Last week, this clock was broken. Now is works. A watchmaker fixed this clock last week. This clock by a. 3. The photographer wasn t happy with the original picture. Now he is. The photographer modified this picture. This picture by a. B. The following sentences all contain both passive and active verbs. Decide which is which and fill the gaps with the correct form Richard s parents (die) when he was very young. He and his sister (bring up) by their grandparents. I saw an accident last night. Somebody (call) an ambulance but nobody (injure) so the ambulance (not need). Where (these photographs / take)? In London? (you / take) them, or did somebody else? Sometimes it was very noisy living in London, but it wasn t a problem for me. I (not bother) by it. To be honest, the quiet in Wrocław (bother) me more! (Bill fire) from his job or (he resign)? Copyright Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases,

4. 5. B. This is the same house as in the first picture, but some things have changed.

8 A. Look at this picture of a house for 60 seconds and try to remember as much as you can. Cover the page. Can you describe where everything is in the house? 1. The bedroom is upstairs above the living room. It is next to the bathroom B. This is the same house as in the first picture, but some things have changed. Last year, the owners hired people to do some work on the house the house. What changes were made? 1. The wall in the living room was painted white Copyright 2010, Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases 8

Glossary Inspired by: Grammar Games and Activities for Teachers (Peter Watcyn-Jones, Penguin, 1995) English Grammar in Use (Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press, 2004) Everything is

9 Glossary Inspired by: Grammar Games and Activities for Teachers (Peter Watcyn-Jones, Penguin, 1995) English Grammar in Use (Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press, 2004) Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin, 2002) All images taken from google image search. All copyrights respective to their owners. ANSWERS Page 2 A It s a detached house. B 1. She thinks the kitchen is enormous. The bathroom is cosy. The living room is quaint because there is a fireplace. The upstairs is messy/untidy. 2. She didn t know there was a pet iguana in the house. C Fully furnished. Rent = 300 per month. Rent due = last Friday of each month. Lisa - very friendly and organised. Matthew & Elaine - everyone likes them. Claude - he s new. French. Gas - = 20 pcm. Box is behind the door. Electricity = 30 pcm Council tax =? Page 3 Rent = Money that we must pay each month to stay in a house Mortgage = A loan we take out to buy a house Landlord = The person who owns a house Tenant = garage utility room bathroom kitchen roof front door bedroom living room Someone who lives in a house belonging to someone else garden shed Due date = When we must pay something (a bill or rent) Instalments = Paying for something slowly in small pieces Bills = Money that we must pay each month for certain services Electricity = Something that s used to light homes and operate appliances Gas = Something that s used to heat houses and cook Housemates = The people that you share a house In,On,Under, Over, Opposite, In front, Behind, Between, Next to Dining Utility room room Landing stairs Hallway Front garden Study Toilet Ola s room Claude s en room suite Page 4 1. Ola s room is next to the bathroom. Ola s room is above the living room. The stairs are in the hallway. Lisa s room is opposite Claude s room. The study is below Lisa s room. The garden is in front of the house. 3. A Corridor, B Outhouse, C Utility room, D Garage, E Fireplace, F Cellar, G Patio, H mezzanine Page 5 1. It s two houses joined together. It s the largest in the village. 2. The two houses are joined together only at the attic 3. He has had a veranda and lots of pointless staircases built. He has also had the ceiling lowered and the garden uprooted. 4. He loves the scaffolding because it reminds him that things are always getting better. 5. He wants it to represent infinity - always nearing but never reaching perfection. Page 6 1. A veranda was half completed. The ceilings were raised on the lower flowers. Porcelain toilets were installed in the outhouse. The garden was uprooted and replaced with a gravel walk. Workers were drawn into the plans. Page 7 1. Mathew s hair was cut yesterday by a hairdresser. 2. This clock was fixed last week by a watchmaker. 3. This picture was modified last week by a photographer. 1. Richard s parents died when he was very young. He and his sister were brought up by their grandparents. 2. I saw an accident last night. Somebody called an ambulance but nobody was injured so the ambulance wasn t needed. 3. Where were these photographs taken? In London? Did you take them, or somebody else? 4. Sometimes it was very noisy living in London, but it wasn t a problem. I wasn t bothered by it. To be honest, the quiet in Wrocław bothers me more! 5. Was Bill fired from his job or did he resign? Page 8 A. The bedroom is upstairs above the living room. 2. The kitchen is next to the dining room, above the basement and below the bedroom. 3. The bathroom is between the two bedrooms. 4. The dining room is in the middle of the house. It is below the bathroom and between the living room and the kitchen. B. The wall in the living room was painted white. 2. The chimney was removed 3. The wall in the kitchen was knocked down. 4. A patio was built. 5. The basement was converted. stairs Master bedroom Copyright Robert Burgess Beyond the Phrases,

ENGLISH FILE Elementary

ENGLISH FILE Elementary Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation A GRAMMAR 1 Complete the sentences with the correct word or phrase. Example: We went to Rome last week. were went go 1 Did they enjoy the party? Yes, they. enjoyed