Page 105 - English Vocabulary in Use (Pre & Intermediate)

4-9 Homes and buildings

front
front door
doorbell
fence gate

semi-detached house terraced houses

-B Flats

I live in a block of flats.
My brother lives on the ground floor,
balcony
and I have a flat on the third floor.
have to climb three flights of stairs to
Unfortunately there is no lift, so I
reach my flat. But I do have a balcony
my flat with a wonderful view of the park
my brother’s opposite the flats.
flat

steps
Note: Steps are usually outside a building or inside a public building; they are stone or
wooden. Stairs (p/) connect floors inside a building and are often covered with a carpet.

C¢_ Buying and renting

Some people buy a flat or house (= they own it / it belongs to them). When they do this in
Britain, people usually borrow money from a bank or an organisation called a Building
Society. This money, which is called a mortgage, is often paid back over 25 years.
Other people rent a house or flat (= they pay money every week or month to the person
who owns the house). When they do this, the money they pay is called the rent, and the
person who owns the house or flat is the landlord.

_D Describing a flat or house
The rooms on the ground floor are quite dark (# light) because they don’t get (= receive)
very much sun. They are also quite noisy (# quiet) because they are near the roads and the
traffic. The other negative thing is that the rooms are draughty (= cold air comes into the
room through the windows and under the doors because they don’t fit very well). This
means it is expensive to heat the rooms (= to keep the rooms warm). Fortunately I have a
very good central heating system. In other ways, it is also very nice: it’s in good condition (=
in a good state/doesn’t need to be repaired; 4 in bad condition), and the rooms are
huge/enormous (= very, very big; ¥ tiny / very, very small)

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English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate)