Vocabulary Focus. 1 Characterize the following types of houses which have not been mentioned previously

2 Study the kinds of flats given below. Speak on their good and bad points. Which one is more to your liking?

· A basement is a part of a building consisting of rooms that are partly or completely below the level of the ground.

· A bed-sitter, (formal bed-sitting room) is a rented room which has a bed, table, chairs and somewhere to cook in it; a combined bedroom and living room, especially one that is rented and serves as somebody’s residence.

· A maisonette is a small apartment on two levels which is part of a larger building but has its own entrance.

· A penthouse is a luxurious apartment or set of rooms at the top of a hotel or tall building.

· A self-contained flat has everything that is needed within itself (its own kitchen, bathroom, and entrance).

· A studio (UK also studio flat, esp. US studio apartment) can also be a small apartment designed to be lived in by one or two people. It usually has one large room for sleeping and living in, a bathroom and possibly a separate kitchen.

3 Draw a plan of a house and point out where the following parts are situated.

a. attic e. ground floor i. backyard

b. loft f. basement j. gate

c. balcony g. cellar k. fence

d. first floor h. porch l. front door

4 All of the words below can be used instead of live. Using a dictionary if necessary, match them with their definitions.

a. inhabit c. occupy e. settle g. lodge

b. reside d. squat f. stay h. dwell

1) to start to live in a place (after moving from somewhere else)

b. occupy 2) [of large groups of people or animals] to live in a country or area

c. settle 3) to live in a place for a while as a visitor or guest

d. lodge 4) [ formal ] to have one’s home in a place

e. reside 5) to be in (a house or room)

f. squat 6) [ literary or old use ] to live in a place

g. stay 7) to stay in someone else’s home in exchange for paying rent

h. dwell 8) to live in an unused building without permission and without paying rent.

5 Complete the following sentences with the missing words which answer the question ‘Where do they live? ’.

1) Most English families live in a h……….. house

2) A king lives in a p………….…..…....……….

3) A monk lives in a m………….....…...……….

4) A nun lives in a c……………..…...………….

5) Soldiers lives in a b…………...…….………..

6) A prisoner lives in a c………..…….…………

7) A gipsy lives in a c...........................................

8) An Eskimo lives in an i………….…..……….

9) A bee lives in a h………….….…....…………

10) A bird lives in a n………….…...…..……….

11) A dog lives in a k…………..…..…..……….

12) A horse lives in a s…………....…….………

13) A pig lives in a s…………….…..……………

14) A spider lives in a w…………....…….………

6 Fill in the blanks with the words of the same root. The first is given as an example.

7 A Make two lists of words, word combinations and set expressions with the words ‘home’ and ‘house’. Use a dictionary if needed.

e.g. home house

homework housework

home town/country/land household

homecoming housing

home-made housewife

Continue these lists as long as you can.

B Write down six sentences of your own using any items from the lists above.

8 Read the text below and do the tasks that follow.

The well-known saying, ‘An Englishman’s home is his castle’, illustrates the desire for privacy and the importance attached to ownership which seem to be at the heart of the British attitude to housing.

Flats are not popular just because they do not give enough privacy. As important as privacy is the opportunity of individual self-expression. People like to choose the colour of their own front door and window frames, and also to choose what they are going to do with a little bit of outside territory, however small that may be.

The possibilities of displaying individuality, offered by the front garden, are almost endless. In any one street, some are paved, some are full of flowerbeds with paths in between, others are just patches of grass, others are a mixture of these.

Just as the British idea of home is a mental concept as much as a physical reality, so is the idea of domestic comfort. The important thing is to feel cosy – that is, to create an atmosphere which seems warm even if it isn’t really warm.

Despite the reverence they tend to feel for ‘home’, British people have little deep-rooted attachment to their house as an object, or to the land on which it stands. It is the abstract idea of ‘home’ which is important, not the building. This will be sold when the time and price is right and its occupiers will move into some other house which they will then turn into ‘home’ – a home which they will love just as much as they did the previous one.

Most British people do not ‘belong’ to a particular place, nor are they usually brought up in a long-established family house to which they can always return. Perhaps this is why they are not usually content to rent their accommodation. Wherever they are, they like to put down roots. So, the desire to own the place where you live is almost universal in Britain.

B Give word-combinations, using the adjectives in the box and any nouns that match them:

own private individual mental domestic cosy

particular abstract content physical universal

e.g. own (house; family; experience; duty; fate)

C Discuss with your partners what ‘privacy’ and ‘self-expression’ mean.

D Speak on the mental and physical components of the British concept of ‘home’.

9 Comment on the following English proverbs. Give their Russian or Belarusian equivalents.

· Men make houses and women make homes.

· An Englishman’s home is his castle.

· Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

· Charity begins at home.