In today’s post, we will learn more English with part 2 of my Canada trip story. We’ll start by learning some vocabulary to describe the place we live or a place we visit.
Audio A
(If you haven’t read part 1 yet, click HERE!)
New English vocabulary from the story
Urban vs rural (city vs countryside)
Urban is an adjective that means connected with a town or city
“I live in Tokyo. Tokyo is very big, lots of people, buildings, and businesses. Tokyo is an urban area.”
urban Oxford Learner’s Dictionary link here
Rural is an adjective that means connected with or like the countryside
“My family is from a very rural part of Ontario. The population is small and there are not many big buildings or many businesses.”
rural Oxford Learner’s Dictionary link here
Audio B
Suburb
Have you ever heard the word suburb?
“I grew up in a suburb of Toronto.”
Suburb is a noun that means an area where people live that is outside the center of a city
below (sub) a city (urban area) – suburb
suburb Oxford Learner’s Dictionary link here
Many people work in a big city but live in a suburb. In my hometown most people drove a car, the public transportation system wasn’t as big or convenient as a large city.
Public transportation (also known as public transport, public transit, or mass transit) includes city buses, streetcars, and passenger trains, subways, and ferries.
Audio C
*Now we know the meaning of suburb, let’s look at a few more examples of words with the prefix sub.
A train that runs below the ground is called a subway.
A boat that moves underwater is called a submarine.
Advanced English vocabulary from the story
A business or company that is owned or controlled by another, larger company is a subsidiary.
More info about these companies from Wikipedia below:
Feelings that affect your behavior below the level of awareness are called subconscious.
Click HERE for the Wikipedia article on Subconscious.
I enjoyed spending time with my family and being close to nature for 3 weeks, but I like living in a more urban environment.
I was happy to come back to Tokyo. It’s very exciting and very convenient too!
Your turn!
Do you live in a rural area or an urban area?
Where would you like to live? Why?
What are the good points and bad points about each?
Write a comment below and use your English!
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Hi Dave. My name is Ferran and I live in Lleida, a small town near Barcelona, in Catalonia. The weather is a bit extreme, so we have to cope with cold days in the Winter, and schorching weeks in the Summer (Like right now). Anyway, it’s a pleasant town, having the advantages of being surrounded by a beautiful countryside filled with fruit trees. And, in the other hand, lacking the disadvantages of a big city.
Thanks for your good lessons. They are very useful.
This is great Ferran! Thank you for leaving a comment.
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