Spotlight - 01.2020

EVERYDAY ENGLISH 1/2020 Spotlight 55

3. A small house with a garden
   Helen is telling Claire about how she found the house that she and her
   family will be moving into.


4. I want to help
   Claire asks Helen how she is going to organize the move.

Helen: The other thing I have to do

when I’m in Oxford next week

is to view the house we’ve

rented and take measure-

ments for curtains and shelves

and things like that.

Claire: How easy was it to find a place

to rent?

Helen: It wasn’t too difficult, but it

was time-consuming. I spent

a lot of time online looking for

good areas that were within

easy commuting distance of

the school. I saw quite a lot of

hideous flats and some beau-

tiful houses that were way

out of our price range. In the

end, we were able to narrow it

down to a small house with a

garden. It was the only one we

actually looked at and, luckily,

we got it.

Claire: I suppose property’s cheaper

in Oxford.

Helen: (laughs) It’s the UK’s least

affordable place to live.

Claire: Really? I just assumed any-

thing outside London would

be much cheaper. How are you

getting your stuff to Oxford?

Are you hiring a van or are you

getting a removal company to

move it for you?

Helen: We’re getting a removal

company, but we’re going to

pack everything ourselves.

Claire: OK. Well, once you’ve got rid

of all the stuff you don’t want

to take with you, I can come

and help you wrap dishes and

glasses and then pack boxes.

Helen: That’s a very kind offer. I

might just take you up on

that.

Claire: You definitely should. I want

to help.

Tips

⋅ When you view a house, you look at

it carefully, especially before buying

or renting it.

⋅ You might take measurements in

order to find out the size or degree of

something.

⋅ If you don’t have to travel very far

or for a long time, you can say that

a place is within easy commuting

distance of another place.

⋅ Something that is way out of your

price range (ifml.) is much too

expensive for you to afford.

⋅ When you narrow something

down, you reduce the number of

possibilities or choices.

Tips

⋅ Here, property is uncountable and

means “land and buildings”.

⋅ When you pay money in order to use

something for a short time, especially

a van or a car, you hire it.

⋅ A company that can help you move

furniture from one house to another

is a removal company.

⋅ Here, once means “as soon as”.

⋅ When you take somebody up on^

something, you accept their offer.

You’ll find a lot more words and phrases

connected to packing up and moving

house in Spotlight 14/19 (pages 48–49).

assume [E(sju:m]
, annehmen, vermuten

hideous [(hIdiEs]

, abscheulich, hässlich

removal company

[ri(mu:v&l )kVmpEni] UK

, Umzugsfirma

suppose [sE(pEUz]

, annehmen, vermuten

time-consuming

[(taIm kEn)sju:mIN]

, zeitaufwändig

wrap [rÄp]

, einwickeln

Practising the words and phrases

you’ve learned here is much more

enjoyable than packing boxes.

You’ll find related exercises in

Spotlight plus: spotlight-online.

de/spotlight-plus