How To Talk About Any Place In English
There are
many different places
to travel to around the world.
Some of them are nature spots
and some of them are popular cities.
But, sometimes in English,
you’re even asked about your hometown
or somewhere you know well.
In those moments, you need this formula,
two, three, seven.
Name and location, location
in relation to other places,
and three key features or characteristics.
This is how you talk
about a place in English
and today I’m gonna teach
you exactly how to do it.
Welcome to Speak English with Tiffani.
I am teacher Tiffani, let’s jump right in.
Name and location.
Okay, so the first thing
that you want to do
when you talk about a place in English
is to state clearly which place
you will be talking about.
You also need to give a short description
of where that place is located.
So, to do this, you need two sentences,
the first part of the formula.
The first sentence involves giving
the exact name of the place.
And the second sentence requires you
to tell where the place is located.
This is New York.
New York is one of the most
popular states in America
and New York City is the hot spot
or the popular city for people to visit
from all around the world.
This right here, what you’re looking at,
is actually the Brooklyn Bridge
and if you ever have an
opportunity to visit America
and come to New York, you must
visit the Brooklyn Bridge.
It’s one of the oldest roadway
bridges in the United States.
Now, if we’re using this first section,
these first two sentences,
to talk about a place,
let’s say the question is
where is your hometown?
Now, remember, we have two
sentences for this section.
The first one is, give the
exact name of the place
and the second one is, tell
where the place is located.
So, let’s get started.
Where is your hometown?
The first sentence is, my
hometown is New York City.
And my second sentence is,
it is located in the state of New York.
So, I have answered
both of these sentences.
But, I want us to look very quickly
at something in this sentence.
It is located in dot, dot, dot.
So, you could actually use
this same sentence pattern
when you are talking about a place.
It is located in dot, dot, dot.
So remember that, okay?
All right, let’s keep going.
Now, the next section is
location in relation to other places.
So, the second thing that you want to do
when you talk about a place in English
is to explain where it is
in relation to other places.
You also need to give
details about the distance
from the other places.
You see, this requires three sentences,
the second part of the formula.
Now, the first of these
three sentences is,
to list two places that
are close to the place
you will talk about.
The second of these three sentences is,
give the distance from the first place.
Now, don’t worry, I’m gonna
explain exactly how to do this.
And the last one is, give the distance
from the second place.
Okay, now, what you’re
looking at right here
is actually Pennsylvania,
or more specifically, Philadelphia.
And this building right here is actually
the Philadelphia City Hall.
Now, Pennsylvania is near New York.
That’s why we’re looking at this.
Now, just to give you a
little bit of history,
Philadelphia City Hall
was actually constructed
from 1871 all the way to 1901.
Yep, it took a total of 30
years to build this building.
This is in Philadelphia.
Now, if we’re gonna use this and move on
to the second part of our answer,
remember the question was
where is your hometown,
this is how our response would look.
Okay, remember, there are three sentences.
List two places that
are close to the place
you will talk about.
So, it says right here,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey
are not too far from New York City.
Now, this is the first
of the three sentences
but I want you to look at
this sentences pattern.
So you see here we have
Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
So this is one and this is two.
Remember, we said talk about two places.
So, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
are not too far from
and then we have New York City right here.
So, what you will do, if
you wanna use this pattern
when you speak or when you
talk about a certain place,
you will say, place one
and place two
are not too,
are not too far from,
and then the last place is the place
you are actually talking about.
So that’s the pattern you can use.
Again, for this first one right here.
So, one and two are not
too far from dot, dot, dot.
All right, let’s keep going.
It takes about 3 1/2 hours
to get to Pennsylvania from New York.
So again, for the second sentence
we’re talking about the distance
from the first place, okay?
Now this first place is just
actually talking about New York City,
the main place that we’re discussing.
So, for this pattern you can say,
it takes about, and you can choose
the time period right here,
3 1/2 hours is the time that I chose,
to get to, remember, this right here
is gonna be one, the same one right here,
from, and this right here represents
this place right here, okay?
So, it takes about dot, dot, dot,
which is the time period, to get to,
this is the first place we’re
talking about right here
from here, okay?
Now, let’s go to the third sentence, okay?
But, so now we have a comparison,
it only takes about two hours
to get to New Jersey from New York.
So remember, the third sentence
is also talking about a distance
but we kind of wanna use a comparison
so we said but it only takes about,
so you can use the same sentence pattern.
But it only takes about, and
then you give a time period,
this time needs to be
less than this time, okay?
All right, but it only
takes about two hours
to get to, this right here is number two,
right here, number two, from New York,
okay, again New York is the
main place we’re discussing.
So again, these three sentences are a part
of the second part of our formula
and this is how you can use
these various patterns, okay?
All right, so, the next
thing we’re going to do
is look at the three key
features or characteristics.
Now, the third thing that you want to do
when you talk about a place in English
is to give the key
features or characteristics
of the place you will be talking about.
You should focus only
on three key features
or characteristics, okay,
that’s very important.
Only three key features, all right?
Now, for this section, you
need seven sentences, okay,
this is the last part of the formula.
You need seven sentences.
So, the first sentence will be,
state how many features
you will talk about, okay?
Giving a clear, clear, I guess precursor,
precursor just means giving
information in advance,
okay, to what you’re gonna talk about.
Then the second sentence
is, give the first feature.
Then the third sentence,
give more information
about the first feature.
The next sentence, give
the second feature.
Next, give more information
about the second feature
and then give the third feature
and finally, give more information
about the third feature, okay?
So, this is actually,
again, one of an examples
of the street markets in New York City.
You see, New York City is very famous
for its street markets.
People from all over the world
come to New York to shop.
They buy food.
They buy clothes.
And there are people from
all over the world there
so there are many different cultures.
Now, these New York street markets
are some of the best outdoor
shopping that one can do
in America or in the United States.
So, if you come to America,
you must visit the New York
outdoor street markets, okay?
So, if we’re gonna apply
this to the last portion
of our talk, remember,
where is your hometown,
remember there are seven sentences.
So, the first one is
state how many features
you will talk about.
So, I will say there
are three key features
of New York City.
So, you see what I did right here?
There are three key features of,
you can use this pattern.
I was very clear and very precise
when I said three
because I said we want to
state how many features,
all right, so, there
are three key features
of New York City.
The next sentence, give the first feature.
So, first New York City is known
for all of the places it has to shop.
So, in my first sentence I said,
my second, excuse me, the second sentence
talking about the first feature, okay.
Clearly understand that.
First, then I say the place,
is known for dot, dot, dot.
Now, is known for, this expression
just means is popular, okay?
This place is popular because,
so is known for.
It means that many people
know this specific thing
about this place, okay?
So, when people think of New York,
they think about these things.
So, again, let’s keep going.
Third sentence.
Many people come from all around the world
just to shop there.
So, what I’ve done is I’ve
given more information
about this feature, okay?
We talked about shopping and
then we game more information.
We said many people come
from all around the world
just to shop there.
Okay, now what I wanna
look at real quick here is
just to dot, dot, dot.
Now, this is another
way of saying because,
okay, this is short for because
but it emphasizes the reason.
Let’s see if you can write this.
Emphasizes, okay, emphasizes, all right.
Emphasizes, so, for example, I went
to the store to get water.
I may have also went to get other things
but if I want to emphasize
that I only went for water,
I could say, I went to the store
just to get water.
That’s the only reason,
okay, emphasizing it, right?
All right, let’s keep going.
So, now we’re gonna go
to the fourth sentence
which is give the second feature.
All right, so, second, it
is a melting pot of people
from many different countries.
So, again, you can just say second,
but I wanna explain this
expression right here.
Melting pot.
Now, this term melting pot
actually just means,
a place where many
cultures, say many cultures
or races
are grouped together, okay?
Are grouped together.
So they can live together
or they can just be together, okay?
Be together, live
together, or work together.
We call that a melting pot,
a place where many cultures or races
are grouped together, okay?
All right, let’s keep going.
Now we’re looking at
this sentence right here,
which is the fifth sentence, okay?
All right, so we’re gonna
give more information.
This makes New York City
a very interesting city
to live in.
So, because it’s a melting pot,
we’re saying it’s very interesting,
giving a little bit more information.
Now let’s keep going on
to the next sentence.
So it says, the third key
feature of New York City
is the nightlife.
All right, now, let me explain
what nightlife means, okay?
So, nightlife just refers to
a place that has
a lot to do at night,
okay, a lot to do,
let’s get on here, at night.
So for example, some people
like to go out to eat
but usually after 9:00
pm, things are closed,
but in New York City, things
stay open ‘till midnight
or 1:00 am or 2:00 am so for
those that want to go to a club
or they want to go to bowling
or something to do at night
whereas in other places,
those things are closed,
in New York City there’s a
lot of things to do at night.
If you wanna party or
enjoy yourself at night
with your friends, late into the night,
so we say nightlife, okay?
And let’s keep going, this is
gonna be the final sentence.
No matter what time it is,
you will always find something
to do in New York City.
So, again, giving more information
and we said no matter
what time it is, okay?
So no matter what time
it is, just means 24/7,
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It’s a kind of way of,
kind of exaggerating
that something is always open.
Now, of course, there are
times when things close
but no matter what time it is
just refers to something
always being available
or always being open, okay, no
matter what time it is, okay?
That’s how we use that.
All right, now.
This is how you would talk
about your hometown, a place.
So, again, doesn’t matter if the question
is about your hometown or any other place,
you can use this formula
two, three, seven,
to talk about any place in English.
Now, if you have yet to
receive your free ebook,
you need to go to my website to get it
and if you want to get other eBooks,
go to speakenglishwithtiffani.com/eBooks
and if you wanna study my iCourses
or study with me in my courses,
go to speakenglishwithtiffani.com/courses.
Look on the left side of your screen
and watch my next English video lesson.
And remember to always study English.