Words for cities, and describing places and change
You can say where a place is and what happened to it, with the right preposition and a correct passive verb.
This unit is about cities, and much of it is about change: a factory that became flats, or a street that was closed to cars.
A sentence about change needs two things: what happened to a place, and where it is. This lesson gives you the city words first, then that grammar. You will need it in Speaking Part 3, and on the Academic paper for a Task 1 map.
Warm-up
The right word for traffic
Read the sentence and choose the word that fits it best.
At rush hour, ______ on the ring road means the drive into town takes an hour.
Words for cities
Where people live
An area where most buildings are homes. The new flats are in a quiet residential area.
The areas of houses around a city, outside the centre. Many young families move out to the suburbs.
The outer edges of a town or city. Note the preposition: on the outskirts. The hospital is on the outskirts of town.
A very tall building with many floors. My aunt lives on the twentieth floor of a high-rise.
Homes that people on ordinary incomes can pay for. The city needs more affordable housing for young workers.
With too many people for the space. Some of the older districts are badly overcrowded.
Getting around, and change
Buses, trains and trams that anyone can use. Good public transport keeps cars out of the centre.
Too much traffic, so everything moves slowly. Congestion is worst between eight and nine in the morning.
Closed to cars, so people can walk freely. The main shopping street was pedestrianised last year.
Knock down a building on purpose. The council demolished the old bus station.
Change a building so it has a new use. They converted the warehouse into flats.
Change an area by rebuilding it. The docks were redeveloped as offices and homes.
Grammar: what changed, and where
A sentence about a place that has changed usually has three parts.
One sentence, three parts
The parts, in order
The old market
was replaced by a car park
next to the station.
Was or were with a past participle is the passive. It fits here because who did the work does not matter. The place phrase often goes last, but it can go first: Next to the station, the old market was replaced by a car park.
What happened
Something new appeared. A cycle path was added along the river.
Something was taken away on purpose. The old warehouses were knocked down.
The old thing went, and something new stands in its place. The old thing comes first, the new one after by. The cinema was replaced by a supermarket.
The same building, used for something new. The fire station was converted into a restaurant. Turned into also works for open land: The car park was turned into a square.
Made bigger or wider. The main road was widened to four lanes.
The same thing, in a new place. The bus station was moved to the edge of town.
Where it is
In is inside the area, to is outside it. The park is in the north of the town. The airport is to the north of the town.
Very close, with nothing in between. The café is next to the library.
Facing it, on the other side of a road or a square. The bank is opposite the station.
With one thing on each side. The car park is between the school and the river.
Following the line of a road or a river. New flats were built along the river.
Where two streets meet. The chemist is on the corner of Mill Road and King Street.
Mistakes to watch for
- The factory demolished in 2010. The factory did not knock anything down. Add was: The factory was demolished in 2010.
- In 2010 built a new bridge. An English sentence needs a subject. Write In 2010, a new bridge was built.
- The car park was replaced by houses, when the houses were there first. The new thing comes after by: The houses were replaced by a car park.
- The cinema was turned to flats. Write turned into or converted into.
- opposite of the station: write opposite the station.
- in the north of the city, for an airport outside it: write to the north of.
Watch me do one
Two maps of one street. In 1990 there is a cinema on the corner of Mill Road. In 2020 the same corner says Flats (old cinema building).
First, what happened. The building is still there with a new use, so I need was converted into or was turned into.
Next, where: on the corner of Mill Road. I put it straight after the cinema, so the reader knows which building I mean.
Both years are in the past, so the verb is past simple passive: was converted.
My sentence: The cinema on the corner of Mill Road was converted into flats.
What I would never write is The cinema was replaced by flats. That says the cinema was knocked down, and the map says the building is still there.
Practice with Elita5 questions
One question on the words, then four on place and change.
What do they mean?
Pair each city word with its meaning.
Replaced or converted?
Read the two map labels. Then choose the sentence that describes the change correctly.
Read this1995: Bus station. 2025, on the same site: Supermarket (new building).
Which sentence is correct?
Inside or outside?
Complete the sentence with one word.
The new airport is 20 kilometres the south of the city.
Write no more than 1 word.
One sentence is wrong
These sentences describe one town in 2000 and 2020. Which one is not correct English?
Which sentence contains the error?
Two changes in one sentence
Fill each gap with two words. The library building stayed and got a new use. The petrol station was knocked down.
The old library into a gym, and the petrol station by a block of flats.
Write no more than 2 words in each gap.
Use it
Your street, then and now
Write four or five sentences about how a street or an area you know has changed.
Describe how a street, a building or an area you know has changed in the last ten or twenty years. Use at least two passive verbs from this lesson (was built, was replaced by, was converted into...) and two phrases that say where (next to, opposite, to the north of...).
0 / 50 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Before you go
Describe a change with was or were and a past participle: was built, was demolished, was converted into.
Use replaced by when the old place went, with the new one after by. Use converted into when the building stayed.
Use in the north of for a place inside an area, and to the north of for a place outside it.
Write opposite the station, with no of.
Next: Next, you read a passage about pocket parks, small green spaces in crowded cities, and complete sentences with words from it.