Vocabulary and grammar: Historic homes

Vinsight Phrasal verbs

1Complete the sentences with off, out, up, after, down or about. 

• 1It's important to look  old buildings. They're often of architectural or historic interest.

• 2The famous architect Le Corbusier grew  in Switzerland.

• 3Painting the garage tired me . I need to lie down now.

• 4I want to find  about the design of kitchens in the 1920s.

• 5The invention of plastic brought  a change in the design of furniture.

• 6Sally has got a beautiful, expensive flat in the town centre. She likes showing it .

• 7I was in the attic when Sue rang. I went  the stairs to answer the phone.

• 8What time did you get  this morning? You look tired.

Vinsight Phrasal verbs

2Complete the article with the correct form of the phrasal verbs in exercise 1. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

Darwin's historic homes

The famous naturalist Charles Darwin was born in 1809. He ¹ in the Mount, a mansion that belonged to his father. When he was thirty years old, he married his cousin Emma, and they moved to Down House, a large detached house in the south of England. While he lived there, he ² very early every morning, left his bedroom on the top floor, and ³ to his laboratory. He studied animals and plants and ⁴ many amazing new things about biology. He was also very busy with his family. He and Emma had to ⁵ ten children! In the 1850s, he wrote a famous book, On the Origin of Species, which explained the theory of evolution for the first time. Many people read it and wanted to meet Darwin. However, he preferred to stay at home with his family. He didn't want to ⁶ because he was clever and famous. Besides, he was ill after writing his book. He wrote it very quickly, and it 

⁷ him . 

The book was very important though. It ⁸ a change in how we understand biology and evolution.

V Parts of a house

3Choose the best answers to the questions. 

• 1What is usually upstairs?

  the balconythe garagethe front door

• 2What is always downstairs?

  the atticthe cellarthe skylight

• 3Where is the car?

  in the garageunder the stairson the balcony

• 4What can't you open?

  the skylightthe front doorthe step

• 5What is often the highest thing in a house?

  the chimneythe balconythe garage

• 6What can you walk up, from one floor to the next?

  the stairsthe roofthe cellar

• 7What can't you put your bike in?

  the cellarthe chimneythe garage

• 8What do bungalows not have?

  a front doora roofstairs

Verbs + infinitive or -ing form

4Tim repairs and decorates old, historic houses. Read the questions from an interview with him. Choose the correct words. 

• 1What do you hate to dodoing in your job?

• 2Are you looking forward to startto starting a new job soon?

• 3What type of houses do you enjoy to workingworking on?

• 4Do you ever imagine to liveliving in a castle or a palace?

• 5What do you try not to dodoing when you decorate an old house?

5Match questions 1−5 in exercise 4 to Tim's replies a−e below. Then complete the replies with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. 

You need to use normal letters and capital letters correctly in this task.

aTim: Oh, I love  (decorate) historic mansions from the eighteenth century.

bTim: Well, I always avoid  (break) things. I'm very careful when I'm decorating.

cTim: Well, I can't stand  (paint) walls. It takes a long time!

dTim: Yes, I am. My boss promised  (give) me a new job in a very old castle next week.

eTim: Not really. I don't need  (use) my imagination. I work in these buildings every day.

6  Imagine your dream house. Answer the questions. Speak for no longer than one minute. 1 What type of house is it? 2 What special rooms does it have? 3 What do you enjoy doing in your dream house?

1.  Select Record Audio to record yourself.
2.  If you want to add a note to your teacher, write it in the Comments box.
3.  Select Submit to dropbox to send the recording to your teacher.