A description of my house – A1 English writing

A description of my house

When you write about your home you can write about:

• where it is
• the different rooms in your home
• what is in each room

Vocabulary

Check some vocabulary related to rooms and furniture or appliances before writing the essay. Here you can see some useful words:

Prepositions

Use these prepositions and phrases to describe where you live. You should review prepositions of place before writing this essay.

• I live in a small house/big apartment.
• The house is in/on a quiet street.
• It’s near/not far from the train station.
• There’s a garden behind the house.
• It’s a ten-minute walk to/from the town centre.

Tip: When we say a ten-minute walk, a twenty-minute walk, etc. we use a number + a hyphen (–) + the word minute in the singular.

There is/are

Use there is/are to write about the things in or near your home.

Use there is with singular nouns. Use a before the singular noun. The negative form is there isn’t.

• There is a bus stop near the apartment.
• There isn’t a bath in the bathroom.

You can shorten there is to there’s.

• There’s a single bed in the guest bedroom.

Use there are with plural nouns. We often use some or a number before the noun.

• There are two bedrooms in the flat.
• There are some books on the shelf.

In negative sentences, we use any, NOT some.

• There aren’t any towels in the guest bedroom.

Has/Has got

You can also use has or has got to write about what is in the house. The negative form is doesn’t have or hasn’t got.

• The flat has WIFI. The flat doesn’t have WIFI.
• The house has got a garden. The house hasn’t got a garden.

Just/Only

You can use just or only when there are a small number of things. Look where just and only go in a sentence.

• There’s just one bedroom. / There’s only one bedroom.  
• The flat only has one bedroom. / The flat just has one bedroom
• The house has only got a shower, not a bath. /   The house has just got a shower, not a bath.

With

Use with to add extra information about a home, room, or piece of furniture.

• I live in a small house with a big garden.
• There’s a kitchen with three chairs.
• There’s a cupboard with five shelves.

Some useful adverbs

Start your sentence with one of these adverbs to talk about different parts of your home.

• Upstairs, there are three bedrooms.
• Downstairs, there is a kitchen and a living room.
• Inside, there are five rooms.
• Outside, there is a garden.

Lists

When we write about our homes we often include lists. Look at the list below.

• In the living room, there is a sofa, two armchairs and a television.

To contrast between positive and negative things in a list, use but.

• The bathroom has a bath, a toilet and a washbasin, but it doesn’t have a shower.
• There’s a microwave, a washing machine and a fridge-freezer, but there isn’t a dishwasher.