Intermediate 5 | Lesson 03 | Subordinating Conjunctions - Reason

Housing and Transportation Part 1 | Part 2

Six people share the type of living situation they like and prefer.

Mixer 93 Rent or Own


Six people discuss renting a home versus owning a home.

Lindsay / United States
speakerI definitely would rather rent my own home because right now I can't imagine myself settling down and being in a permanent place for a long time. I haven't lived in one place for more than three years in the last ten years, so it's really hard for me to imagine actually owning my house and staying in there for the rest of my life.

Chris / England
speakerI think it's better to own a home. I know that it's always a big investment. You know, you have to pay a lot of money up front, but I think it's important to think of it as like a long term benefit that's going to provide you with some security when you choose to sell, or when you retire. You're gonna have somewhere to live.

Maiko / England
speakerI prefer to own a home, even though at the moment I rent an apartment, I would very much like to own a home so I can have my own garden and grow plants that I like.

Amir / Iran
speakerI believe that owning a house or owning a home is always better because land prices is something stable and most probably it will become more expensive so getting a loan and trying to own a house is much better than paying money for the rent, which goes nowhere.

Lori / Canada
speakerI would say it's better to own if you possibly can because otherwise you're just throwing money away if you're renting but I also think it's important not to tie up all your money in a home. You should enjoy yourself in other ways and not become 'house poor' as they say.

Eoin / England
speakerAt this stage in life, I think I would rather rent a home because I wouldn't want to be tied to being on one place for a long period of time. Later in life, I can imagine thought that I would like to own a property somewhere.

Mixer 52 Transportation


Find out about the transportation system in each person's city.

Ruth, England
speakerGood transportation? Not really because I'm from a small village but then if you actually go into the town itself, then things aren't too bad. There's quite a good bus system and you can get there easily on the train. We don't have a tram or anything like that but we don't need one. It's not very big anyways so we have enough transportation for all of our needs.

Akane, Canada
speakerDoes your hometown have a good transportation? Well, my hometown is Toronto and I would say that it does have a good transportation system. The highway system is quite extensive and there are buses and subway systems and long distance trains throughout. It may not be as convenient as some other countries like England or Japan, but I do think Toronto has the best transportation system in Canada.

Jeyong, South Korea
speakerI'm from Seoul, Korea and "Yes" we have a good transportation because we have a lot of buses and we have a very convenient subway which almost goes around places around Seoul area, and outside of Seoul, so basically you can reach any place by riding the subway, and buses, even though there's a big traffic, still I think it's very comfortable.

Naomi, Australia
speakerThere's actually not very good transportation in my hometown because it's very quite rural. You definitely need your own car to get around. I have a car in my hometown to get me around because actually it's on top of a mountain so there's no trains and there's only an occasional bus which is very expensive to use.

Ruth, Ireland
speakerThe transport in my hometown isn't too bad. I live quite near to the capital so there is a train that runs in and out from there. There are buses as well that run into Dublin city but sometimes they can be late or delayed.

Todd, United States
speakerYeah, San Francisco has a pretty good transportation system. The best thing about it, it's really cheap. You can go anywhere in the city for 1 dollar because once you buy a ticket for one dollar you get three transfers, so you can transfer from a bus to another bus, or a bus to the subway, so it's really efficient. Also we have the cable cars and there's pretty cool.

Subordinating Conjunctions | Reasons and Contrast

Subordinating conjunctions of reason and contrast show relationships between actions.
  1. We ate dinner early because we were hungry.
  2. Let's see a movie since we are at the cinema.
  3. She wore a coat even though it was hot.
  4. While he is smart, he is a very lazy student.
Because and since shows a reason.
  1. I have to leave because I work tomorrow.
  2. Because I work tomorrow, I have to leave.
  3. We went inside since it was raining.
  4. Since it was raining, I went inside.
Even though shows contrast between two actions.
  1. We stayed inside even though it was sunny.
  2. Even though it was sunny, we stayed inside.
  3. I passed the test even though I did not study.
  4. Even though I did not study, I passed the test.
Although contrasts ideas and means the same as even though, but it is not as flexible in usage.
  1. Although I am fat, I am very fit.
  2. Although I have a license, I never drive my car.
  3. Although I like fashion, I have few clothes.
  4. You can eat that although you will regret it.
While also contrasts ideas. It is only used to contrast ideas from the start of a sentence.
  1. While I hate vegetables, I still eat them.
  2. While I speak Japanese, I never use it.
  3. While I do like sports, I do not play them often.
  4. While you can say that, you can't mean it.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

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