📙 Part 2: Describe a tall building you like or dislike

This episode's vocabulary

Stand out (phrasal verb) – to be very noticeable. → One building that does stand out in my mind is the one on the waterfront.

Anonymous looking (adj) – having no unusual or interesting features. → It's just this sort of anonymous looking block that utterly lacks character.

Lacks character (verb phrase) – to be boring and without interesting features. → The building lacks character and has ruined the skyline.

Ruin the skyline (verb phrase) – to spoil the view of the buildings or mountains that you see against the sky. → This ugly new block has basically ruined the skyline and the views.

Your guess is as good as mine (idiom) – something you say when you do not know the answer to a question. → What's it used for? To be honest, your guess would be as good as mine.

Substantive (adj) – dealing with real, important, or serious matters. → The work going on there is certainly not anything substantive.

Smack bang in the middle (idiom) – exactly in the centre of something. → It's also smack bang in the middle of all the other cooler buildings.

A real shame (phrase) – used to say that something is disappointing. → That's a real shame because so much effort has been put into the area.

Nondescript (adj) – very ordinary, or having no interesting or unusual features. → I can't describe it further than just by saying it's this pretty nondescript office block.

Utility (noun) – the quality of being useful. → It has absolutely no utility, or at least no utility is evident.

Dull as dishwater (idiom) – extremely boring. → The design is just dull as dishwater.

Wreck (verb) – to destroy or badly damage something. → So much effort has been put into the area, only to have this thing here to wreck it all.

Eyesore (noun) – an unpleasant or ugly sight in a public place. → It's an absolute eyesore and I hope they don't approve anything else like that.

Devoid of life (phrase) – to lack or be without something that is necessary or usual (in this case, people/activity). → The building is devoid of life; there is no life inside.

Put up (phrasal verb) – to build something. → The one that does stand out is the one they put up on the waterfront.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Describe a tall building you like or dislike. You should say what it's used for, where it is, what it looks like, and explain why you like or dislike it. Rory, hello.

Rory: Hello.

Maria: Give us your story.

Rory: Well, normally I don't take notice of buildings, really, but one that does stand out in my mind right now is the one they put up on the waterfront of my hometown. I don't actually know what it's called, it's just this sort of anonymous looking block that utterly lacks character and has basically ruined the skyline and the views there. Speaking about what it's used for specifically, to be honest, your guess would be as good as mine. I don't ever see many people there and it seems like there's just a cluster of charity offices at the base of the thing, and not much going on at the higher levels of the place. I think they must run their operations out of there or something, but it's certainly not anything substantive, or at least not whenever I've been there. If we consider exactly where it is, well, not only is it on the waterfront surrounded by all these other much cooler buildings, or at least cooler looking, it's also smack bang in the middle of them to the extent that it blocks out the views entirely from some, well, at least from some angles. And that's a real shame because so much effort has been put into it with the area, only to have this thing here to wreck it all. So, that's not great. And when I think about what it looks like, I can't describe it further than just by saying it's this pretty nondescript office block. I've no idea who approved it, but they must have been bribed or something because it has absolutely no utility, or at least no utility is evident. And the design is just dull as dishwater. As far as why I dislike it so much is concerned, other than wrecking the waterfront, it's just a huge visual reminder of how our town council is run by people who don't really think about how the area looks or should be managed. It's an absolute eyesore and I hope they don't approve anything else like that anytime soon.

Maria: Yay! Thank you, Rory, for your story.

Discussion

Maria: Right, dear listener. So the task could be describe a tall building you like, describe a tall building you dislike, describe an interesting building, describe a building that's you've recently seen. So, a building, dear listener. And now you should make up a story about a building. Okay? Or could be kind of describe an interesting building, unusual building, a famous building, but your story could be about one building, okay? And then you kind of adapt it to the task. You can start off with, I don't really take notice of buildings. I just don't look at buildings, all right? They're not my thing. But one building that stands out in my mind, that I remember vividly, is a museum, is a new block of flats, a house, is a restaurant, could be any building. I don't know what it's called. You may not know the name. So, just an anonymous looking block.

Rory: If something looks anonymous, it's like it doesn't have anything that stands out to give it a name.

Maria: Yeah, it doesn't have a name. Or I don't know the name. It's just a block of flats. Or maybe it's a skyscraper, a tall building. We call it a skyscraper. A skyscraper with offices, a block of offices. Rory talks about something that he dislikes. So he uses negative adjectives and phrases. So this building lacks character. So it's just ordinary, it's not interesting, it's boring.

Rory: Nothing stands out.

Maria: Nothing stands out. The building lacks character. And even worse, the building ruined the skyline and views. So the skyline is this view of the city. And if something sticks out, so it's ugly, it's not pretty, so it's just, oh, it ruins the view. So you can say this building ruined the skyline or present perfect has ruined the skyline. Has ruined the view. Speaking about what it's used for. So, we're talking about next, the next bullet point. To be honest, I don't know. Your guess would be as good as mine. Yeah, you tell me. I don't know, and it's okay to say I don't know. Or speaking about what it's used for, it's a restaurant, it's a museum, it's a library, a bank. A block of flats. If you talk about a usual house with flats, we call it a block of flats. Or it's just a house. But again, you are talking about a tall building, dear listener, right? So not like two stories, not two floors, but a tall building. There is not much going on there. So there is no activity in the building. It's new, it's empty. Or you say,

Rory: it's devoid of life. There is no life inside.

Maria: Maybe only ghosts. Ooh.

Rory: Spooky.

Maria: Yeah, or you can say, it's crowded, it's a big shopping mall. Dear listener, you can imagine a building. Or you can just steal Rory's story and talk about this mysterious, anonymous block of something we don't know. As for where it is, it is in the center. It is in front of my house. It is by the river. It is in Paris. Actually, it's Louvre. No, Louvre is not tall. What's a famous building that's tall?

Rory: The Tower of London.

Maria: Or the Eiffel Tower.

Rory: Oh, the Eiffel Tower, there.

Maria: Is it the building?

Rory: Yes.

Maria: Yeah, the Eiffel Tower, dear listener. Yeah, tall buildings, yeah, usually Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Empire State building. Yeah, you can talk about a building, a tall building that you like. But famous tall buildings, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the Empire State Building, Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. But if you don't know any of them, you can talk about a tall building in your city, for example.

Rory: And you can just say you don't know what it's called, but it's hideous or it's ugly.

Maria: Yeah, hideous, ugly. Or it is beautiful, spectacular, it's pretty.

Rory: I just don't know what it's called.

Maria: An anonymous skyscraper. It's surrounded by other blocks of flats. So passive voice, it is surrounded by other buildings or, it's surrounded by trees. What do you call a building which is not tall?

Rory: Short? No. It's, it's not very high.

Maria: Yeah. It's surrounded by not very high buildings. So, high buildings? Small? Can you say small buildings?

Rory: Smaller buildings, there we go.

Maria: You talk about a building you dislike, so you can say that, oh, that's a real shame they've built it. So that's a shame that, now it's a pity, I don't like it. It's a shame it was built, or it has been built. It's disappointing, yeah? So it's disappointing that it has been built. Or it was built.

Rory: Or it was put up.

Maria: It was put up. There we go, yeah.

Rory: Ah, phrasal verb.

Maria: When I think about what it looks like, it's ta-ta-ta. So the final question, what it looks like. It could be confusing because you might think, oh, why I like it. No, no, no. Describe what it looks like. So it looks awful, it looks amazing. And we say, when I think about what it looks like, it's a usual office block.

Rory: It's nondescript.

Maria: Yeah, it's ordinary, it's hideous, ugly. Not pretty. It has no utility. So, no utility, no use. You utilize something, means use something. So it has no utility, no use, no service. And the design is just dull. The design of the building. Dull means boring, but Rory says the design is just dull as dishwater.

Rory: Usually that's used to describe a boring person, but here, it's not.

Maria: Yeah, dull as dishwater, dishwater. It's tedious, it's boring. So, do I say, this teacher is dull as dishwater? Dishwater. Okay. So you wash the dishes, dear listener, right? You wash the dishes and then the water that comes from dirty dishes, so this is dishwater. Dishwater. As dull as dishwater.

Rory: Or maybe just say it's dull and that will be enough.

Maria: It's dull. Yeah. As far as why I dislike it, it's because da-da-da. It has no utility, it's ugly, it's hideous, it ruins the skyline.

Rory: Oh, but consider the grammar to introduce the point. I said, other than wrecking the waterfront. So I already mentioned the reason why it's annoying, it's because it ruined the waterfront, but then I introduced another one. Other than doing this, it's also that.

Maria: It's an absolute eyesore. So this is a super good word. If you dislike something and something sticks out, it's different, in a bad way. It's ugly, unpleasant, you say it's an eyesore. Eyesore, one word. As if you look at it and your eyes hurt. It was like, oh, it's disgusting, I don't like it. So this building is an eyesore. It's a real eyesore.

Rory: It's horrible to look at.

Maria: Dreadful. But you can talk about a building you really enjoy, dear listener, right? So you can prepare your bad story and prepare your good story. Lovely. Thank you very much for listening. We'll get back to you with another episode about buildings in general and architecture. Bye!

Rory: Bye.