Learn English: “I live... at? on? in? near? close to?”

35,163 views ・ 2025-05-24

Learn English with Rebecca


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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In this lesson, you will learn how to answer the simple question, "Where do you live?"
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Now, when somebody asks you that question, of course, you know where you live, but in
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order to express that correctly in English, we need at least possibly up to nine different...
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Nine different prepositions.
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Okay?
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So, let's look at what they are.
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You don't need all of them, but you need different ones depending on what you're trying to say.
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So, let's look at what they are.
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Now, the first three, "at", "on", and "in", I've actually covered in a separate lesson
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where we focus just on "at", "on", and "in", and I'll give you a link to that lesson in
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the lesson description.
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Okay?
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But here, we're going to cover lots of other options as well.
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So, let's look at how to answer this question, "Where do you live?"
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Okay.
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So, let's start over here.
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We could say, "I live at 25 Main Street."
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So, we use "at" when we're being very specific.
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Okay?
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Exactly, like the exact point.
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I live at 25 Main Street.
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I live at the corner of Main and Bay Street.
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Okay?
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It's also very specific.
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Right?
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Okay?
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I live at the intersection.
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Okay?
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At the intersection where two roads cross, at the intersection of Main and Bay Streets.
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So, here, we're using "at" whenever you're talking about something very specific.
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All right?
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Got that?
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Let's go to the next one.
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This one is used quite a lot.
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I live in.
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So, here, you kind of have the idea of, like, in something.
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Okay?
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In, it could be inside, but let's look at all of the options for "in".
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So, we could say, "I live in an apartment."
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I live in a condominium.
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Condominium is just an apartment that you or somebody owns.
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Okay?
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I live in a house.
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I live in Los Angeles.
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So, we use "in" also to talk about the city, okay, where you live.
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I live in California, to talk about the state where you live.
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I live in the US, to talk about the country that you live in.
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So, "in" covers a lot of different possibilities, but you're in these places.
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Okay?
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So, make sure you get that right.
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And in case you do live in the US, make sure that you're saying "the US".
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Okay?
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Okay?
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We use "the" before the names of certain countries, like the Philippines, the US, and so on, but
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not in... before many, most countries.
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Like, we say, "I live in Canada."
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Right?
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"I live in France."
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"I live in Germany."
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There's no "the" there.
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But many people forget to put "the" before "US".
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Okay?
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Next, if you're talking about something, like, kind of horizontal, okay, then we say, "I
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live on", "on the 7th floor", "on the 5th floor", "on the 1st floor".
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Now, you...
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Remember, you're saying "first", "second", "third".
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Okay?
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So, also, in terms of the numbers, don't say, "I live on the 1 floor."
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No.
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"The 1st floor."
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Okay?
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But "on a certain floor".
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And if you're just giving the name of the street, then we say, "on Main Street".
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Here, it was very specific.
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Right?
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So, this is Main Street, and I live at 25 Main Street.
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But I live on Main Street.
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Okay?
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So, that's "on".
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Next, who do you live with?
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You might want to be sharing that.
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So, I live with my family.
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I live with my parents.
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I live with my roommates.
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I live with my wife and children.
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I live with my husband and kids.
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Okay?
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Or maybe you don't live with anyone, so then we have the option, "I live alone."
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Okay?
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That's not a preposition; that's just a statement.
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All right?
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All right.
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So, here we have the most common prepositions that you're going to need to talk about, the
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most basic information that you need to give when somebody asks you, "Where do you live?"
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Okay?
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Okay?
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And depending on who's asking you and what the context is, you're going to need different
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answers.
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All right?
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Now, perhaps you're giving somebody directions and they want to get an idea of the neighborhood,
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so you might need some other prepositions.
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Let's look at some of these.
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I live near a mall.
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Right?
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A shopping center.
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A mall.
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Or, I live near the subway.
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Okay?
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Now, what's important?
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When these two words, "near" and "close to", they both mean the same thing.
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It means not far away from, but pretty close.
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But what's important is that many people make a mistake and they say "near to".
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That's wrong.
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Or, they forget to say "to" here.
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So, you need to say, "I live near the mall" or "I live close to the mall".
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"I live near the subway" or "I live close to the subway".
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Okay?
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Good.
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Now, what you'll do later is I'll give you an idea how you can lock this in for yourself.
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Okay?
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By writing some sentences down about yourself, in reality, where you live.
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Okay? Putting your own information into each and every one of these prepositions.
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Okay?
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Next.
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Next.
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"I live next to".
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So, "next to" means, let's say, your house is here, and there's something right here,
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or something right here on this side, on the right-hand side, on the left-hand side.
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Usually, it's exactly touching you, but it could be more or less next to.
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Okay?
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So, "I live next to the bank."
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"I live next to the library."
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Okay?
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Okay?
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Again, remember to say "next to".
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Next.
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Okay.
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Let's look at these two.
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Now, these two have the same meaning also.
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"Opposite", okay, or "across from".
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So, that means your house is here, something else is here, so we could say "I live opposite
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Starbucks".
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Let's say you have a cafe opposite your house.
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You could say "I live opposite Starbucks" or "I live across from".
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Both those mean exactly the same thing.
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"Across from", sometimes we say "across the street from", but it doesn't matter, you don't
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need to say that.
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"I live across from a park."
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"I live opposite the park."
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Okay?
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So, these are several prepositions that you can use to describe and to answer the simple
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question "Where do you live?"
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All right?
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It's not always that simple because I've seen that people do have a little difficulty.
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They know where they live, but they're not sure of the preposition to use.
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So, hopefully this lesson will help you to get that exactly.
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So, what I suggest is that you write down after this a few sentences about yourself.
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Write down.
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Where do you live?
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Using "at", right?
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Give your exact address.
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Say "in" for "Is it an apartment?
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Is it a house?
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Which city is it?
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Which country is it?"
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And so on.
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Okay?
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"Is it on a particular floor?
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Who do you live with?"
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Write something about that.
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"What are you near?
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What are you close to?
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What are you next to?
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What are you across from or opposite?"
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Okay?
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All right.
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So, that's what you can do for yourself so that you can answer this and read those answers
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out loud so when somebody asks you, you'll know the answer right away.
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You don't have to think through it the way we are now.
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But, in order to get to that stage, let's do the next step.
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Let's practice this a little bit with a few examples.
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Okay?
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So, now, let's fill these in.
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So, the sentence we're going to use before this is "I live _______" and then the information
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that we're going to read.
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If you would like a few minutes, then you could pause the video, decide what your answers
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are, and then follow along with me, or you can just continue watching and we'll do it
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together.
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Okay?
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So, number one, "I live _______ the 21st floor."
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"I live", see if it comes to you automatically, which eventually it should, "on", "I live
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on the 21st floor."
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Okay?
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Next, "I live _______ to the supermarket."
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There was one of those expressions that had a "to" in it.
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Do you remember what it was?
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"I live", actually, there were two expressions.
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Do you know what they are?
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Well, one could be "I live close to", you could also say, by the way, "I live next to".
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Okay?
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So, either of those would work.
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Next, "I live _______ India."
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"I live in India."
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Okay?
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Remember?
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"In", "in India", "in Mumbai", right, city, country, and so on.
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All right?
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Next, "I live _______ from the office."
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One of them, one of those expressions had "from" with it.
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Do you remember what it was?
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"I live", it sort of has the same meaning as "opposite", "I live across", okay?
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"Across from" means opposite.
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Next, "I live _______ 45 Mill Street."
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"I live", this is very precise, so, "I live at", okay?
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"I live at 45 Mill Street."
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Next, "_______ New York", a city, so what do we say?
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"I live", yes, "in New York".
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Good.
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All right?
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Okay?
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The next one, this time, just "Mill Street", do you remember?
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Here we said, "I live at 45 Mill Street", now we're just talking about Mill Street,
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right?
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"I live", do you remember what it is?
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"I live on Mill Street."
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Okay?
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Good.
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And what could you say here?
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"I live _______ the Chinese restaurant."
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There are a few possibilities here.
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Do you remember one of them?
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You could say, "I live near the Chinese restaurant", or you could say, "I live opposite the Chinese
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restaurant", okay?
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Okay?
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So, what you should do is really review these, because these need to come automatically.
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You can't really think about them too much, right, when you're actually speaking, and
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you don't want to make mistakes when you're writing and writing these - this very basic
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information.
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So, as I said, write it for yourself.
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Give an example, think about where your parents live, write some more sentences, think about
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where your friends live, or anything like that, and just practice it in a practical
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way that makes sense to you.
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Okay?
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All right.
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And also, if you want to improve your English in terms of these kinds of errors, you might
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want to check out my online course.
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It's called "Correct Your English Errors in 10 Minutes a Day", and it helps you to correct
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these kinds of errors in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and lots of other areas in
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a very quick and easy way.
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Okay?
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So, check that out.
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Plus, if you want to master these, go to our website at www.engvid.com.
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There you can do a quiz on this and just reinforce it.
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And again, if you weren't sure about those three basic ones, "at", "on", and "in", then
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I have a couple of lessons, and I'll give you some links to those that help you to really
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understand that.
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Okay?
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The "at", "on", and "in", and also related to place.
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So, after that, you'll be able to talk about where you live, where you work, and so on.
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Okay?
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And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and ring the bell so that you'll know
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whenever we have a new lesson.
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Okay?
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Thanks very much for watching, and all the best with your English.
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