English Language Blog

The United States has a very strong ‘driving culture‘.  Many American spend a great deal of time in their cars, commuting, traveling, and just running errands.  So owning a car is a very common occurrence.  Because owning a car is so common, buying is also very common.  Before buying a car though, a person has to figure out what kind of car s/he wants to: new or used.

In the United States buying a new car almost always means going to a car dealership where cars are on display, available for test drives, and sold by car salesmen and women.  At a car dealership you can see a wide array of cars, which may include some older models, but mostly new cars.  Buying a new car is a safe way to go when purchasing a vehicle.  A new car not only looks and smells good it will generally come with a warranty.  The warranty will guarantee parts of the car against damage and defect, so that if anything goes wrong the dealership or car manufacturer will fix the car for free for the life of the warranty.  Buying a new car is a great option for a lot of people because it gives them a sense of security, but it also means spending more money on a car.  When buying a new car there is less room for negotiating or haggling down the price.  This is not true when buying a used car.

Buying a used car is a great option for people who are looking for a deal and can’t spend a lot of money to buy something new.  Used cars aren’t as expensive as new ones and when buying a used car it is often easier to haggle for a better price, especially if the car needs any repairs.  But if someone buys a used car, how will they know if they are getting a reliable used car or not?  Well, first of all it is important to test drive the car, and have it looked at by a mechanic, but also it is important to get a car history report.  There are many companies in the United States that sell car history reports to potential buyers, one such company is Carfax.  All you need to obtain a car history report is the car’s vehicle identification number or VIN.  The VIN is a unique 17-character identifier found on all cars built after 1981.  With this number you can go to a website like Carfax and find out if the car has been in any accidents and what type of work has been done on it.  Getting a car history report is a great way to make sure you are not getting a lemon when buying a used car.  “A lemon” is a car that looks good, but later, after the car is purchased, it turns out to be defective.  Doing a little work to find out about the used car one is interested in buying is important and pretty easy, but a buyer will still need to figure out where to buy their used car.There are used car dealerships in the United States that exclusively sell used cars.  Also individuals often sell their old or used cars themselves.  If a person is looking to sell their used car on their own they will often park the car in front of their house with a “For Sale” sign in the car window along with a phone number where the car owner can be reached and sometimes the asking price for the car.  Buying a used car from an individual, as opposed to a dealership, may lead to a better deal for the buyer, it is certainly important to haggle the price with the seller.  No matter who you buy a used car from, you will still have to do some work to find out the car’s history to make sure you don’t get a lemon.

Do you have a car? If you do then your car is going to come in handy for today’s post. If you don’t have a car, you are still in luck since you can probably find a car in the neighbourhood to look at, or at the very least, you can always use the internet to find pictures of cars.

Below is a picture with some of the most common words related to a car labelled. One label that is missing is at the back of the car. At the back of a car you will usually have a compartment with a door where you can store all your things, for example the food you might have just got from the store. In English this bit of the car is known as the trunk.

Differences Between American and British English

Remember how we looked at some of the differences between an American and British keyboard? Well, with cars there are also some differences. Luckily, these are less to do with where parts are located and more to do with the words used. Here are some of those differences:

• What is called the hood in American English is known as a bonnet in British English.
• Above we talked about the trunk (and how it was missing a label). In British English the trunk is known as the boot.
• A parking light would usually be referred to as a reversing light in British English.

Now that we have had a chance to review some of the vocabulary related to cars, let’s have a couple of questions related to driving. Fill in the correct answer.

1. The driver in front of me keeps changing _____ (lanes or lines).

2. There is always a lot of _____ (travel or traffic) on this road.

3. This road is so bumpy. There are so many _____ (roadholes or potholes).

4. You turn the _____ (steering wheel or round wheel) to make the car turn left or right.

5. The road is under construction so we have to make a _____ (goaround or detour).

Answer’s From Saturday’s Post about Statements and Questions:

Exercise One:

1. Is the bus going to the station?

2. Do you get enough exercise?

3. Does this train stop at Central Station?

4. Does he love to eat chocolate?

Exercise Two:

1. We can walk to school.

2. We will arrive late.

3. You caught your train.

4. He was cycling in all that rain.

5. They have a cat.