IELTS Speaking Part 3: 'nice home' topic

How would you answer these questions (from Cambridge IELTS 14)?

1. Why do some people buy lots of things for their home?
2. Do you think it is very expensive to make a home look nice?
3. Why don't some people care about how their home looks?

Tip: Try to give three-sentence answers: direct answer, explain, example.

Comments

[Steven]

Hi Simon and everyone,

1. It is partly because buying things can give people a sense of fulfilment. Today, we all work hard and being able to achieve what we want is great. For example, my mom is always so proud of how convenient and comfortable our home is, thanks to what she bought.

2. I think it is not too costly to make a home look beautiful if we know how to do it right. Some minor changes can lead to big differences. Things like hanging a picture or putting a flower vase in your living definitely work wonders.

3. Some just care for their own comfort and feelings towards their house rather than how people think of it. These people may not spend a lot time and money to decorate their house even for special occasions like Christmas or Halloween but they are totally fine with it. One of my neighbors are particularly like this when their houses look exactly the same during the year.

Ps: Woo, It took me quite a long time to come up with the answers. I am not sure how to handle this in the real exam. How are you doing?

[Shohjahon]

My answers:
1.These consumerist people may want to decorate their homes beautifully, or they want to show off in front of other people.
There are people who likes boasting about their wealth or maybe possessions, with the purpose of showing their status.For example,nowadays in my country, most people are building expensive houses which you would think of as a king's palace.
2. I dont think that we need a lot of money to build a good-looking home. With small amount of money,it is possible to purchase local building materials.For instance,again in my country, some people prefer to buy a product manufactured in a foreign country but the same product produced locally is available at a low cost.
3. Because, They are more concerned about valuable things,like gaining knowledge,not wasting time,Helping the poor etc. When you are busy with such activities , you won't actually have time to think about how spectacular your home is.From my own experience,when i was a child I was too pefectionist like, I wanted every place in my house to be clean and nice but as of now,as I'm very busy with my study, I don't care about beauty of my home

[M'ambo]

Steven:

Re: " spend a lot time and money to decorate":
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=spend+time+to+*%2Cspend+time+*_VERB&year_start=1960&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Cspend%20time%20to%20%2A%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20get%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20learn%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20make%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20help%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20save%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20find%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20study%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20develop%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20go%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20to%20understand%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2Cspend%20time%20%2A_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20talking_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20thinking_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20working_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20looking_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20doing_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20trying_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20reading_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20discussing_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20learning_VERB%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bspend%20time%20getting_VERB%3B%2Cc0

"in your living" -> in your living room

Re:"One of my neighbors are";
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=one+of+my+neighbors+*%2Cone+of+my+neighbours+*&year_start=1960&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Cone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20%2A%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20was%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20in%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20who%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20had%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20came%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20and%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20has%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbors%20said%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2Cone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20%2A%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20was%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20in%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20and%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20who%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20had%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20to%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20that%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bone%20of%20my%20neighbours%20out%3B%2Cc0

[M'ambo]

Shohjahon

There are people who "likes" (not found):
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=There+are+people+who+likes%2C+There+are+people+who+like&year_start=1960&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CThere%20are%20people%20who%20like%3B%2Cc0

[Shohjahon]

M'ambo
Thank you for mentioning my mistake.

[Shohjahon]

M'ambo
But I didn't understand what the link you
sent was showing

[M'ambo]

Shohjahon

It just proves that it should be "people who like", as people is plural; therefore "who" is plural; therefore "like(s)" must be plural, that is, "like" not "likes".

[Vishaal]

Why do some people buy lots of things for their home?
I’m not sure; however, I guess it’s because they might follow home decoration as their favorite pastime. They probably like to check attractive or antique things out almost every day so that they can follow the latest fashion and show off with others that they possess the most uniquely beautiful things in their homes, and feel an immense sense of happiness or satisfaction out of that.

Do you think it is very expensive to make a home look nice?
Personally, no. It perhaps depends on how people arrange what they have in their homes. I mean if you arrange costly or antique things in an improper manner, your home will look messy or shabby. That being said, expensive things of decoration, like paintings or sculptures made by some renowned artists, in your home would certainly attract most people’s attention, and persuade them to think that you belong to the rich society.

Why don't some people care about how their home looks?
It’s probably because they might have other important goals in their lives to attain and decorating home is just a waste of time for them. For instance, most aggressive business people just don’t care how good their bungalows look as they might believe they can earn large sums at any second, so they remain focused on their businesses all the time.

[Minh Hạnh Túc]

1. Why do some people buy lots of things for their home?
- I strongly believe that industrialization is the main reason why a group of people have a habit of buy items in bulk. What I mean is nowadays people spend a lot of time for working, particularly in large cities, and time-saving on a daily basis is what people should do. Therefore, purchasing goods in mass at the weekend help them survive in one week.

[Nhan Thi Thanh Nguyen]

Hi Simon and everyone,

1. Two main justifications for this question are the emerge of online shopping relying on availability of internet access in 21st century and the support of advertising in the housing decorating and appliance industry. With the ease in using Internet for buying, they let their fingers to do walking and no need to rethink twice before the click. For example, I buy many of special dishes or plates which are fashionable to my home although I’ve rarely use them.
2. Yes, absolutely right in this society. A nice looking house is a result of combining many of components such as talented designers; good looking position of land, well- training labors required a large amount of budget. For instance, the home of king in the past looked so miraculous that was at the cost of manual labors.
3. Because of the difference in their perceiving to how nice the home is. Given some people, how their houses look is not more important than the finishing of education to their children and close – relations among family – members. In my circumstance, my house looks older than my neighbor because of all money my parents supported to me and my sister to finish high education bringing more happiness to my parents than how the house looks.

[Magda]

Minh Hạnh Túc

I strongly believe that industrialization is the main reason why a group of people have the habit of buying items in bulk. What I mean is that nowadays people spend a lot of time for working, particularly in large cities, and time-saving on a daily basis is what people should do. Therefore, bulk-purchasing goods in mass at the weekend helps them survive for one week.

[Magda]

Nhan Thi Thanh Nguyen

1. The two main answers to this question are the emergence of online shopping relying on the availability of internet access in 21st century and the pervasive and invasive use of advertising in the housing , decorating and appliance industries. ... although I’ve rarely used them.

->highly-skilled tradesmen, all of which requires a large budget.

-> at the cost of much manual labor.

[Thaobt]

There are several reasons that lead to the increase of house applicants inside people's houses. The first of all maybe that beside working place, house is the place, in the most cases, spend nearly all time to do all kinds of activities like relaxing, doing exercise, preparing meal, and sleep so they should equip all equipment to make them fee more convenient and comfy. The second one is when an individual decided to buy a thing for her family, she should think of the demand for all members. Then, she need to buy more than one applicants.

Not necessary at all except if you expect to hire a talent architecture to decorate you house. DIY has become a radical life style in many places among young people lately. You just need to go shopping in a local store for some decorating things and choose a suitable style in a YouTube clip which is now free up space to follow. No more than a week, you can change your most intimate place completely.

Everybody has their own priority for example they take care of environment and animal distinction, the world economy, ... And spend most of time travelling around the world for anybody in need their help. Therefore, their house are not in the list of crucial things. They just need an acceptable one where they take a few week to stay a year.

[Tae]

1,Why do some people buy lots of things for their home?

I'm sure that some people feel comfortable with their favourite items in their home. Reality TV shows encourage some people to copy their house decorations and organization. For instance, The renovation TV show called 'BLOCK', and this show tend to force our interior-design to be similar to their levels. That's why some people tend to buy a lot of things for their house which they do not need.

2,Do you think it is very expensive to make a home look nice?

Well, I do not think so. I believe that simple is the best, and I do not want to spend any extra cost to renovate and to buy additional furniture or small items. However, it depends on a person. If the person wants to renovate her or his whole house and make the house modern and fresh, It would be costly.

3, Why don't some people care about how their home looks?

Well, simply some people are not interested in looks of their house. Their focus might be how to make a comfortable house instead of a modern house. For instance, my friend collects antique items from second-hand shops, and her home is an old Queenslander style. She does not want to have any fresh looking stuff in her house, and she has not sent big money on her belonging and possession.

[Bob Fahmy]

Hi simon thank you for your continuous support
I am actually wondering about the meaning of this question so please if you kindly rephrase it or give relevant answer:

Do you agree that the building people work in is more important than the colleagues they work with ? (Cambridge 12 academic test 8)
Thanks in advance .
Beshoy

[Magda]

Tae

"a sense of belonging" (feeling comfortable in a place). Always singular in this sense.

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/belong

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/belongings

"belongings" = possessions (usually clothes, books, etc, but not neccessarily furniture, cars, appliances). Always plural in this sense.

-> it depends on the person. If they want to renovate their whole house....

she has not spent big money

[Tae]

Magda

Thank you very much for your comment.
I'm not good at using appropriate article in sentences.
Your comments are very useful for me.

[Bhavana]

Why do some people buy lots of things for their home?
- Decorating a home by investing more solely depends on ones interest towards it. People do this in multiple ways for multiple reasons. Some treat this as a sign for richness and pride, some do this as a passion, some likes the ambience it gives. Few do this by highlighting them with lamps and colourful lights, few make it by using attarctive colours, few wish to re-use the old stuff and turn them as a decorartive material, few thinks of making the best at low cost, few people who can affrod and invest more will explore more options to get the best.

Do you think it is very expensive to make a home look nice?

- Personally, no. If one starts to think of moulding the house beautiful right from the phase of designing the house plan, we can make it look nice at a minimal cost when compared to the ones who start thinking of it once the build is completed. At design phase we can mould the structure by giving good bends to make it look good. It also depends on ones taste towards identifying the material used for decoration. One can think of creating home made decors by re-using the old unused things as raw materials. We have plenty of videos available over net which guides us in getting ideas to make use if old unused material. This is very cost effective.

Why don't some people care about how their home looks?

- There are multiple reasons why some people doesn't care about how their home looks. With busy schedule for making travel, complete job at work place, maintaining family and other daily activities, people now a days not finding time and patience to decorate things. Neverthless, there are people who feels all the decors placed around doesn't give the required confort since they block the passage of few air, they generate radiations, all the dust particles sits over the material which requires time, effort for vacuum. Few just treats home as a means of shulter from sun, rain, wind, a way for a family to be together.

[Mojo]

Bhavana

Re: "few" vs "a few":

-> A few do this
-> a few wish
-> a few think of ... [Note 'few' is plural.]

'A few people' just suggests a small number of people; whereas 'few people' (with no article) suggests that the number was unexpectedly or undesirably low. See:

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/few

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/few

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/few

[Wind]

1, Many people want to buy a range of things for their house. This is possibly because they'd like to make their home more convenient. For example, they might buy both a washing machine and a dryer so that they won't have to go to the laundrette anymore.
2, No, not really. I think that people can decorate their home without wasting too much money. For example, they can buy recycling things like lovely vases of flowers made from recycled newspaper at a very competitive price.
3, Actually various people don't really take care of their home. Maybe they suppose that home is just a place they need for a rest after a day at work. Instead, they'll save money to travel. For instance, in Vietnam, many young couples tend to rent a small flat to live and put aside money to go travel the world