Positive features of a city

World-class cities have many attractive features you'll want to include in your writing.

• Paris has magnificent architecture.

• San Francisco has stunning views of the bay and hills.

• Singapore has so much cultural diversity.

• Rome has amazing ancient monuments.

• Shanghai has a vibrant art scene.

Negative features of a city

Unfortunately, large urban areas often have serious social and economic problems.

• Unemployment is really high in Chicago.

• Tampa has a terrible problem with homelessness.

• There is a lot of crime in most huge cities.

• I hate seeing trash on the streets of my city.

Reordering sentences for emphasis

Sometimes speakers and writers want to focus attention on a particular thing or idea. One way to do that is to change the order of a sentence. In some grammar books, this is referred to as a cleft sentence. Here are some examples:

Starting a sentence with 'what'

Compare the two sentences. Notice in the second sentence the heavy stress on the word love, and it begins with the word what

• I love looking at modern architecture.

• What I love is looking at modern architecture.

Despite their complexity, these sentences are quite common in English. They are a good way to emphasize something particular in a sentence. Look at the next pairs of regular and reordered sentences and compare the stress levels.

• It is interesting how the city has changed.

• What is interesting is how the city has changed.

• I like the efficient subways in Tokyo.

• What I like about Tokyo is the efficient subways.

• I'm interested in shopping.

• What I'm interested in is shopping.

regular
I'm crazy about jazz clubs.
What are the museum hours?
I care about hotel location.
I don't know what to order

reordered
What worries me is the crime rate.
What I'm crazy about is rooftop bars.
What I noticed is all the trash.
What I like is the vibrant art scene.

Describing a city

One way to write an interesting city description is to use a variety of descriptive words to communicate your emotions. Be careful with the -ing and -ed word endings. Words that end in -ing often describe a feature of something, whereas words that end in -ed describe feelings.

• The homelessness in Tampa was shocking.

• I was shocked by the homelessness in Tampa.

Here are a few more pairs of descriptive words.

• disgusted – disgusting

• amazed – amazing

• disturbed – disturbing

• confused – confusing

• surprised – surprising

Softening negative remarks

You never know who will read your blog post, so if you are going to say something negative about someone's city, you should be diplomatic. One way is to preface it with a clause that softens your opinion.

• I hate to say it, but homelessness is a problem there.

• I don't want to offend anyone, but crime was a problem there.

• I'm sorry to say this, but it was disgusting.

Another way to soften a negative opinion is to use qualifiers like a little or a bit.

• It was a little disgusting.

• She was a bit disturbed.

I was ______ by the vibrant art scene.

• amazed (True)
• amazing

The homelessness was ______.

• shocking (True)
• shocked

I'm sorry to say it, but the trash was a little bit ______.

• disgusting (True)
• disgusted

The views were ______.

• stunning (True)
• stunned

I hate to say it, but I was ______ by the poverty.

• surprising
• surprised (True)

There were some ______ monuments.

• amazing (True)
• amazed

50.jpg

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Which of the following is NOT true?

• Norman Nomad wasn't impressed with Barcelona's architecture. (True)
• People come to Barcelona from many different places.
• Norman has nothing negative to say about Barcelona.

Which of the following would Daphne agree with?

• Unemployment is Barcelona's only major problem. (True)
• Barcelona has many serious social problems that hurt tourism.
• Norman Nomad's opinion about Barcelona is completely wrong.

What do you think that pickpockets are?

• a type of street artist
• a kind of thief (True)
• a city official

Norman: I just returned from Barcelona, and I have to say that it's the most wonderful city in the world! The architect Antoni Gaudi built some of the most (stunning) buildings I've ever seen. The view from his Parc Guell is amazing. Barcelona is (culturally) diverse, with artists from all over the world creating a vibrant art (scene). The city officials are working hard to help the homeless and to keep the city clean.

Daphne: Norman, I basically agree with you that Barcelona is an amazing city, but there is one negative. The city has a high unemployment (rate), which has caused a bit of an increase in the (crime) rate. I hate to say it, but if you're a tourist, you have to be careful about pickpockets. Of course, every large city with tourists has the same problem. Other than that, I think Barcelona IS one of the best cities in the world – magnificent (architecture), friendly people and great food.