2.7. Review. Language and grammar focus

Ex.1. Verb tenses. Read the text about an unusual home. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense.

Home is where you make it!

Frank Webb has a most unusual house, a former ladies’ lavatory in Kew, south-west London.

As soon as Frank heard that someone (1) ……. (try) to sell the ladies’ loo, he wanted it. He was sure that he could make the building, which (2) …………. (situate) next to the famous gardens at Kew, into a beautiful home. Now he’s very busy – he (3) ………. (convert) it into a one beautiful house.

“It might seem rather odd to want to live in a place which used to be a lavatory,” he said, “but I (4) ………….. (think) it’s really beautiful.”

He was divorced recently, and he needed somewhere to live. He knew he wanted something small but unique. “A friend (5) …………. (tell) me about it. I think she (6) ……….. (joke), but it was exactly what I (7) ………… (search) for.”

He is 57. His 25-year-old daughter, Kathy, (8) ………. (love) the place, too. She (9) ……….. (help) her father with the work for the past few weeks as she has been on holiday. He advises visitors not to go into the kitchen. “It (10) ………. (decorate) at the moment, and it looks awful.”

Since he bought the lavatory, several ladies (11) …….. (knock) on the door, wanting to use it. He lets them use his own bathroom. When he first saw the building, it (12) ……….. (not use) for several years, so it was in quite a mess.

It (13) ………… (build) in 1905. It is very solid, so he (14) ……. (not have) to do any work on the walls or roof. He (15) …………. (pay) £60,000 for it a year ago, and since then he (16) ………. (spend) an extra £20,000 putting in an upper floor for the bedroom. “I like the thought that my home has a history,” he says with great pride.

Ex.2. Verb tenses. Read about Pat and Ronald Thomas, who live on a train. Put the verbs in brackets into the correct tense.

At home on a train.

Pat and Ronald Thomas (1) ………. (not live) in a caravan, but their home (2) ………. (travel) more miles than any other house in Britain! Their house (3) ……….. (make) from a pair of Victorian railway carriages, and they (4) ………. (live) there for ten years. “I (5) ………. (not want) to live in a train at first,” admits Pat, “but when I (6) ……… (see) that this train had a garden with a stream, I just (7) …….. (fall) in love with it. We (8) ……….. (buy) it from an old lady, and she (9) ……… already ………. (do) a lot of work on it. But there is a lot left to do and we (10) ………. still …… (make) improvements.”

Visitors are often surprised to see how spacious the house is. All the dividing walls (11) ……. (remove), so now the rooms are about 15 meters long.

Pat and Ronald (12) …….. (pay) £68,000 for their house. Recently they (13) …….. (offer) more than £100,000 for it, but it’s not for sale.

“I (14) ……….…. (discover) more and more about the history of this train all the time,” says Ronald. “It (15) ……… (build) in Swindon between 1855 and 1875. We (16) …….. (work) so hard to make it beautiful that I don’t think we (17) ….. ever ……. (sell) it,” he admits. “I hope it (18) ……… (remain) in our family forever.”

Ex.3. Verb tenses: past simple or present perfect. Choose the correct verb form for each of these sentences.

1. Our lawyers represented / have represented landlords, property owners, developers and tenants in a wide range of real-estate and real-estate financing litigation.

2. Last month, our firm won / has won an important suit involving property owner and occupier liability.

3. In the past ten years, the attorneys in our firm handled / have handled a large number of landlord/tenant disputes.

4. Since it was founded, our firm advised / has advised clients on the full range of property issues.

5. In the year 2004, the real-estate department of our firm was involved / has been involved in a successful civil lawsuit concerning a large commercial development.

Ex. 4. Verb tenses. Complete the letter with appropriate forms of the words in brackets.

Dear Mrs. Grenfell

I am writing to you in your position as a secretary of Cliveden Mansions Residents’ Association in connection with the problem of residents leaving bicycles in the common entrance hallway.

My wife and I have yet again been having a lot of trouble with Steve and David Brown, the tenants of flat 16 on the first floor, and we feel it is high time this persistent source of dispute (1) …………….. (finally\resolve). These tenants own two bicycles which they insist on leaving in the entrance corridor. No doubt you are aware that the leases of all the flats in our building require that the entrance (2) ………… (keep clear) of obstruction at all times. The local fire officer has also pointed out to me that under the building regulations the common entrance corridors to flats must be treated as if they (3) …………… (be) exits of a public building, and are therefore subject to the same restrictions as those in force in theatres, cinemas, etc. Supposing the corridor (4) …………. (block) with bicycles and there was a serious fire? We might all be trapped in our flats.

Apparently last month you told the Browns that they could keep their bicycles there for a temporary period. Well, I certainly wish you (5) ……………… (not\agree) to that, because they continually use this as an excuse when we ask them to remove the bikes. I have pointed out to them that there is space to store bicycles in the back yard, although I would sooner they (6) ………….. (keep) the bikes in their own flat as the presence of two mountain bikes might attract thieves. They say that there isn’t any space in their flat and I wish I (7) ……………. (able to) offer them somewhere else. But, as you know, all the space in the bicycle shed is now allocated. Unfortunately they still seem unwilling to move their bikes, and their intransigence is beginning to seem deliberate. It isn’t as though we (8) …………….. (not\tell) them about this on numerous occasions. In fact it has now reached a stage where I feel I must insist that the chairman of the residents’ association (9) ……………. (demand) they remove the bicycles forthwith.

We would rather (10)……………… (not\have to\refer) this matter to our solicitors but we feel that if the residents’ association is unable to resolve the matter, we will have no alternative.

Yours sincerely,

Haward Blenkinsop

Ex.5. Vocabulary: distinguishing meaning. Which word in each group is the odd one out? You may need to consult a dictionary to distinguish the differences in meaning.

1.	to rent	to lease	to license	to let
2.	lessee	grantee	heir	tenant
3.	to fulfill	to comply with	to set forth	to satisfy
4.	capability	opportunity	competence	ability

Ex. 6. Word formation. Complete this table by filling in the correct adjectival form of the nouns listed.

Underline the stressed syllable in each word with more than one syllable.

NOUN	ADJECTIVE	NOUN	ADJECTIVE
statute	statutory	inheritance
reason		prospect
negligence		necessity
capability		safety

Ex. 7. Vocabulary: completing clauses. Complete the clauses below from a tenancy agreement using the words in the box.

deemed harmless herein liable Lessee Premises quietly reasonable rules thereon

1. INSPECTION OF PREMISES. Lessor and Lessor's agents shall have the right at all reasonable times during the term of this Agreement to enter the …………. for the purpose of inspecting the Premises and all buildings and improvements ……….. and also for the purposes of making any repairs, additions or alterations as may be ……………appropriate by Lessor for the preservation of the Premises or the building.

2. INDEMNIFICATION. Lessor shall not be ……….. for any damage or injury of or to the Lessee, Lessee's family, guests, invitees, agents or employees or to any person entering the Premises or the building of which the Premises are a part or to goods or equipment, or in the structure or equipment of the structure of which the Premises are a part, and ……….. hereby agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Lessor ………….. from any and all claims or assertions of every kind and nature.

3. QUIET ENJOYMENT. Lessee, upon payment of all of the sums referred to ………… as being payable by Lessee and Lessee's performance of all Lessee's agreements contained herein and Lessee's observance of all ……………. and regulations, shall and may peacefully and ………………….. have, hold and enjoy said Premises for the term hereof.

Ex. 8. Collocations. Match the nouns in the box with the verbs below which they commonly collocate with. Some of the nouns collocate with more than one verb. Consult a dictionary if necessary.

contract lease premises regulation requirement site statute tenancy

1. abandon:

2. comply with: contract

3. terminate: contract

Ex. 9. Sentence completion. Complete these sentences using a suitable verb from the list in Exercise 7. Some verbs are needed more than once.

1. The fact that tenants abandon the premises will not normally relieve them from the duty to pay rent.

2. The security deposit will be refunded if you ……………. the lease.

3. The agreement contains a provision allowing the landlord to ………… the tenancy within six months of the beginning of the tenancy.

4. In the case of the non-payment of rent by the tenant, the landlord has the power to …… the lease.

5. A lease which does not ………….. the aforementioned requirements is wholly void.

Ex. 10. Adjective or adverb? Choose the correct options to complete this text, in which a lawyer explains what quiet enjoyment means to a client.

A covenant for quiet enjoyment is 1) normal /normally contained in any 2) good- / well- drafted lease. The term 'quiet enjoyment' refers to the right of a tenant to use and enjoy a property and not be interrupted by an act of the landlord. It doesn't 3) actual/actually refer to noise, as you might think. For example, there are 4) specific / specifically things a landlord may not do, such as 5) continual/continually obstruct access to the premises. He is also not permitted to cut off or 6) persistent / persistently interrupt the gas or electricity supply. However, a 7) temporary / temporarily inconvenience does not qualify as breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, and so a landlord is permitted to carry out 8) essential / essentially repairs, for example.