Virtuous English AcademyCity & Directions — A2 English Vocabulary
This A2 vocabulary list gathers 30 elementary English words about city & directions — places in town and finding your way. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using city & directions words in English
Directions are one of the few areas where English switches almost entirely into the imperative — turn left, go straight on, take the second exit — with no subject at all. Learning them therefore means learning short whole commands rather than building sentences. The other half of the list is position words, and two of them, opposite and in front of, are confused so regularly that they are worth separating before anything else.
What to watch out for
Opposite faces you; in front of does not
Opposite means on the other side, facing: The bank is opposite the station — they look at each other across the road. In front of means at the front side of the same thing: Wait in front of the station puts you on the station’s own side. Most languages use one word for both, so this is a genuine trap. Note also that opposite takes no to or of in this meaning.
Directions drop the subject entirely
English gives directions as bare imperatives: Go straight on, Turn left at the crossroads, Take the first exit at the roundabout, Keep going past the church. British English says go straight on where Americans say go straight ahead. Adding you — you turn left — is not wrong but sounds like a description rather than an instruction.
On the corner is outside; in the corner is inside
A shop stands on the corner of two streets. A chair sits in the corner of a room. Two more to fix: traffic lights is always plural in British English — turn right at the traffic lights — and nearby is a complete adverb that needs nothing after it: There is a chemist nearby, never nearby to here.
Words learners mix up
Two of these tables contain the words most likely to send an American and a British speaker to different places, which makes them worth more than their length suggests. The third is how English carves a city into pieces.
What you are walking or driving on
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| pavement | The raised path at the side of a road, for people. In American English this word means the road surface itself. | Walk on the pavement, not in the road. |
| path | A narrow way for walking, usually through a park, a garden or the countryside. Not beside a road. | Follow the path down to the river. |
| lane | Either a narrow country road or one marked strip of a wide one: the middle lane. | The house is down a quiet lane. |
| avenue | A wide street, often with trees along it. Very common in street names, where it is shortened to Ave. | They live on Park Avenue. |
The pavement difference is the one that matters practically: telling an American to walk on the pavement sends them into the traffic, and the word they use is sidewalk. If you are unsure who you are talking to, the footpath is understood everywhere. Note that British addresses use Road, Street, Lane, Avenue and Close almost interchangeably, so the word tells you very little about the street itself.
How a city is divided
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| area | The vaguest of the four — any part of a town, of any size. A nice area is what people actually say. | It is a quiet area near the park. |
| district | A part of a city with a name and often an official boundary: the financial district. | The museum is in the old district. |
| suburb | A residential area outside the centre. Usually plural in the general sense: the suburbs. | They moved out to the suburbs. |
| block | A section of streets between crossings, or a large building of flats: a block of flats. | The chemist is two blocks away. |
Counting in blocks to give directions is American — British cities are not laid out in a grid, so nobody says go three blocks here, and the British sense of block is a building. British directions use landmarks and turnings instead: past the church, then second left. Neighbourhood is a fourth word again, warmer than area and about the people as much as the streets.
Getting in, getting out, and the middle
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| entrance | The way in. Takes to: the entrance to the museum. The verb is enter, with no preposition. | The main entrance is round the corner. |
| exit | The way out, and the numbered turning off a roundabout or motorway. Also a verb in signs and instructions. | Take the third exit. |
| subway | In Britain, a tunnel under a road for people on foot. In America, the underground railway. | Use the subway to cross the dual carriageway. |
| centre | The middle of a town. British spelling with -re; the fixed phrase is the city centre. | The station is right in the centre. |
Subway is the trap. A British subway is a pedestrian tunnel and the underground railway in London is the Underground or the Tube, so take the subway means something entirely different on each side of the Atlantic. And where British English says the town centre or the city centre, American English says downtown, with no article at all.
Collocations that sound natural
Asking the way and being given the way are both formulaic, and these six blocks cover almost all of it — including the phrase you need before you ask anything at all.
direction
ask for directionsgive someone directionsin the opposite directiona sense of direction
The plural is fixed when you mean instructions for getting somewhere: ask for directions, never ask for a direction. The singular means the way something faces.
corner
round the corneron the cornerturn the cornerthe corner shop
Just round the corner means very close by, whether or not there is an actual corner. A corner shop is the small local British grocery, open late.
traffic lights
at the traffic lightsthe lights turned greenwait at the lightsa set of traffic lights
In speech people shorten it to the lights, and the unit is a set of traffic lights. Americans say stoplight or traffic light, singular.
centre
the city centrein the centre of towna shopping centrea leisure centre
A British shopping centre is an American mall, and a leisure centre is the public sports building with a swimming pool.
parking
a parking spaceno parkingfree parkingparking is difficult here
Uncountable, so no parkings. The place itself is a car park in British English — an American parking lot — and never a parking.
building
a tall buildingan office buildingthe main buildinga listed building
A listed building is legally protected because of its history, which is why so many British town centres cannot be rebuilt.
Where each word belongs
Six words from the street: two are British road furniture with American names, one keeps an -s in the singular, and one is a word people mispronounce far more often than they misuse.
- roundaboutBritishThe circular junction you drive around, clockwise in Britain. Americans say traffic circle or rotary. As an adjective it means indirect — a roundabout way of saying it — and in a playground it is the thing children spin on.
- crossroadsSingular with <em>-s</em>Where two roads cross. The -s stays even for one of them: a crossroads, at the crossroads. Americans say intersection. The figurative use — at a crossroads in my career — is common in writing.
- signpostOne word · BritishThe post by the road with place names and distances on it. The general word is a sign, and directions usually say follow the signs for the airport rather than naming the post.
- straightAdverb · British formBritish English says go straight on where Americans say go straight ahead. Separately, straight away means immediately and has nothing to do with direction. Do not confuse the spelling with strait, a narrow channel of sea.
- statuePronunciation · three lookalikesSay STA-tyoo. It is worth keeping apart from statute, which is a law, and status, which is position or rank — three words that look alike and share nothing else.
- towerLandmark · and housingA tall narrow building, and a standard landmark in directions: past the clock tower. A tower block is a high building of flats and is the ordinary British term for one.
Sentences to try
Four directions in the imperative. Use them to describe the route from your home to the nearest shop.
- Go straight on and turn left at the traffic lights.
- Take the second exit at the roundabout.
- The post office is opposite the library.
- It is on the corner, just behind the bus stop.
Questions about city & directions vocabulary
What is the difference between opposite and in front of?
Opposite means facing something from the other side, usually across a road or a space: The café is opposite the cinema means you would cross over to get from one to the other. In front of means at the forward-facing side of the same object: I am waiting in front of the cinema puts you on its own pavement. Many languages cover both with a single preposition, which makes this one of the most persistent errors at A2. Note also that opposite is followed directly by the noun, with no to.
Do I say "on the corner" or "in the corner"?
Both exist and they describe different places. On the corner is outside, where two streets meet: There is a newsagent on the corner. In the corner is inside, where two walls meet: The lamp is in the corner of the room. A useful way to remember it is that outdoor corners stick out towards you and indoor corners fold away from you. There is also around the corner, which means a very short distance away and just out of sight.
How do British people say "go straight"?
The usual British phrase is go straight on, or simply straight on in reply to a question. Americans normally say go straight ahead. Both are understood everywhere. Other useful British direction phrases are take the second left, keep going past the church, it is just up the road and you cannot miss it. Note that the pavement is the part you walk on in British English — the American word is sidewalk.