Today on Study English, it's geography. How do we talk about places, locations and directions?

Listen to this clip about the history and geography of the Torres Strait.

The Torres Strait is situated above Queensland, between the Arafura Sea and the Coral Sea,

Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea. Darnley Island, also known as Erub, is the

largest volcanic island in the eastern Torres Strait, with a population of around 375. It

is surrounded by some of the deepest water in the world, known as the Darnley Deep.

Though we are a seafaring people, 75% of Torres Strait Islanders today are living on the mainland.

This is because we were displaced from our island homes since colonisation.

Life for Torres Strait Islanders has been an endurance test ever since colonisation.

During the Second World War, hundreds of Torres Strait Islander men were shipped off from

their homes to fight for their country, of which they were still not citizens. Uncle

Bill Sailor who has gone back to live on his land of Erub and remembers, all too well,

the war.

So that was Johnny Harding talking about his home, the Torres Strait Islands.

When we want to talk about a place, or where something is in relation to other places,

we need to use function words called prepositions.

Some common prepositions include in, on, near or between.

Prepositions can also be made up of two or even three words, for example, next to, surrounded

by, or in front of.

These are called prepositions of place.

Listen for the prepositions of place in this clip.

The Torres Strait is situated above Queensland, between the Arafura Sea and the Coral Sea,

Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea.

Now, let's go back over the clip and see if we can figure out where the Torres Strait

is.

Johnny says that the Torres Strait is situated above Queensland.

Here's Queensland.

The islands are situated above Queensland, and between the Arafura Sea and the Coral

Sea, Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea.

So the Torres Strait Islands can be found here:

The Torres Strait is situated above Queensland, between the Arafura Sea and the Coral Sea,

Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea.

Learning how to use prepositions correctly can be difficult, because most of them have

more than one function.

There are not many rules to help you choose correctly, so you need to learn each expression

separately.

Look at the use of the prepositions in the following:

Meet me at the front door of the department store in George Street on the corner.

In English we say:

at a location

in the street

but on the corner

The general rule is that we use 'in' to talk about large areas, for example:

I live in an apartment block, in Sydney, in Australia.

Use 'at' for particular locations:

I live at number 2 West Street.

Use 'on' to say things like:

My house is on the corner.

Or, I live on the second floor.

And here's a quick exercise on prepositions. Try describing the position of things in the

picture.

Choose from in, on, near, between, above,

next to, in front of.

The chair is __________ the table. The chair is in front of the table.

The orange is ___ the bowl. The orange is in the bowl.

The cup is ________ the vase and the book. The cup is between the vase and the book.

And why don't you try more of these exercises at home?

Listen for some more prepositions:

Darnley Island, also known as Erub, is the largest volcanic island in the eastern Torres

Strait, with a population of around 375.

It is surrounded by some of the deepest water in the world, known as the Darnley Deep.

Though we are a seafaring people, 75% of Torres Strait Islanders today are living on the mainland.

This is because we were displaced from our island homes since colonisation.

OK, so we can use spoken and written descriptions to talk about a number of different subject

areas.

In social settings we can describe people, family or relationships.

In physical settings, we can describe geography, landscapes and other places.

But whatever you're describing, it's important to organise and structure your language. You

need to carefully plan what you're going to say and the order you want to say it in.

If you're describing a country, it's helpful to list the features you want to concentrate

on.

They might include the location and size of the country, the physical features, the climate

and even the population and language of the people.

Listen to all the information in the clip about Torres Strait.

Can you hear what type of information the speaker is giving us?

The Torres Strait is situated above Queensland between the Arafura Sea and the Coral Sea,

Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea. Darnley Island, also known as Erub, is the

largest volcanic island in the eastern Torres Strait, with a population of around 375.

It is surrounded by some of the deepest water in the world, known as the Darnley Deep. Though

we are a seafaring people, 75% of Torres Strait Islanders today are living on the mainland.

We heard information about the location and physical features of the islands as well as

about the population.

He could have included information about the economy, customs, festivals or food.

There are many choices.

If you're writing about a place, the first step is to decide which features you want

to describe. The next step is to organise the description.

When writing about a place, punctuation is another important tool to help organise your

writing and give it meaning.

The rules for punctuation are different in all languages, and knowing which letters to

capitalise is a key part of punctuation.

The rules about which words to capitalise need to be learnt.

Let's review some of these rules, then we'll go back to the clip and look at how some of

these rules apply.

We always capitalise:

the first word in a sentence

the pronoun 'I'

specific places on a map, for example, the Torres Strait, or Australia

names of people or nationalities, like Torres Strait Islanders, or Australians

periods of time, like the Second World War

and the names of people, including their title, for example Uncle Bill Sailor

Compass points are not capitalised, unless they form part of a formal name for an area.

So the eastern Torres Strait doesn't need a capital on the compass point, but Southeast

Asia does.

Let's take another look at the clip, focussing on the use of capitals.

The Torres Strait is situated above Queensland between the Arafura Sea and the Coral Sea,

Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea. Darnley Island, also known as Erub, is the

largest volcanic island in the eastern Torres Strait, with a population of around 375.

Life for Torres Strait Islanders has been an endurance test ever since colonisation.

During the Second World War, hundreds of Torres Strait Islander men were shipped off from

their homes to fight for their country, of which they were still not citizens. Uncle

Bill Sailor has gone back to live on his land of Erub and remembers, all too well, the war.

Remember, if you're not sure which words to capitalise, check the dictionary.

And that's all for today.

Don't forget to practice organising and structuring your written language, and always edit your

writing to make sure all your capitals and other punctuation are right.

I look forward to seeing you next time on Study English, bye bye.