Your list
Read out the labels you brought from your own sheet. For each one, say only: “I can say this” or “I cannot say this yet.”
No explaining, no looking things up. We are sorting, not learning, for now.
A real existing-conditions sheet carries about ninety labels. Before you see them, guess:
1. How many broad categories do you think all ninety labels actually fall into?
Ninety labels, five families
From the Burlingame set — a full-yard landscape replacement on Vancouver Avenue.
Existing site plan — Vancouver Ave.
(E) CONCRETE DRIVEWAY · (E) WOOD FENCE AND GATE · (E) WOOD DECK · (E) LAWN + DIRT · (E) GARAGE · (E) BRICK PORCH, STEP AND WALKWAY · (E) DRAIN GRATE · (E) CURB DRAIN OUTLET · (E) BROKEN DRAINAGE PIPE · (E) GAS METER · (E) ELECTRIC PANEL · (E) ELECTRIC OUTLET · (E) D/S · (E) H/B · (E) C/O · (E) BENDER BOARD · (E) 13 PITTOSPORUM HEDGE
The five families
| Family | What it covers | From this sheet |
|---|---|---|
| Surfaces | Anything you walk or drive on | concrete driveway, brick walkway, lawn, dirt |
| Structures | Anything built and standing | wood fence and gate, wood deck, garage, porch, step |
| Water | Anything that moves or holds water | drain grate, curb drain outlet, drainage pipe, D/S, H/B, C/O |
| Utilities | Anything supplying the house | gas meter, electric panel, electric outlet |
| Planting | Anything alive, plus its edging | Pittosporum hedge, bender board |
Why this matters. You will never memorise ninety labels as ninety separate items. You will remember five families and the handful of words in each. When you meet a label you have not seen — bender board, say — the useful question is not “what is the translation?” but “which family is this in?” Answer that and you can already describe it: “it is a thin edging strip that separates the lawn from the planting bed.”
You just read these labels and families. Match five of them from memory.
Material + object
Most site labels are built the same way. Learn the pattern and you can generate the labels yourself.
The pattern
| Size | Material | Object | Whole label |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | concrete | driveway | concrete driveway |
| — | wood | fence and gate | wood fence and gate |
| 30" | wooden | retaining wall | 30" wooden retaining wall |
| 6" | — | curb | 6" curb |
| — | aggregate concrete | landing and steps | aggregate concrete landing & steps |
The trap. wood and wooden are both correct here, but they are not interchangeable everywhere. On drawings you will see both — wood deck, wooden retaining wall. In speech, prefer wood before a noun (a wood fence) and keep wooden for when you are describing rather than naming (the wall is wooden).
The other trap. Portuguese puts the material after the object — muro de madeira. English puts it before, with no preposition: wood wall, never wall of wood.
You just saw five labels built the same way. Put the parts of the pattern back in the order English actually uses them.
Build the labels
Complete each label using the material + object pattern. One word per gap.
This sheet shows an existing driveway, a fence and gate, and a brick porch, step and . Water is handled by a drain at the low point and a curb drain at the street. The utilities are a gas and an electric on the side of the house.
Which family does each label belong to? Click the label, then click its family.
Sort your own sheet
One more family check before you sort your own sheet out loud.
Task card
Your Vancouver Avenue set, or any sheet you brought
Read your own labels aloud and sort every one into a family as you go.
- Say the family first, then the label: “Water — curb drain outlet.”
- When you hit a label you cannot say, do not stop. Say the family, then describe the object in your own words.
- Your teacher notes only the ones you described rather than named. Those are your Lesson 3 vocabulary.
The described-not-named list
Look at the list your teacher just made. These are not failures — they are the exact words worth learning, selected by your own working life rather than by a textbook. Copy them into your notes now.
Check you understood why this list matters.
1. Why is your "described-not-named" list valuable, according to today's lesson?
Before the next lesson
Homework. Pick five labels from your described-not-named list. For each, write one sentence that uses it in a real situation on one of your projects. Not a dictionary sentence — a sentence you might actually say to a contractor.
Put the homework steps in the order you will actually do them.