English Lesson: How to Talk about Commuting to Work

Photo credit: Charles Forerunner

In this lesson, we are going to look at different ways you can use to talk about transport and how you get from one place to another. 

In English, you can ask transport related questions such as: 

• How do you travel to work? 
• How do you commute to work? 
• What kind of transport do you use to get to work? 
• How did you commute to school when you were a child? 

You can use: 

• travel (verb) 
• a means / mode / form / kind / method of transport (collocations) 
• commute (verb) ; (noun) 

Let's analyse how you can use "commute" as a verb and also as a noun. 


"Commute" as a verb means to travel a long distance to get to and from work and it is something you do on a regular basis. 

Examples: 

• I normally spend two hours a day commuting to and from work. 
• I live in Incheon but I work in Seoul, which means I have to commute long distance to get to and from my place of work. 
• I commute to work by bike every day. It normally takes me around 30 minutes one way. 
• I have to commute one hour to and then from my job every day. That's two hours of travel without even factoring my actual work day. 
• Luckily, I work close to home, so I don't have to commute long distance every day. 
• I live closer to my job, so I don't have to commute long distance. 

"Commute" as a noun is the journey that a person makes to and from work every day. 

Examples: 

• My morning commute to work takes an hour. 
• I have a short commute to work. It takes me around 15 minutes on foot. 
• I have a pretty long commute to work. I get in my car and drive to the train station, look for parking and then get on a train for an hour and a half. 
• The average American commute is nearly 30 minutes one way. 
• My daily commute is nearly an hour round trip. 
• If you have a longer commute, you can catch up on reading, listen to podcasts, get some work done and take advantage of your alone time. 

Can you ask: 
What other modes of commute do you have available to travel to your place of work? 

In this case, you cannot use "commute" because there isn't such a collocation "modes of commute". 

You can say: 

• modes of transport 
• forms of transport 
• means of transport 
• methods of transport, etc. 

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COLLOCATIONS 

​within travelling/commuting/driving distance of something - near enough to make travel to or from a place possible 

• My job isn't within travelling distance of my home. 

long-distance travel/journey/flight/commuting, etc. 

• My new job involves long-distance commuting. 

Business English lessons: 
Business English: Working in an office 
Business English: Phrasal Verbs for Work 
Business English: Prepositions with WORK 
Business English: How to Talk about Money 
Business English: Collocations with Business 
Business English: How to Talk about Your Job Responsibilities 

IELTS related lessons: 
IELTS Speaking Test: Home and Living in the City 
IELTS Speaking Test: How to Concentrate at Work 
Causes and Effects of Migration from Rural Areas to Cities 


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