“I'm looking for a studio in the range of about $1200 a month, preferably downtown.”

English Lesson: I'm looking for a studio in the range of about $1200 a month, preferably downtown.

You're trying to find an apartment in a new city that you're going to move to. You want to use a real estate agent to help you find it. You find the e-mail address of a real estate agent on the Internet and begin writing an e-mail to her. You write this.

I'm looking for a studio in the range of about $1200 a month, preferably downtown.

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(someone) is looking for (something)

Talk about something that you want to buy or rent with the phrase "looking for ___":

Excuse me, I'm looking for a rear view mirror for a 2007 Nissan Centra. Do you know if you carry that?

Is there a certain size you're looking for?

a studio (apartment)

A "studio apartment" is an apartment that just has one main room. The bathroom is separate, and the kitchen might be too. But the residents sleep and live in one room.

This is different from a "one bedroom", which has a separate bedroom and living room.

When you're talking about the subject of apartments or housing, you can just call it "a studio". You don't have to call it "a studio apartment". But "a studio" can mean other things as well, such as an artist's studio or a music recording studio.

in the range of (an amount)

"In the range of ___" means "about ___" or "approximately ___":

Houses in that neighborhood are in the range of $500,000-plus.

Economic growth this year is expected to fall in the range of 1-2%.

preferably (something)

Use "preferably ___" to talk about something that you want but isn't absolutely necessary.

I'm looking for a job in the fashion industry, preferably with a salary of $65,000 or higher.

Can we get together to discuss that, preferably some time early next week?

Take some medicine for the pain, preferably aspirin, and if it continues call to schedule a follow-up appointment.

"Preferably" usually comes on the end of your sentence. It can't be used as the subject of the sentence.