Can You Pass The Advanced Vocab Test Take the Better Vocabulary Challenge
Hey there I’m Emma from mmmEnglish!
I hope that you and your loved ones are
holding up okay at the moment. These are some
really tough times that we’re living through
but I hope that through the frustration and the sadness,
you’ve been able to stay positive and keep busy at home
Today I want to share a lesson with you that will test
what you know and challenge you to explore some new
English words and push your vocabulary further.
And thank you for staying home and saving lives.
I’m thrilled that you’re here to learn with me.
Let’s get started!
So like I said, this vocabulary challenge
is going to help you to use more
sophisticated English words.
You’ll need to go digging through your mind a little,
you know, to find the English words that you
already know and if you’re not sure about
some of the words that I’m talking about in this lesson,
well, it’s a really great opportunity to increase or to
build your vocabulary.
Here’s how it’s gonna work.
I’m going to read out a sentence and you’ll see it go up
over there.
There’s going to be a word or maybe a couple of
words that are underlined
and this is what I want you to focus on.
I want you to search through your mind
for an alternative word, a more advanced English
word that’s gonna help you to express the same idea
but in a more intelligent way.
Now I’m gonna give you three seconds to think of it
but if you need a little longer that’s totally okay,
just use the pause button. Just get ready to press it,
you know, keep your finger ready
if you need a little bit more time use it.
If you can’t think of it, don’t worry,
I’m gonna give you a clue. I’m gonna add the
first three letters to the word to try and jog your memory
or to help you remember what that word is.
Then after another three seconds, I’m going to add
that word in there and read the whole sentence
through for you. Sometimes there might be
more than one possible answer but it’s really about
trying to find the best possible word or phrase
for that sentence.
Now if you can, make some notes as we go along
to help you practise and I mean really practise.
I know that you’ve got some extra time at the moment
so seriously don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed
about not knowing a word. Take that word,
write it in your own sentence,
add it to the comments below so that I can check
that you’re using it correctly and it becomes
part of your vocabulary. If you do that, you increase
your chances of remembering it a lot.
If you do that, you increase your chances of
remembering it significantly.
So keep a notebook beside you,
write down any questions you have or any
example sentences you want me to check
because as always, I’ll be down in the comments below
giving guidance and explanations if you need it okay?
So let’s get started!
John brought up this issue during our last meeting.
John raised this issue during our last meeting.
The company made a big announcement.
Lots of options here.
We’re starting easy.
The company made a significant
or a major announcement.
After a long and difficult night walking through
the darkness, in the end they arrived home.
After a long and difficult night walking through
the darkness, eventually they arrived home.
We’ve decided to make longer your contract.
We’ve decided to extend your contract.
The number of patients became larger.
The number of patients increased.
The new grants build up opportunities for young
people to study abroad.
The new grants create opportunities for young
people to study abroad.
We’ve hired a new graphic designer
and she’s really, really good.
Again there’s a few different options you can use here.
We’ve hired a new graphic designer
and she’s sensational.
Before you make your decision,
make sure you know about the rules.
Before you make your decision,
make sure you are familiar with the rules.
We think that the decision will be made tomorrow.
We expect that the decision will be made tomorrow.
Or we anticipate
that the decision will be made tomorrow.
Most people think that I live in Melbourne.
Most people assume that I live in Melbourne
but they’re wrong!
The nurse told her it was not okay
to visit patients after hours.
The nurse told her it was unacceptable
or not acceptable to visit patients after hours.
After the department store was caught breaking the law,
it took years to get consumer confidence back.
To get it back.
After the department store was caught breaking the law,
it took years to restore consumer confidence.
The company used new technology to make
production better.
To make something better.
The company used new technology
to enhance production.
Starting an at-home yoga practice
can be good for retirees.
Starting an at-home yoga practice can benefit retirees.
She was confused by the customs restrictions
when she arrived in Australia.
She was bewildered by the customs restrictions
when she arrived in Australia.
It’s important that families hold on to cultural traditions
and language.
To hold onto, to hold onto.
It’s important that families retain cultural
traditions and language.
I think that state funded education offers
many good things for society.
I think that state funded education offers
many benefits for society.
If we had acted sooner,
we could have stopped the spread of the virus.
If we had acted sooner,
we could have prevented the spread of the virus.
This is a conditional sentence, right?
Did you see my lesson on conditionals
a couple of weeks ago?
If you did, you’ll definitely recognise that structure.
And the link to that lesson is up here
if you want to check it out later.
Many of our ideas have changed over time.
Many of our ideas have evolved over time.
We have a team of ten staff who work together
on different projects.
To work together… what’s a better way of saying that?
We have a team of ten who collaborate
on different projects.
To be honest, I don’t want to make the problem worse.
To be honest, I don’t want to exacerbate the problem.
Exacerbate.
I’ve read through your report. It’s great,
but I want to change the introduction.
I’ve read through your report. It’s great
but I want to modify the introduction.
That softens it a little bit, doesn’t it sound as negative.
It’s one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the city.
It’s one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the city.
Now a little note here about superlative adjectives
because both of these are superlative forms, right?
Most one and two syllable adjectives
add -est when we make them a superlative
like biggest, hungriest, wealthiest.
And adjectives with three syllables or more,
they’re made into the superlative form with ‘most’.
Most intelligent, most anticipated,
most affluent, right?
These are general rules,
there are definitely some adjectives that break
these rules but they’re good guides to run with.
I don’t have an interesting job,
the work I do is usually quite boring.
I don’t have an interesting job,
the work I do is usually quite mundane.
It’s quite mundane or it’s very mundane.
I don’t have time to explain more about this right now.
I don’t have time to elaborate on this right now.
Notice that the preposition changed there too.
This is a good example of a collocation.
We don’t say that we elaborate about something
right? We use ‘on’ with elaborate.
So we always elaborate on something.
Keep that in mind.
Awesome work! Well done for sticking with me
all the way up until this point.
So I’m curious now, how many of those words
were completely new for you?
Did you learn some new ones
or did you know a few of them already?
I know that some of us have a little more time
on our hands than we’re used to, right?
So I think that you can afford to spend a little bit of time
writing in English
to help cement those new advanced words in your mind
so that you can start using more
sophisticated language when you write
and when you speak in English.
As I said, if you have doubts or questions
about anything you’ve learned in this lesson,
ask me in the comments below.
Thank you so much for spending some time with me
today, learning with me, staying home and saving lives.
I’m thrilled that you’re here to learn with me.
And there are so many mmmEnglish YouTube lessons
here to keep you busy. There are whole playlists about
grammar, about vocabulary, pronunciation,
lots of imitation lessons to keep you busy.
Here are a couple that you can get started with
right now
and keep improving your English while you’re at home.
Stay safe, take care
and keep flattening that curve, my friends.
We’re all in this together!