How to TRANSITION to ADVANCED English level vocabulary lesson
hello everyone and welcome back to
english with lucy today i’m going to
show you how to upgrade your english and
take it to the next level and we’re just
going to echo off the video that i made
a couple of weeks ago about the words
that you should not use and the
alternatives that you can use if you
haven’t seen that yet click on the card
I highly recommend you do I received so
many messages from different people
asking me to help them expand their
vocabulary and replace boring words with
interesting words so that is what we’re
going to do today but before we get
started I would just like to thank the
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against yourself right let’s get on with
the lesson okay so in a previous video I
spoke about the words that you should
never use in English and I want to
expand on that today I’m going to talk
about some common words that could be
considered quite boring and some
alternatives that you can use basically
this is just a really jam-packed
jam-packed means it’s really really full
a really jam-packed vocabulary video so
get your notepads out you’re going to
want to take notes
now the first word is smart I want to
mention this word because in British
English it means something slightly
different than in American English in
American English smart refers to
intelligence if somebody is smart they
are intelligent in British English it’s
not so clear you have to add a bit of
context because if I say someone is
smart you would think that they are well
dressed or well turned out if I say he’s
a very smart man I’m referring to the
way he looks not the way he thinks so
I’m going to give you some alternative
words for smart and intelligent that you
can use in everyday English some of the
alternatives need a bit more explanation
because they mean something slightly
different they’re not just synonyms so
instead of saying smart we can say
knowledgable somebody who has a lot of
knowledge we can say brilliant
now you might know brilliant as being
really really good or great that’s
brilliant
but if you describe a person as
brilliant it can mean that they’re
really really clever I think you would
describe Dumbledore as brilliant because
he
he was just this genius I always like to
get in a Harry Potter reference another
words immolated brilliant is gifted if
somebody is gifted it means they are
very skilled in a particular area often
referring to their intelligence when I
was at school there was a special list
that you could be on that was called the
gifted and talented list and it was a
list of students that were very talented
or very intelligent and they the people
on the list got to go off and do special
activities now I think of that I think
that’s that is dreadful that’s just
dreadful
yeah I hope that doesn’t occur anymore
another word we can use is witty and
witty
it means funny and intelligent so
someone who’s funny might make a lot of
jokes but they’re not particularly
intelligent jokes and somebody witty
makes a lot of very intelligent jokes
they play with the language they use
historical facts somebody who I think is
very witty is Stephen Fry I always
mention Stephen Fry and Harry Potter in
my videos you can tell what I watch in
my spare time so if somebody says
something very intelligent and very
funny you can say that’s very witty of
you it’s a lovely word along the same
lines quick-witted this means that
somebody can come up with an intelligent
or funny response very very quickly I on
the other hand take a little bit longer
to process information another lovely
word is sharp
if someone’s sharp they’re quick they’re
intelligent it’s hard to trick them
because they spot everything then we
have wise and wise tends to mean that
you are intelligent due to experience
you’ve got a lot of experience you can
refer to your experience you’re wise we
often refer to older intelligent people
as wise we’ve also got brainy and this
kind of refers to somebody who’s quite
studious somebody who lives a very
academic life I wouldn’t say it’s the
biggest compliment well it is a
compliment to be called brainy because
you’re being told that you’re
intelligent but I think this word can be
used with a negative undertone it sort
of in the same way as geek or nerd
somebody who studies a lot and maybe
doesn’t have such a big social
nothing wrong with that but be careful
who you use it with because you could
offend them now that’s enough of these
smart alternatives as with all of these
topics please do contribute your ideas
in the comments section below I was so
amazed at your contributions in my words
you should not say video you guys are
smart
oh no that’s what we were meant to not
say all right let’s have a look at a
very common word now good good is a good
word good is a good word it’s a good
word I can’t take that away from the
word good however there are better words
I remember when I was teaching students
I used to get so like self-conscious of
repeating the word good over and over
again after every answer good good good
very good so I had to come up with
alternatives and I ended up just saying
wonderful the whole time and then my
students used to predict what was gonna
say and it’s wonderful and I was about
to say it and it was so embarrassing but
I’m gonna give you some really good
alternatives to good right now see it’s
not good if you repeat it all over and
over again oh my god I think ok let’s
just get on with this one of my favorite
ones is marvelous Oh
isn’t marvelous just such a lovely word
marvelous it makes you sound really
quite posh and well-spoken I would use
it at every opportunity another one
which I love seeing in my comments
section because I know that you guys
have done your research on alternatives
for good is superb and this is another
posh word this meal is superb not super
it’s got to be on the end superb and it
just means the absolute best another
word is exquisite and this is another
word for very very good and we often use
it to describe food or drink a waiter
comes over to your table how is the wine
Oh exquisite another that I really like
is delightful
if something’s delightful it gives you a
lot of delight which means happiness the
show
was absolutely delightful it was very
happy it was very warm it was very good
terrific be careful on the pronunciation
of this one it’s not terrific it’s
terrific
make sure you don’t confuse this with
terror which means something’s very
scary terrific is a very very positive
word another one is splendid if
something is splendid it’s top-notch
it’s absolutely excellent I think
splendid and marvellous and my favorites
in this list but what if something is
really bad
well don’t worry I’ve got a list for you
now there’s an unwritten rule in English
if you use a posh word meaning bad you
have to show absolute disgust whilst
using these words so we have atrocious
we also have obscene obscene we have
dreadful dreadful I hope you’re all
practicing at home practicing you’re
disgusted faces disgusting disgusting
despicable absolutely despicable vile
oh that’s when I use a lot vile that is
absolutely vile nasty look nasty evil
just pure evil brutal you can have a
brutal murder which is the worst of the
worst lots of blood and gore and
possibly the best one abhorrent
abhorrent if you use that in an essay
I’m sure it will go down well if used in
the right context because it’s not such
a common word but it’s a really
effective one now how about some
alternatives for verbs
what about ran or to run you could say
someone jogged which is a light run you
could say somebody sped or they sped off
that means they went at quite a pace
they went quickly the same for bolted
and darted and if you use off darted off
bolted off sped off it means that they
are going away from you
scurried that’s running quickly with
little for
steps gallop the same but with big
footsteps like a horse raced dashed both
really quick and sprinted more like
Usain Bolt possibly the fastest of them
all and then on the other hand we have
alternatives for walked to walk you
could saunter which is just kind of
aimlessly walk saunter along or you
could March which is to walk
meaningfully to trudge somewhere that’s
to kind of drag your feet like you don’t
want to go to stagger how you might walk
after you’ve had a drink you’re not
picking up your feet you might trip over
you can amble or you can stroll and
that’s just a leisurely walk I do
actually say I’m just going out for a
stroll which just means an aimless walk
with no objective I’m just enjoying
being outside for a minute another verb
we can find alternatives for is to see
you can say you glimpsed something which
means you just got a really quick look
equally you can say you glanced at
something and you must use it with the
preposition at to glance that I glanced
at her answers and saw that she’d got
them all wrong to gaze or to gaze at
someone this is to look at something for
a very long time
it almost implies to look lovingly at
something if I say he gazed into her
eyes it means he looked lovingly or
looked for a long time into her eyes I’m
gazing into the camera lens right now
all of you students because I love you
to spot you can spot something that
means you you’ve seen something or
you’ve noticed it to notice it means you
found something that you weren’t
necessarily looking for you can examine
something which is to study it long and
hard to really look at the details and
you can also eye something and to eye
something is to really study move your
eyes all along it and you if you ice
someone up it means you’re almost
looking at them flirtatiously you’re
really looking at their body and seeing
what they’re like it’s not necessarily a
positive thing and the last topic is
alternatives for saying scared scared is
a perfectly fine word but if you’re
writing about something
particularly scary and then you can find
yourself repeating it over and over
again so here are some alternatives one
you might know already is afraid you are
scared you are afraid it’s pretty much
the same thing the same goes for
frightened to be frightened one that’s
slightly different is startled and this
means that something’s made you jump
it’s shocked you in the moment maybe
somebody has just appeared and you go oh
and you’ve been startled the same goes
for spooked to spook someone to suddenly
make them scared now what if you are
really really scared you might be
petrified absolutely petrified or
terrified not to be confused with
terrific after a scare you could be
really shaken and that means that you
know you don’t feel right this is sort
of the aftershock of a scare to be
anxious you could be really nervous and
anxious you could also be horrified or
good word coming here aghast aghast and
this is just to be filled with fear and
shock right that is it for today’s
lesson I really hope you enjoyed it I
really enjoyed making it if you would
like more lessons like this one please
comment down below because I always use
your requests as my inspiration for
future videos that’s why I made this one
because you guys seem to like the other
one so much and there are loads more
alternatives that I can give you and I
think it’s just so much nicer than
reading them from a page having somebody
explain them to you don’t forget to
check out the lingo language marathon
the link is in the description box along
with the code and please do connect with
me on all of my social media I’ve got my
facebook I’ve got my Instagram and I’ve
got my Twitter and I will see you soon
for another lesson my previous video I
spoke I
English teacher alright that’s enough of
these smart words with all of these
topics I would love for you to
contribute in the description box not in
the description box
don’t touch my description box that’s
mine you can go in the comment
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