TEST Your English Vocabulary Do you know these 15 advanced words
Hi.
I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Are you ready to test your vocabulary skills?
Let’s do it.
Today, I want to test you on 15 advanced English
vocabulary words that you’ll definitely hear
in daily conversation, not words like convivial
that you’ll never hear Americans actually
say.
These are words that you’re going to hear
in conversation, in movies, in TV shows, and
you are welcome to integrate them and add
them to your own personal vocabulary.
I challenge you to test yourself.
Try to get the correct answer to each sentence.
And if you don’t get the answer correct, no
worries.
That means that you’re ready to add a new
word to your vocabulary.
So, you can write it down, make your own sentence
with it, read your sentence out loud, and
enjoy yourself because adding to your vocabulary
can be fun, and also, it’s super useful.
So, let’s start with the first sentence.
I’m going to read you a sentence and there
are going to be two options for you to fill
in the blank.
I’ll give you three seconds, and you can try
to guess what the correct answer is before
I explain it.
Let’s get started.
Sentence number one is, I need to practice
English because we have to … with the American
branch next week.
Is the word collaborate or is the word decide?
We have to collaborate with the American branch.
We have to decide with the American branch.
Which word is the best fit for this sentence?
I’ll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one.
The correct answer is collaborate.
If you got this correct, congratulations.
If not, I want to let you know that the word
collaborate means work together.
So, you often use this in project situations.
I have to collaborate with my classmates.
We have to work together on a project.
Or, I have to collaborate with the marketing
department or the American branch.
We’re working on a project together.
We have to collaborate.
This is a beautiful advanced word.
Of course, you can simply say work together.
Great.
No problem.
But, this video is all about advanced English
expressions that are commonly used.
So, you can say, “I have to collaborate with
the American branch.”
Let’s go on to sentence number two.
The second sentence is, what do you think
is the … time to go to bed?
What do you think is the original time to
go to bed?
What do you think is the optimum time to go
to bed?
I’ll give you three seconds.
Two, one.
What do you think is the optimum time to go
to bed?
The word optimum is just an advanced, beautiful
way to say best.
What do you think is the best time to go to
bed.
Here in this picture you can see … This
is not sponsored by this company.
I just found this picture online.
But, this company has decided to use the word
optimum to describe their product.
When you take their product, you will get
the best sleep.
You will get the optimum sleep.
So, I hope that you can use this as an advanced
way to say best.
Let’s go to the next one.
Sentence number three.
When he told me about his experience growing
up during the war, I realized how … kids
are.
I realized how resistant kids are.
I realized how resilient kids are.
Both of these words sound similar, so make
sure that you choose the correct one.
I’ll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one.
I realized how resilient kids are.
This is a beautiful word.
There’s a lovely Z sounds in there.
Resilient, resilient.
This means that you’re able to survive even
though you have difficult circumstances You’re
able to keep going.
Kids are the perfect example of this.
Even though a lot of kids grow up in a difficult
situation, they survive.
They are resilient.
They can adapt to those situations.
All right.
Let’s go onto the next one.
Sentence number four.
It made me really annoyed when my dad … at
my idea to interview the president.
It made me really annoyed when my dad scoffed
at my idea to interview the president or when
he scammed at my idea to interview the president?
Which one is the best word for this situation?
Three, two, one.
It made me really annoyed when my dad scoffed
at my idea to interview the president.
The word scoff is another excellent word.
You can see by my facial expression that the
word scoff means you’re laughing.
You’re making fun of.
It’s often accompanied by this kind of puff
of air.
If you are scoffing at someone else, you’re
kind of laughing or you think their idea is
a little stupid or silly.
You’re going to make that same sound.
You think you can interview the president?
That is scoffing.
So when you hear someone scoffing, now you
know they are indeed scoffing.
Let’s go to the next one.
The fifth sentence is, in … I should have
bought stock in Google.
In … I should have bought stock in Google.
Is it in retrospect I should have bought stock
in Google or in honesty, I should have bought
stock in Google?
Which one feels the most right to you?
I’ll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one.
In retrospect, I should have bought stock
in Google.
This word retrospect is actually a word that
we studied in the Fearless Fluency Club a
couple months ago.
The first part of this word is retro.
Retro means in the past and spect means looking.
So, we can imagine we’re looking in the past,
but there is a slight little nuance about
this word.
It means we’re thinking about the past, but
it means that we realized in the past we made
a bad decision.
But in the past, I didn’t know it was a bad
decision, but now I realize in retrospect
I should have bought stock in Google.
I would be really rich right now.
But you know, I didn’t do it, and probably
you didn’t either.
So in retrospect, we can learn a lot.
Let’s go to the next one.
Number six: I asked her to help me move next
weekend, but her answer was kind of … She
just said, “I don’t know.
Maybe.
We’ll see.”
Was her answer inundated?
Was her answer ambiguous?
Which is the best word for this situation?
Three, two, one.
Her answer was ambiguous.
This means that it’s not certain.
I don’t actually know what her answer is.
It’s not clear at all.
You can see in this cool image here that it
is a little bit ambiguous.
Do you see a rabbit or do you see a duck?
It’s ambiguous.
It’s not certain.
It’s a beautiful word.
Let’s go to the next one.
Sentence number seven: Speaking only one language
… me from getting a promotion.
Speaking only one language hinders me from
getting a promotion or speaking only one language
diverts me from getting a promotion?
What’s the best word for this situation?
Three, two, one.
Speaking only one language hinders me from
getting a promotion, and that’s why I’m here
with Speak English with Vanessa to improve
my English and get a promotion.
I hope it works for you.
Here, this word, hinders, means stops or prevents.
When you speak only one language, maybe that
is preventing you from getting a better job
or it’s preventing or hindering you from getting
a promotion.
This word hinder is a beautiful way to color
your vocabulary and sound like an advanced
English speaker.
Let’s go to the next one.
Sentence number eight: My ancestors came to
the US and tried to … into the general American
culture.
They tried to asinine into the culture.
They tried to assimilate into the culture.
Which word is the best?
Three, two, one.
My ancestors came to the US and they tried
to assimilate to the general American culture.
This means they tried to fit in.
They tried to be similar to the general American
culture.
This is something that was quite common, especially
in the early 1900s.
People who came to the US from Italy, like
my ancestors, or Poland, or Ireland, or from
other countries as well, they try to fit in
or lose their native culture and tried to
assimilate into the general American culture,
which is why American culture nowadays is
quite diverse because no one can actually
perfectly assimilate.
We all keep little bits of our own culture
inside of us.
But, this is the best word to describe this.
They tried to assimilate into the general
American culture.
Let’s go to the next one.
Number nine: When the teenager hit my car
in the parking lot, I couldn’t believe how
… he was.
I couldn’t believe how nonchalant he was.
I couldn’t believe how immune he was.
What is the best word for this sentence?
Three, two, one.
When the teenager hit my car, I couldn’t believe
how nonchalant he was.
This means not caring, cool.
It doesn’t bother him.
“Oh, I hit your car.
It’s not a big deal.
Oh, it’s all right.
Don’t worry about it.”
Nonchalant.
I was quite surprised when the teenager hit
my car and he didn’t care.
He was just nonchalant.
It’s all right.
Let’s just go hang out on the beach.
Not exactly.
That’s not exactly how you respond in that
situation.
Let’s go to the next one.
Sentence number 10: Last week, I was really
busy and didn’t get much sleep.
But last night, I slept for nine glorious
hours, so this morning I feel … This morning
I feel rejuvenated.
This morning I feel modified.
What’s the best word in this situation?
I feel … Three, two, one.
Rejuvenated.
Here we’re talking about alive with energy.
I feel like before I was tired, and now, all
of a sudden, I have more energy.
I feel rejuvenated.
So, what about for you?
What makes you feel rejuvenated?
Is it when you have a good chat with a friend,
or you go for a walk in the woods, or you
get a good night’s sleep?
What makes you feel rejuvenated?
Let’s go to the next one.
Number 11: When he made a remark about her
weight, he was … to the fact that she felt
embarrassed.
He was obvious to the fact that she felt embarrassed
or he was oblivious to the fact that she felt
embarrassed?
There is a slight difference between these
two words in their spelling, so make sure
that you choose the word correctly, especially
if you’re writing it down.
Don’t mess up.
I’ll give you three, two, one seconds.
The correct answer is he was oblivious to
the fact that she felt embarrassed.
This means that he had no clue.
He wasn’t paying attention at all.
You can see in this image, this perfectly
describes oblivious.
He’s looking at his phone.
He’s telling someone, “I’ll see you later.
Take care,” and then he’s about to step in
a giant hole.
He is oblivious.
He’s not paying attention.
This is a beautiful word to talk about someone
who just has no idea.
They’re just oblivious.
They’re not knowing what’s going on.
Let’s go to the next one.
Number 12: One of the worst types of bullying
is to … someone from the group.
Is to fund someone from the group?
Is to ostracize someone from the group?
Which one of these words is the best?
I’ll give you three, two, one.
The correct answer is one of the worst types
of bullying is to ostracize someone from the
group.
This means that you push them away.
You ignore them.
You don’t let them be your friend, to be part
of the group.
This is something that is really harsh, especially
for teenagers because they really want to
have friends and fit in.
So, this is pretty tough.
If you were ostracized as a kid or as a teenager,
I’m sorry.
It’s really a difficult situation.
Number 13: I was gonna arrest inside today,
but after I saw the sunny weather, I decided
to go for a hike … of the moment.
What is that word there?
Spur of the moment or top of the moment?
Which one of those words fits the best?
I’ll give you three seconds, two seconds,
one second.
The answer is I decided to go for a hike spur
of the moment.
If you are in the Fearless Fluency Club this
month, you know that we have talked about
this word, spur of the moment.
It means spontaneously.
I didn’t plan it.
I was in fact planning to rest.
But instead, I saw the weather and thought,
“Hey, I’ll just go outside and go for a hike.”
I did it spur of the moment.
I did it spontaneously.
Let’s go to the next one.
Number 15: Looking at your phone too much
can hurt your eyes, but if you … your body
will hurt as well.
If you sling, your body will hurt as well.
If you slouch, your body will hurt as well.
Which one of these two words will you choose?
Three, two, one.
The answer is looking at your phone too much
can hurt your eyes, but if you slouch, your
body will hurt as well.
This action of not sitting up straight, but
slouching, is a common vocabulary word these
days because a lot of people are starting
to feel concerned about your posture while
you’re looking at your phone.
Especially, young people are looking at their
phones a lot during their body’s formative
years.
So, slouching can cause a lot of problems
later in life.
A lot of parents say, “Don’t slouch.
Don’t slouch.
Sit up,” or teachers said that, “Hey, don’t
slouch.
Sit Up.”
Look at your posture right now.
Are you slouching or are you sitting up?
You can take a moment to correct your posture
and don’t slouch.
So let’s go to the next one.
Sentence number 15.
This is the last one.
You got this.
The sentence is, someone said it’s going to
snow tomorrow.
I know it’s only October, but I guess it’s
… But I guess it’s plausible.
But I guess it’s passable.
Which one of these two words is the best?
Three, two, one.
Well, someone said it’s going to snow tomorrow.
It’s only October, but I guess it’s plausible.
plausible.
Don’t forget that L sound there.
Plausible.
This means that it’s possible, but not likely.
You can see here in this fun image that I
found I was doing a search for the word plausible
because I wanted to show an image to you,
and this image is perfect for the word plausible.
They’re showing how the dinosaurs disappeared.
Maybe in the science world there’s some controversy
about how dinosaurs disappeared.
I don’t really know.
I haven’t really researched it that much,
but here is a plausible, it’s possible, but
not likely, situation.
We have the animals on the ark.
This is kind of the Christian idea of the
animals getting saved in the flood, and they
are shooting and killing the dinosaurs.
Do you think this happened?
Very unlikely, but there’s no way to prove
it, so it is plausible.
And that is a fun way to use the word plausible.
So if someone tells you something that’s pretty
unbelievable, but it’s maybe possible, you
could say, “Well, it’s plausible.
Okay.”
It’s not likely, but it’s plausible.
Now I have a challenge for you.
We’ve talked about 15 excellent advanced English
vocabulary words.
I want you to choose one or more, if you’d
like, and try to make your own sentence in
the comments with this word.
We’ve got a lot of options here.
And if you have any questions about what I
explained, feel free to ask.
I’ll try my best to help.
Thank you so much for learning English with
me, and I’ll see you again next Friday for
another lesson here on my own YouTube channel.
Bye.
The next step is to download my free ebook,
Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English
Speaker.
You’ll learn what you need to do to speak
confidently and fluently.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel
for more free lessons.
Thanks so much.
Bye.