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?
Let’s get started.
Today we’re going to talk about 15 advanced
vocabulary words that you’ll definitely hear
in daily conversation.
If you enjoyed my first advanced vocabulary
quiz, you can watch it up here.
If you haven’t enjoyed it yet, watch out because
you might see some of these words in this
quiz as well.
I challenge you to test yourself.
If there’s a word that you don’t know, write
it down.
Try to make your own sentence with it.
Read it out loud.
Try to repeat it so that it sticks in your
memory.
You’ll have three seconds to guess each answer
before I explain.
Let’s get started.
Number one: I don’t know why it’s taking so
long to … the house across the street.
I don’t know why it’s taking so long to renovate
the house across the street.
I don’t know why it’s taking so long to relegate
the house across the street.
Which one is the correct answer?
You have three seconds.
Two, one.
The correct answer is, I don’t know why it’s
taking so long to renovate the house across
the street.
This is a true story.
The house across the street has been getting
renovated for minimum two years.
Renovate means that they’re fixing it up.
There’s already a house.
They’re not building a new house, but they’ve
repainted it.
They put a new porch on it.
They painted it again.
They fixed up some of the outside of it.
They renovated the house.
We usually use this word in association with
buildings or houses.
That’s the most common way that you’ll see
it.
Number two, the worst bosses will … everything
that you do.
The worst bosses will subjugate everything
that you do, or the worst bosses will scrutinize
everything that you do?
Which one is the correct answer?
Three, two, one.
The worst bosses will scrutinize everything
that you do.
This beautiful word scrutinize means to look
carefully at something.
But, it’s not just looking carefully.
It’s a good idea to look carefully at what
your employees are doing, but this often means
critically are negatively.
They’re scrutinizing.
They’re picking apart every little detail
of what you do.
If you’ve had a boss like this, you know how
annoying it is.
The worst bosses scrutinize every little thing.
They don’t trust their employees at all.
They scrutinize their employees.
Number three: Have you ever had a … friend
who just won’t go home even though you’ve
already done the dishes and brushed your teeth
for bed?
Have you ever had a chatty friend who just
won’t go home?
Have you ever had a clingy friend who just
won’t go home?
Which is the best word, chatty or clingy?
Three, two, one.
Have you ever had a clingy friend who just
won’t go home no matter what you do?
Clingy is a beautiful adjective, and it means
stuck like glue, usually in a negative way.
When we’re talking about a person, it means
that you want them to go away, but they just
won’t go away.
So, we could say that she is a clingy person.
She’s always with you.
How are you doing?
What are you doing?
Can I get together?
Can I come to your house today?
And then she won’t leave.
She’s clingy.
We could also talk about items being clingy.
Maybe the skirt was clinging to her tights.
It was a clingy skirt.
It’s kind of sticking.
That’s kind of annoying when it’s a skirt,
but it’s not always a negative thing.
Maybe the cling wrap, or we call this sometimes
plastic wrap, is clingy.
It sticks to the bowl, and that’s exactly
what you want.
So, it means sticking.
Number four: When someone’s driving poorly,
I wonder if honking will … the problem or
help.
I wonder if honking will exacerbate the problem
or help.
I wonder if honking will examine the problem
or help.
I’ll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one.
We have a clue in this sentence.
Because we have the word or help, we know
that the key word we’re looking for is the
opposite of help.
If you’re taking an English exam, this is
great to look for these key words.
We have our word, that we’re going to talk
about in just a second, or help.
So, it needs to be the opposite of help.
Sometimes when I see poor driving, I wonder
if honking my horn will exacerbate the problem
or help.
Can you guess what the word exacerbate means?
It means make it worse.
It’s not helping.
Sometimes when someone cuts in front of me
and I honk my horn, I wonder if they will
drive correctly or if it will just scare them,
and all of a sudden they’ll drive even worse.
Sometimes I wonder this to myself.
It happened last week that someone cut in
front of me and I honked my horn, and they
got in the correct lane and it was fine.
But sometimes I’m worried that when I honk
my horn it will exacerbate the problem, make
it worse because that person will just be
surprised and then veer off the road.
Number five: I’m usually … when I walk alone
at night.
I’m usually wary when I walk alone at night
or I’m usually wiry when I walk alone at night?
There’s only one difference between these
two words and that’s the vowel.
Which one is it?
Three, two, one.
I’m usually wary when I walk alone at night.
This just means careful, cautious.
I’m usually wary.
I look around me.
I try to stay alert because I want to stay
safe.
I’m usually wary, cautious of my surroundings
when I walk alone at night.
Make sure that you pronounce this word correctly,
wary.
It kind of sounds like wear, I’m wearing clothes,
wear, and then you just add E at the end,
wary.
If you’re in the Fearless Fluency Club, you
already know this word because we talked about
it a couple months ago.
If you’re not in the Fearless Fluency Club,
you can click up here to learn more with me
every month and learn great vocabulary expressions
like the ones in this lesson.
Number six: I was surprised that she was … about
doing the dishes because she seemed so put
together in her life.
I was surprised that she was … about the
dishes.
I was surprised that she was testy about doing
the dishes.
I was surprised that she was negligent about
doing the dishes.
In this sentence, maybe you don’t know what
put together means.
That’s going to be a key element here, but
we can imagine in our heads something that
is put together.
When you have a puzzle and it’s put together,
it means it’s completed.
It’s finished.
It looks nice.
So, we can kind of piece together the rest
of that sentence to guess what our key word
is here.
Let me tell you, in three, two, one.
I was surprised she was negligent about doing
the dishes.
Negligent.
What does this word sound like?
Do you know the word neglect?
This means that you’re forgetting something.
If you were neglected as a child, this means
that your parents didn’t pay attention to
you.
They forgot you.
They ignored you.
We can kind of imagine that for the dishes
that she was negligent about the dishes.
The word negligent means that you often forget
important tasks.
In this situation, we have someone who is
put together.
They’re organized.
It seems like they always know what’s going
on.
They’re never confused, or worried, or uncertain.
They are put together.
But surprisingly, she is negligent about the
dishes.
She has tons of dishes in her sink.
We can say that she often forgets important
tasks.
She is negligent.
Number seven: We rented a … house in the
English countryside.
We rented a quaint house in the English countryside
or we rented a tactful house in the English
countryside?
Which of these words feels the most correct?
I’ll give you three seconds.
Three, two, one.
We rented a quaint house in the English countryside.
The word quaint means cute in kind of an old
fashioned way.
So, it kind of makes us think about simple
times, a long time ago, maybe our grandparents
or hundreds and hundreds of years ago, this
beautiful, cute little house.
This is something that seems typical in the
English countryside.
There are quaint houses.
This is kind of a stereotype, but you can
use that word quaint to talk about somewhere
that you went on vacation.
Oh, I love this little village.
It’s so quaint.
It’s cute.
Number eight: I often wish that architecture
in the US was more … pleasing.
I often wish that architecture in the US was
more discretely pleasing or I often wish that
architecture in the US was more aesthetically
pleasing?
Which of these two words is correct?
Three, two, one.
The answer is I often wish that architecture
in the US was more authentically pleasing.
Aesthetically means something to do with beauty.
Oh, it’s so aesthetically pleasing to see
quaint, old houses.
Or if you’ve ever visited Europe and you’ve
seen those beautiful buildings that have existed
for hundreds of years, it is aesthetically
pleasing.
That means it’s pleasing to your eyes.
It looks beautiful.
All of those colors together in your dress
are so aesthetically pleasing.
We often use those two words together, aesthetically
pleasing.
But on the other hand, architecture in the
US isn’t really known for being aesthetically
pleasing.
Unless you go to some older areas of New York,
most places in the US just look like this.
Just some big, box stores with big parking
lots.
Some downtown areas are kind of cute, but
in general, architecture in the US is not
so aesthetically pleasing, and I wish it was.
Number nine, I’m sure this is not you.
Sometimes people can be rude online because
it’s easy to be … Sometimes people can be
rude online because it’s easy to be anonymous
or sometimes people can be rude online because
it’s easy to be assimilated?
Which of these two words is correct?
Three, two, one.
Sometimes, unfortunately, people can be rude
online because it’s easy to be anonymous.
Anonymous, this means that your identity is
hidden.
Maybe you just have a screen name.
Nobody knows who you are.
You can say whatever you want, so it’s easy
to be rude online.
Did you recognize this word, assimilated,
from the first vocabulary test?
I hope so.
If not, make sure you go watch it.
Number 10: Do you think that social media
… content that you see?
Do you think that social media censors content
that you see or do you think that social media
subtracts content that you see?
Which one’s correct?
Three, two, one.
Do you think that social media censors content
that you see?
The word sensor means hide something that’s
unacceptable.
Maybe for a music album they might say censored
or explicit, and this helps parents to know
I don’t want my five-year-old to listen to
this music because there’s something in here
that needs to be blocked.
But when it comes to social media, maybe the
people who run social media are blocking certain
things so that we don’t see it.
This is a controversial opinion.
I don’t really know what I think about it.
I don’t really think much about it often.
But, I want to know for you, do you think
that social media censors the content that
we see?
Let me know in the comments below, and use
the word sensor.
Number 11: The mother gave an … sigh when
her son got in trouble at school again.
The mother gave an angelic sigh when her son
got in trouble at school again or the mother
gave an exasperated sigh when her son got
in trouble at school again?
Is it angelic or exasperated?
Three, two, one.
The mother gave an exasperated, ugh, sigh
when her son got in trouble at school again.
Does this word sound familiar?
Does it sound like a word we talked about
previously?
Exacerbate.
Oh, it’s not the same word.
One word has a B, exacerbate.
This means to make something worse.
If I honk my horn, will it exacerbate the
problem?
Or in our sample sentence, here we have a
mother who’s frustrated.
That’s what the word exasperate, with a P,
means, frustrated.
“Aw, son, why are you getting in trouble at
school, again?”
Exasperated.
[frustrated sigh].
The word exasperate means to breathe out.
So, we can kind of imagine the mother going,
“[frustrated sigh].
Why are you in trouble again?
Ah.”
She’s exasperated.
She’s blowing air out.
She’s frustrated.
Number 12: Even though he tries to be … he
still can’t pay his bills.
Even though he tries to be fair, he still
can’t pay his bills or even though he tries
to be frugal, he still can’t pay his bills?
Which one of these two F words is correct,
fair or frugal?
Three, two, one.
Even though he tries to be frugal, he still
can’t pay his bills.
The word frugal means careful with your money.
It’s generally a positive thing.
If you want to use it in a negative way, you
can say stingy.
This means that he never gives money to other
people.
He never helps other people.
He just uses his money for himself.
But if you want to say it in a positive way,
he’s just careful about spending his money.
He wants to make sure that it goes to the
correct places, to the best people.
You can say frugal.
This is a term that has often been used to
talk about me.
I’m a frugal person.
That means that I’m careful with my money.
If I give money to someone else, I just want
to make sure that it’s used in the way that
they say it will be used.
I don’t have problems donating, but I just
want to make sure that it’s in the best way,
so I’m careful with my money.
I’m frugal.
Number 13: I could see the … anger on his
face by looking at his eyes.
I could see the subtle anger on his face by
looking at his eyes or I could see the sappy
anger on his face by looking at his eyes?
Is it subtle or sappy?
Three, two, one.
I could see the subtle anger on his face by
looking at his eyes.
The word subtle means not obvious.
Maybe it’s a little bit hidden.
You have to look carefully at his eyes to
see his anger.
It’s subtle.
Do you notice something strange about the
pronunciation of this word?
There is a B, but it sounds like a D, subtle,
subtle.
If you want some more information about how
to pronounce the word subtle, I made a video
about some of the most difficult words to
pronounce up here, and one of those words
is the word subtle.
So, click on that video so that you can get
some more details about its pronunciation.
Number 14: My baby is the cutest baby in the
whole world, but of course I’m … But, of
course, I’m blasé.
But, of course, I’m biased.
Which of these B words is the correct word?
Well, we could say in three, two, one, my
baby is the cutest baby in the whole world,
but I guess I’m biased.
Biased.
The word bias has a specific meaning.
In fact, we use this word a lot in daily conversation.
It means that you have a previous notion that
kind of affects how you feel about other things.
My baby is my child, so I’m going to have
a different opinion than someone who doesn’t
know my child.
Of course, all of my feelings about my child
are going to be biased.
They’re going to be affected by some previous
idea.
I want to take a look at a quick cartoon so
that you can get another example for the word
bias.
Here we see a courtroom, and there is a lady
who’s being accused of being a witch.
She says, “It makes no difference what I say.
You’ve already decided that I’m guilty.”
This man had a previous notion that she is
a witch.
She’s guilty.
It doesn’t matter what she says.
He is going to continue to think that she’s
guilty.
And the man here, he says something that reaffirms
his belief.
“Gasp!
Witches can read minds.
She is a witch.”
He’s just reaffirming what he already thinks,
which also affirms what she thinks.
Here, this man is biased.
He has a previous notion that’s affecting
how he’s currently behaving.
Number 15, our final question.
This is a question that I often get a lot,
actually.
How did you learn how to teach?
And I might say it’s just … I guess.
It’s just intuitive, I guess or it’s just
oblivious, I guess?
Which one of these two words is correct?
Intuitive or oblivious?
Three, two, one.
How did you learn how to teach, Vanessa?
Well, it’s just intuitive, I guess.
Intuitive means that it came naturally for
me.
It’s something that was already within me
and it came out.
This is just partially true because I also
did try to channel some good teachers that
I’ve had and tried to emulate them, but we
can say here it’s intuitive.
It came from within me.
Well, what about that other word, oblivious?
Do you recognize this word from the first
vocabulary test?
I hope so.
If not, make sure you check out that video.
Oblivious and intuitive are not the same thing.
We could say that, well, I guess my teaching
was just intuitive.
I just knew it within my mind without having
to study.
How did you do on this test?
Let me know in the comments.
What was your final score?
Also, I have a challenge for you.
Try to make a sentence with one of these new
vocabulary words.
Use it in a sentence correctly, and read it
out loud so that you can test your speaking
muscles and also try to ingrain it in your
memory as easily as possible.
Thank you so much for learning English with
me, and I’ll see you again next Friday for
a new lesson here on my 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.