Transcription
This is a massive vocabulary lesson because in the next hour, I am going to teach you many different C2 phrases, verbs, nouns, adjectives. And if you're wondering what that means, C2, this is Cambridge's highest level of proficiency and really just means that, well, you are a proficient speaker of English. And what I would encourage you to do is just take your time as you go through the lesson. Think about the examples. Probably re-watch the lesson a week from now or a month from now because the more you do that, the more easily you're going to be able to build your vocabulary, which is what a lesson like this is all about.
Before we begin, I'd like to make a quick announcement about my speaking course because if you would like to practice and improve your speaking skills, click on the link down in the description. And when you do, you will find a special discount just for you. The course is all about helping you speak confidently, speak clearly, and speak naturally. Each week, there is a different speaking topic. We warm up with pronunciation or connected speech. You'll learn vocabulary related to that topic. I'll also teach you some of the language nuances, like when to use certain words and phrases. We do engaging speaking activities, and there are also pronunciation video lessons included in the course. So click on that link down in the description if you would like to improve your speaking fluency. And, well, yeah, I just hope to speak to you soon.
So without further ado, let's begin our lesson and learn a lot of C2 vocabulary. I am going to teach you some advanced phrases that I think are common, and I'm going to tell you the meaning, talk a little bit about how these phrases are used, and I'm also going to teach you how to correctly pronounce these phrases because if you're going to use them, you want to make sure that you are saying them correctly. And if you enjoy building your vocabulary, please subscribe. Turn on notifications. That way, I can become your teacher. My name is Wes. The channel is Interactive English. It's all about trying to help you reach your fluency goals.
So let's begin with our first phrase, which is "clear the air." So to clear the air means to remove the bad feelings between people. And you might use this if you have a couple of friends who are unhappy with each other, or maybe some family members, and there are just some bad feelings. And then someone else, the person who wants to get those feelings removed, that's the person who's going to use this phrase. So if I have a couple of friends that have been arguing and there are some bad feelings, and I am the one who wants them to make up, then I might tell them, "You know, it's time to clear the air. We really need to clear the air, and we need to just remove these bad feelings."
Now, as far as pronunciation goes, the one word that I want to focus on is the article "the." And you notice how I just pronounced it then? I said it with the schwa sound, which is an "uh" sound, and it's definitely weaker. "The." And typically, people might say "the" before a consonant sound: "the cat," "the dog." If the article comes before a vowel sound, then people may say "thee": "the elephant," "the air." Now, I will say that people in the United States, which is where I'm from, may not follow this rule, and they often use "the" before either a consonant or a vowel. However, in a phrase like this, which is fixed and you hear these words together, in this case, you are going to say "the." Clear the air. Maybe join the army. Okay, I'll turn off what? Okay, okay. We are just gonna clear the air.
And then we have "trial and error." And this is a way of solving a problem by trying a number of different methods and then learning from the mistakes that you make. And I think often this phrase is used when talking about science because perhaps somebody is doing an experiment, and you could say, "It's just a matter of trial and error before we get the result that we want." I also want to tell you that people may use this phrase with the word "process." And somebody could say, "It's a process of trial and error." These words are frequently used together: "a process of trial and error." And I could say that, "Well, learning new vocabulary, it's also a process of trial and error because you're learning these phrases, you're going to try to use them in context, you may make mistakes, but that's okay. You'll learn from those mistakes, and then you keep practicing until these phrases are a part of your speaking vocabulary."
For pronunciation, what I would tell you is that with "and," I'm going to reduce it so it just sounds like "n." "Trial and error." And then "error." It's a little challenging on its own. The word has two syllables, has those two "r" sounds. Just remember that the stress is on the first syllable: "error." "Error." "Trial and error." And I can tell you, "Relationships are just trial and error." Something else that's a little bit of trial and error is pronunciation, and that's why I've been talking to you about how to correctly pronounce these phrases.
And the next phrase that I have for you is "to be at odds over" or "to be at odds with." You can follow it with either of those prepositions. This just means to disagree or be different from something. So I could say, "My siblings and I are at odds over the family estate. We just disagree." Or, "I'm at odds with his version of the story. My version is different."
So as far as pronouncing this phrase, I want you to look at that word "at." Typically, it would end with a stop "t," but in American English, because I'm from the United States, that "t" comes between two vowel sounds. So I am going to pronounce it as a flap "t," which is going to sound a little more like a soft "d." And then I'm going to take that soft "d" and link it with the vowel sound in "odds." "At odds." So you should hear that flap "t," and then it's getting linked with the vowel sound in "odds." "I'm at odds with his version of the story." "Some people say your immigration policy is at odds with your jobs program. How would you respond to that?"
Then there's "beyond a doubt" or "beyond a shadow of a doubt." And in this case, you are just expressing certainty that something is true. I could say, "I think it's beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Earth's climate is changing." In law, you may hear someone say "beyond a reasonable doubt," and this just means that the argument presented shows that someone is guilty, and it just must be accepted as fact. So a person might say, "We have shown that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
In order to correctly pronounce this phrase, keep in mind that the article "the" is just going to be pronounced as the schwa sound. It's just going to sound like "uh." And then we can do some linking and link some consonants with that schwa sound. "Beyond uh shadow of uh doubt." So two things: "bionda uh," "beyond a shadow of a doubt." So hopefully you can hear that linking occurring. "Beyond the shadow of doubt." "Beyond a shadow of a doubt." "I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that Clark Kent loves Lois Lane."
The next phrase is one that I use quite often, and that is "play it by ear." I really like this one. It means that you are deciding how to handle a situation as it develops, instead of acting on some, well, previous plan that you had. So I think I would often use this when traveling. That I like to have an idea of what I'm going to do, but I also want to be able to change those plans as the day develops. So I could say, "Yeah, you know, let's just play it by ear. I know we're going to try to do these things, but, you know, we can make some changes if necessary. We'll just play it by ear."
And when it comes to pronouncing this phrase, there's also some linking going on. The final consonant sound in "play" can get linked with the vowel sound in "it." "Play it." "Play it." "Let's play it by ear." "So when are you getting back from Florida?" "I don't know. Play it by ear."
"Go with the flow." This means to do what other people are doing or just agree with other people simply because it's the easiest thing to do. So you may hear somebody tell you, "Hey, you should just relax and go with the flow." Or I could talk about myself and say, "I'm just gonna go with the flow. I really don't have a strong opinion about things. I just want to do what's easiest. So I'm just going to go with the flow."
And when saying this phrase, keep in mind there are some overlapping sounds, those "th's." So that final "th" in "with" is going to overlap with the beginning "th" in "the." The only difference is that in "with," that "th" is voiceless, and in "the," the "th" is voiced. So when you're pronouncing this, those sounds will overlap, and you're really going to say that voiced "th." "Go with the flow." "Go with the flow." "I'm going to go with the flow. I'm done complaining. I'm evolving. Just gonna go with the flow."
Then we have the phrase "to put one's foot down." And this just means to use your authority to stop something from happening. And often, I think people would use this phrase in the first person, talking about something that's happening at that moment, in which case they're going to use the continuous tense: "I'm putting my foot down." So think about somebody who is more of an authority figure, like parents would say this to their child. If they want to go out to some party and the parent doesn't want them to go, they could say, "No, you're not going to that party. I'm putting my foot down. I'm using my authority to stop this from happening. I'm putting my foot down."
There are two things that I want you to keep in mind when pronouncing this phrase. The first is that if you're saying it in the continuous tense, the "t" in "putting" comes between two vowel sounds. So again, being from the United States, I am going to use a flap "t," so it'll sound like a soft "d." "I'm putting my foot down." The other thing I want to say is that "foot down." There's some co-articulation going on because the position of your tongue when you say "foot," all right, that stop "t," your tongue is going to be at the top part of your mouth. But then when you move into saying "down," your tongue with that "d" sound is also going to be at the top. So you're not going to touch it twice and say them as two different words. You're really going to say "foot" and then move right into that "d" sound in "down." "Foot down." "Foot down." And your tongue is really just coming up to the top part of your mouth one time. "Foot down." "I'm putting my foot down. Come on, you guys. I'm putting my foot down. Either the dog moves out or I do."
Then there's "down the drain," which is it's not a good phrase because it means that work or money has just been wasted. So if I were to say, "All that work down the drain," that the work was, well, it wasn't used, it was wasted. Maybe it was destroyed. Just "down the drain." Or, "The money that I won went right down the drain." Okay, I used it all up, probably carelessly. It's gone now, and it just went right down the drain.
The pronunciation of this phrase, it's pretty straightforward. The only thing I would say is that the article "the" is going to be pronounced with that schwa sound. "The." It's that weaker sound. "Down the drain." "I bought your ticket for the my pad raffle, Dad." "Oh, that's Tooth Fairy money down the drain, sweetie." "I never win anything."
Next is "to come under fire." And this just means to be criticized. And really, someone or something comes under fire. I could say, "The government has come under fire after the failed response." People are angry, they're upset, they're criticizing the government, so the government has come under fire. Or, "The CEO has come under fire after the latest scandal." Again, people are angry and they're criticizing, and someone has come under fire.
Now, when pronouncing this phrase, again, there's a little bit of linking going on. That final consonant sound in "come" is going to get linked with the vowel sound in "under." "Come under." "Come under fire." "Take a look. Cam Brady has come under fire getting it on with this one. Shayna Saint, a former professional cheerleader."
The next one, and it's also one of my favorite phrases from this lesson, and that is "jump to conclusions." And what this means is that someone is just guessing the facts about a situation without having enough information. And you would say someone is "jumping to conclusions." Often, I think people may use this with "not." In that case, you're telling someone, "Let's not jump to conclusions. Let's not guess until we get more information." So I could say, "Let's not jump to conclusions. We need more evidence." That is beyond the shadow of a doubt. So in the meantime, let's just not jump to conclusions.
For pronunciation, the only thing that I would say is that the preposition "to" can either be pronounced "to," but sometimes it's pronounced with that schwa sound, and it's going to sound like "ta." And often, I think you will hear people say "ta" when they're using this phrase. "Jump to conclusions." Okay, I'll say it slowly again so you can hear that "to." "Jump to conclusions." And then when I say it quickly, "Jump to conclusions." So it's a very subtle difference, but I'm still using that schwa. "Jump to conclusions." "This was stolen from there. We're accessories to a federal crime. Let's not jump to conclusions. A lot of things start with you."
Then there's "out of one's depth." And this means that a person is not having the knowledge, experience, or skills to deal with a particular situation or subject. I think you would often hear somebody saying this phrase to another person, in which case they're saying, "Look, you're out of your depth. It's too difficult. You don't have the experience or the knowledge. You're out of your depth."
A few things when it comes to pronunciation: "out of." So that "t" again, it comes between two vowel sounds, so I'll pronounce it as a flap "t," and then I will link it with the vowel sound in "of." "Out of." "Out of." And then just, just keep in mind "depth." It ends with that voiceless "th." It's very slight, but you should pronounce that voiceless "th." "Depth." "Out of your depth." "Out of your depth." "I know what I'm doing. You don't. You're out of your depth, Ruth. And I'm not going to let you drag Jonah down with you."
Okay, and then there's "to do someone or something justice." And this just means to be accurate or fair by representing someone or something as that person or thing truly is. And let me, let me give you a couple of examples. I think it'll make more sense. So this phrase is often used in the negative, and with the pronoun "it." "It doesn't do it justice." So it's like I'm talking about a situation and then saying that it's just not an accurate representation. Like, the book is so much better than the movie. The movie doesn't do it justice. Or, "The Grand Canyon is breathtaking. Pictures don't do it justice." That pictures are just, it's just not a fair or accurate representation of the Grand Canyon. You really gotta go there. The pictures, they just don't do it justice.
So when you say this phrase, if you're using the pronoun "it," then there's going to be some intrusion. Intrusion is when you are adding a sound in between two other sounds. In this case, we're going to add a slight "w" sound between "do" and "it." "Do it." This allows us to link those two vowel sounds together. "It doesn't do it justice." "It just doesn't do it justice." "It doesn't do any justice. I'll tell you that. You always said you like my nose." "I love your nose. It's real big up there."
So I hope that I have demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that these phrases are useful. And I truly think that when you are learning advanced phrases like these, you are not out of your depth. You have the experience, you have the knowledge. You just need to learn them and just get a little practice using them. But I, I do not want to jump to conclusions. Only you can tell me how much you understand and how much you have learned. And I would appreciate it if you let me know down in those comments.
In today's lesson, I want to teach you some advanced C2 verbs. Let's begin with the verb "to relish." What this means is to like or enjoy something, and really, you're just adding a bit of emphasis. So, as I just said, I'm sure you relish learning new vocabulary. You enjoy it, and, and you know that you're enjoying it. And you can follow this verb with either a gerund or a noun. So to give you a couple of examples with gerunds, I could say, "I relish traveling to exotic locations," or "I relish eating ice cream on a hot summer day." And then if you're going to follow it with a noun, there are some common collocations, and these are words that are frequently used together. So you may "relish the thought," "prospect," or "idea" of doing something, or you may "relish the chance" or "the opportunity" to do something. And those are some useful collocations.
When it comes to pronouncing the verb, it has two syllables. The stress is on that first syllable: "relish." "She won't survive. I don't relish hurting anyone, Stephen. He's not a child. Well, Victoria relishes her status as Queen Bee."
"Coincide." So this verb has two meanings. The first one is to happen at or near the same time. And often, you're going to follow the verb with the preposition "with." So you would say that something "coincides with" something else. And you're not really talking about everyday activities like going to the coffee shop "coincides with" this. You're talking about events that may not occur regularly. So I could say, "Look, I'm sorry I can't go to your birthday party because it coincides with a business trip that I have to take. It's happening at the same time." It also means to be the same or similar. So I could say, "If our schedules coincide, then we can plan to travel together. We'll take the train if our schedules coincide."
And for pronunciation, the verb has three syllables. The stress is on that third syllable: "coincide." And just keep in mind, the "c-o-i-n," it's not pronounced as "coin." Two different syllables: "co-in-cide." "Coincide with something."
And then we have the verb "squander." I like this verb, even though it has a negative connotation, because it means to waste money or supplies, or to waste opportunities by not taking advantage of them. So in the United States, which is where I am from, I could say, "Many people feel that the government squanders taxpayer money," and they just waste that money. You may also hear people use this in a statement and say, "Hey, don't squander this opportunity." That is a collocation: "to squander an opportunity."
For pronunciation, the verb has two syllables. The stress is on that first syllable: "squander." And keep in mind, the "sq-u-a" has that sound. "To squander something." "You squandered your gift." "Founded my gift. I made 68 albums. Did I want to be made manager? Sure. A great opportunity squandered? Absolutely. A crushing blow? Yes."
And the next C2 verb that I have for you is "commemorate." And this means to remember officially and give respect to a great person or event, especially by some public ceremony or by making a statue or a special building. And I thought that I would show you some different news headlines so that you can see how this verb is used in context. "Events to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr." or "Tulane to host campus celebration to commemorate historic Cotton Bowl win." That's talking about American football. "Museum to commemorate 70th anniversary of 1953 floods." "Democrats commemorate January 6th attack with tears and silence at U.S. Capitol." So these are just some random news headlines that I found on the day that I created this lesson, and it's just using the verb in context. So hopefully that gives you a better understanding.
When pronouncing this verb, it has four syllables. The stress is on that second syllable: "commemorate." "Commemorate." And just keep in mind, the first and third syllables have that schwa sound, that unstressed vowel sound, which sounds like "uh." "Commemorate." "Commemorate."
And the next verb. Okay, that's that's your hint. What verb is that? Oh, and the verb that I'm talking about is "gasp." "Gasp." And it has two different meanings, and it's really a difference between talking about, well, one breath or many breaths. So the first meaning is to take a short, quick breath through the mouth because of shock, pain, or surprise. It's just that one breath. "Oh, God." And people may use this as an interjection and saying something surprising like, "And he never returned home and saw his family again. Gasp." Or it's used in storytelling with those dialogue tags to describe speaking. "Help me," he gasped. It also means to breathe loudly and with difficulty, really trying to get more air. And in this case, it's several breaths. And often people may end up using it in the continuous tense: "gasping." Uh, I could say that, "The wave knocked me over, and I was gasping for air." That is a common collocation with this verb to say that someone is "gasping for air."
When it comes to pronunciation, I think the most challenging thing about this verb would be saying it in the past tense: "gasped." It's a regular verb, so in the past, it's going to end with "ed." And because that final sound is voiceless, the "ed" is going to take on a "t" sound. So we have the "s" sound followed by the "t" sound, which can be a little difficult. It's going to sound like "gasped." "Gasp." Give it a try. "Gasp." Excellent.
The next verb is "intervene." And this means to intentionally become involved in a situation in order to improve it or just prevent it from getting worse. So if there is an argument or a fight, someone may intervene. I could say that, "The referee intervened to stop the fight." They just did not want it to get worse. I could also say, "The Federal Reserve has intervened in financial markets in order to stop inflation," and they're getting involved in the situation to try to improve it.
Now, for pronunciation, the verb has three syllables. The stress is on that third syllable: "intervene." One thing I want to point out when it comes to the American accent, because I'm from the United States, is when the "t" follows an "n" sound, especially in unstressed syllables, it may elide, and people may drop it. So instead of "intervene," you may hear someone say "intervene." So just keep that in mind. In the United States, you may hear both pronunciations. One with the "t": "intervene." "Go ahead, intervene." "All y'all." "And I'm just afraid you might be interfering while we're intervening." And one without: "I want to say something terrible to someone I love."
Then there's "label." This refers to a word or phrase that's used to describe the characteristics or qualities of a person, event, or thing, and really, in a way that's unfair. So you may "label someone as something." That is a common phrase: "to label someone as something." In my lifetime, I have been labeled as a troublemaker at school when I was younger. I've also been labeled as a slacker, which is a noun that means someone who does not work very hard. And of course, I would disagree with this, but it happens. If we get the wrong impression of someone or something, and we may label them as this thing, which is usually negative.
Now, for pronunciation, the word has two syllables. The stress is on that first syllable: "label." The other thing I'd like to point out is the second syllable. It ends with that dark "l," which is that "ul" sound. And then if we're following it with the word "as," I told you that's a common phrase. Well, then we can link that dark "l" with the beginning vowel sound in "as." "Label as." "Label as." "They impose struggle and hardship on us. The label does as criminals for pushing back. The mortgage officer had messed up Miranda's application. They had inadvertently labeled her as separated."
The next verb is "imply." And this is a very useful verb. It means to communicate an idea or feeling without directly saying it. And because you're not directly saying it, people may use this verb when asking a question, and they would ask, "What are you implying?" So I'm going to give you an example. I'm going to imply something without directly saying it, and I just want you to think about what it is that I'm implying. So if I said, "Gosh, I really hope that you like this video lesson." And when I say "like," I'm talking about enjoy. That you relish learning new vocabulary. And if only there were some way for you to commemorate this lesson so that it gets labeled as a great vocabulary lesson. And now I'm using it in a positive way. It gets labeled as a great lesson. If there was just something that you could do to commemorate this video. And I'm just pointing to that thumbs up because I'm implying that you should hit the like button. And I think that you were probably able to guess that.
So when it comes to pronouncing this verb, it has two syllables. The stress is on the second syllable: "imply." Now, I don't think the pronunciation is too challenging. What I think is difficult about this verb is that it's sometimes confused with another verb, which is "infer." And that's the next C2 verb that I want to talk to you about. "To infer something." This means to form an opinion or guess that something is true based on the information that you have. So if you see me and I'm just soaking wet, what might you infer about the weather? I imagine that you would infer that it's raining outside. Or maybe you see me and I'm really happy and I'm smiling, grinning from ear to ear. What might you infer? I really don't know. You can let me know down in the comments.
The verb, it has two syllables, and once again, the stress is on the second syllable: "infer." And I don't think the pronunciation is too challenging. Just try not to confuse those two verbs: "to imply," "to infer." "If by me you are inferring that I have..." "But Michael, he wasn't inferring, he was implying." "Was I?" "I see you guys are inferring that I'm stupid." "That's correct. We were implying it." "You then inferred it."
The next verb is "to speculate." And I think this is a very useful verb because it's pretty common. People do this all the time. "To speculate." It means to guess possible answers to a question when we don't have enough information to be certain. So we do this quite often because, well, I think people just like speculating about different things when trying to explain something that happened and we don't have all the answers. And we may speculate, or we're trying to guess what will happen in the future, and we can only speculate. To give you an example, I could say, "Journalists are speculating what the president may say in his upcoming announcement." And I think in general, it's, well, it's not always good to speculate, or at least we should tell people that that is what we're doing because sometimes people will speculate, and then others will just take that as the truth, and it can cause some problems.
Now, the verb has three syllables. The stress is on that first syllable: "speculate." And I really think this verb is, well, pronounced the way it's spelled. It's pretty straightforward. "To speculate."
"Succumb." So "to succumb" has two different meanings. And once again, I'll show you some news headlines so that you can see how this verb is used in context. So the first meaning is to lose the determination to oppose something, and really, you're just accepting defeat. "Visit these popular tourist traps before they succumb to climate change." "This is how Israel's economy could succumb to populism." "Samsung is first to succumb to a slowing economy that is crushing semiconductors." The next meaning is to die or suffer badly from an illness or injury. "Battling Morocco eventually succumbed to injury." These, and in this case, they're talking about their football team. "Two succumb to injuries sustained after falling from mobile tower."
When pronouncing this verb, it has two syllables, and the stress is on that second syllable: "succumb." And just keep in mind, there is a silent "b" at the end of the verb "to succumb."
And then there's "trudge." "To trudge" means to walk slowly with a lot of effort, especially over a difficult surface or when carrying something heavy. And often, you may follow this verb with a preposition: "trudge up," "trudge down," "trudge over," "trudge through." Maybe you had to "trudge up" a mountain, or perhaps you had to "trudge through" the snow. And in both situations, you're walking slowly with a lot of effort.
For pronunciation, it's just one syllable. That "dg" has that "j" sound, similar to the word "judge." These are rhyming words: "trudge," "judge." The other thing I'd point out is that if the verb is followed by a preposition that begins with a vowel sound, then linking may occur. "Trudge up." "Trajover." Right. Something to keep in mind.
Let's do a little review. Now, I am not going to speculate as to whether or not you will watch another video lesson. I'm sure that you relish building your vocabulary. And because you're still here right now, then I'm just going to infer that you will watch another video lesson because I don't think you want to squander this amazing opportunity to continue improving your overall English fluency. And I really don't want you to succumb to any feelings of inadequacy when it comes to your language abilities. I want you to stay positive. I want you to stay motivated. And I want, I want you to continue learning new things. All right, that's a little review using these verbs in context.
I think you will be in awe of the nouns that I'm going to teach you, and I'm sure that you will learn something new. "Awe." This is the first word that I want to teach you. That's right, this is a noun. "Awe." And it's referring to a feeling of great respect, sometimes mixed with fear or surprise. And often, you're going to use this word in the phrase "in awe of" someone or "in awe of" something. So I could say, "The children were in awe of their grandfather." Okay, they had that feeling of respect. Or, "We watched in awe as the lion attacked the buffalo." So again, it's like you have respect for mother nature, but it's also mixed with a bit of fear and surprise.
When pronouncing this word, it's just that vowel sound "aw," like you would have in the word "saw." And when talking about the phrase "in awe of," we can link that final consonant sound in "in," that "n" sound, with the vowel sound "aw" in "awe of" someone or "in awe of" something.
And as we go through the lesson, I want to talk to you a little bit about the pronunciation because I tried to choose words that are a bit challenging, like this next one: "bureaucracy." So this is talking about complicated rules or processes used by an organization, especially when they do not seem necessary. And this noun, it really does have a negative connotation. And frequently, you may use this when talking about larger companies, governments, or institutions. And you may even emphasize it with a phrase like "a lot of." "There is a lot of government bureaucracy," or "The company is so slow to change because there's too much bureaucracy." "Though the bureaucracy in a hospital..." "Sometimes you have to bend the rules to help a patient." "No, I didn't. I didn't do it for Leslie. I did it because I hate bureaucracy."
I'm giving you both the IPA and phonetic spelling so you can actually see how the word is pronounced. And "bureaucracy." It has four syllables, and the stress is on that second syllable: "bureaucracy." "Bureaucracy."
"Frenzy." This is talking about uncontrolled and excited behavior or emotion that may sometimes be a little violent. So I could say, "Black Friday is a shopping frenzy." It's busy, it's a bit aggressive. Or you may hear this noun being used in the collocation "feeding frenzy," which refers to a group attacking a prey. But you really could use "feeding frenzy" when referring to a situation in which people are trying to get as much of something as they possibly can. "Your brother is creating his own media feeding frenzy." "And all of it is store in the village had one crazy sales. It was a footwear feeding frenzy." You could use this noun in the phrase "to whip someone into a frenzy," and what this means is like you're causing someone to feel this way, this uncontrolled emotion. "As the crowd that had gathered to hear Herbert Love's speech was whipped into a frenzy."
As far as pronouncing this word, it's pretty simple and straightforward. It just has two syllables. The stress is on that first syllable: "frenzy." But for the most part, I really wanted to share with you those phrases that you can use this noun with.
And the next one that I have for you is "cliché." This is a saying or remark that is often used, and therefore, it's not interesting and it's not original. So I could tell you something like, "Well, look, you know what they say, 'Opposites attract.'" That phrase, "Opposites attract," it's pretty common, well-known. It's not original. And maybe you tell me, "Come on, Wes, that's so cliché." And if you were to tell somebody, "Look, oh, it's so cliché," it kind of has a bit of a negative connotation because basically, you're saying that, well, you're just not impressed with what someone's saying to you. It's just not interesting. Or maybe I start out by saying something like, "Hey, I know it's cliché, but time heals all wounds." All right, so I'm basically admitting that what I'm, the saying that I'm using, it's cliché. So there are many different sayings in English that you could say are cliché. "I really just want him to be happy, and I know that sounds cliché." "And I know saying it sounds cliché." "Sounds cliché." "Maybe I'm being cliché. I don't care."
I know that you're just looking at this word and thinking, "Wait a second, there are no accent marks in English." Well, this is a word that English has borrowed from French, and that's why again, the spelling and the pronunciation don't really match. "Cliché." It has two syllables. The stress is on that second syllable, and that "c-h-e" with the accent mark sounds like "shay." "Cliché."
The next word is "paradigm." So this noun is talking about, well, a model of something, or just a very clear and typical example of something. And I thought, well, a good way to give you an example is just to show you some different news headlines so you can see how this word is used in context. "A paradigm shift in EU-Russia relations." "After the war in Ukraine, are we witnessing the emergence of a new paradigm?" And this article goes on to talk about the mental health system. But what I really want to point out are the words that are being used with this noun. These are collocations: "paradigm shift," or "a new paradigm."
When pronouncing this word, it has three syllables. The stress is on that first syllable. But it's that third syllable that can be a little tricky because, once again, this is when the spelling and pronunciation just do not match. So the third syllable has a silent "g," and the vowel sound, it's a long "i" sound, not a short vowel sound. "Paradigm." "Paradigm." "But our society has undergone a paradigm shift in the information age."
"Sheldon, you and I are the alpha males. Let's just keep the momentum going." With our next word, which is "momentum." So this is talking about the force that moves an object or an event developing or making progress. So if we're talking about the force that moves an object, think of, well, physics. As the car goes downhill, it gains momentum. If we're talking about an event developing or making progress, well, then you could think of a competition. "The home team lost momentum when their star player got injured." And, and once again, I want to point out those collocations, those words that are used with this noun: "to gain momentum," or "to lose momentum."
The word has three syllables. The stress is on that second syllable: "momentum." Now, one thing I'll say, and this is really about the American accent, sometimes when the "t" follows an "n" sound, it may elide, and it gets removed. And this happens with words like "internet" or "center." So if you're in the United States, you may hear somebody drop that "t," and it's going to sound like "momentum." "So I figure we start out local just to get our momentum going." Now, again, this is specific to the U.S., and I'm only telling you this because that's where I'm from. But in general, you can't go wrong pronouncing that "t." "Momentum." "Why are you taking so long between fireworks?" "I'm building momentum, man."
Then we have "morale," which is a great noun to know. It's talking about the amount of confidence felt by a person or group of people, especially when in a difficult or dangerous situation. And once again, there are a lot of great collocations with this noun. So you could use them with certain adjectives, like "high morale" or "low morale," or "employee morale." Or you could use them with some different verbs as well: "to raise morale," "to boost morale," "to bring up morale." I really hope that these video lessons boost your morale and just make you want to continue learning. "I think I should." "Don't you?" "Absolutely. So show force, boost morale, trying to keep morale high, just trying to raise morale."
The pronunciation can be a little tricky. Just know that the stress is on that second syllable: "morale." And don't be fooled by that "e" at the end. It's not a long vowel sound, but a short vowel sound. "Morale."
Then there's "withdrawal." And this just means, well, taking money out of the bank. And there is a common verb-noun collocation: "to make a withdrawal." "I need to make a withdrawal." "Can I make a withdrawal?" And really, I chose this word because of the difficulty with the pronunciation because I've had many learners tell me that they really have trouble pronouncing this word. It has three syllables. The stress is on that second syllable: "withdrawal." But it's that third syllable that I think people have trouble with, that dark "l." So you're going to stress that second syllable and move right into that dark "l," which has that "ul" sound. "Withdrawal." "Draw-ul." "Withdrawal." Just keep practicing. Give it a try. Say it a few times, and I think you'll start to feel a little more comfortable saying it.
The next noun is "deterrent." And this is something that stops people doing something because they're afraid of what may happen. And you may use this noun in the phrase and say that something "acts as a deterrent to" something else. Like, "The teacher's strict punishments act as a deterrent to cheat." And there are also some useful adjective-noun collocations, saying that, well, something is a "strong deterrent," or talking about a "nuclear deterrent," or an "effective deterrent." This word has three syllables. The stress is on that second syllable: "deterrent."
Now, one thing I want to quickly point out, and this also has to do with the American accent, and that is the flap "t." A flap "t" is going to sound like a soft "d." In Americans, we love the flap "t." Often, this occurs when the "t" comes between two vowels, like "water." Now, the "t" in "deterrent," it also comes between two vowels, but we are not going to say this with a flap "t," and this is because the "t" comes at the beginning of a stressed syllable. So when the "t" comes at the beginning of a stressed syllable, then you're going to say it as a true "t," and not a flap "t." And that is why you would pronounce this and say "deterrent." Just thought you should know. "How will the Umbrella Academy ever become an effective crime deterrent?" "Because I'm your nuclear deterrent." "It's working. We're safe."
"Ambiguity." I like this noun. It's talking about something that may have more than one meaning and can therefore cause some confusion. And you may also use this word as an adjective. It's quite common: "ambiguous." But we're talking about nouns, so let's use it as a noun. And I could say, "There is ambiguity in the new law." In this case, I'm saying that the law, you know, may have different meanings. Or perhaps I tell you, "Hey, be specific so there's no ambiguity." All right, I want things to be very specific and clear so there's no ambiguity. All right, time for Fast and the Furious one through seven. This is a four-hour meditation on the importance of family, fast cars, product placement, racial ambiguity, and family."
The word has five syllables, and if you want to learn something about syllable stress, when the word ends in "-ity," the stress is going to be on the third to last syllable. "Ambiguity." "Ambiguity."
The next noun is this one right here: "diarrhea." And this is an illness in which your waste is not solid but liquid. And I really don't think I need to go into great detail explaining the meaning of this noun. I think there is no ambiguity with what I'm trying to tell you. I think this is a word you have probably heard of before, you probably know it already. But the reason why I'm including it in this lesson is really because of the spelling. And even in the UK, there's a different spelling. And I think a lot of native English speakers probably could not spell this word. It is one that you're probably going to use more in spoken English, but I think it's important because it has to do with your health. If you go to see the doctor, this is a word that you may read if you're in the doctor's office, or perhaps you may even need to write it down if you're trying to write some of your symptoms. So it's important to keep in mind the spelling and try to remember how this word is spelled.
For pronunciation, the word has four syllables. The stress is on that third syllable: "diarrhea." But really, I just wanted to highlight the spelling of this word.
And then there's "whereabouts." This is just talking about the place where someone or something is. And often, you would use this talking about someone's whereabouts. "The police don't know the criminal's whereabouts." Or perhaps, I could say, "We're unsure of her exact whereabouts." That is a collocation with this noun. You may hear people use this in a question like, "Whereabouts in the U.S. are you from?" This is a question that I sometimes get, and I tell people, "Well, I grew up in the South, but there are quite a few different places all over the country where I have lived." And this is also a C2 word. And I use the word "also" because when you're using it in a question like this, it's not a noun, it's an adverb. But we're talking about nouns, and in this case, you're often going to be talking about someone's whereabouts. "We need his whereabouts." "I'm Norton."
The pronunciation, it's pretty straightforward. There are three syllables. The stress is on that first syllable: "whereabouts."
Let's try and do a little bit of review. I hope that I was able to avoid any ambiguity when explaining the meaning of these different nouns. And you know, now that you probably feel good about building your vocabulary, I hope that you can use that positive momentum to go ahead and watch another video lesson because I try to make these lessons easy to follow and understand because I, I think that's what's really going to help boost your morale. And even if you find a word confusing and you don't completely understand it, please don't let that be a deterrent when it comes to building your vocabulary and just trying to learn new words. And you can let me know your whereabouts down in the comments. I was just trying to use some of these nouns, get a little review, and use them in context.
Learn some advanced C2 adjectives to help you build your vocabulary, and I will be very clear with my explanation, and I will not be ambiguous. And that's the first word that I want to teach you in today's lesson: "ambiguous." It means having or expressing more than one possible meaning, and often this is done intentionally. So let's have a look at this image right here. Is it a rabbit or is it a duck? What do you see? A rabbit or a duck? I could say that this image is ambiguous. All right, it has more than one possible answer. And mostly, you're going to use this adjective to refer to something that someone...
says, or perhaps the way that something is worded, like a contract. I could say, "The contract is ambiguous and open to interpretation. That it may have more than one possible meaning. It's ambiguous."
I'm looking over my text correspondence. Beverly and I don't see anything that would have given her offense. Nothing's ambiguous. I spell everything out.
Then we have complementary. So, this word has a couple of different meanings. The first one is praising or showing admiration for someone. I could say that, "Well, sometimes you are very complementary about some of my vocabulary lessons, and I really appreciate that."
Now, the C2 meaning, the more advanced meaning for this word, it refers to, well, tickets, books, or any item that may be given for free, especially by a business. So, in this case, I want you to think of a hotel or a flight. So, if I go to my hotel room, I might say, "Oh, I was given a complimentary bottle of water." All right, it was already in the hotel room. It's free. Or on an airplane, when you fly, you may be offered complimentary snacks.
Now, when it comes to pronunciation, very quickly, I just want to let you know because I'm from the United States, sometimes people will drop that 't' because it follows the 'n' sound, and it's going to sound like complementary. Okay? So, complementary or complementary.
"If you're in the U.S., hi, what's the damage here?" "Nothing for the, for these free. These are complimentary. Complimentary. Free. Whatever you want."
Handy is the next adjective that I want to teach you. If you say that something is handy, it just means that it is useful or convenient. Mostly, I think people are going to use this adjective to talk about items in which they can, we'll use for a variety of reasons, or just items that are really helpful in a difficult situation. You could say, "Wow, this is just really handy." My wife thinks that her Apple Watch is pretty handy because she can use it for a variety of things. And you can also use this adjective in the idiom "to come in handy." And if you say that something comes in handy, that just means that it's useful. "Oh, that's the latest Liquid Crystal TV. Very handy."
Indispensable. Now, you will use this adjective when you want to say that something or someone is so useful, so good, so important that you cannot manage without it or without him or her. If we're talking about a person, and most of the time, you're going to use this as a predicate adjective, and it's going to follow the verb "to be." "She is an indispensable part of the team." "The office should not get rid of the coffee machine. It's indispensable."
And legitimate is the next adjective that I want to teach you, and this has two different meanings. Both of them C2. The first meaning is allowed by law. So, when I was younger, I had a fake ID, and it looked legitimate, okay? Like it was lawful. And I, I use this ID when I was in university to buy beer. You know, I was younger. In the U.S., you have to be 21, which I think is a little old, but that's neither here nor there. But the ID looked legitimate.
The next meaning is reasonable or acceptable. So, I could say, "Her argument was legitimate, so we refunded her money." That the argument was reasonable, and we gave her a refund. It was legitimate. And with the pronunciation of this word, that first 't' because I am from the United States, I will pronounce it as a flap 't', which is going to sound like a soft 'd'. Legitimate. Legitimate.
"You assert that Mr. Rose harassed you. How do you know he didn't have a legitimate reason to be in your office?"
Then there's questionable, which means not certain or wrong in some way. And questionable, it has that 'able' suffix, which means you're capable of something. In this case, it's like you're capable of asking questions. Is this right or wrong? Is it good or bad? And really, yes, it implies that something is just, it's, it's just wrong. So, my wife would say that my sense of fashion is questionable, and to be honest, she's, she's right. It, it is questionable. But you could also say that, well, something may be ethically questionable. Is it the right thing to do? Or you could even refer to the way food tastes and say, "Wow, this food, it tastes questionable. I don't know if it's still good." And yeah, if food tastes questionable, then you probably should not eat it.
"There's a solid chance I may have insulted the owner." "That doesn't sound like something you do. She's very questionable taste."
Next is grim, and I probably shouldn't be smiling when I say this adjective because it means worrying and without hope. So, it's not a good thing if you say something is grim. And typically, you're talking about the way something looks, appears, or seems. So, I could say, "Wow, the weather today looks grim. I don't think we should go outside." Or, you know, "To be honest, the future of American politics right now, it looks grim. People are very divided. There's a lot of misinformation out there." And yeah, I think a lot of people would agree that it looks grim.
"Son of a bee sting! She's turning the entire office against us. This is great. Real grim. What are we gonna do?"
The next adjective is coherent. This also has two different meanings. Both of them C2. And the first meaning is referring to an argument, plan, or idea that is clear, and each part connects to each other in a reasonable way. So, really, you're just saying that something is very easy to understand. I could tell you that, "The lawyer made a coherent argument."
The next meaning refers to someone who you understand what they're saying. And in this case, I think most of the time, people will use this in the negative to say that you don't understand someone. I could tell you, "He's, he's not coherent at the moment." Or I could just use the antonym and say "incoherent." But just keep that in mind when talking about a person. I, I think often you will use this in the negative to say that someone is not coherent or incoherent.
"You don't hear that loud filming coming from the events that is made possible for me to think straight, let alone string together one coherent sentence."
Dubious. And I like this adjective mostly because I just like saying dubious. All right, that sounds dubious. And it means that something is just not completely true or just should not be completely trusted. And I, I think we can all relate to this one. Think about email scams. And I would get an email with this subject heading: "Congratulations, you've been selected." And it just, it all, it just looks dubious. And these are actually legitimate emails that I have received just this past week, and I did not open them. I did not click on anything because they're dubious.
"It didn't compress the whole thing. It should be twice that size. I mean, 24 gigs. That's less than a fourth the file size. That seems dubious."
Richard. Then there's compulsive. And this means that you are doing something a lot, and you're unable to stop it. And this is often used as an attributive adjective, which means it's going to come before the noun. I could say that, "My neighbor is a compulsive gambler." Or, "My colleague is a compulsive liar." And because of the meaning that you're doing something excessively and you just can't stop it, really often refers to things that are not good, like a compulsive gambler or compulsive liar.
"Read it. Uh, personality overview. Mr. Stark displays compulsive behavior." "In my own defense, that was last week."
Then we have pushy. And this is another adjective that I just like to say, pushy. But it's also not a good thing because it means that someone is behaving in an unpleasant way by trying too much to get something or to make someone do something. So, it's not good if somebody's being really pushy. And I want you to think of a salesperson. They want to sell you something, and sometimes they can be very aggressive, and you could say that maybe they're, they're being really pushy. I could also say that, "Well, my wife likes to try new restaurants around town, and even if I think that the place is questionable, she really wants to go, and sometimes she can be a little pushy." And even though this adjective is not a good one, you can use it among friends or family because I think often we, we really want someone to do something, and yeah, I think we can all be a bit pushy from time to time.
"Before you go in, you fill out a comment card, okay?" "Hey, don't forget the back." "You people are so pushing!" "What Israeli people are pushy?"
Then there's carefree, which means having no problem and not worried about anything. And I think you would often use this to describe a person's, uh, personality. And I could say, "He is young, carefree, and just wants to travel the world." And I, I think we can all relate to this word, uh, thinking about a different time or a period in our lives where maybe we didn't have much worry. And I could say, "Well, remember those carefree days back in high school? You know, we just didn't have, we didn't have jobs, so we didn't have a lot to worry about at that time. Those were some carefree days."
"See, before, and I was just another employee. I was happy, carefree. The guy who hung out in the break room making fun of the boss."
Then we have conceited, which means you are too proud of yourself and your actions and abilities. And I think that, well, we can all think of someone who we might describe as a little conceited. And that's what I want you to do right now. I want you to think of someone and make an association with this word. And I am thinking about an old colleague of mine from a long time ago who was a great teacher, but typically, you don't go around just telling everyone this, and they would sound conceited. And because this is pretty common that someone is acting too proud, there are several other synonyms. You could say arrogant, proud, superior. But this is a great way to build and expand your vocabulary by learning a word like this.
"Conceited? Friends wouldn't mind because they look up to us. It's like, full of yourself. Why are you like that?" "I'm not saying that to be conceited."
Then we have the word rigid, which means stiff or fixed, not able to be bent or moved. And I will try to give you an example of each. So, think about, well, a metal. You could say that it's rigid. You're not able to bend it. If we're talking about fixed, I think people might be referring to, well, something like a set of rules. "The teachers' rules were so rigid throughout the year that they were just fixed and, and very strict." In that case, if we want to say stiff, then I think you're probably describing a person, and this, that they're very stiff, perhaps because they're scared or afraid. "We were all so scared of the new boss. We were rigid in our chairs."
"All right, and you're just very stiff." "Do you have any idea how rigid you can be?" "I have to be rigid to hold things together in the face of army. Get it?"
Then we have the adjective feeble, which means weak or without energy, strength, or power. And you could use this to describe a person, especially as someone becomes much older. I could say that, "Well, in the future, like far away in the future, I hope I will become a feeble and helpless old man." All right, that's probably what will happen in, in the distant future. Or perhaps you're describing an institution or government that just does not have much power. Uh, I could say, "It didn't take long to discover that the new government was feeble and corrupt."
"The first year, by sheer dumb luck, Jake eeked out a feeble victory. And last year, I let the captain win because he's old and sad."
So, I hope that I was coherent throughout this lesson, and that my explanation was clear, and that nothing was ambiguous. But I, I will say that that these words are legitimate, and you will hear them from time to time. So, I think they're very useful when it comes to building your vocabulary. But at the same time, I don't want to be pushy. I don't want to tell you like, "Oh, you have to learn these words." It's all about just getting that exposure, learning a little bit at a time. And I just hope that you learned something new in today's lesson. And if you did, please hit that like button. As always, thank you so much for watching, and I will see you next time. So long.