Advanced (C2) Vocabulary in 60 Minutes | Phrases, Verbs, Nouns, and Adjectives You Should Know

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 they're 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 are 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 the the elephant the air now I 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 how 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 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 is 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 okay my version is different so as far as pronouncing this phrase I want you to look at that word app okay 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 flat 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 flat 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 in order to correctly pronounce this phrase keep in mind that the article 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 of 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 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 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 yet let's play it by ear so when are you getting back from Florida I don't know play it by ear why 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 there are some overlapping sounds those th's so that final th and width is going to overlap with the beginning th and 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 Pudding comes between two vowel sounds so again being from the United States I am going to use a flat tee 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 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 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 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 preposition two it can either be pronounced two 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 doesn't do it justice so it's like I'm I'm talking about a situation and then saying that it's just not an accurate representation like the 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 so 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 gonna 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 right pathologically 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 we'll take the train if our schedules coincide and they're the same for pronunciation the verb has three syllable rules 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 win coincide to coincide with something and then we have the verb squander I like this verb even though it 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 that 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 6 attack with tears in 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 that first and third syllable have that schwa sound that unstressed vowel sound which sounds like a 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 gasp it's a regular verb so in the past it's going to end with Ed and because that final sound is voiceless the e d is going to take on a t sound so we have the sound followed by the T sound which can be a little difficult it's going to sound like gasped gasped give it a try gasped 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 allide 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 teeth 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 [Music] then there's two 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 all 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 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 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 Bo 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 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 other 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 the verb 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 in awe of the nouns that I'm going to teach you and I'm sure that you will learn something new and ah this is the first word that I want to teach you that's right this is a noun ah 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 ah 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 N that n Sound with the vowel sound ah 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 uh 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 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 cliche this is a saying or remark that is often used and therefore it's not interesting and it's not original so I 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 it's not original and maybe you tell me come on Wes that's so cliche and if you were to to tell somebody look oh it's so cliche it 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 I start out by saying something like hey I know it's cliche but time heals all wounds alright so I'm basically admitting that what I'm the saying that I'm using it's cliche so there are many different sayings in English that you could say are cliche I really just want him to be happy and I know that sounds cliche and I know saying it sounds cliche sounds cliche maybe I'm being cliche 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 cliche it has two syllables the stress is on that second syllable and that c-h-e with the accent mark sounds like Shea cliche 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 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 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 talking about a 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 Asian 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 and 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 moment now one thing I'll say and this is really about the American accent sometimes when the T follows an n Sound it may allide 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 tips 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 we'll 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 that draw 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 is has that o sound withdrawal draw wool 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 it and there are also so 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 stress 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 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 4 in our 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 that you ambiguity ambiguity the next noun is this one right here diarrhea and this is an illness in which your waist 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 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 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 or perhaps uh I could say we're unsure of her exact whereabouts that is a collocation with this now 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 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 content 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 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 in 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 see two 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 the US 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 a b l e 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 grin 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 I 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's 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 uh 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 sales person 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 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 learn 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

Channel: Interactive English

Views: 525,065

Keywords: interactive english, learn english, learn advanced vocabulary, advanced vocabulary, advanced vocabulary lesson, advanced vocabulary in one hour, advanced vocabulary words, advanced vocabulary words with meaning, advanced adjectives, advanced nouns, advanced verbs, advanced adjectives in english, advanced nouns in english, advanced verbs in english, learn advanced words in english, advanced phrases in english, c2 vocabulary english, learn c2 vocabulary, c2 vocabulary ielts

Id: MrsC3GCo9vs

Length: 64min 34sec (3874 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 16 2023