Collocations for writing and speaking — with Paul Newson

[Music] hi guys those of you who are doing some writing and speaking you know one of the problems we have is where you know the vocabulary is quite simple and what we want to do to really elevate our range of language to show the examiner that we know English we want to use more calibrations we don't want to use sort of symbol vocab they're like happy good bad or just use them blend the adverb very very very all the time we want to show a nice range and so to do that I'm going to do this video and all of these kind of karakash ins I have taught recently in my classes and when should you throw their essays using this the English went from here to here so I'm going to share this with you as well we're going to go through each one and kind of explain what it means and I'll give a sentence to show you context so make sure at home you have pen and paper ready to record this because again transplant this into your writing when you're speaking you will sound absolutely awesome let's go for the first one we know the word affect and consequence or consequences but I like this sort of adjective here far-reaching so to have far-reaching can have like very big very sort of sort of long lasting effects or Consequences so for example smoking can have far-reaching effects on a person's health which means it can really really affect you we have the next one I love this word detrimental so we pronounce it detrimental to have a detrimental effect on someone or something for example constant alcohol abuse can have a detrimental effect on a person's brain function I know that personally seriously I do so again to have a detrimental effect on a person's brain function basically means a very serious effect a very serious problem but if you were to say Oh alcohol can have a very big problem on a person's brain was correct English it's just a bit simple isn't it if you were to sound advanced alcohol abuse or constant alcohol abuse can have a detrimental effect on a person's brain function that is c1 and c2 English immediately let's go to the next one a long lasting effect on something or the long lasting effect of doing something so again it just means the effects last for a long time so the long lasting effects or the sedentary lifestyle can be lethargy and a weak immune system so again the long lasting effects of acid dietary lifestyle can be lethargy and a weak immune system number four we have dire consequences now like this word diet now you probably know the music band from Britain dire straits I'm they're very popular they have these songs like money for nothing and a few others I can't remember the name of but actually dire straits has a meaning if you are in dire straits it means you have a very serious problem so if I say my business is in dire straits at the moment it basically means that I'm almost bankrupt things are so bad at the moment that it's not going to get better so it can actually take this word diet and use it with other collocations resides ombudsmen sorry dire consequences so I could say reducing investment into the health service may have dire consequences in the near future again reducing investments into the health service may have dire consequences in the near future that just sounds really good rather than bad consequences or bad results that's basic this is advanced c1c2 let's go to mind-numbingly dull now you should probably use more in spoken English because it's quite colorful now I like this because if you have a look here your word numb so numb you know like if your hand is really cold you can't feel anything your hand is numb or before they take your teeth out they have to know your mouth so you can't feel anything so if you imagine that something numbs your mind it means it's very boring so you could say I went to electric other day and found it my numbing Li dull for me I like art but I'm not a fan of going to modern art galleries because I often find the exhibits just mind-numbingly dull again if you that your speaking exam as an examiner I would be seriously impressed we have the next one we know the word difficult we have painstakingly it means very difficult but this just sounds c1c2 so I could say finding a suitable girlfriend these days is proving to be painstakingly difficult so again trying to find a girlfriend these days is proving to be painstakingly difficult again c1c2 you can use this in other contexts as well you know learning grammar constantly it's just painstakingly difficult as paints they can be hard to master the use of idioms effectively taught well they just it's just but the English is simple but the combination makes it really super advanced we have I like this one of my favorites we know the word struggle like when you struggle to do something you have difficulties trying to achieve it like fight and here we have an uphill struggle like a constant always happening uphill struggle so I could say learning Russian for me has been a constant uphill struggle it's never been easy I've always found it difficult and I don't think he's going to get any better or maybe the government tried to leave the European Union which they're doing at the moment in my country it's proving to be a constant uphill struggle because no one agrees we can't strike a deal so it's proving to be a constant uphill struggle we have the next one serious repercussions repercussions is like a synonym of consequences so for example if you were writing or speaking instead of saying consequence or effect you can say repercussions they mean exactly the same so I use simple connotations serious repercussions I could say electing a stupids prime minister may have serious repercussions for the country as a whole so electing a you know it's a incompetent leader like we have in Britain may have serious repercussions for the country as a whole like very serious results very serious consequences we have an undesirable effect unders are booming and unwanted so increasing taxes may have an undesirable effect on small businesses so the government might think okay we want increase taxes is a good idea but actually it's undesirable because it might make small businesses suffer so there will be an undesirable effect on small businesses we have the last one which I like the word disaster but I like this unmitigated it's a synonym of saying complete total unmitigated disaster we can we actually use this in everyday English like if you really want to stress how was your day at work today was an unmitigated disaster everything just went wrong I was punched by my boss I made lots of mistakes and I got fired but I've got my sentence here for example today's meeting was an unmitigated disaster in that we lost clients customers and a lot of money over here again very very simple I like this overly complicate it is a nice advert students never used it they never ever use this we could say it's too complicated that's correct but let's make it c1c2 it's overly complicated why do you need to like make things just so overly complicated in our relationship I've got here yeah my example is the same keep it simple why make everything always so overly complicated again you could use that in your speaking in an example it would sound awesome and the last one now we have this word ridiculous now we know the word ridiculous it's like saying very stupid but as an adverb weak you can't make him a steak with this word you can use it with everything ridiculously easy meaning very easy ridiculously pointless ridiculously funny producers stupid ridiculously cold ridiculously hot you can use it with everything so if you're doing you're right I'm going to speaking use this one so I've got here finding a girlfriend is ridiculously simple if you have money a car a job and a house it might sound a bit sexist but who cares we practice in English here so it doesn't matter so guys I hope that was simple and I'd like to use this in your writing or your spoke in English what it does sort of feel that difference I want you to feel the difference between say something simple and saying something quite advanced but as you see it's not difficult to do and that's the beauty of it that's why I do these videos because as a native speaker an experienced teacher I can tell you what we say and what right so guys if that was useful please I can please subscribe tell your cats and your dogs and all your friends around the world and I'll do more videos so have a good day

Channel: Practice English with Paul

Views: 4,919

Keywords: Cambridge exams, collocation, speaking English, writing English, learning English, Paul Newson

Id: xmq-iPaSVH0

Length: 8min 51sec (531 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 12 2018