IELTS Synonyms | Quiz + Strategies

the tricky thing about synonyms is well they're not always synonyms and i'll show you what i mean have a look at this sentence getting a bad nine in ielts is very hard that's true now have a look at this sentence getting a band 9 in ielts is very challenging do these two sentences mean the same thing well yes they do and that's because hard and challenging are synonyms words or phrases that mean the same thing but are they always synonyms have a look at this sentence you have to work hard to get a band nine now could we also say you have to work challenging to get a band 9 no and that's because here hard and challenging are not synonyms maybe a better synonym for hard would be diligently so you have to work diligently to get a band 9. the fact that words and phrases are only synonyms in certain contexts makes them very difficult to learn but that's what we're going to attempt to do in this video coming up [Music] welcome my name is eli and i run the website englishprotips.com where we help students get ready for the ielts test now in this video we're going to be looking at synonyms so this video this lesson is divided into two parts we're going to first of all start with a synonyms quiz where we look at some useful synonyms for ielts particularly ielts writing then in the second part of this video we're going to be looking at some tips and strategies for how to learn more synonyms okay so first up we have the quiz so look at this word advantage now this is a very useful word for ielts writing in particular so task two where you have to write advantage or disadvantage essays now we need to know some synonyms for this word here's an example sentence there are several advantages of living alone and here are two options benefits and profits now which one of these words could be used as a synonym for advantage in this sentence we would say there are several benefits of living alone so advantages and benefits are synonyms but remember not all the time it depends on the context and we also have other synonyms that we can potentially use so we have benefit merit or upside so by using these um synonyms words like benefit merit upside we can have a larger range of vocabulary so different words instead of constantly repeating the next advantage is the following advantage is so these words will help us get a higher score in ielts writing number two we're going to look at disadvantage so here's a typical sentence one disadvantage of living alone is and we have two options weakness and drawback now what would you choose as a synonym for disadvantage in this sentence the answer is drawback so drawback and disadvantage are synonyms we can also choose drawback or downside as well okay number three for example so this is a very useful um phrase for ielts writing again because in order to get a high score in ielts writing it's a good idea to be giving examples to explain our ideas and to develop our ideas but we don't want to be constantly saying for example for example for example we need synonyms so what would you choose as a synonym for for example here are two options by instance and for instance and of course the answer is for instance so we can say for instance and we can also say an example is or one clear example is or such as now you'll notice i've put a star but before some of these phrases and that's because we need to change the grammar of the sentence slightly so we would say there are several ways to save electricity an example is using energy saving bulbs or one clear example is using energy saving bulbs or such as using energy saving bulbs so you see we need to change the grammar in the sentence from for example you can use energy saving bulbs to an example is using energy-saving bulbs so that's one thing that's very important to bear in mind when we use synonyms we often have to change the grammar of the sentence so that's called paraphrasing and we're going to cover that in a future video for sure but let's move on with the quiz number four internationally many students choose to study internationally my guess is one or two of you watching this video is choosing to study internationally so instead of saying internationally what would you say abroad or universally the correct answer is abroad so instead of saying internationally we can say abroad and we can also say overseas so i want to study overseas means i want to study internationally moving on number five a very important word in ielts is important learning how to cook is an important skill here are your two options what would you choose as the correct synonym for important in this sentence the answer is essential an essential skill and we have some other options we can say essential crucial necessary or my favorite an imperative skill so imperative means very very very important okay moving on number six job it's crucial to choose a job which interests you here's the two options profession and work in this sentence a good synonym for job would be profession so we could also have occupation or career in this sentence remember the type of synonym you use depends very much on the context so on the sentence and the idea that you're trying to convey so for example career and job might not always be perfect synonyms but in this sentence and this is a very typical sentence in ielts they are synonyms okay let's move on number seven rich rich families often send their children to private schools here are the two options and of course the correct answer is affluent so affluent families means rich families we can also say wealthy or well-off families number eight make sure so this is a very useful phrase for ielts make sure parents make sure that their children eat vegetables here are two options secure and ensure if you said secure then you are incorrect because the correct answer is ensure so this is a nice academic way of saying to make sure and it's very useful for ielts writing so instead of saying make sure we can also say make certain parents make certain that their children eat vegetables number nine oh and by the way there are 20 questions in total so we're almost halfway through the quiz i hope you're doing well a large number of old people live alone now what can we say instead of saying old people here's two options and what would you choose the correct option is elderly people so this is a polite way of saying old people we wouldn't really say elders it has a slightly different nuance a slightly different meaning for example if you said elders it suggests maybe the respectable old people of a village for example the elders of a village and instead of saying old people we also have some other options we can say older adults or senior citizens let's move on number 10 young people young people are finding it increasingly difficult to find jobs now here's two options children and young adults now depending on the context both of these could be correct synonyms however look at what the sentence has it says finding it increasingly difficult to find jobs so it's unlikely to be children children don't really seek jobs but young adults do and that's the correct answer so again remember the synonym that you choose very much depends on the sentence and that's why it's very difficult to learn synonyms in this sentence we could probably use teenagers or adolescents maybe it depends on the context of what you're trying to say remember teenagers and adolescents really look at that age range from 13 to 19. so if we're trying to communicate that 13 to 19 year olds find it difficult to find jobs then we could use teenagers or adolescents however if we're trying to communicate that maybe 17 to 28 year old people find it difficult to find jobs then we could say young adults it's all about what you're trying to convey okay number 11 difficult so we looked at some synonyms for difficult earlier here are two challenging and demanding and of course the answer is challenging but we could also say tough tricky or hard okay number 12 a lot of so a very common phrase in ielts writing and we need some synonyms for a lot of so that we're not constantly repeating this phrase here are two options a great deal of or plentiful and of course the correct answer is a great deal of i hope you got that one right we could also say a considerable quantity of so a considerable quantity of young people or a large quantity of young people or a large number of young people okay moving on to number 13 improve technology has greatly improved over the last few years here are two options advanced and recovered if you chose advanced then you are correct we could also say progress so technology has greatly progressed over the last few years moving on to number 14 outweigh so this is a very useful word for advantage disadvantage essays when you say i think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages or i think the strengths outweigh the weaknesses so what could we use as a synonym for outweigh here are two options what would you choose well we could say overshadow so we could say overshadow or offset or exceed although exceed is slightly different if you say the advantages exceed the disadvantages you mean to say that there are more advantages than disadvantages but if you say that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages you're saying that the advantages are more important than the disadvantages these slight nuances should help you to choose the synonym that you want to use in your writing okay number 15 relevant education should be relevant to children's needs here are two options relative and related the correct answer is related so relevant we could say pertinent or suited as well education should be pertinent to children's needs or suited to children's needs so this kind of advanced academic sounding vocabulary can help you to get a higher score in your ielts writing likewise with the next one aspects people find it difficult to balance their work and other aspects of their life i know i certainly do and i can imagine many of you do too so what would you choose facets or conditions and the correct answer is facets so facets of our life that means aspects of our life okay number 17 satisfaction getting an answer right gives you a sense of satisfaction two options gratification or gratitude similar sounding words but slightly different meanings so the correct synonym here is gratification so gratification and satisfaction suggest that feeling of feeling happy when you do something well you do something correct whereas gratitude is more of a feeling of being thankful so we could also say gratification delight fulfillment or contentment these are all uh synonyms for satisfaction eighteen so we've only got two more students appreciate a good teacher two options value or welcome the answer is value a good teacher appreciate and value our synonyms in their sentence and i couldn't think of any more synonyms so i don't have the little blue box but if you can think of any more synonyms for appreciate that would work in this sentence then leave a comment below this video number 19. problem one problem that many people face is and what could we say instead of problem what would you choose pain or issue the answer is issue one issue that many people face is instead of saying issue we could also say obstacle or again predicament okay number 20 i've been working all day but it feels as though i've achieved nothing so we need a synonym for achieve what about these two which would you choose the answer is accomplish it feels as though i've accomplished nothing it's an awful feeling so we could say accomplish or produce or manage and again manage we would use slightly differently we also say but it feels as though i've managed to do nothing we've also got a very nice idiomatic expression to convey this idea we can say i've got nothing to show for it so i've got nothing to show for it means if i feel like oh i've achieved nothing so i worked really really hard and i've got nothing to show for it meaning i've achieved nothing okay let me know how you did in this quiz and stick around because now we're going to be looking at some tips and strategies for how to learn synonyms [Music] so we have found three ways that we think are very effective for learning synonyms and the first way is actually my favorite so i'll explain it this is something that one of our facebook group members came up with and it's a very very good activity for learning synonyms so what you do is you take a sentence so we've got a sentence here in some countries owning a home rather than renting one is very important for people and what we want to do is to rewrite this sentence or paraphrase this sentence so that the meaning doesn't change and so you can see some examples of what the students in our facebook group said so this is a brilliant strategy for learning synonyms and for learning or improving our paraphrasing skills and if you want to take part in this activity then you are very welcome to join our facebook group i'll put a link in the description below this video but it's also something that you can do with other students for example in your classroom or you can even do at home by yourself it's just a good idea to have a teacher or somebody with a higher knowledge of english to look over your sentences and make sure that you're paraphrasing and using synonyms correctly the second method is maybe a little less creative and a little less fun but still very effective for learning synonyms so what you would do is to look at a model answer for example a task to model answer written by a high level student or an ielts teacher and what you would do well i'll show you so take the question so this is a task to question some people believe that individuals should be allowed to own a gun as a means to protect themselves and their families to what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement and then you look at the model answer for this question so here's the introduction and a bit of the first paragraph of a model answer and then look at the question and look at what you think one of the key words is so in this question we have the word gun now read the model answer and look at how they paraphrase or look at the synonyms they use for the word gun so some people feel that the possession of firearms so here we have a synonym for guns the possession of firearms should be legalized on the grounds that they are necessary for personal protection and maintaining the safety of their families i would argue that this is a fallacy because the widespread possession of guns okay so they've used guns again so no synonym here but just put a circle around the word anyway will lead to a more dangerous society those who tout the importance of legalizing guns so we have guns again circle the word argue that they are imperative for maintaining the safety of themselves and their loved ones they point to instances where criminals were deterred from violent crimes because the victim had access to a weapon so here we have another synonym for gun so this is a very effective task for learning different synonyms for specific words so here we've learned two synonyms for gun we've learned firearms and weapon which is a good synonym depending on the context and we can also do this with longer phrases so for example here we have protect themselves and their families so we would think well what's a synonym or a way of paraphrasing this idea and if we read the model answer we find personal protection and maintaining the safety of their families so a very nice paraphrase of protecting themselves and their families and we also find maintaining the safety of themselves and their loved ones so instead of saying families they've the this well whoever wrote the model answer has used the synonym their loved ones so again this is a very useful task that you can do alone while you're studying for ielts if you have access to some model answers so if you're one of our members then you do have access to model answers band 8 or band 9 answers for a range of different tasks to questions but you can also just find model answers online by typing in ielts writing task to model answers into google the final method for learning synonyms is very simple when your teacher teaches you a new word in your class just say are there any synonyms for that word and give your teacher a second to think about it because it's tricky to think about synonyms for words on the spot but if you do that you're going to learn a whole range of synonyms and you're also going to learn the correct context for the words so this is just a good habit to have over a long period of time and you will learn a lot of synonyms okay best of luck with your studies and i look forward to seeing you in future videos if you have found this use uh this video useful then please give it a like and subscribe below i'll see you in the next video bye then

Channel: English Pro Tips - IELTS Preparation

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Keywords: IELTS, IELTS synonyms, IELTS Vocabulary, ilets, English Pro Tips, How to learn synonyms, Paraphrasing, IELTS writing, IELTS preparation, IELTS quiz, Most used words in IELTS writing, commonly used vocabulary, band 9 vocabulary, IELTS exam, how to improve IELTS vocabulary, synonyms for IELTS, IELTS writing task 2 vocabulary

Id: p_YH278UmBI

Length: 24min 59sec (1499 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021