English Vocabulary Challenge | Get Better Vocab

Video Transcript
Section 1
Hey there I’m Emma from mmmEnglish! I hope that you and your loved ones are holding up okay at the moment. These are some really tough times that we’re living through but I hope that through the frustration and the sadness, you’ve been able to stay positive and keep busy at home.

Today I want to share a lesson with you that will test what you know and challenge you to explore some new English words and push your vocabulary further. And thank you for staying home and saving lives. I’m thrilled that you’re here to learn with me. Let’s get started!

So like I said, this vocabulary challenge is going to help you to use more sophisticated English words. You’ll need to go digging through your mind a little, you know, to find the English words that you already know and if you’re not sure about some of the words that I’m talking about in this lesson, well, it’s a really great opportunity to increase or to build your vocabulary.

Here’s how it’s gonna work. I’m going to read out a sentence and you’ll see it go up over there. There’s going to be a word or maybe a couple of words that are underlined and this is what I want you to focus on. I want you to search through your mind for an alternative word, a more advanced English word that’s gonna help you to express the same idea but in a more intelligent way. Now I’m gonna give you three seconds to think of it but if you need a little longer that’s totally okay, just use the pause button. Just get ready to press it, you know, keep your finger ready if you need a little bit more time use it.

If you can’t think of it, don’t worry, I’m gonna give you a clue. I’m gonna add the first three letters to the word to try and jog your memory or to help you remember what that word is. Then after another three seconds, I’m going to add that word in there and read the whole sentence through for you. Sometimes there might be more than one possible answer but it’s really about trying to find the best possible word or phrase for that sentence.

Now if you can, make some notes as we go along to help you practise and I mean really practise. I know that you’ve got some extra time at the moment so seriously don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed about not knowing a word. Take that word, write it in your own sentence, add it to the comments below so that I can check that you’re using it correctly and it becomes part of your vocabulary. If you do that, you increase your chances of remembering it a lot. If you do that, you increase your chances of remembering it significantly. So keep a notebook beside you, write down any questions you have or any example sentences you want me to check because as always, I’ll be down in the comments below giving guidance and explanations if you need it okay?

So let’s get started!

1. John brought up this issue during our last meeting.
John raised this issue during our last meeting.

2. The company made a big announcement.
Lots of options here. We’re starting easy.
The company made a significant/major/important announcement.

3. After a long and difficult night walking through the darkness, in the end they arrived home.
After a long and difficult night walking through the darkness, eventually they arrived home.

4. We’ve decided to make longer your contract.
We’ve decided to extend your contract.

5. The number of patients became larger.
The number of patients increased.

6. The new grants build up opportunities for young people to study abroad.
The new grants create opportunities for young people to study abroad.

7. We’ve hired a new graphic designer and she’s really, really good.
Again there’s a few different options you can use here.
We’ve hired a new graphic designer and she’s sensational/awesome/fantastic/unbelievable.

8. Before you make your decision, make sure you know about the rules.
Before you make your decision, make sure you are familiar with the rules.

9. We think that the decision will be made tomorrow.
We expect that the decision will be made tomorrow.
Or we anticipate that the decision will be made tomorrow.

10. Most people think that I live in Melbourne.
Most people assume that I live in Melbourne but they’re wrong!

11. The nurse told her it was not okay to visit patients after hours.
The nurse told her it was unacceptable/not acceptable to visit patients after hours.

12. After the department store was caught breaking the law, it took years to get consumer confidence back.
After the department store was caught breaking the law, it took years to restore consumer confidence.

13. The company used new technology to make production better.
The company used new technology to enhance production.

14. Starting an at-home yoga practice can be good for retirees.
Starting an at-home yoga practice can benefit retirees.

15. She was confused by the customs restrictions when she arrived in Australia.
She was bewildered by the customs restrictions when she arrived in Australia.

16. It’s important that families hold on to cultural traditions and language.
It’s important that families retain cultural traditions and language.

17. I think that state funded education offers many good things for society.
I think that state funded education offers many benefits for society.

18. If we had acted sooner, we could have stopped the spread of the virus.
If we had acted sooner, we could have prevented the spread of the virus.

This is a conditional sentence, right? Did you see my lesson on conditionals a couple of weeks ago? If you did, you’ll definitely recognise that structure. And the link to that lesson is up here if you want to check it out later.

19. Many of our ideas have changed over time.
Many of our ideas have evolved over time.

20. We have a team of ten staff who work together on different projects.
To work together… what’s a better way of saying that?
We have a team of ten staff who collaborate on different projects.

21. To be honest, I don’t want to make the problem worse.
To be honest, I don’t want to exacerbate the problem.

22. I’ve read through your report. It’s great, but I want to change the introduction.
I’ve read through your report. It’s great but I want to modify the introduction.

That softens it a little bit, doesn’t it sound as negative.

23. It’s one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the city.
It’s one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the city.

Now a little note here about superlative adjectives because both of these are superlative forms, right? Most one and two syllable adjectives add -est when we make them a superlative like biggest, hungriest, wealthiest. And adjectives with three syllables or more, they’re made into the superlative form with ‘most’. Most intelligent, most anticipated, most affluent, right?

These are general rules, there are definitely some adjectives that break these rules but they’re good guides to run with.

24. I don’t have an interesting job, the work I do is usually quite boring.
I don’t have an interesting job, the work I do is usually quite mundane.
It’s quite mundane or it’s very mundane.

25. I don’t have time to explain more about this right now.
I don’t have time to elaborate on this right now.

Notice that the preposition changed there too. This is a good example of a collocation. We don’t say that we elaborate about something right? We use ‘on’ with elaborate. So we always elaborate on something. Keep that in mind.

Awesome work! Well done for sticking with me all the way up until this point. So I’m curious now, how many of those words were completely new for you? Did you learn some new ones or did you know a few of them already?

I know that some of us have a little more time on our hands than we’re used to, right? So I think that you can afford to spend a little bit of time writing in English to help cement those new advanced words in your mind so that you can start using more sophisticated language when you write and when you speak in English.

As I said, if you have doubts or questions about anything you’ve learned in this lesson, ask me in the comments below. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today, learning with me, staying home and saving lives.

I’m thrilled that you’re here to learn with me. And there are so many mmmEnglish YouTube lessons here to keep you busy. There are whole playlists about grammar, about vocabulary, pronunciation, lots of imitation lessons to keep you busy. Here are a couple that you can get started with right now and keep improving your English while you’re at home.

Stay safe, take care and keep flattening that curve, my friends. We’re all in this together!