Listening, Vocabulary, Comprehension: Learn Advanced Words with a Story

Hey, how's it going?

You like my Batman cuffs?

Sweetheart.

Hey.

Hi.

James from EngVid.

What's...

What's going on here?

Why is the board empty?

Oh.

Guys, you're in for a treat.

This lesson is what we call an LVC lesson.

What's going to happen in this lesson is you

notice there's nothing on the board right

now, but soon we'll have the board filled with information to help you.

LVC stands for "listening", "vocabulary", and "comprehension".

What's going to occur here is I'm going to read

you a story, I'm going to click my fingers,

and then we're going to take seven words of

vocabulary that you probably don't know, teach

you what they mean, listen one more time to

make sure you've got comprehension with these

new words to understand the story you're

being told, and then we'll have a very quick

quiz to check that comprehension.

It's a complete lesson, you'll enjoy it, so

I'm going to ask you right now to please grab

a pen and paper because you're going to want to take notes on this one.

You might have to listen to it a couple times,

but I promise you from the ones we've done

before, a lot of people go from "I didn't

understand" to "I 100% understand the story"

and have a greater appreciation for vocabulary and the words we're teaching.

So, get your pen, get your paper, get comfortable, and get ready for the story.

Meanwhile, at the police headquarters, the

captain was getting more and more angry, trying

to understand the ambiguous text message left

by Detective E, who was at the crime scene.

E was a good detective, albeit a little unconventional for being a cop.

This made the other cops make assumptions about the quality of his work.

But Detective E had the profound ability to make the right decisions which would have

great implications on finding and arresting criminals.

It was inevitable that Detective E and the

captain were going to get into a big argument

about how Detective E worked on this case.

The captain thought out loud.

Okay, so now you've heard the story, I know you're probably really confused.

And your confusion is understandable because to

understand something, whether you're reading it,

or as if you're reading it, or you're listening

to it, you need to understand at least 90% of

the words, I'd say 80 to 90, to comprehend or understand what's being said.

Once you get past the 80%, you know, 70, 60,

you basically don't understand what's going on.

It's a shame, but I'm going to help correct

that by teaching you the seven words I picked

on purpose to make it difficult for you so that you can understand the story when we

read it again and when we do the quiz.

Are you ready?

Let's go to the board.

Now, I have some examples here I'm reading from

because it is a hard story for you and for me.

Let's go for the first word.

So, the first word you heard was "ambiguous".

The simple meaning of "ambiguous" is something is not clear.

Right?

So it's not easy to understand, it's not clear.

Other words people will use for "not clear" are "vague" and "unclear", "unclear".

Why is this word important to go from intermediate to advanced?

Well, it helps you recognize that you could have more than one meaning in a word.

When something's ambiguous, it could mean this or it could mean that.

It's not clear so you can't say, "Oh, it's absolutely five."

It could be five or six.

For example, when I say...

Well, let me give you a really good example.

"Marty's ambiguous response made me think there was more going on."

So, instead of saying, "Hey, I'm going to come to the party for sure",

they say, "It sounds like a good idea."

Well, is that yes or no?

That's ambiguous, you haven't said it.

Or my favourite is when I say to a student,

"Do you want the blue apple or the pink pear?"

And they go, "Yes."

I don't know what you want, it's ambiguous.

You haven't told me one or the other.

It's in the air.

Not clear.

Second word, "albeit".

This is such a fancy word used by post-secondary people everywhere.

It means "but".

It's a fancy word for "but", right?

But it does sound "albeit".

All...

It almost sounds like three words.

"Albeit when the gods are speaking."

It just means "but", but it sounds nice, right?

Other words that people use are "although" and "however".

Okay?

And why does this help you go from intermediate

to advanced in your learning or demonstrating

your transition or movement from being an

intermediate student to an advanced student?

Well, it helps you show contrast in...

When you're doing advanced reading or writing or conversation.

What do you mean?

Well, remember "but" means here's something, but something is different.

Here's my perfect example sentence for you.

You ready?

"Elena is very intelligent, albeit a little silly at times."

Now, stop and think about what I just said.

"She's very intelligent, albeit a little silly at times."

When we usually think of intelligent people,

we think they're very serious and studious and,

you know, they've got this face.

Not...

You don't think of that when you think of intelligence.

That's silly.

Right?

So, "albeit she's intelligent, she can be silly."

Right?

So we show a contrast between the two.

Nice?

Thank you.

I worked on it.

Number three, "unconventional".

The basic meaning of "unconventional" means not normal.

Other words we use, or other people use, or generally, especially in the intermediates

level, are original and unusual.

And funny enough, "unconventional" is sort of a combination of the two.

And that's what makes all of these words interesting.

They're not just don't use this, use this; don't use this, use this.

Sometimes they have both meanings inside that word, and that's why we choose them,

and that's how you're demonstrating you're

going from intermediate to advanced, because,

you know, this word combined, these two words combined, give it a unique meaning.

Very special.

Right?

So, what does this word help you with?

Well, it helps you to demonstrate that you know what is being...

What is considered normal, and how people can be flexible about getting things done.

Meaning, yes, there's a normal way of doing it,

but somebody who's unconventional-right?-will

do something that's not usual, and it is usually original.

That's why I said it's the combination of the two words.

It's not just this, it's not just that.

Or I would use those.

If you're a lower level student, you will just

use one of these words, and you're missing...

It's like a taste in food assault.

You're missing something that doesn't give it

the exact idea that somebody wants to understand,

or clear...

Make your ideas clear to others.

Cool?

All right.

So, we've seen now how we're moving our transitionally...

Once again, transition, moving, from words that you probably use now to more special

word or nuanced words that can give you a

little bit more meaning to what we're saying.

Good.

I'm glad you're following along because we have

to do our next word now, which is "conjecture".

A "conjecture" is to believe...

Right?

To believe something is true without proof.

We do it all the time.

Okay?

And you look here, you see the word "belief" and "guess".

A "conjecture" is kind of a guess and kind of a belief.

Again, yeah, you believe it's true.

You may not have all the proof.

You don't have all the evidence.

We never have all the evidence about everything.

So, you've got to believe something.

For instance, you believe that the sun is going to come up tomorrow.

My friend, that's a "conjecture".

A rock, a big asteroid could hit the sun, and the sun blows up, there's no sun.

You're making a "conjecture".

It's a guess about what you think we'll have

in the future and the belief that you have

it will actually happen.

But "conjecture" is such a fancy word.

It's like wearing a nice suit and tie.

It dresses itself up beautifully.

Why do we use this word to show a movement from intermediate to advanced?

Well, this word helps demonstrate that what

you are saying is an opinion without complete

facts.

So, what you're actually saying is, "Yes, I believe this is true, but I don't have all

the facts."

See, that's an advanced thing, because you're

admitting or saying, "I don't have all the

facts, but I have to think this is going to happen.

In this election, this person will win.

In this race, this person should win.

Here's what I know.

I don't have all the facts, but I believe it to be true, so let's work with it."

Because that's all we have.

Some facts, not all the facts, and we have

to make opinions about them, and that's what

a "conjecture" is.

Cool?

Now, let's go to "profound".

This word, you hear people say it a lot, and

there are profound things in this world, but

not as many...

not as much as people use it for.

This is why I want you to use it properly.

"Profound" means very great, but you'll notice

everything here has, like, two, two, two - this

one has four.

"Intense", "extreme", "intelligence", and "wise".

Why?

When we say "profound", it can be used in two ways.

In one way, it can be talking about the extreme or the strength of something.

Think about the sun.

If you look into the sun, the light is very intense.

It's hard to look at.

It's very strong.

But a candle, the little flame, or...

Mr. E just provided me with special effects.

I've got a big budget here.

There.

See that little flame?

That's not very intense.

You can look at that.

But you couldn't look at the sun.

Right?

It's intense.

It's very strong.

This is not strong.

That's what we talk about with intensity.

Or extreme.

So, "profound" could be saying something is very great, as in very strong, intense, or

extreme.

Or we use it for intelligence.

When something is profound, you stop and go, "Oh, I must think about this.

This is very intelligent and wise."

And one must be careful that you get the right one or the message is not correct.

So, why do we use this word?

Well, it helps you to demonstrate that you

recognize there is a deeper meaning to topics.

When I showed you the lighter and I talked about the sun, there were levels to that.

It's not just lighter and sun.

You can see me in here.

I'm in a room full of light.

It's not the sun, it's not a candle or a lighter.

There's levels to intensity.

There's also levels to wisdom or being wise and being intelligent.

You know this.

You've got your friend, not so smart, and then you've got the very smart one.

There are levels.

And when you use the word "profound", you're

saying I understand there are levels to what's

being said.

So, there's what people can see and other

levels that go deeper and have deeper meaning.

And that's how you're moving from intermediate to advanced in your language.

Implication.

Whoa.

Okay.

This one, you'll notice that the red is over

here because that's as simple as I could make

it.

All these red ones were to help you get the

simplest, most basic answer or understanding

of the word before I showed you alternatives.

An implication...

Let me read it.

[Laughs]

When you have an implication, you get a possible

conclusion or ending-all right?-for a situation,

but it's not directly stated.

Why?

When we imply something, you're asked to use

your imagination to get the conclusion to

it because maybe the situation isn't finished

just yet, so you have to imagine how it will

end.

So, what are the implications of your actions?

Or what will be the implications?

Means what will happen in the end if you continue doing this?

If you think that's difficult, imagine trying to say all of that.

Okay?

Sometimes that's why I write it down.

Other words we use from the implication are indication, and an indication is just kind

of pointing at something.

Like, if you look outside, put your hand out,

and a couple of drops come down, it indicates

there's going to be rain.

Can't say for sure; maybe it will stop.

Or maybe your neighbour is spitting at you.

I don't know.

It's an indication that there's moisture coming down.

Moisture.

Anyway, the next one is "suggestion".

To suggest is not to say something.

You want to say, "Where do you want to go for dinner?"

Well, I suggest we go to McDonald's.

That's not an order; it's an idea that's been put out there that could happen.

Right?

It's a suggestion.

All right.

So, now that we've got that in the way, let's

find out what are we talking about when we

have an implication.

Well, it helps you read between the lines.

"Oh, this is something students aren't good at."

We use the word "literal", and "literal" means if I say I am hot, some students go,

"Teacher, you are hot.

You need a fan."

I go, "No, baby.

I'm sexy.

I'm sexy.

I'm a sexy beast.

I'm so sexy."

No.

Sometimes words don't mean exactly what you think, but because someone told you the sun

is hot, teacher is hot, teacher has high temperature.

But in English, sometimes we play with the words.

Reading between the lines means somebody is saying something, but you need to look in

between the two lines because that is where the real meaning is that they're trying to

say.

"Johnson, you've been really outstanding, an outstanding worker.

We love you here, but we have a lot of other employees who deserve your position.

You're being fired.

They are firing you.

You're losing your job."

He never said that.

You go, "Teacher, he never said he's firing us."

He didn't.

Other workers need your job.

We liked you as a worker.

Pause tense, bye-bye.

Read between the lines.

Yeah?

Now, once you understand that, you're going

to lurk in fiction, works of fiction and art,

a lot of reading between the lines.

You love Shakespeare when the audience is

sitting there and the guy says, "That's going

to kill you!"

And everybody goes, "It's going to.

In the next...

The next part of the play, you're going to die."

But you're like, "Great.

You haven't read between the lines with the audience laughing, him saying something.

There's more information than you're seeing."

When we use implication, it starts showing you're...

You understand there is a conclusion, you're

reading between the lines, saying this is

what's possible.

Now, the last one I want to do is "inevitable".

And of course, me being a comic book nerd and one of the most famous lines in comic

books, it's going to come up.

But what does "inevitable" mean?

It means something is going to happen.

That's what basically it means.

Okay?

I'll give you the more formal version, but if we speak in English about future tense,

we have "going to", right?

And when we say something's going to, I'm going to the store, it's going to happen.

Right?

Same thing here.

"Inevitable" means going to happen.

Other words you can use are "certain" and "unavoidable".

It was inevitable I would make a mistake.

It's unavoidable.

I'm only human.

Okay, so, "unavoidable", "certain", "for sure",

"100%", these are, you know, colloquialisms

or common English.

What does it mean or what does it help you?

It helps you show the connection between the...

Between time and consequences, meaning if you do this, in the end, this is going to

happen.

There is no changing it.

So, if you don't save money, you will not have money to buy dinner later on tonight.

It's inevitable.

You spent it all on comic books, now there's no money for food.

Inevitable.

That's how it's going to go.

Right?

So, when you use this in writing and speaking,

you're showing people, I understand if this

action happens and it continues to happen, this is going to happen.

I love this...

It's, of course, inevitable.

I'll have a technical breakdown as I'm doing this video, but we will continue.

Thanos looked at Rachel deep in her eyes and

said, "I am inevitable", before he snapped

his fingers.

That snap's going to tell you that that's the end of our vocabulary lesson, and we're

and if you don't, re-watch this again so you

can fill in the blanks and understand what

is being said in the story about Detective E and the Captain.

You ready?

Now for the real Thanos snap.

Meanwhile, at the police headquarters, the

Captain was getting more and more angry, trying

to understand the ambiguous text message left

by Detective E, who was at the crime scene.

E was a good detective, albeit a little unconventional for being a cop.

This made the other cops make assumptions about the quality of his work.

But Detective E had the profound ability to make the right decisions, which would have

great implications on finding and arresting criminals.

It was inevitable that Detective E and the

Captain were going to get into a big argument

about how Detective E worked on this case.

The Captain thought out loud.

Okay, so now you've done the listening part,

we've done the vocabulary part, you've listened

again and noticed that your comprehension should be better.

Just to help firm that up or make it permanent, we're going to do a little quiz.

Now, if you get less than five on the quiz, I would suggest you do it all again.

Right?

Because if you're going to take the time to learn, learn it properly, and these words

will be yours.

So, let's go to the quiz.

I'll start off with number one.

"The boy that was lost for seven days was happy."

Something very hungry as well.

What do you think it is?

Did you say "albeit"?

That would be correct.

Remember?

"But" is the other way we say it, but very hungry as well.

Cool?

All right, next.

"Terry had the most _______ hairstyles.

She was one of a kind."

What do you think that would be?

Did you say "unconventional" hairstyles, not normal?

You're correct.

You're doing pretty well.

Let's see how the other five go.

"The _______ of his decision became clearer after more and more problems occurred."

What would that be?

Did you say "implications"?

Yeah.

Remember we talked about the future?

You can see what's going to happen.

Because of this, this is going to happen, the implications.

There we go.

What about number four?

"It was _______ that the happy couple would want to have children and become a family."

What do you think?

Remember we said "it's going to happen", and "it's going to happen" is inevitable.

It's inevitable it's going to happen.

Number five, "The coach made the correct something..."

Oh, sorry.

I made a mistake.

I was incorrect.

"The coach made the incorrect something that Ronaldo was bad at soccer."

Are any of you guys soccer fans going to watch the World Cup?

Okay.

"He made the incorrect assumption..."

Remember, "assumption" can mean guess.

"...made the incorrect assumption about Ronaldo."

Because we know he's one of the world's best.

All right, what about the next one?

"The lesson had a something effect on the students.

Many of them worked harder to become doctors."

What could the answer be for this?

Could it be implication or profound?

What do you think?

Well, if you said "profound", absolutely.

Right?

It had a strong effect.

Remember we talked about "very great"?

Well, "profound" means very great, very great effect on the students.

Man, you got six out of seven.

Maybe you don't need to watch this video again.

It still wouldn't hurt.

To get practice in.

But if you're getting less than that, you've

made mistakes, you should go back already

because there's only one answer left, and you might not get that one right.

So, you know, watch the video, get practice.

Last one.

"Ferial's husband left a note about dinner."

So, she didn't know if she was taking...

Okay.

"...if he was taking her out for dinner or he was cooking dinner."

What would be the answer for that one?

Well, if you're confused, if someone's making

dinner or taking you out for dinner, it's

probably "ambiguous".

And if you remember, "ambiguous" means not clear.

So, the letter he left with her wasn't clear,

so she was confused if she was going to be

going out for dinner and having a nice time, or he was making her dinner.

Who knows?

It's ambiguous.

Now, this quiz wasn't ambiguous.

Seven out of seven means you learned, and I'm

sure you understood the story, which would

make you very happy, and it should.

Now, as I said, if you got less than, you know, four, three, two, watch it again.

It's all good.

Anyway, I've been happy to teach you this lesson.

I look forward to you coming back again, or going to www.engvid.com where you can watch

this or other LVC lessons that we have there

to help teach you words to make you go from

intermediate to advanced, beginner to

intermediate, all there, plus other great teachers.

So, I hope you enjoyed this lesson, and I hope you push subscribe because if this is

the third one you've watched because you've seen them before, clearly you're learning

something.

Well, I'm James for engVid.

Have a good one.

Talk to you soon.