Listening, Vocabulary, Comprehension: 7 Advanced Words

Hey, what's up?

Listening, vocabulary, comprehension.

That sounds like a lot of work.

So what are we going to do?

We're going to practice some listening, learn some new vocabulary, and then comprehension

of those words as we're listening.

Hi.

James from engVid.

I've done a lesson like this before; actually, I've done a couple.

And when we're done, you can go check them out.

What I'm going to do today is I'm going to read you a story with some vocabulary that

I'm quite sure you don't know.

Afterwards, we will go over that vocabulary to help you understand it, to increase your

comprehension, then we'll listen to the story again to make sure you actually understand

it.

Okay.

I find this is one of the best ways to get people to learn, because having vocabulary,

just writing words on the board and explaining them, kind of dumb for me, I think.

And trust me, I've done those videos before.

Okay?

But in this way, what happens is it takes...

The vocabulary takes on a life of itself because not only you might be confused at the beginning,

but you learn these new words, and then you learn the environment in that they're actually

used or can be used, and it gives you an example of how you can use them.

And of course, we'll have a quiz just to test that comprehension.

But don't be surprised if you get perfect, because after all, it's my job to serve.

Anyway, I'm going to disappear for a second.

I'm going to have a nice little picture for you to look at, but more importantly, I need

you to listen.

Look for the words that you think are going to be the new vocabulary words, because that

part of concentration that you do will actually help you learn them better.

You ready to go?

Let's get started.

Yesterday, I went to the park to study English.

I wanted some peace and quiet to concentrate.

I thought it was a pragmatic decision, as the park was close, quiet, and it was a beautiful

day.

I found a nice tree to sit under, and I heard the most eloquent woman speaking about poetry.

The children running on the grass were ubiquitous.

Suddenly, a firetruck burst into the park with a siren on.

The children started crying, and dogs started barking loudly.

The cacophony of noise was driving me mad.

The noise was tenacious, and it was no longer peaceful or quiet.

I had a conundrum.

I could stay and wait for the noise to stop so I could study, or I could go back home

and miss out on a beautiful day.

Yesterday, I decided to go home and look out of my window while studying as a compromise.

Now, if you're ready, let's do the vocabulary.

And we're back.

I hope you enjoyed the story because you're going to hear it again, but only after I go

through these vocabulary words.

Now, were you able to find those words when I was saying the story?

Some of you, yes.

You probably were like, "What is that?"

And these are words, and why they were picked is because they give a specific meaning in

English and give a deeper meaning in English.

For some of these words, you would have to use several words to get the same meaning

out, but this is what we call "concise", right?

So the meaning is right there with all the extra words that should be used, or if you

made a sentence of it, so you can get more information by saying less.

And it shows you've mastered English.

Well, not mastered it.

We're working on that, right?

But you know what I mean.

So, first thing we'll look at is "pragmatic".

Pragmatic.

What does "pragmatic" mean?

It is a sensible decision.

So, it's sensible and reasonable.

It makes sense, right?

So, if you decided to jump off a mountain in your underwear, that's not very pragmatic.

But, to take some of your money when you work and put some in the bank to save for the future

so that you can buy a house or a car, people would say that's very sensible or that is

very pragmatic.

Right?

"Eloquent".

Don't get it confused with "elegant".

Right away, some of you are like, "Oh, teacher.

Elegant.

I knew these were wrong."

"Elegant" can be talking about how someone looks or acts.

"Eloquent" is used for speaking and writing.

If someone is an eloquent speaker, they speak well.

They use good grammar, nice vocabulary, they can even be concise.

Right?

"Elegant" is different.

So, "eloquent" is when we're talking about speaking and writing, and being very good

at it.

Yes?

"Ubiquitous".

I was going to say something really bad for a second there because I looked and...

Don't do that.

"Ubiquitous".

It means...

I've always found this a strange word, but I like it, and I have to thank Matt from Hansa

for this one.

Because, I mean, I'd heard it and used it, but one day he used it in a sentence and I

had to step back and I said aloud, "What does that bloody well mean?

"Really? Ubiquitous? It's like it's been everywhere. Everyone seems to say it, but

I don't know what the bloody hell it means." And then he laughed. "It means everywhere."

When something is ubiquitous, you can see it everywhere around you, right? So if you

see children playing in the park, they're probably ubiquitous, yeah? There will be many

children playing, right? Teslas are ubiquitous. I don't know where you live, but I'm sure

you've seen a Tesla. You probably haven't seen a Pinto. Guarantee you haven't seen one

of those, but Teslas are everywhere. Thank you, Elon Musk. Anyway, moving on. Cacophony.

I like to say cacophony. Down in the South, we like saying cacophony, like caffeine. It's

not. Cacophony, right? There's an "o" here, "phony" from, like, phone. Cacophony. I don't

know when you... If you have this in your area, but we have these things called marching

bands, and there's cymbals. Now, imagine some dogs. Crying baby. That cacophony, it is a...

Because that is the word that is describing it. But harsh might not be something you understand.

So think of very unpleasant, very nasty, something that would drive you mad, okay? It's noises

mixed together. It's like having macaroni and cheese with hot chocolate, with some hot

dogs all mixed... Yeah, you want to throw up, right? That's a cacophony of noise. It's a

lot of noises that are not pleasant. Harsh is a word, okay, that you can use, which would

be hard, right? But unpleasant is better. Tenacious. Tenacious, okay. A tenacious...

A tenacious means, like, to hold on hard or with strength. So if someone has a tenacious

grip, and you've... If you've ever watched Mr. Donald Trump on elections, sometimes he

grabs people's hands and he holds on. It's like a life and death match. He will not let

go. I think he did it to the Prime Minister of Japan. So, Japanese students, you know

what I mean. Your poor Prime Minister was like, "Please, Mr. Trump, let's go, please!"

He's like, "No, I'm going to shake until you die!" So when someone has a tenacious grip,

they will not let go. But it's not just a grip, a physical grip. It can be tenacious,

they will not give up. If you've ever watched those detective movies where the criminal's

trying to get away, and every time they do something, they turn around, and there is,

like, Mr. E coming to get them. He goes, "This guy's tenacious. He just will not give

up." Right?

Conundrum. Okay? A conundrum is when you have a difficulty. You have to make a decision,

but, you know, it's like this or that, and you don't know what to do. Right? So if I

have a conundrum, and a lot of young people have this conundrum. You're 18, life is fun.

21, life is fun. 27, you start going, "Should I get married? Or should I stay single because

the music's still playing, but all my friends are leaving? What a conundrum." You know what

I mean? Or, "Do I go to university and study, or do I get a job? I get money now if I work,

but I'll get money later, but more if I go to university. What do I do?" That's a conundrum.

Right?

And finally, compromise. For some of you, you're going to go, "Oh, that's the easiest

one." But remember, we here at engVid are here to support all of humanity, even the

ones who are wretches, who don't know these words. Just joking. This is for those people

out there who may not know this word. Compromise, like, I love this word because promise is

in there. So it's like people come together to promise something together. In a compromise,

I don't get everything I want, you don't get everything you want. We kind of move to the

middle. Sort of like a marriage. You never get everything you want, but you kind of go,

"We'll work together, make a compromise." Maybe sometimes you get it, maybe sometimes

you don't. Cool? All you married people, it was a joke. I know you're crying in the background,

going, "No compromise. I suffer every day." Sorry. Okay, anyway, so these are the words

of vocabulary from the story. Now, what's going to happen now is, remember, I read the

story, you couldn't see anything. I've explained the vocabulary. Now, hopefully you took some

notes. If not, you know, go back in the video a bit, take some notes, make sure you get

it. Now we're going to listen to the same story again.

"Why, James? Why?" Well, now we want to make sure you can understand exactly what's going

on in the story because you know the new vocabulary. And of course, after that, we'll do a little

quiz to reinforce, means to make stronger. All right? You guys ready? Let's go for it.

And let us begin.

"Yesterday, I went to the park to study English. I wanted some peace and quiet to concentrate.

I thought it was a pragmatic decision as the park was close, quiet, and it was a beautiful

day. I found a nice tree to sit under, and I heard the most eloquent woman speaking about

poetry. The children running on the grass were ubiquitous. Suddenly, a firetruck burst

into the park with its siren on. The children started crying, and dogs started barking loudly.

The cacophony of noise was driving me mad. The noise was tenacious, and it was no longer

peaceful nor quiet. I had a conundrum. I could stay and wait for the noise to stop so I could

study or go back home and miss out on a beautiful day. I decided to go home and look out my

window while studying. It was a compromise."

Okay, so now that we've done our listening and our comprehension, I just want to make

sure we've learned the vocabulary. The best way to do that is through a test. Are you

ready? We'll test the seven words that we did in the story, which I'm sure you've mastered

now, but let's see in a different environment if you'll remember what they mean. So, the

first one we're going to start off is "The dog had a something grip on my leg and wouldn't

let go." What word would that be? Tenacious, remember? To hold strongly. So, Tesla cars

are something. You see them everywhere. What would that be? Ubiquitous, ubiquitous.

Number three, "When little children play instruments and they haven't had musical lessons, it's

usually a something of noise." It's usually a what of noise? Cacophony, a cacophony of

noise. Number four, "If you are in... If you are in a relationship and you must..."

Okay, sorry, that was bad on my part. "If you are in a relationship, you must learn

to something if you want to be happy." Many a married person will tell you this. You

must compromise. You must learn to compromise, work together. Another relationship thing,

funny enough. "For many young people, the choice between getting married and staying

single is a real..." What? Yeah. Conundrum, conundrum. Right? It's a difficult decision

to make. I don't know if you watch TEDx. I don't know if you watch TEDx, but the next

one's TEDx. It's a series of talks where people talk about new ideas and things. So, that's TEDx,

and you should check it out sometime. Give it a moment or two. "Most of the professionals on TEDx

are eloquent speakers." They speak well. Right? Remember, eloquent has to be speaking and writing,

so they speak very well. And the final one,

"It's best to be something when making money decisions."

Right? "It's best to be something when making money decisions." What do you think it would be?

"Pragmatic". Sensible? Make sensible decisions, well-thought-out decisions. Anyway, that was the

seven vocabulary words we used in the story, and I'm thinking that if you listen carefully the

first time and listen to my explanation the second time... This quiz was easy, and you got 100.

Right? Do me a favour for homework, because I haven't given you homework in a little while.

For homework, here's what I want you to do. Use these words and make up your own story,

like the story I made up at the beginning. And if you have a friend who's also... And I recommend

this. Take your stories and exchange them. See how they use these words, because the beautiful thing

about language is it's an expression of ourselves, and we can use different words to express different

thoughts and feelings, even if they are the same words. Pretty cool, huh? Anyway, I'm glad you

through this lesson. I'm sure you learned seven new words at least. You also learned how to listen,

which is a very important skill. And if you want to take on... You know, I've got other videos like

this, so if you want to try this and another... I think one's on movies and that, go to engVid.

And what's that? www.eng as in English, vid as in video. Go to www.engvid.com, and to sign in,

check under the "Listening Vocabulary Comprehension Videos" we have there. See how you score those.

Anyway, it's been fun being with you. Have a brilliant time. See you soon.