Stop saying “VERY” in IELTS Speaking: Build your Vocabulary

- I see.

And would you recommend this film to others?

Yes, it was very interesting.

A very good film, you know?

Yeah.

Very useful, yeah.

Very, very nice, yeah.

Very good.

Not bad, but how many times did I say very

and how can we improve this repetitive answer?

Come with me and find out.

(upbeat music)

Hi, my name is Keith and I run the website

the Keith Speaking Academy

and the YouTube channel, English Speaking Success.

Now, many students have a good pool of adjectives

to describe things, right?

Like interesting, useful, engaging, amazing,

but they often have fewer, far fewer, adverbs.

Oh, it's very interesting.

Oh, it's very useful.

It's really engaging.

It's really amazing, right?

Now you may know other adverbs

like totally, completely, awfully,

but are you sure which ones go together

with different adjectives?

Do you know the correct collocation?

Well, you're about to find out.

So, in this video,

I'm going to show you 18 synonyms for very

with the accurate collocations,

so you can show off your vocabulary

in the IELTS speaking test.

Now, as a bonus today, I'm going to give you,

at the end of this video, an extra practise activity

you can do after the video, on a mobile app.

How nice is that?

And the app is Elsa Speak,

and this activity will help you learn the collocations

and also improve your pronunciation.

Elsa Speak is a unique English learning app

that pinpoints your mistakes in pronunciation

with cutting edge technology,

artificial intelligence technology,

and then gives you feedback so you can improve

and correct your pronunciation mistakes.

Check it out

- [Elsa] Elementary

(phone beeps)

- Elementary.

And there's the feedback.

You get scored, actually, not only on pronunciation,

but also on fluency and intonation

compared to a native speaker.

And then you can see how to get even better.

For me, it's the best pronunciation app out there.

I love it because of its great technology,

but also because of the high quality teaching that it has.

I'm going to tell you more about Elsa later

and that bonus activity so you can stop practising

all of the language in today's video,

but for now, let's begin with some very interesting stuff.

So let's have a look first at describing things.

Sometimes people may ask you, how was that film?

How was the book?

What did you think of that lesson?

And you may want to say, well, it was very interesting,

very useful or very good.

Let's look at some different collocations we can use

instead of very.

You know, that book I read was extremely interesting.

I thought it was an incredibly interesting book.

The book you recommended was tremendously useful.

I found it to be a particularly useful book

because it was full of great ideas and practical tips.

Yeah, that film was dead good.

I thought that film was extremely good.

Now, with good,

there are very, very few adverb collocations.

You've got dead, extremely, very, really.

So, with good, you may actually want to use an adjective.

An intensified adjective, if you like.

Things like that film was amazing, terrific, splendid,

awesome, outstanding, things like that.

Great, let's move on.

Okay, we've talked about things,

let's talk about describing people next, right?

So you may want to describe, I don't know, a family member.

A family member?

(Keith chuckles)

We don't say that in English.

A member of your family, that's right.

You may want to describe a member of your family,

a friend, a colleague, a boss, anybody, right?

And if you want to say, maybe they're very nice,

they're very friendly, they're very intelligent,

let's look at some other synonyms for very here.

Yeah, my boss, she's a perfectly nice woman.

Yeah, I think my new boss is a thoroughly nice man.

We've just moved into a new flat

and the new neighbour is exceptionally friendly.

I think my new neighbour is a genuinely friendly person.

Yeah, my teacher, I think he's highly intelligent.

(Keith laughs)

Could I say that?

Yes, I think my English teacher is remarkably intelligent.

(Keith chuckles)

Okay, a little bit tongue in cheek, but there you go.

Great, we've talked about people let's move on.

Okay, so we've looked at describing things,

describing people,

what about describing activities, right?

We often need to do this in IELTS speaking.

Maybe you need to describe a concert

or a party or even a meeting.

You may want to say it's very boring, very slow, very bad.

Let's find some exciting synonyms for very here.

Well, I went to a party last week and to be honest,

it was mind-numbingly boring.

I went to a party with my friend,

but it was just downright boring.

There was nothing to do, no music, no dancing.

Last week we had a meeting with my boss and some colleagues

and to be honest, it was just painfully slow.

You know what, I can't believe the meetings with Mr. Smith,

they are frustratingly slow.

I thought Lady Gaga's last concert was extremely bad.

Oh dear, I might upset a few people there.

If you're a Lady Gaga fan, no offence meant.

I thought the concert was really bad.

Now bad, similarly to good,

doesn't have a lot of collocates, right?

You've got extremely, really, very,

so again, with bad,

you may want to use an adjective that intensifies it

being extremely bad.

Possibly, you could say the concert or the party

or the meeting was appalling.

It was an awful meeting.

What a dreadful concert.

That was a terrible party.

That was an agonising meeting.

Things like that.

Great, let's move on.

So there you have 18, at least 18 synonyms for the word very

with some beautiful collocations.

Now, as I mentioned, the bonus.

How can you start practising them?

I'm going to show you right now, using the Elsa app,

how you can start practising

all of these synonyms and collocations.

First of all, download the app in the link below

and then we can get started.

I think one of the great things about Elsa speaking app

is not only does it help your pronunciation and intonation,

but it also, as you're practising ,

helps you build up a really wide range of vocabulary, right?

Including collocations,

which I think are going to be tremendously useful for you.

So let me show you how the app works

and especially the study set

which is what I've made for you, okay.

So we've got here,

you've got different topics in the app.

For example, on the lifestyle category,

we've got topics on travel, transportation, culture,

but I want to show you here, the study sets, right?

So let's have a look, first of all,

we can explore study sets by topic.

For example, here are some study sets

that IELTS students have done,

and you can make them and you can share them.

I want to show you one that I've made though,

with synonyms of very, of course.

So here we can have a look.

You can see here, all the list,

all the phrases that I've been teaching you today.

Let's just have a look at one of them and try it, right?

Let's try this one.

- [Elsa] I didn't like that film,

it was just downright boring.

- I didn't like that film, it was just downright boring.

(phone beeps)

Hooray!

Fantastic result. (Keith chuckles)

Almost like a native speaker.

Now then, let's try another one.

Now this time I'll show you what happens

if I pronounce it incorrectly.

Okay, what about this?

- [Elsa] This meeting is frustratingly slow.

- And let me say it incorrectly.

This meeting is free-streetingly slow.

(phone beeps)

Now you can see

it's pointing out where the mistakes are, right?

If I actually tap on the frustratingly,

it breaks it down and tells me that I said E instead of ah.

And instead of A, I said E, free-streetingly,

but it should be ah and A, frustratingly.

Let's try it again.

This meeting is frustratingly slow.

(phone beeps)

Excellent, lovely.

So you can see we've got all of these phrases and words,

you can start practising straight after this video.

And if you like, as a student,

you can also create your own study sets.

Words or phrases you may find difficult,

you put them in here, you can share them publicly

so that other students can listen

and give you help as well, and suggestions.

There's a whole community going on.

Come on, social learning, this is absolutely brilliant.

Love it.

All you need to do to start practising with me

is make sure you click on the Elsa study set

in the link below this video.

And of course, make sure that you have downloaded the app.

And then, we're ready to go.

Now, Elsa are giving some great discounts to my students

and that's you.

You can actually get 30% off a one year membership.

And if you want the lifetime membership,

you get a huge 80% off.

And then lifetime membership,

you've got the app for the rest of your life.

You can be studying.

You know what I believe, learning English,

preparing for IELTS, it's a long-term investment.

You need time to improve.

Having Elsa in your pocket with you all the time

means you're always going to get better and better.

Brilliant deal.

So thank you very much, Elsa.

Remember click on the link down there, download it now

and get cracking.

Thanks for joining me today

and I hope this has been helpful,

that you can learn and expand your vocabulary

with these great synonyms and collocations for very.

Please do remember subscribe,

turn on notifications on YouTube

so that you can find out about my upcoming videos

in the near future.

Take care, my friends.

See you soon.

Bye-bye now

(upbeat music)