Words that belong together: Adverb-Adjective Collocations in English

That is absolutely delicious.

Oh, hey. Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and

welcome to this lesson on "Adverb and Adjective Collocations".

Now, "collocations" is just another fancy way to say combinations.

And specifically, these are adverbs like:

"very", "really", "seriously", "incredibly", "absolutely", and adjectives like:

"hot", "cold", "injured", "wet", whatever.

And these are ones that go together commonly. Okay? So, let me put my

coffee down, and we'll get started with the lesson. Today we're going to look at 10 of them.

So, first, we have: "Seriously injured" or "Seriously hurt". If you watch a lot of sports,

you will hear this. Okay? So, for example: "She was seriously injured in the 2nd half."

Now, for me, when I was around 23-24 years old, I used to play football just a little

bit, and one time I was playing and I twisted my ankle, and I heard the muscle rip a little

bit. It was very painful, and I was seriously hurt, seriously injured, and I couldn't walk

for about two weeks. So it was a... It was a tough time. All right? So, again:

"seriously injured", "seriously hurt". You could just say: "hurt", "really hurt", "very hurt", but

for some reason, the word "seriously" and the word "injured" have been put together

time and time again. They sound beautiful together to people.

Next: "highly probable", "highly likely". So, if something is highly probable, highly

likely, it means there is an excellent chance that it will happen. So, in the weather report,

you might hear: "Rain is highly probable tomorrow." It is highly probable that it will rain. Okay?

So, very likely, very possible or probable. So, again: "highly probable", "highly likely".

Next: "cautiously optimistic". Now, if you are an optimistic person but, you know, something

is coming and you're optimistic, but you're carefully optimistic, you're not sure 100%

how optimistic to be - you can say: "I'm cautiously optimistic." Okay? So, for example:

"I'm cautiously optimistic about the next Star Trek movie."

So, I have enjoyed the first two Star Trek

movies directed by J. J. Abrams. There's a third one coming where he's the producer,

and the director is the guy who did The Fast and the Furious. So, The Fast and the Furious

director is doing a Star Trek movie, and in the trailer, like, Captain Kirk is on a motorbike?

I don't know. I don't know. But I enjoyed the first two movies. I think I'll enjoy the

third one, but I'm cautiously optimistic that it will be good. Okay. And if at this time

the movie has been released, and hopefully it's great; if it was bad, I'm sorry.

Next: "totally wrong", "totally wrong". All right? So, you could just say something is

wrong, but people commonly say: "That is totally wrong." All right? "Your answer was totally wrong."

Totally incorrect. Absolutely incorrect. Okay? So, you can imagine you can use this

in a variety of contexts.

Next: "incredibly lazy". Okay? So: "He was incredibly lazy as a kid." Like, let's say

this kid, whoever he was, just played video games all day, ate Doritos chips, drank Coke,

skipped school all the time. I don't know, never did anything. His parents told him to

do stuff, he didn't do it. He was incredibly lazy. So you can say:

"Oh my god, my sister is so incredibly lazy." Or: "She is so incredibly lazy."

My uncle, or my cousin, or my aunt,

or my best friend is incredibly lazy. They are so lazy that it is incredible. All right?

So, let's go and look at five more.

"Virtually impossible". So, "virtually impossible" means something is practically, or almost,

absolutely not possible. So: "This quiz is virtually impossible!" Some video games, if

they're very difficult, you're like: "This game is virtually impossible to beat! I can't

finish it." Like Dark Souls. Or when I was a kid... What was a game that was really difficult

to beat? I had this game for the Nintendo Entertainment System called Time Lord, and

I could never get past, like, the fourth level. It was a pirate ship, and I had no idea how

to finish it. Or the original Ninja Turtles video game for the NES was also virtually

impossible. Bad memories. Okay.

"Absolutely incredible". So, at the time of this video, you know, Star Wars episode seven

is kind of a big deal, and I would say that: "Star Wars was absolutely incredible!" Just

very, very good. Excellent. Okay?

"Fully aware". So, if you are fully aware, it means you completely have knowledge of

something. So, for example: "He was fully aware of the consequences." If you have a

job and you know that if you do something that is against company policy, but you do

it anyway and you know that if you do this thing you will be fired or you will have a

warning from your boss, you are fully aware of the consequences. Okay? So, "fully aware",

you know absolutely what is going to happen next.

"Blatantly obvious". This is kind of like saying: "Obviously obvious", because if something

is blatant, it is easily seen. It is in your face. So, for example:

"Your feelings for him are blatantly obvious."

So if you have a friend and your friend really likes this

guy, and every time she is around this guy she acts like nervous or like she's in love

with him, or can't stop looking at him, you say:

"Wow, your feelings for him are blatantly obvious." Like, it's very easy to see.

Okay? So, something that is easy to see. "Blatantly obvious".

And finally: "absurdly difficult". So, if something is absurd, it doesn't make sense,

it is so hard. "The test was absurdly difficult." Okay.

So, today, we looked at 10 adverb and adjective combinations or collocations. And if you'd

like to test your understanding of the material... And on the test, on the quiz, I will, you

know, give you the adjective. You have to tell me the correct adverb that goes with that adjective.

So you can do that on www.engvid.com. And if you like this video, as always,

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