Vocabulary: How to talk about ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES

Hi, there. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you some new words.

I'm going to teach you some words that mean "good" or "advantage" and some words that

mean "bad" or "disadvantage". Now, these words are very, very important if you are planning

on writing the TOEFL test, the IELTS test, if you plan to go to university or college,

or just for general conversation. Okay? So it's very important you learn multiple ways

to talk about advantages and disadvantages. Okay. So let's get started.

First of all, I would like to teach you some synonyms of the word "advantage". Okay? And

maybe, we can work on your pronunciation. You can repeat after me as I say each word.

So my first word here is "advantage", which most of you probably know. It means -- similar

to "good". "An advantage of living in Toronto is you get to meet people from all over the

word." Okay? So it's a good thing. Similarly, a "benefit" is another good thing. It has

the same meaning as the word "advantage". "A benefit of living in Toronto is you get

to eat food from all over the word." Another word we could say is "is positive aspect".

"A positive aspect of living in Toronto is you get to visit the CN tower, which is a

very interesting building." "A good point about living in Toronto is we have a great

transportation system." For those of you who live in Toronto, you might think of that as

a joke. Okay.

"An argument in favor of living in Toronto is the people here are very polite and friendly."

Okay? So these are all considered good things about living in Toronto. We can use all of

these words to describe the things we love about Toronto. Okay?

So I want you to take a moment to think about your city or your village or your town. What

could you say that's about it about where you live? Can you think of an advantage, a

benefit, a positive aspect, a good point, an argument in favor of where you live? Okay?

So now, let's look at some of the bad things, the disadvantages. Okay? So the first word

we'll use is "disadvantage". Let's think about living in a city in general. "A disadvantage

of living in a city is -- maybe it's very busy." Maybe it's very noisy. Okay? So these

are problems with living in a city. "A drawback of living in a city" -- again, you could say

it's crowded. There's too much pollution. These are drawbacks. Some people have an objection

to living in a city. Maybe there's not enough green space; there's not enough environment

living in a city. "A negative effect of living in a city is -- maybe you feel stressed out."

Maybe you have a lot of stress because of all the noise. "A downside of living in a

city is -- maybe, you know, you're not getting fresh air because of the pollution." "A frequent

criticism of living in a city is, again -- maybe it takes a very long time to get anywhere

if you live in a very big city." Maybe there's a bad transportation system. So this might

be a frequent criticism. Now, for this word specifically, I really want to work on the

pronunciation because of this "ism". I know a lot of students from Brazil, a lot of students

from South America, Central America, and Europe pronounce this a little bit differently than

we do in English. So we would say "criticism". Okay. Can you say that? "Criticism". Okay?

So this actually almost becomes like "izum". Okay? So that would be a frequent criticism.

Finally, we can also talk about "an argument against". "An argument against living in the

city is -- maybe you can't have farm animals." Maybe you love chickens and hens and pigs,

but in the city, you can't have them. Okay? So these are all disadvantages of living in

a city or disadvantage words. Whereas these are all advantage words.

Okay. So let's do a couple of practices with you. I want you to fill in this blank spot

with one of these words. Okay? So let's start with positive. So I want you to say this out

loud. So pick one of these. "Blank -- of living in a city is it's exciting."

"A good point of living in a city is it's exciting." "A benefit of living in a city is it's exciting."

Okay?

Now, I want you to do the same thing, but I want you to pick a negative word. Okay.

So pick one of these. Okay. Let's try something different.

"Blank -- of living in a city is it's crowded."

"Blank -- of living in a city is it's crowded." So we can say,

"A drawback of living in a city is it's crowded."

So if you are planning on taking the TOEFL, IELTS, going to university or college, or

just want to improve your general English, try to use some of these words in your everyday

conversation. They're excellent for writing and especially to make your vocabulary -- to

expand your vocabulary. Instead of always using the same words, it's a great idea to

try to use some of these instead. Okay?

So to practice these words, I welcome you to come and visit our website at www.engvid.com.

All right? Until next time, take care.