Learn English! Difference between "Improve" and "Increase" | Go Natural English

Hey naturals, what is up? Welcome back to go natural English. This is a fantabulous

Question and answer Tuesday now also known as a coffee time with your English teacher Tuesday. Ah

Today

we're answering a question from an email I got from

Philippe Philippe it asked how do I increase my

English fluency Gaby, please. Help me Philippe from Brazil. Well Philippe from Brazil

I would love to help you but technically speaking you can't increase your English fluency. It's just technically impossible

you want to know why let's start right there the difference between

increase and

improve

We're going to differentiate these two verbs because they can be used interchangeably

But their meanings can also be different and the way that you use it increase your fluency

It's just not correct. And so we have to take a step back to improve your question before we can answer it. So

increase versus improve we can use these in

Similar ways they both mean to make better

But one is used to talk about

Quantity or numbers and the other is used to talk about

quality or

Feelings so you see they are different

Increase is for numbers and improve is for quality

Quantity such as the number of vocabulary words, you know, how can I increase my English vocabulary?

Very nice. Nice question

improve such as

Also, how can I improve my English vocabulary?

We're talking about the quality of the words that you use now

Wait a minute didn't I just say that we have to use these verbs differently. Well, yes, but in this situation

We can use either one of these verbs, but they mean a slightly different thing to

increase vocabulary means to know a greater number of vocabulary words

to improve your vocabulary

Means to have a better overall

quality in

Use perhaps, you know more academic words and you use them better in

Smarter ways. Perhaps. You don't know as many words as Tom over there

But you know how to use them much better. And so this begs the age-old question

is

quality or quantity

better well

I'll let you be the judge leave your comments and tell me would you rather have a bigger vocabulary?

Or would you rather be able to use your words better?

For example, you can increase your TOEFL score. You may have heard people

Advertising courses to improve your test score, which is not necessarily incorrect

but this does refer to the overall quality of your test scores and not

Necessarily a number remember when we're talking about a number we want to use the word

Increase this vocabulary word is all about numbers

Increase the number of reps you do at the gym

Improve your test-taking

Experience increase the number of days you go on vacation

improve your

Travel experience increase the number of go natural English videos you watch and improve your English fluency

increase your sales and improve your job performance increase your applications to

Universities and improve the likelihood that you will be accepted to one

increase the number of times you take a shot and

Improve the number of times that you will score increase the number of steps. You take each day and improve your health

increase the number of vegetables that you and

improve your diet increase the number of cups of coffee you drink and

Improve I don't know if that actually improves your life but

It does taste good

Now if you've enjoyed this very short

Question-and-answer episode. Let me know by subscribing here at go natural English. You can check out last week's Q&A

Tuesday where we talked about the difference between

listen and

Hear it was a quite excellent episode if I do say so myself

so I'll see you right over there make sure now to subscribe so that you don't miss a

Future lesson. Thanks so much and have an amazingly

Improved day with an increased number of pleasant moments. Bye for now