If You Can Understand This News Article, Your English is Excellent!

In this English lesson we'll read a CNN news  article together and as we read the article  

you'll learn advanced English vocabulary in  context. You'll learn the correct grammar  

and the correct pronunciation at the same  time. This is an advanced article discussing.

The impact of language on longevity.  If you can understand this article,  

your English is excellent. Welcome back to  JForrest English, of course I'm Jennifer Nell.  

Let's get started. Our headline mastery  of language could predict longevity.

Do you know what longevity is? Longevity  is the concept of living longer,  

so living longer than average. Now notice  that pronunciation longevity. So you hear  

this j sound even though it is not there  in spelling, and that's to help transition  

between this long, this g sound longevity,  evity longevity. Repeat after me longevity.

Used in a sentence you could say he  attributed his longevity. Longevity  

is a noun and it belongs to him. He attributed  his longevity to exercise and a healthy diet.  

So using attributed is saying that these two  things, it could just be one thing, but in this  

sentence these two things are responsible for his  longevity, so you could say it a different way.

I wrote that here for you so you can see the  sentence structure and I use the verb to be  

to be responsible, the preposition 4. Now of  course your verb to be has to be conjugated in  

this case we have two items, so it is plural  R. Now in this headline, mastery of language  

could predict longevity, so could be responsible  for or could cause, but notice this use of the.

Modal verb could is just used to say something  is possible but not necessarily guaranteed. So  

this doesn't mean that mastery of language  will predict long longevity that is more  

definitive. This is simply a possibility. So  notice could and then your base verb could  

predict. And don't worry about taking  notes because I summarize everything.

And a free lesson PDF and you can find  the link in the description. Now let's  

continue with the article in a study published  earlier this year in Psychological Science,  

so notice the pronunciation of this. P  is silent. You hear the S psych psych,  

psychological, psychological. Now this is an  adjective. It describes the science psycho.

Logical science just like biological science  so it's an adjective the same pronunciation  

rule applies to the noun psychology this  is the area of study the field you could  

say I studied psychology in school the same  pronunciation also applies to psychologist,  

which is also a noun, but it's a job  title so you can say I studied psychology.

And now I am a psychologist.  This is the job title.

In a study published earlier this year in  Psychological Science, a team of researchers  

reported a link, a link between verbal fluency and  mortality risk. So we have A and B, two objects.  

Now the link or all link is a connection. So  there's some connection between verbal fluency.

The topic of this article and mortality risk  your risk of dying mortality refers to death,  

so your risk of dying. Let's review this  sentence. There's a link there is it exists,  

the link, the connection  exists. There's a link between,  

remember two things how much I watch  Jennifer's videos and my English level.

Now this is a more formal or academic way  of saying this. In everyday casual English,  

you could say, the more I watch Jennifer's videos,  the better my English gets because there's a link,  

there's a connection between them. Do you  agree with this? Do you think the more I  

watch Jennifer's videos, the better my English  gets? There's a link, a connection. If you do,  

put that's right, that's right,  put that's right in the comments.

And I certainly hope you do. Let's  continue. Between 1990 and 2009.

Investigators assessed the cognitive abilities of  

more than 500 participants who were 70  years or older when the study began. OK,  

so notice how they said 70 years. You could  say 70 years like they did here, or you could  

say 70 years of age of age. That's a little more  formal sounding, but you will definitely see it.

And let's review cognitive abilities.  Cognitive refers to how you use your brain,  

so your ability to learn, to  problem solve, to remember,  

to process information, all of  that represents your cognitive  

abilities and of course as we age our cognitive  abilities generally decline. Are you enjoying.

This lesson. If you are, then I want to tell  you about the finally fluent academy. This is  

my premium training program where we study  native English speakers from TV, movies,  

YouTube, and the news so you can improve  your listening skills of fast English,  

expand your vocabulary with natural  expressions and learn advanced grammar.

Easily plus you'll have me as your personal coach.  

You can look in the description for the link  to learn more, or you can go to my website  

and click on Findly fluent Academy. Now let's  continue with our lesson. All of the study's  

participants are now deceased. Deceased is a  politer way, a more formal way of saying dead.

Now notice it's 2 B, so to be deceased to be  dead, and then you conjugate your verb to be  

because we have participants, it's plural. Now  they're dead because when the study started.

They were already 70 years of age or older,  so that's the reason why all of the study's  

participants are now deceased and researchers  can use the results from the cognitive tests,  

so from their brain tests to see if  any of the measures are predicted.

of the participants' life spans. So the  participants' life spans you could say  

are predictive of longevity.  Now saying are predictive of  

is another way of saying can any  of these tests predict longevity.

So will any of these tests tell us if longevity is  more likely or less likely? Now remember that the  

concept of longevity means that you live longer  than normal or longer than average, but just.

Saying life span doesn't suggest that  it's longer, so only that word longevity  

does so you could say the measures are  predictive of the participants longevity,  

but that means their ability to live  longer than average. Let's continue  

somewhat surprisingly out of the areas tested  only one was related to decreased mortality.

Verbal fluency.

Now somewhat surprisingly,  so surprisingly means wow,  

I didn't expect that to happen, but  saying somewhat reduces that so mm.

I guess I didn't expect that or mm yeah I can  see that so it reduces the surprising element  

of it. You can use the word somewhat in a more  everyday context and say I was somewhat angry  

or whatever emotion it is I was somewhat  angry when she forgot my birthday so it's.

Saying a little angry. I was somewhat angry  so very commonly used in an everyday context,  

somewhat surprisingly, a little bit  surprisingly out of the areas tested,  

only one was related to decreased mortality,  so reducing the risk of death, verbal fluency.

So that's there's a connection, a link between  verbal fluency and mortality risk. Specifically,  

the researchers found an almost 9 year  predicted difference in median survival  

time between the study participants with high  versus low values on verbal fluency. This may  

sound a little complicated, let's make it  easy to understand in median survival time.

And then 9 year difference. OK, so median means  average, so let's say there's an average survival  

time how long someone lives and it's 9 years  higher for people with high verbal fluency.

So they did studies and if you scored high on  verbal fluency tests it was predicted so people  

thought that you could live 9 years longer than  someone who scored lower on verbal fluency tests.  

The use of that word predicted is important  because they're saying it isn't guaranteed.  

It's simply a prediction. We think  this will happen. This is a more.

Academic way of describing it because this is  in a research study, an academic research study  

in everyday English I would simply say the  researchers found that people in the study  

with better verbal skills or higher verbal  fluency were predicted to live almost 9 years  

longer than those so then represents  compared to those with lower verbal.

Skills or in this case verbal fluency but you can  think of it simply as verbal skills that's a more  

everyday way of understanding it now the next  part describes what verbal fluency is because  

honestly until I read this article I didn't  quite know what they meant by verbal fluency.  

So notice this simply put, this is a great  introduction phrase and it means to say it simply.

So to define it in simple words or simple  terms, you can use these two. Simply put,  

instead of put, you could say simply said,  Simply put, simply said. Now it's also quite  

common to use to say it simply, to put it  simply, so you can still use these two words,  

two verbs say or put. We'll use this one.  Simply put, verbal fluency refers to how.

Quickly people can produce words when asked  to provide terms that match specific criteria.  

Now keep in mind they're not talking  about fluency in a foreign language  

they're talking about fluency in one's  native language in the context of this  

study and criteria refers to standards or  rules that people need to follow or meet.

So all the skills and experience  or requirements in a job posting  

you could refer to that as the  criteria for example she met  

most of the criteria so notice you can  meet the criteria if it's required that.

You have skills. If you are following a procedure,  

then you can use the verb follow for  directions or step by step. She met the  

pasty of meat. She met most of the criteria  for the job, so let's schedule an interview.

Let's continue here.  

One of these was categories, so one of the  criteria of verbal fluency was categories.

And this involves, so they're letting us know  what this means, and this involved naming as many  

animals as they could think of in 90 seconds, such  as elephant, lion, monkey, and so forth. So and so  

forth, you could also say and so on to say these 3  plus any other animal, so and so forth and so on.

And remember this is in one's native language,  so this could be a fun game you play with your  

friends, set a timer for 90 seconds, and ask  the friends how many animals they can name  

and you can do this in English after just  for a fun exercise. The second measure,  

so we could say the second criteria, the first  criteria was naming animals. The second cri.

Area or measure was word beginnings in this task  participants were urged to produce as many words  

as they could think of starting with the letter S,  such as C Shepherd or Shirley. So notice such as  

these are the examples you could say for example  such as now this one just ended they didn't say.

And so forth, but you could also just do  comma and so forth and so on. And notice  

they both started with such as, for example.  And again, this was in 90 seconds. Oh,  

so this could be another fun game you play,  and you can do all letters of the alphabet as  

well. And again, in your native language and  in English. That would be a fun challenge.

Let's talk about this verb urged. Notice  that pronunciation urged because this ED  

is pronounced as a soft d urged, and  it really sounds like just an er sound  

urged. So the verb is to urge and you urge  someone to do something and that means you  

strongly encourage them. I could say I urged my  students to like this video and leave a nice.

Comment. I strongly encouraged my students,  so I'll do that right now. Please,  

if you are finding this valuable, like this  video and leave a nice comment because it's  

the only way that I'm able to keep producing these  lessons for free. So that is an example of how I  

urged you. I strongly encouraged you and  that wasn't just an example. Please do  

this right now. What do you notice about this  sentence structure? Participants were urged to

Produce as many new words as possible or as  they could think of. Now in this case it's  

the passive form because it's talking about the  participants receiving the urge in my sentence  

which was active, I was giving the urge, so  I'm doing the action in the passive voice,  

to change this sentence, I would start with  in this case, the object, the students to

Be urged in the past simple we're urged because  it's plural, we're urged to like the video and  

leave a nice comment. Now you don't have to  include who is doing the action, who is urging,  

but if you were to include it, you would  say bye bye, Jennifer. The students were  

urged. Again, now you have two fun games  you can play in your native language and  

in English as well. Let's continue.  This echoes a previous study. OK, so

This echoes a previous study. hmm. Not that this  is a verb here to echo, but what does this mean?  

This echoes a previous study. Well, what is an  echo echo echo echo. If you're in a cave and  

you say hello, hello, hello, it says it again,  right? So to echo something is to say the same.

Thing so to repeat so this study repeats  a previous study it confirms the findings  

or confirms the information. Thinking of  the definition of this verb to echo and  

what an echo hello hello hello  is let's review this sentence.  

Learning English with the  news is an awesome method.

Do you agree with this statement? If you do,  

you can simply say I agree or you can  say I echo that because again echo echo,  

so you're saying the same thing. I echo  that. It's also very common to say I.

Second that. I second that to mean the  same thing. I repeat what you just said.  

So now you have two other ways to say  I agree. This echoes a previous study  

where researchers found an association. Ah,  what else can you say? We learned it before.

A link or a connection?

So researchers found an association, a link,  

a connection, and then again between A and B.  In this case between reading and longevity.

So reading and your ability to live longer  than average, so that was a different study.  

Remember this study is about verbal fluency and  longevity, but this study on verbal fluency and  

longevity echoes, confirms or supports a  previous study on reading and longevity,  

and in both studies there's a link, a  connection, an association between the two in.

This study, so now this means  this is always the last thing  

identified. So now this represents this study  on reading and longevity, which is not the  

study we are talking about. So in this study  on reading and longevity, researchers found  

that reading for an average of just 30 minutes  a day, ah, what's the length of this video?

About 30 minutes, but you're not reading, you're  more listening, but you're reading as well. So  

reading for an average of just 30 minutes a day  was sufficient. Sufficient means enough, enough.

It's more formal sounding, for example,  3 years of experience is sufficient.

Is enough to meet the criteria. Remember  you meet the verb meet a criteria to meet  

the criteria. So this could be for a  job posting and the criteria is the  

requirement is 3 years of experience.  So reading just 30 minutes a day was  

sufficient enough for the activity to  be associated with a survival advantage.

This with a survival advantage, it sounds like  a very technical way of saying with longevity.  

Remember longevity is your ability to  live longer so with longevity or with.

Living longer you could specifically say  that or with a longer life span because  

just the word life span doesn't mean long  it's neutral so you'd have to say with  

a longer life span but remember the word  longevity includes longer life in it and  

here we have our word associated but notice  here and association this is the noun form.

All link, all connection and association,  all of these are nouns, so let me write  

that for you. These are nouns. Now this to  be associated with associated functions as  

the adjective form. So because of that,  the verb to be, this is the verb and then  

this is the past participle functioning  as the adjective so I could use linked.

Connected because those would be the  adjective past participle forms but I  

can't use with I would say to be linked  to be connected so I would use the same  

to be and then I would use the ED form  with linked connected but notice to to  

something to longevity. Now if I were  to use a verb such as living longer.

I would use the Jain verb because 2 is the  preposition that belongs with the expression.  

It doesn't belong to the word living. It's not  the infinitive. It belongs to the expression  

so it functions as a preposition and you use  the ING verb after prepositions. That's also  

why I have living here in the ING form  because the preposition in this case is.

With so just remember to be associated with  something but if you want to use linked or  

connected, it has the same meaning but you use  the preposition to something. Let's continue an  

important caveat, OK, do you know what  a caveat is? A caveat is a warning or.

A cautionary note, so they just said  that there's a link a connection  

between reading for 30 minutes a day and  longevity, but there's a cautionary note.

There's some words of caution that I need to  to say about this point. That's the caveat.  

There's a warning or a limitation about  what I just said. So let's review caveat, a  

warning or words of limitation or caution in this  example. Learning English with the news can help.

You improve your fluency that's true,  but there's one caveat so you can see  

there's one caveat there's all caveat there's an  important caveat, and then you list it. What's  

the limitation? What's the warning? You need to  practice everything you learn multiple times.

So you need to take this lesson, watch it again,  download the free lesson PDF, review all the  

vocabulary, write practice exercises, say it out  loud, do that multiple times. That's the caveat.

So what's the caveat in this  study? An important caveat,  

however, is that the strongest association  in this study was found for participants  

who predominantly read books as  opposed to newspapers. Oh no.

And magazines. Oh no, but remember,  I'm not claiming that learning English  

with the news will help you live longer.  That's what this is saying. I'm claiming  

it will help you improve your fluency. This  study is about living longer. So apparently  

reading 30 minutes a day, if it's the  news or magazines, it isn't associated.

With longevity. It isn't linked to or connected  to longevity. That's the caveat here. But again,  

my sentence to you was about  improving your fluency and who

Who knows? Maybe it will also help you  live longer. And that is the end of the  

article. So what I'll do now is I'll read  the article from start to finish and you  

can focus on my pronunciation. Mastery  of language could predict longevity.

In a study published earlier this  year in Psychological Science,  

a team of researchers reported a  link between verbal fluency and  

mortality risk. Between 1990 and 2009,  investigators assessed the cognitive  

abilities of more than 500 participants who  were 70 years or older when the study began.

All of the study's participants are now  deceased, and researchers can use the  

results from the cognitive test to see if any of  the measures are predictive of the participants'  

life spans. Somewhat surprisingly,  out of the areas tested, only one was.

Related to decrease mortality, verbal fluency,  

specifically, the researchers found an almost  9 year predicted difference in median survival  

time between the study participants with  high versus low values on verbal fluency.

Simply put, verbal fluency refers to how  quickly people can produce words when asked  

to provide terms that match specific  criteria. One of these was categories,  

and this involved naming as many animals as they  could think of in 90 seconds, such as elephant,  

lion, monkey, and so forth. The second  measure was word beginnings. In this task,  

participants were urged to produce as many words  as they could think of starting with the letter S.

Such as C Shepherd, or Shirley in  90 seconds. This echoes a previous  

study where researchers found an association  between reading and longevity. In the study,  

researchers found that reading for an average  of just 30 minutes a day was sufficient for  

the activity to be associated with a survival  advantage. An important caveat, however, is that  

the strongest association in this study was found  for participants who predominantly read books.

As opposed to newspapers and magazines, do you  want to keep learning English with the news? If  

you do put Let's go, let's go put let's go in the  comments. And of course make sure you like this  

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in the description. And here's another  lesson I know you'll love. Watch it now.