12 Words You Should Stop Saying Immediately

Today you'll learn 12 words you should  stop saying if you want to sound fluent.

You'll remove these words from your vocabulary,  

and you'll replace them with better words to  sound grammatically correct, fluent, and natural.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started #1 ought, ought.

You should remove this word because it's outdated.

Native speakers don't use it in modern English.

It sounds too formal and it sounds stiff.

Now my grandmother would say to me,  you ought to be nicer to your brother.

When I hear the word ought,  I think of my grandmother.

I don't think of modern English.

You ought to be nice to your brother.

Of course, this is grammatically correct.

But now in modern English,  

native speakers replaces with should  you should be nicer to your brother.

You should bring an umbrella.

It looks like rain.

You should stay home and  prepare for your job interview.

So notice should is your modal verb  and you use modal plus base verb.

And of course, this verb is used to  express obligation, advice or expectation.

So I could say to you, you should  subscribe to J for his English.

Would you say that to your friends?

You should subscribe.

You should definitely subscribe if  you'd say that put that's right,  

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

Now don't worry about taking notes because  I summarize everything in a free lesson PDF.

You can find the link in the  description #2 works, works.

Do you know why you should  remove this from your vocabulary?

It's because it's grammatically  incorrect as a noun.

And that's the important thing.

Because of course you can  say she works at the bank.

This is the verb to work conjugated in  the present simple with your subject.

She, she works at the bank.

But I hear my students say I  have a lot of works tonight.

This is grammatically incorrect.

The same with I have a lot of homeworks tonight.

The word homework includes  work, and these are nouns.

Now, work is a collective noun,  which means it's always singular.

So to be grammatically correct, you need  to say I have a lot of work tonight.

I have so much homework to do.

Now keep in mind work, when it means tasks,  assignments, or obligations, is a collective noun.

It's always singular.

But we also use works with  artistic, intellectual creations.

Now in this case, it's a regular  noun, so it can be singular or plural.

For example, his works of art are  displayed in galleries around the world.

They may not say of art, it's implied, so  if you ever see that and you're confused,  

that's the reason why it's acceptable  with artistic or intellectual creations.

But you could also say his work is displayed  in galleries around the world #3 irregardless.

Irregardless.

Have you heard native speakers say this?

Because native speakers  commonly make this mistake,  

but the word irregardless does  not exist in the English language.

All you need to say is regardless, regardless.

Remember, I advise that you should  subscribe to J phrase English.

I can add regardless of your level.

Now notice if I include the noun your level,  I need to include of regardless of your level.

You can also use this at  the beginning of a sentence.

Your friend might say, but I'm only a  beginner and you can say regardless,  

you should subscribe to J Forest English.

So again, put.

That's right, that's right.

If you want to advise your friend to do that.

Now regardless, this means not being affected by  something, so your level shouldn't affect you.

It's the same as despite.

So you can equally say despite your level.

You should subscribe to J  Forest English #4 United States.

Why would you remove this from your vocabulary?

Because my students say I'd  love to visit United States.

This is incorrect.

Do you know why?

It's because you need the article, the  I'd love to visit the United States.

Or you could say he's the  president of the United States.

How about this sentence?

The United States President  is visiting us next week.

In this case, United States  is used as an adjective.

The president is visiting us.

The belongs to the noun president.

United States functions as an adjective.

Remember that proper nouns such as cities  or countries don't require articles.

the United States is an exception.

I hear this mistake so often.

Remember the United states #5 rock.

You may know that I love saying you rock.

You rock, which is another way of saying  you're amazing, great, or awesome.

Native speakers like myself love saying this.

The problem is that in the comments  section of my YouTube videos,  

I see so many comments where  students say you are rock.

This is incorrect.

It is not to be rock.

That's not the sentence structure.

The sentence structure is to rock.

So it's using rock as a verb.

So if I say you rock, that  is in the present simple.

If I say you rocked the presentation,  this is in the past simple,  

which means you did a great job on  the presentation, How about this one?

You're going to rock the interview.

This is the infinitive to rock.

Now, it is possible to use the verb to be.

I might say you're rocking it.

You're rocking it, but this verb to be  is used in the present continuous tense.

It's the same as saying you're  doing a great job right now,  

So remember to be rock is grammatically incorrect.

The sentence structure is to rock, so  absolutely keep this in your vocabulary,  

but make sure you say you rock.

You rock.

Number six ain't.

You may already know that this is slang, not  standard English, but you should understand it  

because natives commonly use it.

But I think you shouldn't use  it because there's a high risk  

it will sound inappropriate  because yes, natives use it.

You'll hear it in music.

Taylor Swift has a song called  Ain't Nothing But You, and in  

a separate song called Blank Space,  she repeats the line Ain't it funny?

Ain't it funny a lot?

In this case, ain't means isn't native  speakers also use it in casual conversation.

I ain't got time here.

Ain't God means don't have  native speakers also use this  

in certain expressions that just sound correct.

Using the word ain't like the expression.

Ain't it something?

Ain't it something it's snowing in July?

Ain't it something?

In this case ain't means isn't.

So yes, you should understand it  because natives commonly use it.

But again, I recommend that you shouldn't use  

it because there's a high risk it will  sound inappropriate #7 fine, I'm fine.

You should remove this because it's often  used with a negative, not a neutral meaning.

So students learn that fine is bad,  fine good so it's more neutral.

But that's not how natives actually use it.

For example, if you're in a restaurant and  let's say you order salmon and the server  

comes and asks you how's the salmon  and you reply back and say it's fine.

This means that I don't think it's very good.

That's how a native speaker uses this word.

It actually means bad in this context.

Now also same with if your friend, your coworker,  

your husband or wife comes up to  you and says is everything OK?

You look upset and you reply back and  say I'm fine or everything's fine.

Most of the time this actually means I'm upset.

I'm just not telling you.

There is one time where native speakers use fine  in this neutral context that the word implies.

If you're at a grocery store or if you're  dealing with a service provider and they say,  

how are you, you should reply  with fine, thanks and you.

So we use this as a social norm to be polite.

We generally use this when we don't  actually care about the answer.

So when the person is scanning my groceries,  they don't actually care how I'm doing.

They're just being polite.

So we just reply with I'm fine.

So if you're in a restaurant and they ask  you how's the salmon and you like the salmon,  

you should say it's good,  it's great, or delicious.

Now in a social context, if  someone says is everything OK,  

you look upset, Well, you can  say I'm just tired, that's all.

Which means you're not upset.

Or you can admit you're upset I asked  you to get groceries and you forgot.

Or you can say, no, everything's  good, everything's great.

But in the context of going to a grocery store or  

dealing with service providers  and they ask you, how are you?

Absolutely.

Just say fine, thanks.

And you, that's the standard reply #8 needn't.

You should remove this because it's outdated.

It sounds too formal and it sounds stiff.

It doesn't sound natural.

You needn't finish the report tonight.

Yes, this is grammatically correct, but it does  not sound like something native speakers say.

You don't need to finish the report tonight,  or you don't have to finish the report tonight.

That's what native speakers would say.

Need is for necessity and have is for  obligation, but they're often interchangeable.

You don't need to buy groceries, we  already have everything for dinner,  

so this sounds like there's a lack of necessity.

You don't have to work tomorrow, it's a holiday.

So this is a lack of obligation.

But again, a lot of the time you can use one  or the other and there's no difference #9 must.

Now you should remove this from your vocabulary  if you're using it just to say need or have to,  

because native speakers use must  when there's a strong obligation.

There's a rule to follow, a formal rule to follow.

I hear students use must too often.

They use it for general obligations.

But again, natives prefer need to  or have to for general obligation.

If my husband said to me, you must  get groceries, I would be like, wow,  

this is a very serious request  because he used the word must.

But if he says you need to,  you have to get groceries.

This is a normal request.

And this is the request I  expect as a native speaker.

Must again, is used for formal rules.

So think of government or  even workplace requirements.

You must bring your passport to the airport.

This is a formal obligation.

You need to You have to pack warm clothes.

This is a general or normal obligation.

You must wear proper footwear in the kitchen.

This is a formal obligation from your workplace.

Most likely you need to have  to buy new shoes for the party.

This is a general normal obligation #10 query.

This is not commonly used by natives  as a replacement to question.

I have a query about the project.

A native speaker would not  say that it sounds unnatural.

A native speaker would say I have a question  about the project and if you want to use an  

alternative word you could say I have a concern,  I have a doubt, or I have an issue perhaps.

But keep in mind that it is commonly  and naturally used with computers,  

databases and software development.

In this case it means requests for information.

For example, I need to write a query  to pull the data from the server.

But remember you would say I need to ask  

a question about the data  you pulled from the server.

So do not use query to mean  question #11 participate.

You should stop using this grammatically  incorrectly and with the wrong meaning.

So first of all, for grammar,  you participate in something.

I hear a lot of students say  I participated the conference.

That doesn't work.

You need that preposition in.

I participated in the conference.

Now it's correct.

But keep in mind that  participate does not mean attend.

Attend is focus on being present.

Participate the focus is on actively contributing.

So if you say I participated in the  conference, I would ask you how so?

Were you a speaker?

Were you a moderator because  you were actively involved?

But maybe you just wanted to say I attended the  conference, You were present at the conference.

But you can absolutely participate in this YouTube  

class by leaving a comment  using your new vocabulary.

And you absolutely should #12 funny.

The mistake I hear is that funny is commonly  used when fun is the correct choice.

Remember, funny produces laughter,  but fun produces enjoyment.

Or entertainment Students say to me the game  was funny and I reply and say, oh really?

Why?

Why did it make you laugh?

But they didn't want to say funny.

They meant to say the game was  fun, which means enjoyable.

And then I would reply back  and say, oh, that's great.

I'm so glad.

Now you can absolutely say the party was  funny, I laughed a lot or the party was fun.

I had a great time.

Do you want me to keep helping you  improve your vocabulary with words  

that are grammatically correct and sound natural?

If you do put let's go, let's  go put let's go in the comments.

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And you can get this free speaking  guide where I share 6 tips on how  

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You can click here to download it or  look for the link in the description.

And here are 12 more words you  should remove from your vocabulary.

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