Confusing English Words: COST, PRICE, WORTH, VALUE 🤔

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have

a lesson on a set of words people have asked

me to explain the difference. So, we have "cost" and "price" on the left here, and we

have the words "worth" and "value" on the

right. Sometimes they can be used in a similar

way to do with money in particular, but also

"worth" and "value" can often be a little

bit more abstract in meaning. So, I think

it's helpful to understand the kind of context

where you can use each one and the different

vocabulary that would go with it in a sentence.

So, let's have a look. So, the cost of something

is what you pay for it in money, pounds, dollars,

or euros, or whatever your currency is, what

you pay in money, the price of it. Okay? So,

you can talk about the cost of a new suit. You could say, "Oh, a new suit these days,

it costs so much money." So, the cost in money,

what you pay. Okay? And then if you're in a shop

and looking at the clothes and at the prices, you

often have a price tag on, you know, a piece of

card hanging from the garment with the price on

it. So, the cost of a new suit. So, if you're

with a friend in a shop and you're looking at

the suits, you might say, "Oh, what's the cost of

this one?" And your friend might say, "Oh, here's

the price tag. It says on the price tag, this suit

costs 200 pounds." And then you decide, is that

a bit too much or can you afford it? If it's for

an interview for a job and you need a new suit,

you might think it's worth the investment. So,

okay, it's all about buying things, usually

materialistic objects in shops, what you pay.

Okay? So, then if we look at the other two

words, "worth" and "value", often, as I said,

they can be more abstract. So, you can talk about

people and friends and friendship, for example.

"My best friend is worth the world to me." In

fact, you can't put a price... You could say

you can't put a price on friendship, so that's

using the word from over here, but you can't put

a price on friendship. It's more abstract. It

goes beyond money. Okay? "My best friend is worth

the world to me." And you might talk about the

value of friendship, where you can't really

calculate the value in money terms. Okay? So,

there is a kind of difference between the two.

Although sometimes what is something worth

can be to do with money, an amount of money.

We'll see in a minute some examples of that.

So, if you imagine that I bought a vase in an

antique shop. I just like the look of it. I

thought, "Oh, that's a nice vase, and it's only

£5. I think I'll buy that." So, I bought a vase

in an antique shop. It cost me... So, the cost

in money, it cost me £5. But I later discovered

that it was worth... So, that comes from here,

which is often more abstract, but it was worth

at least £50. So, this shows that sometimes you

can use the word "worth" for money, depending on

how you're using it. It cost me £5, but it was

actually worth in... You know, on the antique

market, what people are prepared to pay for

something is what it's worth. So, it was worth at

least £50, and the shop who was selling it didn't

realise its true value. So, again, we've got

"worth" and "value", but it's relating this time

to money in the sense of maybe a rather special

vase, which is an antique. And that's, you know,

maybe you're using the words "worth" and "value"

because it's to do with... It's something special,

and so it has a value on the antique market.

Okay? What people are prepared to pay.

So, that can be used. "Worth" and "value" can

be used with money in this particular way. Okay?

And then here as well, if you're looking at cars, and you're with your friend,

and your friend is looking at a car with £10,000, usually on the windscreen,

the price of the car, but I might say to my

friend, "Oh, don't pay £10,000 for that car.

They've overpriced it." So, the price they've

put on it, they're asking more money than it's

actually, you know, well, "worth". Again, we've

got this word "worth". So, it's the sense of

how much money you should pay. They've overpriced

it. They've made the price too high. They're

trying to make a lot of money out of a car that's

not really worth that amount. They've overpriced

it. It's only worth about £7,000. Okay? So, it

is a little bit confusing because you can use

these words with money, but they have this additional abstract use as well. Okay.

And then just a couple of sayings to end with.

People say that something cost them an arm and

a leg. That car, if you do pay £10,000 for a

car or 20,000, that car cost me in money an arm

and a leg. So, that's the saying in English. I

know that sort of idiom, that saying in other

languages. I think in French it may just be an

arm, it's not an arm and a leg. Correct me if

I'm wrong, but I think different languages have

different idioms for the same idea. If you pay

a huge amount of money for something that you

can't really afford, it cost me an arm and a leg,

but not literally, of course. Okay. And then

another saying using "worth". A picture is worth

a thousand words. If you have a picture of something, it saves you having to write

a thousand words to describe the same thing.

If you're seeing maybe a picture of a family

sitting round a table having a nice meal, that's

a nice picture. People, a family together enjoying

themselves, rather than writing a thousand words

about the family getting together and having a

meal, you get more from the picture than you would

get from a thousand words. So, a picture is worth

a thousand words. Okay. So, I hope that helps

to explain the difference between the two,

but also the fact that you can still use "worth"

and "value" for money as well as in this more

abstract way, but "cost" and "price" are usually

to do with money, but also you can use "cost"

to mean in a more abstract way, you know, that mistake has cost me a lot of trouble,

something like that. You can use that "cost" in an abstract way, and you can say,

"Oh, the price is too high to do that", meaning

the price in a sort of metaphorical way,

it's too costly in a metaphorical sense rather

than money. So, it's a little bit of a grey area,

but that's more to do with money, and that's

more to do with a sort of deeper meaning. Okay.

So... Okay, so I hope that's helped to explain

those sets of words, and if you'd like to do

a quiz on this topic, just go to the website,

www.engvid.com, and see how you do. And thank

you for watching. I hope to see you again soon. Bye for now.