C1 Vocabulary: ADVANCED English VERBS to Influence and Impress Others

4,790 views ・ 2024-11-20

Learn English with Harry


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Hi there, this is Harry, and welcome back  to my English lessons, where I try to give  
0
120
3560
00:03
you a better understanding of English.  The grammar, vocabulary, expressions,  
1
3680
5280
00:08
everything that you need. So what are we  going to talk to you about today? Well,  
2
8960
3600
00:12
I thought we'd talk about verbs and  verbs relating to persuading. So  
3
12560
5280
00:17
when we want to persuade somebody, it's  about getting them to change their mind,  
4
17840
5600
00:23
getting them to do something that you want them  to do, even though they want to do something else.
5
23440
5440
00:28
Generally, getting them to have a a shift in their  particular opinion. So let me go through them,  
6
28880
5960
00:34
explain them, and give you an example.  Brainwash. Well, this is a word we hear  
7
34840
5320
00:40
in all sorts of movies, whether it's about the  the demons or the dead or somebody has to be  
8
40160
7720
00:47
brain washed and the idea of somebody pouring lots  of water into your head to get your brain clean.
9
47880
5760
00:53
So that might be the literal meaning  of it. But when we brainwash somebody,  
10
53640
4800
00:58
we get them to think the way we want them  to think. So when we used to watch these  
11
58440
5240
01:03
movies of the 1960s or 70s, and if you  fell into the wrong hands of the enemy,  
12
63680
6880
01:10
they would try to brainwash you  so you'd go around like a robot.
13
70560
5280
01:15
Okay, so to be brainwashed, thinking what  you want to do. So when we are brainwashed,  
14
75840
4960
01:20
we might just use it in a little  bit of a joke. You say, yeah,  
15
80800
3760
01:24
those people have you brainwashed. You  think like the company. You do like the  
16
84560
4480
01:29
company. That's why I like to work for  myself. I hate to work for a company.
17
89040
3800
01:32
Because if you work for a company for a few  years, they brainwash you. You think only about  
18
92840
6120
01:38
their way of thinking. You do things the way  they want to do it. You become a company man,  
19
98960
5000
01:43
so you shouldn't allow yourself to be brainwashed.  So brainwashed. Getting somebody to change their  
20
103960
6920
01:50
mind or to think the way you want them  to think next to bring somebody around.
21
110880
5920
01:56
When we bring them around, we mean  to bring them around to your way of  
22
116800
4360
02:01
thinking. So you do that by a  bit of prolonged negotiation,  
23
121160
5520
02:06
a bit of prolonged persuasion. You begin to drop  in little hints or give them little pointers or  
24
126680
7840
02:14
little ideas. And eventually what will happen is  they will come around to your way of thinking.
25
134520
5860
02:20
I yeah, actually, the more I think of  it, I think you're right. I think that's  
26
140380
3860
02:24
the best way to do it. So presto. Bingo,  you've succeeded. You've got them around  
27
144240
6000
02:30
to your way of thinking. So to bring somebody  around means to work on them slowly and gradually,  
28
150240
7320
02:37
until eventually they think the way you want  them to think, or they agree with your idea,  
29
157560
5360
02:42
your plan, whatever it might be next to butter  somebody up. Literally, take a knife, get the  
30
162920
7400
02:50
butter when you're buttering a piece of bread and  I have my bread, I like to put plenty of butter  
31
170320
5480
02:55
on it. And often people say, would you like some  bread with that butter that put so much butter on  
32
175800
4560
03:00
it? So when you butter somebody up, you are trying  to persuade them to do what you want them to do.
33
180360
7200
03:07
But you're using a lot of nice words and  you're you're using persuasion in that way,  
34
187560
6400
03:13
and you are trying to get them to feel  good about themselves and say, oh, come on,  
35
193960
4880
03:18
you know, you're really good at this and there's  nobody can do it better than you. So come on,  
36
198840
5960
03:24
give it a go. And this. Oh yes. And  people love to have their egos polished.
37
204800
4680
03:29
So if you polish somebody's ego enough, then  they probably will do what you want them to do,  
38
209480
6040
03:35
and they will be persuaded and they will change  their mind. Yeah. Okay. So to butter somebody up  
39
215520
6120
03:41
means to find out something that will make  them feel good, to put them in a good mood  
40
221640
6280
03:47
so that when you do ask them for something, or  you do suggest that they they change something,  
41
227920
4920
03:52
then they're more likely to agree  with you than to disagree with you.
42
232840
3600
03:56
So you butter them up to make  them feel good about themselves,  
43
236440
5800
04:02
To fob somebody off. When when we fob somebody  off, it means we don't want to meet them.  
44
242240
7440
04:09
We try to avoid them. We to try to avoid a  contact. And if we do have contact with them,  
45
249680
6680
04:16
we make some excuses that we don't want to talk  to them or when we're not going to help them.
46
256360
5880
04:22
Okay. So, yeah, yeah, yeah.  Look, I'll call you back later,  
47
262240
3840
04:26
okay? I'm busy at the moment. Perhaps we'll  catch up in the next couple of days of. Well,  
48
266080
4400
04:30
why don't you just send me an email about  what you're suggesting and I'll have a look  
49
270480
4600
04:35
at it. So all excuse says why you don't want  to talk to that person at that particular time.
50
275080
5680
04:40
So you fob them off with some excuse. Look, I'm  not really in the mood today. I've got to get  
51
280760
6120
04:46
this presentation finished. And now what?  Why don't we just touch base in a couple  
52
286880
4760
04:51
of days? And you really hope that by then,  in a couple of days, that they've forgotten  
53
291640
3760
04:55
what they wanted. But if they're persistent,  you'll just fobbed them off a little bit more.
54
295400
5000
05:00
So to fob somebody off means to give  them some excuses or make some excuses,  
55
300400
5440
05:05
hoping that they will go away, hoping  that they won't continue to annoy you  
56
305840
4920
05:10
and that eventually they'll just give up  and they'll go in and I somebody has to  
57
310760
4280
05:15
cajole. Somebody cajole means you talk  nicely to them, and you use a lot of  
58
315040
5440
05:20
flattery to get your way or to persuade them  to do things the way you want them to do it.
59
320480
6840
05:27
Okay. So you keep saying things like, I'll come  on, you know, you're good at this. You know,  
60
327320
5800
05:33
there's nobody else can do it. You know,  they really liked to hear from you. Yeah,  
61
333120
4800
05:37
yeah, yeah, I really know you want to do it.  I'll help you. I'll. I'll prepare everything.  
62
337920
4720
05:42
But I just need you to do this. Yeah. So you  work on the person bit by bit and eventually.
63
342640
6000
05:48
Yeah, they agree to do what you want them to do.  Daughters. My daughter was really good at this.  
64
348640
5720
05:54
When she was younger. She would cajole you a  command. And, you know, you'd love to have a  
65
354360
5640
06:00
pet around the house. It would be cute,  a little kitten, forgetting that cos  
66
360000
3640
06:03
little kittens tended to be big cats and  said, oh, come on, I'll look after it.
67
363640
5040
06:08
I'll feed it in the morning, I'll empty  the litter tray. Lots of flattery. And  
68
368680
5200
06:13
then eventually you are persuaded and you change  your mind. Is it okay? Come on, let's get a kitten  
69
373880
5800
06:19
and that. Cos once you say that, that's.  It's. You've given in, you've surrendered.  
70
379680
3960
06:23
And they or your daughter in, in my case has  persuaded you to do what they want you to do.
71
383640
5600
06:29
Wheedle. Strange word to wheedle, to wheedle.  And we use the expression to wheedle something  
72
389240
6640
06:35
out of somebody. So it's like getting a little  fork or a screwdriver and eventually getting  
73
395880
5760
06:41
what you want. It's in there somewhere.  I'll get it. So when we wheedle something  
74
401640
3720
06:45
out to somebody, we keep asking them the  questions. Well, what was that about?
75
405360
4120
06:49
What happened there or what did he say  next and what's planned? Or do you know  
76
409480
4240
06:53
what's going to happen next week? So they keep  looking for more information. And bit by bit,  
77
413720
6400
07:00
you eventually give them as much information  as you have or all the information that they  
78
420120
4360
07:04
are interested in, and they've succeeded in  wheedling or getting the information out of you.
79
424480
5880
07:10
So it's like pulling the intestines out of  something, you know, just bit by bit, bit by  
80
430360
5960
07:16
bit. Eventually they've got everything, okay, so  they wheedle something out of you slowly. Yeah,  
81
436320
7320
07:23
no pain involved, but eventually they get all of  the story. It's like mother's. Mothers are really  
82
443640
5440
07:29
good at wheedling stories. They come home  and they see son or daughter in a bad mood.
83
449080
5520
07:34
And you want to talk about it? No no no  no no. But eventually mom puts her arm  
84
454600
5360
07:39
around them or she said, well, come on,  you can talk to me. And was it something  
85
459960
3640
07:43
at school? So eventually the whole story  comes out and mum has mums do have been  
86
463600
6320
07:49
very successful in wheedling the  information out of the daughter.
87
469920
4480
07:54
Hustle and be careful here  with the pronunciation hustle,  
88
474400
5040
08:00
hustle, hustle. Okay? To hustle means to keep  pushing, to keep at somebody, or try as hard  
89
480200
8800
08:09
as you can to get the answer that you want.  So when we hustle, we want to get somebody  
90
489000
5840
08:14
to change their mind about something. Come on,  come on. Look, you know you'd like to buy this.
91
494840
4520
08:19
It's a really, really good deal. You're not  going to get a better deal anywhere else. I mean,  
92
499360
4320
08:23
this car, okay? I've had it for a couple of years.  Never had any problems with it. So this is about  
93
503680
5840
08:29
hustling and getting somebody to persuade  themselves that they really want to buy the car,  
94
509520
5040
08:34
to hustle, to keep pushing and pressing and  hoping and working away until the person.
95
514560
6240
08:40
Yeah, signs the dotted line, gets the car  keys, goes home a happy man to hustle, talk  
96
520800
8080
08:48
somebody into something. Well, we've all tried,  sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully,  
97
528880
6040
08:54
to talk somebody into doing something. It might be  that holiday of a lifetime. You know you want to  
98
534920
6200
09:01
do it. You've never taken enough time off work.  Those people. Oh, yeah. Lots and lots of days.
99
541120
4800
09:05
So why don't we just go off, have that  second honeymoon that you promised me?  
100
545920
4040
09:09
You remember that? You told me that years  ago we'd have a second honeymoon? Well,  
101
549960
4160
09:14
here's the chance. Yeah. So you tried to talk  your husband into taking you on that second  
102
554120
6880
09:21
honeymoon? Okay. If you really want to do it,  let's go. It's about time we did something for us.
103
561000
5640
09:26
So to talk somebody into something. Next  to urge. Well, we all have an urge to do  
104
566640
7400
09:34
something. So in that way, we use it as a  noun and urge. But to urge somebody is to  
105
574040
6240
09:40
push and push strongly. I really urge  you, if you wanted to use the verb,  
106
580280
4600
09:44
I really urge you to consider this seriously. So  someone is really going to take a look at this.
107
584880
5600
09:50
Can I urge you, please, to give this careful  consideration? We won't get many better chances,  
108
590480
6360
09:56
so it's something that we really have to look  at. So it could be telling the boss about some  
109
596840
7040
10:03
change in the plans. It can be telling  your kids to do some more study. I look,  
110
603880
6440
10:10
I really would urge you for the last few months  of the term to do an extra little bit of work.
111
610320
5880
10:16
It'll really pay off. I mean, there's no  point cramming all the study in for the  
112
616200
4640
10:20
last two weeks. Spread it out. Over the next few  months. You'll feel much better. I really would  
113
620840
5480
10:26
encourage you. I really would urge you to listen  to me. You don't listen to me enough. And finally,  
114
626320
6440
10:32
to rope somebody in. That sounds quite a  strange expression to rope somebody in.
115
632760
6520
10:39
If you've ever watched the cowboy, the old cowboy  movies, they used to have a rope for capturing  
116
639280
6680
10:45
horses or cows, so they would last you. So they  would throw the rope, boom, put it around the cat,  
117
645960
6680
10:52
the cow of the horse's neck, pull it, and then  gradually pull the horse or the cow into them  
118
652640
6720
10:59
and, and wrap the rope rope around them, and then  brand the horse or the cow with the branding iron.
119
659360
6440
11:05
Yeah, so very painful by the look of it. So  that's literally to rope somebody in. So when  
120
665800
6000
11:11
you rope somebody in, it's the same idea.  You've got something you want to talk to  
121
671800
4040
11:15
them about. You give them the idea. Right.  And then you rope them in gradually. Well,  
122
675840
6000
11:21
you know, this would be a good  idea. And you know, it makes sense.
123
681840
3080
11:24
And you know, it's going to save time gradually.  A little bit of this and a little bit of that. And  
124
684920
5680
11:30
they come around to your way of thinking. So your  rope, somebody in example. So you know, a member  
125
690600
6600
11:37
of the local football team or you're a member of  the local rugby team, whatever the sport happens  
126
697200
6720
11:43
to be, and they're always doing fundraising  events because they need to get some extra money.
127
703920
4680
11:48
And of course, they like to find volunteers to  raise money, volunteers to do a bit of painting,  
128
708600
8040
11:56
volunteers to train the young kids. Okay, so  you've had your time playing football or rugby,  
129
716640
6080
12:02
and now it's time to give a little bit back and  perhaps to share some of your spare time with  
130
722720
5840
12:08
the kids. So you get roped into training the  kids on a Saturday morning or Sunday morning.
131
728560
6040
12:14
You get roped into taking the kids to the  games away from home. So bit by bit. So you  
132
734600
7480
12:22
get roped or persuaded into doing something.  Okay, so they're all verbs and expressions  
133
742080
7200
12:29
related to persuading, getting somebody to  do what you want them to do. So let them let  
134
749280
6280
12:35
me give them to you one more time. Brainwash.  Bring somebody around to your way of thinking.
135
755560
7720
12:43
Butter somebody up. So use lots of  flattery. Fob somebody off. Reason  
136
763280
7040
12:50
to get rid of them with some excuse. You  cajole somebody again to use flattery to  
137
770320
6480
12:56
get them to do something because you tell  them they're the best in the world. Cajole  
138
776800
5720
13:02
to wheedle something out of somebody to find  out information bit by bit. Hustle to hustle.
139
782520
9640
13:12
Talk somebody into something. Urge somebody  to do something. And finally rope somebody  
140
792160
7800
13:19
into doing what you want them to do.  Okay. Excellent. So all of those verbs  
141
799960
4960
13:24
related to persuading. Try a few of them.  See. Can you introduce them into your,  
142
804920
4200
13:30
English. Try not to use them all of course,  but to try and use a few. Write about them.
143
810000
4440
13:34
And if you have any problems, you know where I am.  You can contact me any time. Thanks for listening.
144
814440
4880
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7