USEFUL advanced English vocabulary for speaking and writing | Talk about ambitions

Hi there this is Harry and welcome  back to my advanced English lessons,  

advanced English lessons with Harry. And today  we're going to talk about advanced vocabulary  

and particular advanced vocabulary relating  to ambitions. You won't remember them all,  

of course, it's not possible but try  and pick up on a few of them try to  

use them in your business English  or just your conversational English.

I always read and check the comments that you  leave after my lessons and I'm always pleasantly  

surprised to see that many of you are actually  English teachers. As English teachers, we know  

that teaching is an incredibly fulfilling career.  However, we also understand that to achieve our  

full potential and advance in our careers, a TEFL  TESOLcertification is often required for many  

positions. Are you looking for an affordable and  flexible way to obtain a TESOL TEFL certificate?  

If so, then TEFL TESOL Certification online  course is the perfect solution for you. TEFL  

TESOL Certification course is designed to provide  you with the skills and knowledge you need to  

succeed as an English language teacher. They offer  a comprehensive training programme that covers all  

aspects of English language teaching. From lesson  planning to classroom management. The course is  

taught by experienced trainers who have years of  experience teaching English as a second language,  

you'll have access to a range of learning  materials including video, audio, and text  

files. The course itself is divided into modules,  and at the end of each module, you will take an  

interactive test to assess exactly what you have  learned. Upon completion of the course and passing  

the tests, you will receive a certificate that  is recognised worldwide. TEFL TESOL Certification  

certificate is accredited by the British  government and is considered an international  

standard for English language teachers. TEFL  TESOL Certification offers the most affordable and  

accessible TEFL TESOL course on the market. Today,  you can get your TEFL TESOL Certification for only  

$199. And if that's not enough, they offer an  instalment plan without interest, you can pay in  

two equal instalments with an interval of 30 days.  TEFL TESOL Certification certificate is recognised  

by employers all over the world. So whether  you're looking to teach in Europe, Asia, or  

indeed South America, this certificate will open  doors for you. TEFLcourse costs from TEFL TESOL  

Certification is a great option for anyone looking  to become an English language teacher. So click on  

the link in the description below and start your  journey towards a fulfilling and rewarding career.

Okay, so what are we going to talk about today?  As I said, it's that advanced vocabulary relating  

to ambitions. I've got 10 particular words  or phrases relating to ambitions. I'll give  

them to you and then in the list and then  we'll go down through them one by one,  

hopefully give you some examples that you  will be able to practice. And if you don't  

understand them, as I said, I'll give  you the contact details at the end of  

the video. And you can write to me  if you need more information. Okay,  

let's get into it. So as I said, we've got 10 of  them as always. Let's go through them one by one.

Crave. To crave so we're using it as a verb.  Yeah, we can have a craving so that's a noun,  

but to crave. Alright as to... you can crave  attention. You can crave certain information  

or crave news. Or you can crave certain foods  that you really want to have. So to crave us when  

you really really want something you have a deep  desire. Often they talk about ladies when they're  

expecting a baby that they the develop a craving  for a particular food so they crave chocolate,  

or they crave pizza, or they crave certain  unusual combinations because of the effects of  

the pregnancy so you can crave in that way. Or  perhaps you've been on a diet for a long time,  

and you crave the taste of meat. Or maybe you've  had a recent festival like Easter or something  

like that. And before Easter, perhaps you want  some sort of fast air where you gave up meat.  

And maybe you were eating vegetarian meals for  a while so you crave the taste of meat. So come  

that Easter Sunday, you're going to cook a  beautiful chicken or a roast beef, whatever  

it might be that you really, really crave. So  when you crave something, you desire it very,  

very deeply. So you crave attention. When you  haven't had attention. Perhaps you didn't have  

a happy childhood, and you didn't have a warm  relationship with parents. And as you grow older,  

you crave attention from other people. young  puppies or kittens that we get they always crave  

attention. They come over to you the look into to  make friends that they're looking for the warmth  

of your skin against theirs. Or in fact the might  just be looking for some food, but they do crave  

attention in the same way so to crave looking  for something, or desiring something deeply.

To hanker after something. Similar to crave, okay,  

to hanker after something that you haven't had,  for a long time. You could hanker after a game of  

squash or a game of tennis because you haven't  played it in a while. You can hanker after your  

favourite food, a bag of crisps, a bag of chips,  whatever that might be. You hanker after a beer,  

when you've perhaps been on a fasting or you've  given up a beer for a certain period of time,  

perhaps you had to go on a diet because you put  on a little bit of weight. And the summer months  

have gone by, and you've been really, really  waiting for that time when you've lost the  

weight. And you can, okay, sit down and have  a cool beer, not too many. But it's cool beer  

because you've got a real hankering after  beer. So to hanker after something, is to,  

again have a desire or a wish, to, to eat,  to drink, to do something to hanker after.

To be in the spotlight. Well, when you're in the  spotlight, usually the light is shining on you  

like it's shining on me. Now, as I'm doing this  recording. So technically, I'm in the spotlight  

at the moment, some people like to be in the  spotlight. Some people don't, some people are  

shy and prefer not to be in the spotlight,  you can be in the spotlight for good reasons  

and bad reasons. So if you've done something that  focuses attention on you, then you're definitely  

going to be in the spotlight, if the police are  trying to understand who committed the crime,  

and they have their ideas who did it. So he may  be in their spotlight, but they're just trying to  

find evidence that will lead them to him that they  will be able to prove that he or she is the guilty  

party. So to be in the spotlight. Politicians just  before they come up for reelection, are always in  

the spotlight. So the focus of attention is  on them. The TV want to interview them, they  

want to hold debates, so they look at them, then  journalists from the newspapers will have them in  

the spotlight tried to dig up a little bit of dirt  to cause some sensation or perhaps to derail their  

campaign. So they will remain and constantly will  be in the spotlight during the term running up to  

an after the election to be in the spotlight. So  to be in the spotlight has to be in everybody's  

view to be looked at. And everything is going  to be scrutinised. Whatever you happen to do,  

or what happened as ever, you happen to say or  indeed, because of technology, they'll be able  

to examine and put under the spotlight things  that you said in the past when you were younger,  

and you might not have mentored or you may  have made a few mistakes. But guess what,  

it's going to come out to haunt you  because you will then be in the spotlight.

When you're in the spotlight, you're  also the centre of attention. Now,  

you can be the centre of attention, as I said,  for good or for bad reasons, you might like to  

be the centre of attention. So there are certain  people that we know that when they go to a party,  

they want to be the centre of attention, so  they dress appropriately or inappropriately.  

So they become the centre of attention,  they sing and dance when other people are  

looking at them. So everybody's focused on  them. So they are the centre of attention,  

okay, or they meet up with the right boy or girl  because then it will be noticed and then they will  

be the centre of attention. Other people may not  like to be the centre of attention, even if they  

are. Okay, so it could be a pop star, a film star,  a sports star, all they want to do is play their  

sport, they want to play that tennis, or their  golf or the football and that they don't like  

being and they're not comfortable being at the  centre of attention. But if they're really good at  

that particular sport, well, unfortunately, they  are going to be the centre of attention is the  

fans of that particular game want to meet them,  the fans want to take the selfie with them,  

the fans want to see them and be seen with them.  So if they're walking down the street, somebody's  

going to come up to them and before long, there'll  be a big crowd around them all looking for  

autograph. So that particular period of time, yet  they are the centre of attention. And you can be  

as always the centre of attention for good and bad  reasons something has happened negatively, you'll  

be the centre of attention because people want to  find out the story, the real story what happened.

To be held in high esteem. When when we are  held in high esteem. It means that people  

think a lot about us. They think well of us,  okay, so whatever we do, or whatever we have  

done in the past comes to people's attention and  therefore they look on it as really, really good  

off. He's an amazing politician you know, he does  everything he possibly can, for the people in his  

constituency, he's always trying to help them,  the poor, the sick, the needy, he does everything  

thing he can to bring it to the attention of  the government. So that money is spent in this  

particular area. So all of his voters, all of the  people in that area where he lives or represents  

hold them in very high regard. Or they hold him  in high esteem, meaning nothing he can do would  

make them think badly of him, they absolutely love  and adore him again. So to be held in high esteem  

is something we can talk about politicians or  it could be business guys, yeah. Some local  

businessman who set his business up from scratch,  he started and built the business up employees,  

now a lot of people locally are family members,  they all come through that company, he reinvests  

money into the area, he helps out local charities.  So, everything is done possible that he can do  

to make things good for that particular area  because he realises his social responsibility. So,  

the local people will consider and look at  him with regard him in high esteem. Okay,  

so high esteem means the highest regard,  nobody will think badly of him. Nobody will  

believe any negative views or opinions  because they hold him in high esteem.

To be renowned for. When, when you are renowned  for something, you're known to do things you're  

you've got a history and good history,  a track record of doing positive things,  

or he's renowned for his charity work,  meaning he's well known for the work  

he does. Somebody like Bill Gates is renowned  for his charitable work, the amount of money,  

his own personal money that he's handed over to  charities all around the world. And lots of other  

well known billionaires like Bill Gates have  followed suit. And they do exactly the same. So  

they are renowned for their charitable activities,  they are renowned for being very generous,  

they are renowned for the help they do for the  poor. And they really poor poor countries, okay,  

so to be renowned for you could also  be renowned for something negative,  

but normally we use it with a positive  twist, a positive, objective renowned for.

To become an overnight success. Well,  when you become an overnight success,  

it means you didn't have success or your weren't  well known before that. But suddenly, something  

happens. And overnight, almost literally, you  become well known a good example of this would be  

somebody who writes books or fiction books, okay,  so they've decided that writing is what they want  

to do. And they've written a couple of books that  weren't so interesting, or the publishers didn't  

publish them. But then they write a particular  book that the publishers think is going to be a  

real success. So they take on the book, they  publish it, they launch the book. And within  

within a couple of days, everybody's talking  about it. The book has sold out in every country,  

it's been translated into many, many different  languages. And in that situation, we can say,  

Yeah, this particular author has become an  overnight success. Now, in most cases, it doesn't  

literally happen overnight, because it takes a  little bit of luck. But it can happen that way.  

Some actor can be an overnight success never  heard of before, suddenly, this movie looks like  

it's going to be the movie of the year, it's  going to win the Oscars. And that particular  

actor or actress becomes an overnight success.  Okay, so something that happens very suddenly,  

prior to that, hardly known at all, either  for the writing or the music, or their acting,  

but then suddenly, because of that success of that  movie, a book, they become an overnight success.  

The footballer who makes his debut for his  team and scores hattrick in the first game,  

he will be an overnight success because all the  fans will want his autograph. They'll all be  

talking about him and think yeah, this is exactly  what the team needed. Okay, so overnight success.

Okay, well, when we spoken about to become an  overnight success, something that can happen  

to you very, very quickly, not always the case but  it can happen very, very quickly. And following on  

from being an overnight success. You can shoot to  fame. Okay, so you can shoot a gun you can shoot a  

movie but when we should defame it means we rise  up and become famous. What we always dreamt of  

doing. Yeah. So we take the situation For example  of JK Rowling, she shot to fame after the first  

couple of books of Harry Potter. She wasn't an  overnight success by any manner of means. She  

used to write stories when she was at school,  if you check up on her history, she used to use  

her classmates as certain characters and some of  her books, but it wasn't overnight success. But  

after the first couple of books, and people began  to read them, the kids, and I remember my kids  

queuing up outside of bookshops to buy them. Yeah,  she shot to fame. And then following on from the  

books, she's had the movies and following on from  the movies, she's had the theme parks and museums,  

and then other stories related to the whole Harry  Potter pre and post. So you can say, definitely,  

she has shot to fame as a result of her prowess as  an author. And it happens to lots of people that  

happens to sports stars. So you sign some really  wonderful footballer, and you know, they should to  

fame or some basketball player or baseball player,  whatever it might be, they will shoot to fame  

as a result of their activities on the playing  field. actors, actresses, ballerinas, whatever  

it might be, everybody wants a part of them,  when they should to fame, they become famous.

Now, next one to be set on something, okay? So  when we use this, it means somebody has a desire,  

or they have a real aim or ambition to do  something, okay. She has her heart set on being  

a ballerina, yeah. She has her heart set on being  an actor, she has her heart set on being a doctor.  

To be set on means that's what they want to do,  no matter what you say, or what you do, you're not  

going to be able to change their mind. She is set  on marrying him, no matter what you say you don't  

like him. But the more you... you're negative, the  more entrenched her view will be. So she is set on  

marrying him, perhaps you'll find out later on  that it's not what she wants. But you know, at  

the moment, you're not going to be able to change  her mind, she's set on going to that university,  

her friends are going there, it's out of town,  it's going to be a little bit more expensive for  

us, but you know, she'll have friends with it.  So she's set on that course of action to sort  

of be set on is to be determined to follow or  to be determined to do something to be set on.

And then finally, to have aspirations Well, an  aspiration is a desire or a wish or something  

that you you want to do something that you hope to  achieve. You have aspirations to be a politician,  

you have aspirations to be an astronaut. You've  thought about it since you were seven or eight,  

the first time you looked through a telescope,  and you looked at the moon, and you asked your  

parents, how'd you get there, and they tell you  about the rockets and the astronauts and they  

show you the picture. So your aspirations are  to be an astronaut. You might not achieve it,  

but that's deep down is your hope, your belief  is that that's what you want to achieve.  

So an aspiration is a desire, a belief, a  hope, something that you want to achieve.

Okay, so they're all the vocabulary that  we're using relating to ambitions, where you  

have certain ambitions something that you want to  achieve. So, let me go through them one more time:

to crave something or somebody. Or to crave  after. To hanker after something similar to crave.  

To be in the spotlight. To be the centre of  attention. To be held in high esteem by other  

people. To be renowned for well known for to be  renowned for. To become an overnight success.  

Shoot to fame. To be set on something and have  aspirations about something have aspirations.

Okay, so as I said, they are advanced vocabulary  relating to ambitions. Try to use a few of them if  

you can remember them great. Try and put them into  practice in business English or in conversational  

English. And as always, if you want to contact  me, then you can do so and I'd happily give you  

some further examples. So if you want to contact  me then it's www.englishlessonviaskype.com. Very,  

very happy to hear from you. As always, thanks for  listening. Thanks for watching. Join me again soon