12 Confusing English Adjectives

Hi. I'm Rebecca. Today, you'll learn the difference

between twelve confusing adjectives, which

are actually six pairs of adjectives, okay? Some of them sound the same, some of them

look the same, however, they're not the same,

okay? So, let's make sure that you understand

the difference between these twelve very commonly used adjectives.

Now, if you enjoy this kind of lesson, then

please make sure to also check out my online

course. I'll give you a link to it below. There, we correct over 160 errors, not only

in spelling, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary,

everything, okay? So, if you're interested,

please feel free to check that. In the meantime,

let's get started with our twelve adjectives

for today.

So, I'm going to read you a sentence, and

there are two possibilities. So, think about

it. If you want to pause the video, you can do that. If not, just come along with me.

Number one. Do we say, "The children are eager

to open their gifts", or do we say, "The children

are anxious to open their gifts"? Which is the right adjective? Okay. So, the correct

one here would be the first one, "eager". So, what is the difference between "eager"

and "anxious"? "Eager" is something positive.

When you want to do something and it's something

good, it's something you're looking forward to,

you're really happy to do that. And "anxious"

is when something's going to happen and you're

feeling nervous and scared and worried, maybe

before an interview or an exam or something

like that. But this is not something to feel

scared of or nervous about. "The children

are really happy to open their gift." They're

waiting to do that. Or you might be eager to

meet someone, an old friend who you haven't

seen in a long time. Okay? So, whenever it's

about something good, then we say, "I'm eager

to do something", and if you're nervous or scared, then you can say that somebody is

feeling anxious about something. Alright? Got it? Good.

Next, number two. "This course is for advanced

students." Or, "This course is for advanced

students." A subtle difference, small difference,

but a really important difference. Do you

know which one is right? So, the correct answer is this one. Okay? And I can't tell

you how many places this mistake is made. Make sure you're not making this mistake.

There's a huge difference. So, the correct

answer we said is "advanced", right? So, like

we have beginner, intermediate, and advanced

level students, right? So, "advanced" with

the "d" is talking about the higher level

students or the higher level course, correct?

"Advanced" just means - the other word "advanced"

just means in - before, before you have to

do something. So, for example, you have to pay in advance. You have to pay before you

receive delivery, for example, right? So, that is meaning before something happens,

and this is talking about a level of something.

Advanced technology, advanced courses, advanced

programs, alright? So, make sure you get this

right because a lot of people are making mistakes

with that, so please be really careful. They

sound almost the same. The spelling makes

a huge difference, okay?

Number three. Do we say, "He's a famous, well-respected

scientist", or do we say, "He's an infamous,

well-respected scientist"? You might have never

heard this word before, right? It actually

exists in English. What do you think is the right answer here? So, actually, the answer

is this, but let me start by explaining what

"infamous" and "famous" mean. "Famous" just

means well-known, okay? In general. A lot of people know that person, okay, or that

place or whatever. Usually, here, we're talking

about people, but "infamous" means that you're

well-known for doing something bad, something

really bad, usually. So, here, we said - we

know it's famous and not infamous because we

said that this scientist was also well-respected.

He's highly regarded. So, he's a famous, well-respected

scientist. He's well-known by a lot of people

for good things that he or she has done. "He",

in this case, we wrote, but "infamous" would

be like a criminal or something like that, okay? Those people are also famous, but we

call them infamous. And the pronunciation

is different. This one is "famous". This one

gets reduced at the end, so we say "infamous".

Got it? Good. Next, number four. Wow, a world

cruise. I'm envious of you, or I'm jealous

of you. What's the difference between envious

and jealous? Any idea? Have you heard these

two words before? Okay. So, here, this person's

excited. Wow, a world cruise. And let's say they're a good friend of yours, okay? And

they would say - or they should say - I'm

envious of you. Envious and jealous are close,

but a little bit technically they're different,

okay? Jealous is more negative, envious is

more positive. If I'm envious of you, I'm

really happy that you're doing something good

or that something good happened in your life,

and I wish and hope that I can do something

like that, too. This is positive. This is not taking anything away from you. If I say

I'm jealous of you, that's more negative. It's like, hmm, I wish I had that and she

didn't have that, or something like that.

So, that's not - that's a little more nasty.

Sometimes people use jealous in a general way, kind of as a joke. But technically, as

an English student, and someone who wants to really be precise in the language that

you use, there - please note that there is a difference, okay? So, you want to say the

positive one, I'm envious of you, and not really I'm jealous of you, because jealous

has the negative connotation. Okay, number five. Do we say this cream is effective at

treating sunburn? Or do we say this cream is efficient at treating sunburn? What is

sunburn? Sunburn is if somebody is out too long in the sun and their skin becomes like

really sore and red and it hurts a lot. That's

sunburn, okay? But anyway, do we say this

cream is effective or this cream is efficient?

What do you think? Okay. So, the correct answer

here is effective. What's the difference? Effective means that something produces the

results that you want, okay? It works, basically.

Efficient means that it produces the results

in a smart way by saving time or money or resources or something like that, okay? So,

here, what we really wanted to say is this cream

works. It's good, and it's good at treating

sunburn. So, we need to say it's effective

at treating sunburn. We're not trying to say

it saves time or money or resources. We're

just trying to say it works. It produces the

results we're looking for, okay? This is an important difference and it comes up a lot,

especially in business context, in the working

world, okay? Make sure you understand the

difference between these two very, very commonly used words.

Next, number six. It was sensitive to charge

your phone before the storm. Or, it was sensible

to charge your phone before the storm. What

do you think? I think the words really sound

kind of close. Very different meaning, alright?

Ready? So, it was sensible to charge your

phone before the storm. Alright, so what's the

difference between these two words? Sensible,

think of it this way first. Sensible has to do with your head, and sensitive has to do

with your heart, kind of, okay? So, sensible

means, oh, that was a good idea, it was a

good judgment, a good decision, you know? When

we think of these things sort of as coming

from our brain or our heads, so that's sensible.

Sensitive means it comes from your heart,

it means you care about others, you understand

them, you understand what they need and what

they might want. You're sensitive to their

needs, okay? It's more like coming from your

heart. Usually, it's a positive, okay, that you

care about other people and your understanding

of what they need. Sometimes, sensitive can be a little bit negative, that is, oh, he's

oversensitive or she's oversensitive. Like, they're very, kind of, they feel hurt very

easily when somebody says something, okay? But, in general, if somebody doesn't say

oversensitive, then if they're sensitive,

that's a good thing, okay? Alright. So, let's

just repeat the words for pronunciation one more time, and then we'll do a little bit

of a quiz.

First two. Eager, anxious. Good. Advance, advanced. Good. Famous, infamous. Remember

that change in pronunciation. Envious, jealous.

Effective, efficient. Good. Sensitive, sensible.

Okay? Got them? Good. Try to say them out loud, too. You know, it really helps a lot,

especially when you're working on your pronunciation.

But now, let's make sure you've mastered the

correct meaning of these words with a little,

short quiz. So, are you ready? Let's begin.

Number one. Do we say, "She's very sensitive

to the needs of others." Or do we say, "She's

very sensible to the needs of others." Which

is correct? Okay. I heard you. You're right.

It's the first one. She's very sensitive to the needs of others. Remember what we said?

Sensitive has more to do with the heart, and sensible has more to do with the head.

Number two. Do we say, "The advanced students

are in another class." Or, "The advanced students

are in another class." This time, it's the

second answer. Advanced. Okay? So, remember,

advanced. Beginner, intermediate, advanced, with the "d". Okay? Not advance.

Number three. "She felt eager before the job

interview." Or do we say, "She felt anxious

before the job interview." What do you think?

The correct answer is, "She felt anxious",

nervous, scared, frightened, a little bit.

Okay? Before the job interview. So, remember,

eager is positively waiting for something, or feeling good before something happens,

and anxious is feeling nervous, scared. Okay?

So, this one's more positive, this one is more

negative. Number four. Do we say, "They are

famous gangsters." Or, "Infamous gangsters."

Gangsters means criminals, robbers, like that.

What's the right answer? So, we would say,

"In perfect English, they're infamous gangsters." Okay? Number five. "Be careful,

he's a very envious person." Or, "Be careful, he's a very jealous person."

What do you think? So, the correct answer is

jealous, because remember, we said jealous is

the more negative side of it, envious is the

positive side of it. And here, we said, "Be

careful", so we're warning somebody, okay, about

something bad, about protecting themselves from

something negative. So, we said, "Be careful,

he's a very jealous person", not envious. Okay?

Next. "The new light bulbs are more efficient."

Or, "The new light bulbs are more effective."

What do you think? I know this one, like, you

have to sort of think it through sometimes,

right? I know. But we want to communicate

the idea that they might use less resources,

fewer resources, less money, things like that,

less energy. So, therefore, what's the right

answer? "They are more efficient." Okay? Remember, efficient is producing results,

the results that we're looking for with less

resources, being smarter at producing the

results that we want. And effective is just that it produces the results that we want.

Alright? So, I hope that you've enjoyed this

process of improving your English by clarifying

the meaning of these 12 important adjectives.

Alright? And as I said, if you'd like to continue

to upgrade your English and enjoy yourself in

the process, please check out my online course.

I think you will be able to do both of those

things. Improve your English, plus have fun.

Alright? And in the meantime, go ahead and do the quiz on engVid,

and that will help you even more. Alright? Take

care. Thanks so much for watching. Bye for now.