Advanced English Vocabulary made EASY

Vanessa: Are you ready to level up your English vocabulary?  

I mean, really level up your vocabulary? Well,  you're in the right place. Today, you are going  

to learn 25 advanced English expressions that are  used in daily life conversation. Hi, I'm Vanessa  

from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com and like always  I have created a free PDF worksheet with all 25 of  

these important phrases, definitions, and sample  sentences. Plus, at the bottom of the worksheet is  

a quiz. Test yourself and see if you have really  learned these 25 advanced phrases. You can click  

on the link in the description to download this  free PDF worksheet today. It is my gift to you.  

If you've been learning English with me here  on this channel for a while, you know that I  

teach you real-life vocabulary, words and  phrases that we really use in daily life.  

But sometimes it's fun to level up your daily  life vocabulary and make those phrases advanced.

So I specifically chose expressions today  that are advanced. This means at the C1 level,  

but also are absolutely used in daily  life. So don't be afraid to use these  

in your natural conversations. You don't  need to save these only for the workplace  

or an academic situation. You can use these in  daily life. All right, let's get started. To  

accumulate. Look at this sentence and I want you  to kind of guess what you think it means. Wow,  

a lot of snow accumulated overnight. What do you  think that means? It means to grow or increase.  

As I teach you all 25 of these phrases, I'm  going to be giving you the sample sentence  

first because I want you to use all of the ideas  and knowledge already in your mind about English  

to guess the definition. If I just give you  the definition, it's okay, but I would like  

you to try to guess the definition first. Take the  sample sentence and use it to your best knowledge.

Let's go on to the second one. Phrase number  two is adjustment. Could you help me with my  

bike? I think it needs an adjustment. It's  making a strange noise. This is the exact  

question that I asked my neighbor who is a  bike expert, and he helped me and the noise  

stopped. So what is an adjustment? It's simply  a change. Something needs to change so that it  

stops making that noise. Phrase number three  is availability. Notice that the T at the end  

of this word is pronounced like a D in American  English. Availability. This is commonly used in  

my daily life. Let me check my availability  before I commit. Check my availability.

This simply means, am I free? Do I have any  time that I can commit to this activity? Let  

me check my availability. Advanced phrase  number four is benchmark. I love this one.  

Take a look at this sample sentence. I don't  always eat five different vegetables every day,  

but it's a good benchmark number. Here, the  word benchmark is a standard. It's recommended  

to eat at least five different vegetables each  day. Do I do this every day successfully? No,  

but it's a good benchmark. I think about  this occasionally. Oh, maybe I could try a  

different vegetable today in order to reach that  benchmark. Advanced phrase number five is bind,  

but I would like to expand that to use  a full phrase to put someone in a bind.

Take a look at this strict project deadline  has really put me in a bind. I don't know if  

I'm going to be able to meet it. Do you think  that the project deadline is a good deadline?  

No. It has put me in a bind. This means it has  wrapped me tightly, but in a figurative way.  

So it has put me in a difficult situation.  I don't know if I'm going to be able to do  

a good job and also make the deadline. This  deadline has put me in a bind. I have to do  

less quality work in order to meet the deadline.  Advanced phrase number six is a breakthrough.

Take a look at this sentence. This job might  be the breakthrough that I was hoping for. Do  

you get the idea here that I'm in a bind and then  I'm hoping that this job will be the breakthrough?  

This job will be exactly what I was hoping for  to help me advance in my career. Oftentimes,  

we use this when there is a discovery. So we might  say the vaccine for polio was a great breakthrough  

in medicine. It helped to solve a big problem  with just this medication. Advanced phrase number  

seven is capability. To wear a cape? No. Take a  look at this. Even though my daughter is young,  

she has the capability of feeding herself  with a spoon. Sometimes it is quite messy,  

but she does have this capability. And what does  capability mean? Well, it means ability. It is  

another advanced and fun way to say ability.  My daughter has the ability to feed herself  

or the capability to feed herself. Just grow  your vocabulary step by step with this word.

Advanced phrase number eight is circulate.  This is a good one for eight. Circulate.  

What if I said to you, the news circulated  through our neighborhood like lightning?  

We get the idea that all the neighbors are  talking so quickly that the news is making its  

way through the neighborhood, and that's the  idea with this word. Circulate means just to  

freely pass around. So if your neighbors like  to talk, well I imagine news, or at least the  

idea of news circulates quite quickly through  your neighborhood. Advanced phrase number nine  

is to collaborate. I collaborated with over 17  amazing YouTube English teachers to make this  

lesson for you. It's true. To collaborate means  to work together. Sometimes collaboration is a  

beautiful thing, such as this wonderful lesson  and sometimes collaborating can be really tough.

Maybe your interests or your values are not  aligned, but usually collaboration provides  

a better solution in the end. Make sure you  check out that lesson to learn what all these  

17 teachers had to say about how to speak  better English. It's an awesome video with  

awesome teachers. Advanced phrase number 10 is  to coordinate. Notice the pronunciation of this  

word. To coordinate. Coordinate. There are two  Os and they are slightly pronounced differently.  

To coordinate. Coor. Coor. Coordinate. So  I often say this phrase, "Man, it is hard  

to coordinate schedules with some of my friends  who have kids. Your kid's doing this at this time,  

my kid's doing this at this time. Oh, then one kid  is sick. Oh, then another kid is sick. It is hard  

to coordinate our schedules." And coordinate  means to align something, usually a schedule.  

We are coordinating a time to be able to see  each other, and sometimes that's not so easy.

Advanced phrase number 11 is to dedicate. Recently  my city Asheville was hit by a terrible hurricane,  

Hurricane Helene, and we can use this expression  to talk about what happened. Thousands of  

volunteers dedicated their time to help people in  need. It's true. There were thousands of people  

in the city around the country, even from Canada.  In fact, there were Canadian workers who helped  

to fix my electricity. There were people from  everywhere who dedicated their time to help those  

in need. This is an important thing to see when  you're going through a hard time. Look for all  

the good that's being done. And dedicate here just  means to give all your time and all your energy.  

So thank you to everyone who dedicates their  time and energy helping other people in need.

Advanced phrase number 12 is to delegate. This is  one of my favorite things to do. I try to delegate  

certain chores to my kids. This means that I don't  do all the chores. I don't do every single dish,  

all the laundry, all the cleaning up,  all the organizing. No. I do a lot,  

but I try to delegate those chores to my  children. What's this mean? It means to  

give tasks to other people. So my kids help to  clean up at the end of the day. They put their  

dishes in the sink. Sometimes they help to fold  laundry or they help to clean the dishes. I am  

trying to teach them those skills, but it's also  helpful for me to delegate those tasks. Advanced  

phrase number 13 sounds similar to delegate,  but it's not. It is designate. Designate.

Look at this sentence. I designated a certain  amount of money for charity. I think it's a  

beautiful thing when you can use money for  what you need, you can use money to save,  

and you can use money to give. So I designated  this amount of money to give to a charity. Can  

you guess what that means? It just means that  I chose to set aside this amount of money for  

a specific purpose. I designated, I chose  for that amount of money to go to a charity.  

Advanced phrase number 14 is efficient. I try  to be extremely efficient when I work, but do  

you know what is not efficient? Public transport  in the US is not efficient. If you visit the US,  

you usually need to rent a car. It's just the way  things are. So what's this word mean? Efficient  

means it works quickly, effectively. Well, I try  to work quickly and effectively and efficiently,  

but public transportation in the US,  not quick, not efficient, not the best.

Advanced phrase number 15 is eligible. Eligible.  If you get a new job, the boss or the person  

giving you the details of the job might  tell you, "After you've worked for this  

company for one year, you become eligible for some  benefits." Or, "after you've signed this paper,  

you become eligible for certain benefits." What  does eligible mean? It means you have the right to  

get those benefits. You cannot have those benefits  taken away from you if you sign that paper. Well,  

you have the right to get those benefits.  You are eligible to get them. Advanced phrase  

number 16 is endeavor. Endeavor. Take a look  at this sentence. Wow, what a huge endeavor.  

You are trying to climb that mountain in one  day. Usually it takes three days. What a huge  

endeavor. Usually we use the word endeavor  with the word huge. It's just a phrase that  

goes together. You could say it's a big endeavor,  but huge is extremely commonly used with endeavor.

And it just means a challenging task or project.  What a huge endeavor to try to climb that mountain  

in just one day. Good luck. Advanced phrase  number 17 is frustration. Frustration. We  

often use this with a full phrase, I could sense  his frustration. I can sense your frustration.  

If I said to my child, "Wow, I can really  sense your frustration with those stickers."  

My four-year-old son tries to take stickers  off of a sticker book and sometimes it's hard  

for little fingers to get stickers off. So he  goes, "Oh, I can't get it. What am I doing?  

Mommy." He gets frustrated about it. So I could  use this phrase, "Wow, I can really sense your  

frustration with those stickers. It's something  that makes you annoyed or angry or frustrated."  

Advanced phrase number 18 is functional.  Functional. These shoes are really pretty,  

but they aren't functional  for walking long distances.

Really nowadays, as a mom, all my shoes are  functional. I don't have any fancy shoes  

because I just need functional shoes nowadays.  What's functional mean? Well, it means that  

something works easily or smoothly. You get  the sense that functional shoes are sneakers,  

tennis shoes, flat shoes, not high heels, nothing  uncomfortable. Functional shoes. Advanced phrase  

number 19 is glimpse. We often use the full  phrase to catch a glimpse. If you're walking  

past a mirror and you don't realize that there's  a mirror there, you might be walking and, "Oh,  

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and  it surprised me." This can be a surprising thing,  

right? So you get the idea that a glimpse  means to look, but it's a quick look. So to  

catch a glimpse, "Oh, it's just a quick look.  I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror."

Advanced phrase number 20 is generic. Generic.  This is usually not a positive phrase. Take a  

look at this. The hotel room had a lot of generic  decorations. This means nothing personalized,  

nothing unique. Generic just means simple, plain,  the same as everything else. Now the one time  

when generic is a good thing is with medicine.  So if you go to a pharmacy in the US, you can  

watch my video here where I show you an American  pharmacy, including some important vocabulary,  

you will often see two different versions of  medicine. You'll see the brand name version and  

what we call a generic version. Usually they have  the exact same ingredients, but one is just from  

that store. It's not this fancy brand name, and  it's usually a lot cheaper than the brand name.  

So for me, I often buy a generic medication  because it's cheaper and it's the same thing.

Advanced phrase number 21 is one that I  unfortunately use often, it is harmony,  

but I often use this by saying, "Can we just have  some peace and harmony in here for five minutes?"  

When you have three kids, if it's a rainy day  and everyone is stuck inside, you can imagine  

it gets loud, sometimes kids start to fight  with each other more often than if they were  

outside. Harmony means peace, working together  so smoothly and easily. So I wish as a mom, can  

we just have some peace and harmony in here for  five minutes. That would be the dream. Advanced  

phrase number 22. We're almost at the end here. We  only have 25 today. Advanced phrase number 22 is  

hierarchy. Notice the pronunciation here. Higher,  like higher and lower. Hierarchy. With a K sound.  

Hierarchy. You might say "It takes a long time for  stuff to get done in the government because of the  

complicated hierarchy. No one is allowed to make  a decision for themselves. Instead, they have to  

ask their boss, who has to ask their boss, who has  to ask their boss, and their boss and their boss."

And ugh, it takes forever to get things done  when there is a complicated hierarchy. And  

what's a hierarchy? Well, it's just a system  of importance, usually with people. It could  

be a hierarchy of animals, possibly a  hierarchy of events. But usually this  

is with people where you have to ask a lot  of people in order to get anything done.  

Advanced phrase number 23 is immense.  When we had Hurricane Helene hit my city,  

the damage from the storm was immense. In fact,  a lot of rescue workers said that this was the  

worst damage that they had ever seen in their  entire career. It's really difficult when you  

have a natural disaster in the mountains. It's  hard to reach people. It's hard to help people.  

The damage is immense. Can you guess what that  word means? It means huge, unimaginable. Immense.

Now I used it in a negative way. The damage  was immense. But you can also use this in  

a positive way. We might say that I love my  husband immensely. This means I have a huge  

amount of love, and that's a positive thing,  right? So we could use this in a negative or  

a positive way. Advanced phrase number 24.  This is our second to last advanced phrase.  

It is interact. Interact. I want to let  you know that when we're speaking quickly,  

we often cut out that first T and it sounds  like interact, interact, interact. That T is  

just gone. It's on vacation somewhere, having a  good old time. It's not in this word. Interact.  

So let me give you a sample sentence. My  kids loved interacting with the exhibits  

in the museum. Interacting with the exhibits in  the museum. Did you hear how I cut out that T?

My kids loved interacting with the exhibits  in the museum. And what's this mean? It means  

that you're communicating or reacting  to something around you. A lot of times,  

children's museums will have things  that you can touch or play with or move,  

and you can learn different concepts or experience  different things by interacting with the different  

exhibits in the museum. And drum roll, the  25th and final advanced English expression for  

today is landmark. Landmark. When there was the  hurricane in my city, one of the biggest landmarks  

in a little town, this beautiful red water wheel  got damaged. In fact, it got immensely damaged,  

we could say. The water coming from the  stream became immense and it got damaged.  

This landmark is something that people often  think of when they think of this little town.

So we can use the word landmark to talk about  an object that kind of serves as a guide. When  

we think of Paris, what's the landmark?  The Eiffel Tower. When you think of Egypt,  

what do you think of? The pyramids. Those  are landmarks in those countries. Hopefully  

they'll be able to repair this cute water wheel  that is the landmark of the little town. Well,  

congratulations. You just learned 25 advanced  C1 level English expressions. Don't forget to  

download the free PDF worksheet. There's a link  in the description. When you download that free  

PDF worksheet, you will get each of these  advanced expressions, definitions, multiple  

sample sentences, and you can answer the quiz  to see if you can really remember these phrases.

Because it's great to watch this video,  but you need to remember them, right?  

So if you want to remember them, I  highly recommend downloading the PDF,  

reviewing the phrases, and taking the  quiz. Test yourself. You can click on  

the link in the description to download  that free PDF worksheet today. Well,  

thank you so much for learning English with me,  and I'll see you again next Friday for a new  

lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.  But wait, do you want more? I recommend  

watching this video next where you will learn  250 wonderful vocabulary phrases with pictures,  

including why do I call my friends birds? Watch  that video to find out, and I'll see you there.