TEST Your English Vocabulary: Do you know these 15 advanced words?

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.  

Are you ready to test your English  vocabulary today? Let's do it. 

Get ready to learn 15 advanced English words for  daily conversation. All of these words are a C1  

level. That means that the Council of Europe has  decided that they are advanced-level words. But  

just a little note, these are words that Americans  will use in daily conversation. They're not words  

like convivial that we never actually use to  talk about our lives, so I hope that these  

words will be advanced, but also useful to you.  What we're going to do is I'm going to show you a  

sentence with a blank. There will be two options. You can choose which word fits best in the blank,  

and then I will explain it after three seconds.  So you will have three seconds to decide  

which word is the best. Are you ready? Put on  your test thinking caps and let's get started  

with the first sentence. Number one. My cat won't  even me unless I'm holding a bag of treats. My cat  

won't even acknowledge me, or my cat won't even  activate me. Which one is the best answer? Three,  

two, one. My cat won't even acknowledge me unless  I'm holding a bag of treats. Typical cat, right? 

This means that my cat won't take notice of me.  They'll just walk away. They don't care about  

being pet. They don't care about being part  of the family. They just want treats. They  

just want food. So that's the only time that they  acknowledge me is when I have some treats or some  

food to give them. Let's go to sentence number  two. I prefer to buy products with packaging. I  

prefer to buy products with biological packaging,  or I prefer to buy products with biodegradable  

packaging. These words seem pretty similar, right? But which one do you think is the best answer?  

Three, two, one. I prefer to buy products with  biodegradable packaging. The important word here  

is degradable. That means that it's capable of  being broken down after five years or 10 years  

or maybe 50 years. That packaging is not plastic.  That packaging is biodegradable. It will become  

dirt again and this is good for the environment.  There is biodegradable packaging. All right,  

let's go to our next sentence. Number three.  The lead actor was so, it's no surprise  

that he won an award for his role. The lead actor was so captivating,  

or the lead actor was so corrective. Which one is  the best? Three, two, one. You can say the lead  

actor was so captivating, it's no surprise  that he won an award for his role. The word  

captivating means that he or maybe some other  item can be captivating as well is capable of  

keeping your attention or keeping your interest.  Sometimes when we use this word for people,  

we could also say that they are charming. Their  personality attracts you. They are captivating. 

You can't stop talking to them, or you can't stop  listening to them or watching their performance.  

If you are a good actor, your performance is  captivating. And who knows? Maybe you'll win  

an award. All right, let's go to  the next sentence. Number four.  

The damage caused by the flooding was for the  village. The damage caused by the flooding was  

failure for the village, or the damage caused by  the flooding was catastrophic for the village.  

Which one of these C1 level words  is correct? Three, two, one. 

The damage caused by the flooding was catastrophic  for the village. This means that it involved a  

lot or great danger or damage. The flood maybe  completely destroyed all of the houses, or all of  

the crops, or something really important for the  village. Floods are really scary. Mother Nature  

is no joke. So maybe we could say that the flood  was catastrophic for the village. All right, let's  

go to the next sentence. Number five. Not eating  enough fruits and vegetables can cause vitamin.  

Can cause vitamin deficiency,  or can cause vitamin damage. 

Both of these words kind of seem similar,  right? But there's only one correct answer,  

and you only have three seconds to choose. Three,  two, one. The correct answer is not eating enough  

fruits and vegetables can cause vitamin  deficiency. Deficiency means that there is a  

lacking or not enough vitamins in your body.  Just as a little grammar note, we can say  

it can cause vitamin deficiency, or it can  cause a vitamin deficiency. You can either  

have the word a or not and both are completely  fine. All right, let's go to our next question. 

Number six. The seeds that were during the  winter grew into beautiful flowers in the spring.  

The seeds that were dormant, or the seeds that  were lazy. Hmm. Three, two, one. The seeds that  

were dormant in the winter grew into beautiful  flowers in the spring. Both of these words have a  

similar meaning. Dormant and lazy means that there  is some inactivity. There's no activity going on.  

But we use the word dormant for plants.  We use the word lazy for people.  

And if you want to talk about animals, especially  during the winter, we use the word hibernate. 

Bears hibernate, depending on how cold it  is, where they're living. They stay in their  

cave all winter, and they don't eat much food.  There are other animals as well that hibernate.  

They don't do much activity during the winter. So  we use those three words in different categories.  

All right, let's go to our next sentence.  Number seven. Technology has been used to  

working from home. Technology has been  used to facilitate working from home, or  

technology has been used to falsify working  from home. Hmm. Which one of these is the best? 

Three, two, one. Technology has been used  to facilitate working from home. This means  

that with technology, there is an action or  process that becomes easy or easier to do.  

It would be pretty tough for a lot of people  to work from home without technology. So  

thanks to technology, it facilitates, it  makes it easier for us to work from home.  

Number eight. I have always  had a with medieval history.  

I have always had a fantasy with medieval  history, or I have always had a fascination  

with medieval history. Which one of these is best? Three, two, one. I have always had a fascination  

with medieval history. This means that  I have a great interest and curiosity  

about medieval history. And this is true.  This is a not very well-documented part of  

history, so the little documents that we do have  about it are really precious and so fascinating.  

All right, let's go to our next sentence.  Number nine. One great way to practice language  

is to watch movies and TV shows in the  language that you want to learn, like English. 

One great way to practice language immersion, or  one great way to practice language impression.  

Which one of these words is best? Three,  two, one. One great way to practice language  

immersion is to watch movies and TV shows in  the language that you want to learn. This is a  

great tip. Not always the easiest thing to do. I  have a lot of videos on my channel helping you to  

take steps to get closer to watching movies and  TV shows in English, but it is a great way to  

immerse yourself or to have language immersion. That means that you're completely surrounded  

figuratively or literally in the language.  When you're listening to that movie,  

maybe you're even watching the English subtitles,  you are in an English world. You are immersed  

in English. If you'd like to check out some of  my videos that give tips about how to understand  

fast English, how to be able to understand TV  shows and movies without subtitles, check out  

this video that I made up here. All right, let's  go to our next question. Number 10. My boss was  

impressed that I took the to lead the project. My boss was impressed that I took the initiative  

to lead the project, or my boss was impressed that  I took the involvement to lead the project. Hmm.  

Three, two, one. My boss was impressed that  I took the initiative to lead the project.  

This means that you have a willingness or a  desire to get things done, to do something. To  

take the initiative is a fixed phrase that we  often use. And we might encourage young people  

to take the initiative. Don't wait for someone to  tell you to pick your clothes up off the floor.  

You should take the initiative. You should be willing to just do  

that yourself without waiting for someone to  tell you what to do. Take the initiative. Take  

the initiative with your English learning. That's  what you're doing right now. You're the one who  

searched online to find English lessons. No one  is forcing you to do this. You are taking the  

initiative to improve your English. Great! All  right, let's go to our next sentence. Number 11.  

The documentary about outer space was. The  documentary about outer space was inspecting, or  

the documentary about outer space was intriguing. Hmm. Which one of these I words is best? Three,  

two, one. The documentary about  outer space was intriguing.  

We already talked about the word fascinating,  and there's a slight difference here with the  

word intriguing. This means that it makes you want  to ask more questions. You become curious. Yes,  

you are fascinated or interested in the  documentary about outer space, but it also  

sparks some curiosity in you. We can imagine some  dry wood. When that wood gets close to some fire,  

there is a flame that goes up. This is kind of like what happens inside  

of you when you become curious about something.  So when you see something intriguing, you want  

to find out more. You want to ask more. There is  a spark inside of you that has grown into a little  

flame and you want to learn more. It's intriguing.  I hope that my English lessons are intriguing.  

They make you want to ask more questions and learn  more and kind of go down that path of learning.  

At least that's the goal. All right,  let's go to our next sentence. Number 12. 

My plan to shovel snow for money became  overnight when we got 12 inches of snow. Yes!  

My plan to shovel snow for money became  lucrative, or my plan to shovel snow for  

money became impossible. Hmm. If we got a lot of  snow, 12 inches overnight, what do you think that  

means for my plan to make money if people want  to pay me to shovel their driveways? Well,  

what do you think is the best answer here? Three,  two, one. My plan to shovel snow for money became  

lucrative overnight when we got 12 inches of snow. If you want to make money and you have a shovel  

and you're strong and you have energy, you can  knock on your neighbor's door and say, "Hey, pay  

me some money and I will shovel your driveway."  Maybe you can make a lot of money because there's  

suddenly a lot of snow. And that's what the word  lucrative means. It means there is a possibility  

of making a lot of money. It is a lucrative  business to shovel snow for your neighbors  

if you live in a cold climate. If you live in a  warm climate, it's not lucrative to shovel snow. 

Maybe you can get a lawn mower and cut people's  grass, or you can walk their dogs. You can do  

other things that might be lucrative, but  shoveling snow will not be that thing if you live  

in the South. All right, let's go to our next  sentence. Number 13. The professor's lectures  

always made me fall asleep in class.  I hope that's not true for my lessons.  

The professor's monotonous lectures,  or the professor's monetary lectures.  

Which one do you think is best here? Which one  would make you fall asleep? Three, two, one. 

The professor's monotonous lectures always made  me fall asleep in class. Monotonous means there's  

no variety. This often means that your tone of  voice has no ups and downs. You are just speaking  

like this. You should learn about this topic. So  boring. So monotonous. There's no variety. Either  

there's no variety in the topic or also in your  voice. That can be monotonous. All right, let's go  

to our next sentence. Number 14. With enough time  and practice, it's possible to reach in almost any  

skill. It's possible to reach professional. It's possible to reach proficiency. These  

words seem pretty similar, right? But only one of  them is correct. Think about it. Three, two, one.  

With enough time and practice, it's possible  to reach proficiency in almost any skill.  

Can I say that, in almost, almost any skill. Here  we have a fixed expression, to reach proficiency.  

This means that you are really good at it to  be proficient, to know a lot about something.  

We often use this expression, to  reach fluency. This is the same  

idea as reaching proficiency. You are reaching. You are going to a high level, and you are kind  

of like a master. You are able to do that with  few mistakes. All right, let's go to our last  

sentence. See if you can get our final vocabulary  word. Number 15. My sister denied borrowing my  

jacket, but I saw it hanging in her closet. My  sister vigorously denied borrowing my jacket,  

or my sister virtually denied borrowing my  jacket. Hmm. Which one is the best here? Three,  

two, one. My sister vigorously denied borrowing  my jacket, but I saw it hanging up in her closet. 

Here, the word vigorously means with lots of  energy and passion. So we could imagine I say to  

my sister, "Hey, did you borrow my jacket? I can't  find it," and she says, "No, no, no. I didn't  

borrow it. I never borrowed. I don't like that  jacket. I'm not going to borrow it? No, no, no."  

This is with a lot of passion, and maybe it could  make you a little suspicious. Maybe she really  

did borrow your jacket. So here we're saying  vigorously denied. "No, no, no, I didn't do it."  

Vigorously denied borrowing my jacket. Great work practicing all of these 15 C1 advanced  

level vocabulary words. I have a question for you.  Let me know in the comments what was your score  

and will you take the initiative to use one of  these words in the comments? Leave an intriguing  

comment, a fascinating comment below. I can't wait  to read it, and thank you so much for learning  

English with me. I'll see you again next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

The next step is to download my free ebook Five  Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker.  

You'll learn what you need to do  to speak confidently and fluently.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for more free lessons. Thanks so much. Bye.