Can You Pass The Advanced Vocab Test? | Take the Better Vocabulary Challenge! ⚡️

Hey there I'm Emma from mmmEnglish!

I hope that you and your loved ones are

holding up okay at the moment. These are some

really tough times that we're living through

but I hope that through the frustration and the sadness,

you've been able to stay positive and keep busy at home

Today I want to share a lesson with you that will test

what you know and challenge you to explore some new

English words and push your vocabulary further.

And thank you for staying home and saving lives.

I'm thrilled that you're here to learn with me.

Let's get started!

So like I said, this vocabulary challenge

is going to help you to use more

sophisticated English words.

You'll need to go digging through your mind a little,

you know, to find the English words that you

already know and if you're not sure about

some of the words that I'm talking about in this lesson,

well, it's a really great opportunity to increase or to

build your vocabulary.

Here's how it's gonna work.

I'm going to read out a sentence and you'll see it go up

over there.

There's going to be a word or maybe a couple of

words that are underlined

and this is what I want you to focus on.

I want you to search through your mind

for an alternative word, a more advanced English

word that's gonna help you to express the same idea

but in a more intelligent way.

Now I'm gonna give you three seconds to think of it

but if you need a little longer that's totally okay,

just use the pause button. Just get ready to press it,

you know, keep your finger ready

if you need a little bit more time use it.

If you can't think of it, don't worry,

I'm gonna give you a clue. I'm gonna add the

first three letters to the word to try and jog your memory

or to help you remember what that word is.

Then after another three seconds, I'm going to add

that word in there and read the whole sentence

through for you. Sometimes there might be

more than one possible answer but it's really about

trying to find the best possible word or phrase

for that sentence.

Now if you can, make some notes as we go along

to help you practise and I mean really practise.

I know that you've got some extra time at the moment

so seriously don't feel ashamed or embarrassed

about not knowing a word. Take that word,

write it in your own sentence,

add it to the comments below so that I can check

that you're using it correctly and it becomes

part of your vocabulary. If you do that, you increase

your chances of remembering it a lot.

If you do that, you increase your chances of

remembering it significantly.

So keep a notebook beside you,

write down any questions you have or any

example sentences you want me to check

because as always, I'll be down in the comments below

giving guidance and explanations if you need it okay?

So let's get started!

John brought up this issue during our last meeting.

John raised this issue during our last meeting.

The company made a big announcement.

Lots of options here.

We're starting easy.

The company made a significant

or a major announcement.

After a long and difficult night walking through

the darkness, in the end they arrived home.

After a long and difficult night walking through

the darkness, eventually they arrived home.

We've decided to make longer your contract.

We've decided to extend your contract.

The number of patients became larger.

The number of patients increased.

The new grants build up opportunities for young

people to study abroad.

The new grants create opportunities for young

people to study abroad.

We've hired a new graphic designer

and she's really, really good.

Again there's a few different options you can use here.

We've hired a new graphic designer

and she's sensational.

Before you make your decision,

make sure you know about the rules.

Before you make your decision,

make sure you are familiar with the rules.

We think that the decision will be made tomorrow.

We expect that the decision will be made tomorrow.

Or we anticipate

that the decision will be made tomorrow.

Most people think that I live in Melbourne.

Most people assume that I live in Melbourne

but they're wrong!

The nurse told her it was not okay

to visit patients after hours.

The nurse told her it was unacceptable

or not acceptable to visit patients after hours.

After the department store was caught breaking the law,

it took years to get consumer confidence back.

To get it back.

After the department store was caught breaking the law,

it took years to restore consumer confidence.

The company used new technology to make

production better.

To make something better.

The company used new technology

to enhance production.

Starting an at-home yoga practice

can be good for retirees.

Starting an at-home yoga practice can benefit retirees.

She was confused by the customs restrictions

when she arrived in Australia.

She was bewildered by the customs restrictions

when she arrived in Australia.

It's important that families hold on to cultural traditions

and language.

To hold onto, to hold onto.

It's important that families retain cultural

traditions and language.

I think that state funded education offers

many good things for society.

I think that state funded education offers

many benefits for society.

If we had acted sooner,

we could have stopped the spread of the virus.

If we had acted sooner,

we could have prevented the spread of the virus.

This is a conditional sentence, right?

Did you see my lesson on conditionals

a couple of weeks ago?

If you did, you'll definitely recognise that structure.

And the link to that lesson is up here

if you want to check it out later.

Many of our ideas have changed over time.

Many of our ideas have evolved over time.

We have a team of ten staff who work together

on different projects.

To work together... what's a better way of saying that?

We have a team of ten who collaborate

on different projects.

To be honest, I don't want to make the problem worse.

To be honest, I don't want to exacerbate the problem.

Exacerbate.

I've read through your report. It's great,

but I want to change the introduction.

I've read through your report. It's great

but I want to modify the introduction.

That softens it a little bit, doesn't it sound as negative.

It's one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the city.

It's one of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the city.

Now a little note here about superlative adjectives

because both of these are superlative forms, right?

Most one and two syllable adjectives

add -est when we make them a superlative

like biggest, hungriest, wealthiest.

And adjectives with three syllables or more,

they're made into the superlative form with 'most'.

Most intelligent, most anticipated,

most affluent, right?

These are general rules,

there are definitely some adjectives that break

these rules but they're good guides to run with.

I don't have an interesting job,

the work I do is usually quite boring.

I don't have an interesting job,

the work I do is usually quite mundane.

It's quite mundane or it's very mundane.

I don't have time to explain more about this right now.

I don't have time to elaborate on this right now.

Notice that the preposition changed there too.

This is a good example of a collocation.

We don't say that we elaborate about something

right? We use 'on' with elaborate.

So we always elaborate on something.

Keep that in mind.

Awesome work! Well done for sticking with me

all the way up until this point.

So I'm curious now, how many of those words

were completely new for you?

Did you learn some new ones

or did you know a few of them already?

I know that some of us have a little more time

on our hands than we're used to, right?

So I think that you can afford to spend a little bit of time

writing in English

to help cement those new advanced words in your mind

so that you can start using more

sophisticated language when you write

and when you speak in English.

As I said, if you have doubts or questions

about anything you've learned in this lesson,

ask me in the comments below.

Thank you so much for spending some time with me

today, learning with me, staying home and saving lives.

I'm thrilled that you're here to learn with me.

And there are so many mmmEnglish YouTube lessons

here to keep you busy. There are whole playlists about

grammar, about vocabulary, pronunciation,

lots of imitation lessons to keep you busy.

Here are a couple that you can get started with

right now

and keep improving your English while you're at home.

Stay safe, take care

and keep flattening that curve, my friends.

We're all in this together!