Advanced English Vocabulary and Collocations

Let’s begin by learning some more advanced words we can use to describe someone’s personality and behavior.

There are hundreds and hundreds of these, but today we’ll just focus on some interesting positive and negative personality words. These will give you more options for describing someone, in more nuanced ways that have extra layers of meaning.

We’ll start with words that have a positive meaning or connotation.

Yesterday we learned a number of words for describing people and how they act, and today we’ll focus on some key words – namely character, behavior, act, and action – and expand your vocabulary with collocations.

We’ll start with character, meaning a person’s nature. When that nature is excellent and almost perfect, we can say the person has an exemplary or impeccable character.

Human beings have such a wide range of emotions – and today we’ll learn some more advanced words for feelings.

To describe extreme happiness, you can say a person is overjoyed or elated. If your daughter found out she got a full scholarship to an expensive elite college, both of you would probably be overjoyed! Someone who is so full of happiness will likely be beaming – this means there’s a huge smile on their face.

In the last lesson we learned about a range of feelings; now let’s learn some interesting collocations with the words feelings and emotions.

We can say emotions are overwhelming or we are overcome by emotion when they are so strong that it’s difficult to think or speak. A woman giving the eulogy at her mother’s funeral might be overcome by emotion as she speaks about how much she loves and misses her mother.

Today we’re going to focus on words related to thinking and knowledge, so that you’ll have more ways to talk about your beliefs.

When you are thinking deeply about something, you are pondering the issue. A couple other words for deep thinking are to contemplate – this can mean either to look at something thoughtfully, or to consider something carefully – and deliberate – which is usually used for choices and decisions.

Now let’s expand your vocabulary by learning interesting collocations around the words think/thought, knowledge, and experience.

Sometimes you might have a fleeting/passing thought, meaning one that appears in your mind quickly and also goes out of your mind quickly, either because you forget it or you choose to ignore it. We can also say the thought crossed your mind – again, when it spends a brief time in your mind.

Communication – it’s something we do every day, all the time, so it’s important to know how to talk about it as well. Today we’ll learn a number of different words related to speaking and communicating.

When we rave or gush about something, it means we are enthusiastically saying a ton of extremely positive things about it. If I read a book that really changed my life for the better, I might rave about it. People might gush over a cute new baby. We could also rhapsodize about/over something – this also means to express a lot of praise with excitement and fondness.

Ready for some collocations? Let’s expand your vocabulary by learning interesting combinations with the key words comment, conversation, and speech.

There are a lot of adjectives that can describe comments or remarks. Here are some positive ones:

· constructive comments/remarks are ones that have a positive effect or help show how to make things better. We often see this in the expression “constructive criticism,” meaning criticism that’s presented in a kind way in order to help improve

· incisive comments/remarks are ones that are clear and sharp, that directly communicate the reality of the situation

· perceptive comments/remarks are ones that show good insight and understanding

We very often talk about things we like, dislike, or prefer – and today you’ll learn some more advanced vocabulary for discussing things you’re passionate about or not.

When someone has a strong and enthusiastic interest in something – let’s say it’s golf – we can describe the person as an avid golfer. When I was a child, I was an avid reader, a person who’s excited about reading books and actively does so.

Yesterday’s lesson was all about likes, dislikes, and preferences, and today we’ll focus on collocations with some key words in this area.

When you have a strong interest in a topic or activity, we can describe it as a keen/passionate interest. Some things are abiding/lifelong interests – things we are fascinated by for a long time – in contrast to a passing interest, one that only holds our attention for a short time. When you lose interest in something and later become interested in it again, you can call this a renewed interest.

Let’s learn some vocabulary for relationships – with family, friends, and others.

When talking about generations of your family in the past and future, the people in your family who lived generations before you are your ancestors – and your children can be called your offspring. It’s important to know your family history, because some health problems are hereditary, meaning they pass from parents to children.

Now let’s broaden our knowledge of collocations with the words relationship, family, and friend.

We can say we have a healthy relationship with someone if it is good and free from problems. On the other hand, a dysfunctional relationship is one that doesn’t work properly, where the people treat each other badly or manipulatively.

A harmonious relationship is one that’s peaceful, without conflicts. But a strained or uneasy relationship contains a lot of tension, and a troubled relationship has many difficulties.

We all have tasks and responsibilities, whether at work or at school – and in today’s lesson, you’ll learn vocabulary for talking about effort and motivation.

Someone who is diligent/industrious is a hard worker in general and gives their best effort to tasks. We can also describe people as productive when they are effective at getting things done. And the word prolific describes someone who produces a lot of work, specifically writing things and producing works of art, music, etc.

Today’s study of collocations will focus on the words work, effort, and task.

We can describe work or a task as labor-intensive if it requires a lot of effort – this may be physical effort, or mental/intellectual effort, or detail and time. Making your own pasta from scratch is labor-intensive.

There’s the term back-breaking work specifically for work that’s very demanding on your body – like carrying heavy concrete blocks all day.

In today’s lesson we’ll learn some medical vocabulary that’s more advanced than the basics, without being so advanced that only a health care professional would understand it! These are terms that are still used in everyday conversation and in the news when discussing medical issues.

People who work in the emergency room have a tough job. They need to triage patients, meaning decide which ones need more immediate attention vs. which ones can wait. Patients are often brought in from ambulances on stretchers – portable beds used for carrying people who are incapacitated (have no strength or ability to function normally).

Now let’s learn a number of collocations with words related to health. We’ll start by learning common combinations of words with disease and illness.

Some health problems are congenital/hereditary, which means they pass from parents to children. We also have communicable/contagious diseases, which can be passed from person to person – like COVID or herpes.

Like the field of medicine, the world of law and justice is also full of advanced terms. Today you’ll learn a number of words you can use to talk about this area in more detail.

When the police investigate a crime, they gather forensic evidence – objects and details that can give clues or prove what happened, like fingerprints at the crime scene.

Hi students! Let’s expand your ability to talk about issues related to law, crime, and justice by learning collocations with key words in this area.

If a crime was especially evil and terrible, we can call it a heinous crime. One that is specifically violent, like something an animal would do and not a civilized human being, can be described as a barbaric crime. Fortunately, the majority of crimes fall in the category of petty crime – minor offenses.

You’ll sometimes see news reports talking about an alleged crime – this is a crime that someone claimed happened, but it is not yet confirmed or proven.

Like our recent lessons on medicine and law, the area of finance also has a ton of technical and industry-specific vocabulary. In this lesson, you’ll learn terms that are still useful and common when discussing personal finance.

We’ll start with some good financial practices. The most important thing is to live within your means (spend an appropriate amount based on your income). If you are a spendthrift, someone who spends money carelessly and wastefully, you might spend more than you have in your bank account – and then you’ll get hit with an overdraft fee (an amount of money you pay as a penalty for spending with a check or debit card when there’s not enough in your account).

Let’s get started with some financial and economic collocations!

If you have a meager income, it means the amount of money you’re getting is small. You should look for a job with a more competitive salary, meaning a salary that’s on the higher end for that position.

Let’s learn some more advanced vocabulary in the area of learning, specifically academic study.

Many countries have compulsory education, meaning it is required for children to be in school until a certain age. It is important for people to be literate, meaning they can read and write (the opposite is illiterate).

In today's collocations lesson, we're going to draw from the Academic Collocation List - this is a list of almost 2500 of the most frequent collocations that occur in written academic English. You'll learn a selection of them in this lesson, and if you'd like to boost your academic vocabulary even more, I'll put a link to the full list in the lesson text.

You might begin a paper with a brief overview (a quick summary) of the background or history of a topic – you’ll want to draw from those who have conducted research (done research) in this area before. If the background information isn’t readily accessible (easy to access), this could pose a challenge to your work.

Are you ready for a vacation? A trip can help you unwind (relax from stress or tension) and recharge (get your energy back). Everyone needs time for a little R&R (rest and relaxation). Let’s plan your itinerary – that’s the plan/schedule of activities on a trip.

Now let’s learn collocations with some key words in the area of travel. You can have a memorable/unforgettable trip, meaning one that you’ll remember it for a long time; it’s impossible to forget. This could be for good reasons or bad reasons!

A trip can be memorable because it was a nightmarish/horrendous trip – one that was incredibly bad. Maybe you’d intended to take a leisurely trip across Europe (one that is slow and not rushed), but you had to cut your trip short (stop it before it was finished) due to a health problem.

Ready to have some fun? Today’s lesson focuses on vocabulary for holidays and celebrations. We’ll start by clarifying the difference between celebrate and commemorate.

We celebrate a joyous occasion – one that brings joy/happiness, like the beginning of a new year. The verb commemorate is used when we honor and remember things in the past – these can be positive things (like a country’s independence day) or negative things (like a death or tragedy).

Let’s expand our vocabulary by learning common collocations with words related to traditions and celebrations.

A tradition typically lasts a very long time. We can describe it as a time-honored, long-standing, or enduring tradition if it has been practiced for some time, and we can call it an age-old tradition or an ancient tradition if it has been practiced for hundreds of years.

In this vocabulary lesson we'll learn some more advanced words for talking about entertainment like movies, TV, books, and music. Again, I'm assuming you already know a number of basic words for describing these things, so I won't review those - instead I'll give you some more advanced options.

There are so many elements that go into a well-crafted story - one that is created and developed with skill. When writing a saga (a long story that often spans many years/characters), the author or director will need to bring together lots of different story lines / narrative threads (these are different aspects of the story) in order to have provide a sense of closure by the end of the movie/book (satisfying feeling of conclusion).

Hi there! Now it’s time to learn some collocations involving books, movies, and stories in general.

Some books and movies are more character-driven, meaning the interest comes mainly from the development of the characters; others are more plot-driven, meaning the interest comes more from events/actions in the story.

Today’s vocabulary lesson focuses on words in the area of rules and permission – as well as breaking the rules and doing what’s not permitted!

Different cultures and religions have different ideas of what is permissible (allowed, permitted). The traditions and texts stipulate (say specifically) the guidelines for good conduct.

Let’s explore some collocations on the topic of rules, obedience, permission, and control. We’ll start with the word “rule.”

You might hear people talking about ground rules – these are the basic procedures or guidelines that are expected to be followed. They are often not “official” written rules, but rather commonly accepted practices.

The cardinal rule is the one that’s the most important. A store owner, while training their employees, might tell them “the cardinal rule is always to make the customer happy” – meaning this is the rule they should make their highest priority, above any other rules.

Unfortunately conflict is something we all have to deal with – and today, you’ll learn some new vocabulary for talking about it.

You already know the words argue and argument for a verbal conflict, but another word for this is a quarrel – this can be a noun or a verb. My neighbor and I have a quarrel about the property line; the kids are quarreling about whose turn it is to play with the toy.

Let’s learn some collocations on this topic of conflict and resolution.

We’ll begin with armed conflict – conflict with weapons. We hope countries would do everything in their power to avert conflict (avoid it), but unfortunately conflict arises (appears) for many reasons.

Today we’ll look at some interesting vocabulary around the concepts of time and space – giving you more options than just the basic words.

When something is long in duration, we can also describe it as lengthy. Someone could give a lengthy speech, or write a lengthy essay. When it goes beyond a “standard” length of time and begins taking excessively long, we can say it’s protracted or drawn-out – let’s say you’re trying to buy a house and negotiating with the seller, but instead of a couple weeks, it’s taking months and months – you could say the process is protracted/drawn-out.

Now let’s learn common collocations around these concepts of time and space.

If you have a lot of time on your hands (time available, free from responsibility), it can be easy to idle/fritter away the time – meaning to spend it doing small, insignificant things. Before you know it, lots of time has elapsed – this means the time has passed.

In this lesson and the next one, we’ll learn both vocabulary and collocations together – first words and expressions focusing on positive things, then words and expressions for talking about negative things.

Do you know anybody who is really poised? This means they give off a sense of calm and dignified self-confidence.

Another type of person that’s nice to be around is someone that’s upbeat – meaning they tend to be cheerful and focus on the positive. People like this are often gregarious, meaning they are extroverted and love to be in social situations, interacting with other people.

Yesterday’s lesson was super positive; this one is more of a downer. A downer is something that makes you sadder or makes the mood more negative.

One example of a person that tends to be a downer is a killjoy – someone who spoils other people’s fun and enthusiasm. If you’re planning an exciting camping trip, a killjoy might point out all the dangerous possibilities. This type of person can be completely insufferable – impossible to tolerate!

Hi students! Today's vocabulary lesson will focus on powerful nouns. I thought it would be interesting to go in alphabetical order, starting with the letter A, and learning an advanced noun starting with each letter.

Our first noun is accomplice. This is a person who helps someone else commit a crime, or who participates in the crime without being the main person. For example, a thief may rob a bank, and his accomplice drives the getaway car. There are legal penalties and punishments for being an accomplice even though you didn't do the main criminal action.

Today we’ll do another vocabulary lesson, this time focusing on compound nouns – when two nouns are put together into a single term. These can be one word (like haircut), a hyphenated word (like self-control), or two words (like washing machine). There’s no rule for that, unfortunately; you just need to remember the format of each compound noun individually.

But today all our vocabulary falls into the category of one-word compound nouns. There are a ton of these in English, and if you’d like to learn even more, I’ll include links at the end of the lesson text.

In today’s collocations lesson, we’ll learn a number of adjectives and nouns that often go together. I want to help you avoid unnatural-sounding mistakes – for example, we always say “great/deep pride” and never “big/large pride.” And you’ll also learn some new terms that might not be obvious from the individual words.

Do you know anyone who’s a heavy smoker or a heavy drinker – meaning they smoke and drink alcohol a LOT. Let’s say your cousin is a heavy drinker, and one day he crashes his car on a back road – this refers to a road that is not a main road; back roads are often narrow and the speed limit is lower.

Today's lesson will focus on verbs! Again we'll go through the alphabet from A to Z and learn a verb starting with each letter, with some examples and illustrations.

Our "A" verb is aspire. This is different from inspire, although both are very positive verbs. If something inspires you, it means it encourages you and fills you with good emotions and creativity. If you aspire to be something or aspire to achieve a goal, it means you have a strong hope or ambition to do that thing. I've always aspired to run my own business because I didn't want to work for someone else.

For B we have the verb brood. To brood means to think a lot about a topic, and focus your attention on it, in a serious way and like you’re in a bad mood while thinking about it.

Today let’s learn some common combinations of adverbs and verbs. A lot of these are probably words you already know, but I want to make sure you’re putting them together in natural and commonly-used ways.

Before we get started, I wanted to address the issue of word order – should the adverb or the verb come first? Should you say “I wholeheartedly agree” or “I agree wholeheartedly”? This expression means you agree completely, with 100% of your emotion and support. In this case, both ways are fine and both ways sound natural.

Let’s do another collocations lesson, this time focusing on adverbs and adjectives that go together nicely and naturally.

Adverbs often intensify the adjective; for example, saying “I’m deeply offended” means “I’m extremely offended” – but not all adverbs can go together with all adjectives. We can say:

· “I’m deeply/terribly sorry”

· Not “I’m greatly/horribly sorry” – those just don’t sound natural.

One of the most interesting things about languages is how they mix and borrow from one another. Throughout its history, English has absorbed a lot of words from other languages - and we're going to learn some of these in today's vocabulary lesson.

Some of these borrowed words stay pretty much the same when they are incorporated into English - like quiche, from French, referring to a type of savory pie that’s often made with eggs, cheese, or vegetables.

One of the most frustrating aspects of English is the many confusing words that look or sound similar (or even identical!) but mean different things.

Today we’re going to focus on homophones – words that sound exactly the same, but they’re spelled differently and they have different meanings – like meat and meet.

I’m going to run through about 20 pairs of homophones pretty quickly – I’ll define each word and show you a picture or example sentence where it would be helpful. You’ll likely find that you’ll tend know one of the words, usually the more common one, but the other one might be new to you, so it’ll definitely expand your vocabulary.

Hello and welcome to the final day of our course! It’s a vocabulary lesson, and this time we’re going to learn a number of words that look the same – they’re spelled the same – but they can be pronounced differently.

A common example of this is the verb close as in “close the door” and the adjective close as in the opposite of far. Or desert meaning an area of land with little vegetation, typically hot and full of sand, and desert meaning to abandon – there the difference is in the word stress.

There are lots of these in English, but I’ve selected some of the most interesting ones, and hopefully this will help you understand some of the finer points of how to use each version of the word.

Some of these words have very closely related meanings, and the difference is in the grammar.