1- 6 minute vocabulary

Vocabulary points to take away

-ee
Creates a noun meaning 'person who receives an action'.

Example words: interviewee, trainee, employee, refugee, absentee

Example sentence: My company has six thousand employees.

-able
Creates an adjective meaning that the subject can do something OR that
something can be done to it.

Example words: excitable, employable, pleasurable, enjoyable, loveable,

readable, breakable, moveable

Example sentence: I didn’t like his last book – it wasn’t very readable.

-ible
A different spelling of -able.

Example words: responsible, visible, horrible, terrible

Example sentence: Stars are only visible at night.

-ness
Creates a noun which describes a quality or state.

Example words: happiness, nervousness, politeness, sadness, sickness,

kindness, meaninglessness

Example sentence: He missed two days of work because of sickness.

2- 6 minute vocabulary
Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe nouns.

scruffy
not neat or clean

Example: He's wearing a scruffy old t-shirt.

casual
informal and comfortable

Example: I like to wear casual clothes when I'm relaxing at home.

smart
neat and stylish

Example: Stuart looks very smart in his new shirt and tie.

formal
serious, important clothes for special events, for example, weddings

Example: You must wear a formal suit for the interview.

fashionable
new and popular

Example: Stripy trousers were fashionable a few years ago.

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that describe verbs.

scruffily

He dressed scruffily in an old t-shirt.

casually

I dress casually when I relax at home.

smartly

Dave's smartly dressed today in a new shirt and tie.

formally

Everyone will dress formally at the wedding.

fashionably

Sarah was fashionably dressed in a blue coat.

 binomials are short English phrases made of two words that go together – and the
two words are often joined with and. Like aches and pains. Which means: general
pains in the body, that usually aren’t serious.

 We have to change the engine oil.

 We’ve got to change the engine oil

 . Got to change the oil.

 Gotta change the engine oil.

he main difference is that –ing adjectives are usually used to talk about
the person, place or thing that is making us feel a certain way:

 Yawn! This lecture is really boring!

But –ed adjectives are used to talk about how we feel:

 I’ve been listening to him for hours – I’m so bored.

Be careful: If you say I am boring – it’s grammatically correct, but it means

that you make other people feel bored!

Here are some common pairs of -ed and -ing adjectives:

1) exciting and excited

We have seen some exciting developments in technology recently.

We are excited about our new range of smartphones.

2) surprising and surprised

It is surprising how little we know about our oceans.

My whole family was there for my party – I was so surprised!

3) annoying and annoyed

I hate popup adverts on the internet – they’re annoying!

I’m sorry, I know you’re annoyed – I won’t make that mistake again!

4) relaxing and relaxed

Some people find listening to classical music very relaxing.

Doing yoga makes me feel more relaxed.

5) confusing and confused

I couldn’t understand the story in that film – it was too confusing.

If too many people are talking at the same time, I get confused.

Compound adj

And that's our first example of a compound adjective. It's made with a
number, like seventy, and a noun, like second. Seventy-second. We put
seventy-second in front of another noun, like lap, making a compound
adjective which describes a noun. A seventy-second lap.

So the number four, with the noun kilometre, go together to make an

adjective: four-kilometre. And take note: there's no s at the end of kilometre.

Catherine
That's right: there's no s because the word kilometre functions as an
adjective here - and we can't make adjectives plural. The adjective four-
kilometre describes the noun course. A four-kilometre course.

now for a punctuation note. When you write a number-noun compound

adjective, you need to join the two parts together with a hyphen - a little
horizontal line between the two words

So, as well as using numbers, we can also make compound adjectives with
the words high or low plus a noun.

a or an means one person or thing.

We use a or an:

1) before singular nouns: I've been to a concert. We had a great day and we
saw an elephant.

2) before the name of a job: My sister wants to be an engineer.

Articles and adjectives

Adjectives go between a or an and the noun: What a great place this
is! I went on an amazing trip.
A or an?
Use a before consonant sounds: a chair, a horse, a laptop
This includes letters u or eu when they are pronounced y (/j/): a university, a
euro

Use an before vowel sounds. These words usually start with a, e, i, o, u: an

architect, an idea, an umbrella

Also use an with words that start with the letter h when the h is not
pronounced: an hour, an honour

We use the:

1) Before singular nouns that we have already mentioned with a/an:

We saw an elephant. The elephant was standing under some trees.

2) Before singular, plural or uncountable nouns when we say exactly

which person or thing we mean:

I love the coffee shop in George Street.

The people in my new office are really nice.

Where's the brown sugar?

BUT: We don't use the before plural and uncountable nouns when we are
talking about things in general:

Children need plenty of exercise and fresh air. (children in general; exercise
in general; fresh air in general)

Sugar isn't very good for you. (sugar in general)

3) We also use the before singular, plural or uncountable nouns when it is

clear which person or thing we mean:

I'm going to the supermarket. (the one we always go to)

The children are upstairs. (our children)

Could you shut the door? (the door of this room)

4) We also use the before singular nouns when there is only one of the
noun:

The sun is shining and there aren't any clouds in the sky.
ike, love, prefer and hate – can be followed by a gerund or infinitive without any
change in meaning

Vocabulary points to take away

Adjective order can be tricky, so it's useful to note down some examples.
Writing adjectives before a noun, separated by categories, can be a good way
to help you to remember the order. Here are some examples:

Size - age - colour - material:

A big old red leather sofa

Opinion - colour - material:

Some lovely pink and white silk curtains

Size - age - quality:

A big old smelly dog

We can put 'but' between adjectives when they seem a bit unusual next to
each other. Like small, but meaningful.

We usually use 'high' for things that are wider than their vertical height, for
example, high mountains or a high wall. And we use 'tall' for things that are
narrower than their vertical height, like people or trees.

Rob
Or buildings - as we heard just now. Buildings with many floors often have
greater height than width, like the Burj Khalifa.

Sophie
That's right. But we can also talk about 'high buildings': Sherlock Holmes fell
from the top of a high building.

Rob
Context is always important for choosing the right word. We use 'high' in this
sentence because it's the position of the top of the building that's important -
not the building as a whole.

Sophie
Great explanation, Sherlock. Another example?

Rob
OK. 'Big' and 'large'. These words both mean something that is more than
average size. In general, we use 'big' more often than 'large' - and we use it to
talk about real things, like 'big cities', and abstract things, like 'big ideas'.

Sophie
What's your big idea for today, Rob?

Rob
Well, my big idea of the day is world peace. You hear about so much death
and destruction in the news I really think that world peace is what we should
be aiming for.
Sophie
Well, that is a big idea - big because unfortunately it's quite an abstract idea,
which is why we say big idea and not large idea. So, when do we use large?

Rob
OK, well, we use 'large' when we want to sound more formal, for
example, Dubai has the largest population in the United Arab Emirates.

Sophie
We also use 'large' in some fixed expressions. Jon talks about Dubai having 'a
large number of construction projects' in progress.

IDENT
6 Minute Vocabulary from bbclearningenglish.com.

Rob
And we're talking about similar words. Now let's hear today's words again.

Sophie
Big and large. Meaning more than average size.

Rob
'Big' for real and abstract things: big city, big house, big decision, big ideas.
'Large' for real things with a more formal tone: a large population, a large
number of projects, a large amount of money.

classic
a very good, or well-known, example of a category

classical
a well-known type of formal music

historic
very important for a lot of people; it will be remembered for a long time

historical
connected to stories about the past

economic
connected to economics, the study of money and finance

economical
cheap; good value for money