Shadowing Practice: English Vocabulary to Describe Everyday Objects! - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hi guys!

In this video we're going to look at words to describe everyday objects.

Some of these words are nouns and some are adjectives.

And because my viewers have different levels,

some of them are rather simple and some are quite advanced.

As usual, if you would like to subscribe to my free advanced English email lessons, you'll find the link in the description.

In the description you'll also find the link to my course on common mistakes.

You can receive my special discount for that if you follow that link.

First we have a couple of cushions.

Remember that there's a difference between pillow and cushion.

This is a pillow.

It's something that you sleep on.

A cushion is normally something that's decorative.

They come in all different shapes and sizes.

They can be much smaller than this or much bigger than this.

And they're not necessarily square.

This is square-shaped.

This material here looks like suede.

Suede is leather that's not smooth and shiny.

If something is shiny, it means it reflects the light.

So this isn't real suede.

This is what we call faux suede.

Yes, that word is pronounced faux.

It comes from French.

In English, faux means not real or fake.

It's something that's made to look real.

So this is made to look like suede, but it isn't.

It's faux suede.

The surface is soft, but you can also say that this is soft because it changes shape easily.

Yes, soft has a few meanings.

Here we have another cushion.

This is also nice and soft.

And you could say that this material is fluffy.

This is fluffy material.

Frank is also fluffy, but I wouldn't call Frank an object.

Frank is Frank.

And here we have a remote control.

This is the remote control for my reverse cycle air conditioner.

A reverse cycle air conditioner is one that can cool a room and also heat a room,

so you can use it in summer and winter.

Anyway, this remote control has various buttons.

These are buttons.

And a little screen.

It's plastic and it's smooth.

We would say that this is rectangular.

It's not technically a rectangular prism because this part here is curved.

A rectangular prism, strictly speaking, is a three-dimensional object with six faces that are rectangles.

This tissue box is closer to a rectangular prism.

Now this is made of cardboard.

Cardboard is similar to paper, it's just thicker.

You could also say that this is smooth and that it's colourful.

Colourful means with lots of colours.

Now we have a pen.

This is just a regular ballpoint pen.

It's called a ballpoint pen because there's a very small ball in the tip.

The tip is the very end of it.

This here is the lid.

Some people would call this a cap, but I call this a lid.

You could say either.

Um, now this is hard.

I mean, it's not soft.

If you bend it, it will break.

There's an example of the conditional.

If you bend it, it will break.

What else?

Oh yes, this dark bit here, That's the ink.

Ink.

So the ink is the colour that comes out.

Now this is quite thin.

This marker, on the other hand, is rather thick.

So thin and thick.

Here we have a battery.

Battery.

Yes, in the UK and Australia we often don't pronounce the E.

We say battery.

But you can say battery or battery if you want.

Now this is a cylinder.

That's the shape of it.

A cylinder is a shape that has a circle on the bottom and a circle on the top,

which are the same size.

The adjective of cylinder is cylindrical.

I mean, okay, technically there's this little thing on the top, but, you know, Basically.

It's a cylinder and you can say that it's cylindrical.

Cylindrical.

Uh, what else?

Uh, yeah.

I don't actually know what batteries are made of, but the outside, at least, is some type of metal,

so you could say that it's metallic.

Metallic is the adjective of metal.

This here is a diary.

Yes, I still use a paper diary to write down things like appointments.

You could say that this is rectangular, it's smooth...

It's quite smooth.

It's shiny and it has a little ribbon.

This thing here is a ribbon.

You can use the ribbon as a bookmark in the diary.

This bowl is made of chocolate.

Here we have a bowl.

A bowl.

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This bowl is made of china.

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China is the material that it's made of.

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This bowl is very smooth and shiny.

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It's round because it has a.. well, because the top is a circle.

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And it's also hollow.

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That means that you can put things in it.

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There's lots of space inside.

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I'd also say that this is fragile or a bit fragile.

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If I dropped it on tiles, for example, it would probably break.

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That's an example of the second conditional.

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If I dropped it on tiles, it would probably break.

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And now we've come to the most exciting part of the video.

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This is a champagne glass.

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And now that I hold it up to these lights, I realise that it's not totally clean.

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But anyway, this is a champagne glass.

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These tall ones, which are the most common champagne glasses nowadays, are called flutes.

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This is a champagne flute.

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Um...

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This is made of glass.

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It's hollow.

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And because it's made of glass, it's also quite fragile.

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If I dropped it on tiles, it would probably break.

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And now some parts of the glass.

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These words also apply to regular wine glasses.

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This is the base.

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This long, tall part here is called the stem.

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This part is the bowl.

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And the very top part is called the rim.

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Rim.

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We use the word rim for top parts of all glasses and bowls and things like that.

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Next we have lip balm.

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Lip balm.

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Now the container is a cylinder.

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Or you could say that it's cylindrical.

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Cylindrical.

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The outside is plastic.

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Well, I think the whole thing is plastic and it's hard.

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You can call this a stick of lip balm,

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but technically stick refers to what's inside.

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The.. the substance inside is a stick of lip balm.

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Um, you can call substances a stick if they're shaped a bit like this and if they're quite firm.

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So if they're not liquidy...

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Now the container is called a tube.

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Lots of medicinal and cosmetic products often come in containers that are called tubes.

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This one has a twist base.

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So if I twist it, the lip balm comes out.

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Um, if that looks a little bit dirty, it's just because I sometimes put it on when I have lipstick on.

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Now we have some lip gloss.

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Lip gloss.

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This lip gloss is also in a tube, but this is a soft tube.

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The lip balm was in a hard tube or a rigid tube.

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Um...

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If it's a soft tube, we actually call it a squeeze tube or a squeezable tube,

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because if you take the lid off and you squeeze it, if you press on it, the product comes out.

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Ooh, like that.

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Now we have some mascara.

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mascara.

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This is a tube of mascara.

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But in reality, lots of people would call this a little bottle.

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So you could say that this is a long, thin bottle of mascara.

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If you you.. take the lid off, you can see the wand.

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This part here is called the wand, just like a magic wand.

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And speaking of bottles, here we have a little spray bottle.

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This is Lens Cleaner.

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You can use this to clean the lenses on your glasses.

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The lenses are these parts here.

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One lens, two lenses.

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The other parts of the glasses, or the other parts altogether, are called the frame.

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Frame.

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Now this is called a spray bottle because if you take the lid off and press on it,

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you spray the liquid.

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And finally we have my laptop case.

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As you can see, this is quite old, but it's still fine, so I'm not going to replace it yet.

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As I said, this is a case, but The word case is quite general.

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It's a container or a cover that protects something.

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This type of laptop case can also be called a sleeve.

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It's quite thin and it's not a bag, So you can call it a sleeve.

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This laptop case has a zip.

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This thing here is a zip.

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You can also call it a zipper.

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Zipper.

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That's it for today, guys.

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I hope you found this educational.

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If you would like to practice using some of these words, or if you'd just like to practice your writing,

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go down to the the comments section and describe an object that you use on a regular basis.

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Thanks very much for watching, guys.

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I'll see you next time.

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We often don't pronounce the E.

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36 sentences

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “English Vocabulary to Describe Everyday Objects!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: tube, lip, bowl, soft, word. This video has 187 sentences and 1511 words to shadow. The speech runs for 15:49. The speaker talks slowly, about 96 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 78% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
balm noun	/bɑm/	Any of various aromatic resins exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus Commiphora of Africa, Arabia and India and Myroxylon of South America.
suede noun	/sweɪd/	A type of soft leather, made from calfskin, with a brushed texture to resemble fabric, often used to make boots, clothing and fashion accessories.
cylindrical adjective	/sɪˈlɪndɹɪkəl/	Shaped like a cylinder.
rectangular adjective	/ɹɛkˈtæŋɡjəlɚ/	Having a shape like a rectangle.
cylinder noun	/ˈsɪləndɚ/	A surface created by projecting a closed two-dimensional curve along an axis intersecting the plane of the curve.
lens noun	/lɛnz/	An object, usually made of glass, that focuses or defocuses the light that passes through it.
mascara noun	/ˌmæsˈkæɹə/	A cosmetic used to darken and thicken the eyelashes.
faux adjective	/foʊ/	Fake or artificial.
cushion noun	/ˈkʊʃən/	A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support.
champagne noun	/ʃæmˈpeɪn/	A sparkling white wine made from a blend of grapes, especially Chardonnay and pinot, produced in Champagne, France, by the méthode champenoise.
container noun	/kənˈteɪ.nəɹ/	An item in which objects, materials or data can be stored or transported.
adjective noun	/ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/	A word that modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes a noun’s referent.
gloss noun	/ɡlɔs/	A brief explanatory note or translation of a foreign, archaic, technical, difficult, complex, or uncommon expression, inserted after the original, in the…
prism noun	/ˈpɹɪzəm/	An object having the shape of a geometrical prism (sense 1).
wand noun	/wɑnd/	A hand-held narrow rod, usually used for pointing or instructing, or as a traditional emblem of authority.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
write down verb		To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

It's something that you sleep on.
I mean, it's not soft.
You could say that this is rectangular, it's smooth...
I'll see you next time.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	If you bend it, it will break
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is pronounced · is made · is curved
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group	the most exciting · the most common
Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction	you'll find · you'll also find · will break

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 18 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, don't, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: cushion /ˈkʊʃən/, champagne /ʃæmˈpeɪn/, conditioner /kənˈdɪʃənə/, conditional /kənˈdɪʃ.ə.nəl/, dimensional /daɪˈmɛn.ʃə.nəl/
Long words — get the stress right: cylindrical /sɪˈlɪndɹɪkəl/, rectangular /ɹɛkˈtæŋɡjəlɚ/, technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, conditioner /kənˈdɪʃənə/, conditional /kənˈdɪʃ.ə.nəl/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like balm, suede, cylindrical.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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