Shadowing Practice: Strong English Words You Should Be Using - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I have been asked so many times to make a video just like this one.
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In today's lesson, I'm going to teach you the vocabulary
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that you can use to replace the words that you first learned in the English classroom.
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There's nothing wrong with those words but they're very general
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and basic and it does help to expand your vocabulary in order to sound more intelligent and sophisticated while expressing your ideas.
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These words are definitely the ones you use in everyday conversations
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or in the workplace they can come off as way more professional
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when you are able to use these words correctly i'll teach you exactly how to do
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that in this lesson make sure to visit me at englishwithkayla.com
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where i kayla can be your english teacher there you can
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join my monthly membership have access to the community to the quizzes
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and challenges that go along with every lesson every week let's get started with these 30 words
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that will really help you upgrade your english happy happy happy well let's go beyond happy let's go
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and talk about some more emotion words
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that can help you successfully describe your emotions without again just using the basic general words everyone knows of course
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if you want to say you're extremely happy you can say
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you are thrilled yes i'm thrilled i was thrilled with the
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results of painting the room it looked gorgeous i was thrilled about the job offer
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that i got
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because they offered me a lot of money thrilled again is
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a little bit stronger than just happy it means you're very excited as well
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and we often talk about getting good news we're thrilled to hear the good news
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or we're thrilled to go to an exciting event or vacation
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or whatever it may be if you are pleased
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and very happy you can use the word delighted delightful jenny absolutely delightful
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delighted just the sound of this word is very nice it's delightful it makes you happy
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and it's nice to hear I'm delighted to meet you that's
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a very sophisticated phrase instead of just saying I'm very happy to meet you
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or it's nice to meet you it's delightful to meet you delighted is slightly more formal
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and slightly more positive than just saying happy let's move on to some more negative words.
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The first one being devastated.
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Money penny, I'm devastated.
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If you are very sad, heartbroken almost, you can say I'm devastated.
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I'm devastated to hear of their passing away.
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This means their death.
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Or if you lost your job, you could say I'm completely devastated about losing my job.
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You would not use this on your everyday, you know, small disappointments like I'm devastated.
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My coffee is cold.
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Unless you're trying to be extremely dramatic, you are talking about death or just really terrible news if you say you are devastated.
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Instead of saying annoyed, you can say you are frustrated.
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Frustrated.
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I'm frustrated.
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One thing that's interesting is I hear some native English speakers say frustrated.
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You need to get the R in there.
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Frustrated.
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Frustrated.
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It can be really frustrating when people are late because you want to get started.
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You could say I'm kind of frustrated with you because you're always late.
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It just expresses that you are annoyed, maybe in a slightly more polite way.
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Or a lot of times when our technology is not working correctly, we can say, I'm so frustrated with my computer right now.
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It just means it's going slow or not working in the way that you want it to work.
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One word that's common but not used enough by English learners is relieved.
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Relieved.
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But I gotta tell you, I am a little relieved.
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Relieved?
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If we are happy that something is over, we can say, I am so relieved that that is over.
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It means your stress is over and you're not as worried anymore.
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You feel happy or you feel good now.
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I'm relieved.
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If someone was sick and they went to the hospital
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and the doctor gave you good news that everything is going to be okay, you could say, I was so relieved to hear the good news from the doctor.
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One specific word that I teach English learners all the time is to say they are overwhelmed.
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Pretty overwhelming.
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Instead of saying I'm stressed out or, you know, I'm worried, you can say I'm just kind of overwhelmed right now.
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It's a little bit softer than saying I'm so stressed.
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It just means I have a lot of things to handle and to worry about at one time.
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I'm a bit overwhelmed.
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Many English learners use the word nervous all of the time, but you can also say I'm anxious.
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We're anxious to try it.
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I'm a little bit anxious about my job interview tomorrow, or I'm anxious about the presentation that I have to give.
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It's probably a little bit softer than nervous, and it's a bit more precise.
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You're talking about something specifically that you're worried about.
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Now, when we say I have anxiety, we're talking about more of a disorder there
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that maybe you need to talk to a therapist about
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or take medication for but
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if we just say i am anxious right now about something we're not saying
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that it's a health problem or mental health problem a really great way to reassure someone
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that you can do something instead of just saying i i
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can do it i'm sure of it is to say i am confident
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but i'm confident we could overcome it i am confident in my abilities
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or i just feel confident about doing this for you whatever it might be it shows
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that you are very secure and you do believe in yourself
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if you say that you are confident it can often be seen as a compliment to say
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that you are very confident just in general means you you know you're always believing in yourself
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and you always have the ability to do something
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and people trust you because of your confidence
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that you show you don't show a lot of doubt in yourself
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if you're confident a great way to say that you don't believe someone
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or that you you don't believe someone fully is to say I'm skeptical.
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You sound skeptical.
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I don't know.
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I'm a little bit skeptical that you can get all of this done in one day.
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This means I don't believe you and I don't trust you, but it's not as offensive as saying I don't trust you.
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I'm just a little bit skeptical here.
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So you can use this in a softer way rather than saying I don't believe you or I don't trust you.
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If you're doubting whether or not something that someone is saying
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is accurate or true you could say I'm a little bit skeptical I might have to look up
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that information myself if you want to say
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that someone is very excited about something
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or very interested about a topic you can say they are
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very enthusiastic about it you're obsessively enthusiastic about it I am
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so enthusiastic about teaching English I really enjoy it I'm excited
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about the topic I'm really excited to help English learners grow the vocabulary I'm just enthusiastic
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I love teaching students who are also enthusiastic about learning, meaning they're very interested and they're very excited.
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You can use this word enthusiastic to replace excited because it's a bit overused,
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especially if you're in a professional context and you want to say that you're excited or you're, you know, interested in something.
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It's professional English.
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If you want a more precise way to say that somebody wants to be successful, you can use the word ambitious.
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That's ambitious.
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They are very ambitious.
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This means they work hard and they have big goals that they are actually trying to achieve.
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They are ambitious.
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If you want to describe yourself in this way, especially in a job interview or professional environment, you can say, I am ambitious.
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We can use reliable to say
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that someone is trustworthy you can trust them to do something when they say they're going to do something.
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Someone reliable.
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We can also describe technology or cars as being reliable.
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Like we can trust it's going to work.
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It's definitely a very positive thing to describe your co-workers, your friends, or your family as being reliable.
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It means they're very supportive and they will always do exactly as they say they will do or they promise.
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Sometimes in English we use the phrase, we can count on them.
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We can count on them.
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This is kind of like saying they are reliable
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Another word that we can use to replace this is we can say they are dependable She is dependable, trustworthy, loyal Dependable.
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I can always depend on this person.
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They are very dependable I would say that native speakers almost interchangeably use reliable and dependable Again, if you have a car that always works,
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it never has problems You could say it's a very dependable car Charismatic Yeah, he's charismatic.
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If someone has one of those personalities where they're always very funny, they're always very kind, you know, everyone kind of likes them,
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they're probably more outgoing, we describe them as charismatic.
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Another slang word that we have for this is riz.
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That's where riz comes from, charismatic.
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It just means someone is very likable and they're very talkative and social as well.
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Resilient.
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She is resilient.
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Oftentimes people say that children are very resilient.
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This means that even if they have very negative things or challenging things,
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they are able to overcome those difficult things in life and still work their hardest and try to be a good person.
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So if you are resilient, it means that even if you have a challenge, you will not give up.
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Genuine.
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Real genuine guy.
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Who is he?
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If someone is being very genuine,
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we mean that they are telling the truth or they are truly trying to be kind and they are just being themselves.
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They're not putting on an act or acting different than they actually are.
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A lot of times we say that politicians are not genuine.
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They do not genuinely want to help people.
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This means that we don't believe them.
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We don't believe that this is their real motive.
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But sometimes we say this person is genuinely so nice.
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This means that there's a real personality.
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They are genuine in the way that they help people and treat people.
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Another really positive characteristic that you can describe someone as is humble.
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She's kind.
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She's humble.
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If someone is humble, they don't like to brag.
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They don't think that they're better than other people they're very down to earth that's a phrase
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that we use if we want to describe someone
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that is humble we say that people who are very rich
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but they still drive you know very modest cars they're not
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trying to show off their wealth they're being very humble
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so it's seen as a compliment to call someone humble it means you know they're just being respectful
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and they're not trying to flaunt what they have
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if you want to describe someone's ability to think about others
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or to think about other people first we can say that they are considerate she's a very considerate person
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he is very considerate of other people's feelings or your call was
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so considerate maybe someone's calls you after you've had a death in the family just to make sure
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that you're okay and you know to give their condolences you could say
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that was very considerate or thoughtful of you another word
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that means that someone will not give up
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but definitely isn't seen always as super positive is to say
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that they are persistent she was persistent yes she is
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so persistent she keeps trying to sell me this this means she keeps asking
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and she keeps trying to convince you to buy whatever she's selling
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so it can see be seen as kind of a negative thing
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if you say they're so persistent like they won't stop asking
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or you could say oh they're
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so persistent they won't give up on their dream this means they won't give up
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so it can be seen as negative or positive a word
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that is similar to persistent is determined he is just determined
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now determined is talking more about someone's mindset of not giving up like
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if you say i am determined to reach my goal you mean
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that you are thinking about the goal in mind maybe you're
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determined to graduate from college it means in your mind nothing
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will stop you you will not give up let's talk about some words
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that will help you in business in the workplace the first one is efficient wow she is efficient efficient
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If you want to say that someone does not waste time, they get things done very quickly, you can say they work very efficiently or they are so efficient at their work.
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It's seen as a very positive thing to call someone efficient or a process in your work as efficient.
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It means that there's no waste and there's no wasted time.
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If you are doing something at work that's either wasting money
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or it's wasting time or it's way too much effort for the product at the end,
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you can say this work is inefficient or it is not efficient to do it this way.
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One thing in English and in the United States we talk about all the time is being productive.
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Very productive.
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If you are productive, it means you are getting things done and you are getting important work done if you're productive.
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So if you are scrolling on your phone, you are not being productive.
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You're not really learning much.
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You're not getting anything done.
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If you make a to-do list and at the end of the day, everything is crossed off to-do list, you could say today was a very productive day.
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Instead of saying busy, productive is seen as a very positive thing because it means you're getting important work done.
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If we want to say that someone is practical, it's practically by idea.
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It can be seen as a positive thing.
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It means, you know, they make decisions in life based on what they think will
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actually work what most people think would work they do research
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on everything they don't come up with these grandiose plans these big things
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that might happen but it would be a lot of work
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or it would be a lot of luck involved in happening
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so someone just very practical makes practical decisions every day they do a lot of research
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and they don't just jump all over the place they do things
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that make sense another compliment that you can give to someone is to say
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that they are very strategic you think the timing is strategic this means
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that all of their decisions and all of their actions are working towards a bigot plan
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so you could say you know we had a lot of strategic decisions here strategic decisions mean you have decisions
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that align with your goals
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and align with your plans you put a lot of thought into them
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if they are strategic it's stronger and more professional to say
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that something is innovative so fresh so innovative you could say a person is innovative
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or a plan or a product it just means it is very creative it's new
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but it's not just new it's a new idea it's different than anything
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that has already existed some people would consider steve jobs as one of the most innovative people ever
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because he was constantly trying to think of new ideas
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if you're talking about hiring and recruiting in the workplace
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and in a job you can say
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that someone is very qualified she's the most qualified when we say
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that someone is qualified it means they have the right experience
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and the right knowledge to do the job
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if you want to tell someone
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that you have the right experience you can say i'm very
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qualified for this job meaning you would be good at the job
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because of things
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that you have done for work in the past let's talk about being competent versus incompetent it's just
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so damn competent
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if someone is competent it means they know what they're doing they have the correct skills
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and you can insult someone by saying they are incompetent meaning they don't know what they're doing
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and they don't have the right skills to do a job
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so competent it's not necessarily a compliment it's just saying you
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know you're doing what you need to do in order to
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do the job like they're competent you could say they're very competent don't worry about them
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that would be more of a compliment here it would be you know you're more confident in their abilities
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but just saying competent it just means they know what they're doing they can do the job okay
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if you want to say that someone
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or something is important in the workplace you can say it is valuable
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or this person is very valuable to the company he is
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going to be most valuable this just means they're important it would be difficult to lose this person
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or to lose this thing if someone gives you feedback on your presentation
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or on your ideas
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and they you know give you some good things to think about you can say
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that was really valuable feedback this would be a really professional phrase to use
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and in the workplace instead of saying
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that something works well you can say it was very effective
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it's addictive effective no it's effectively stupid this plan is very effective
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or you can say her skills in this area are very
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effective she can really get things done another great adjective to
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use in a professional workplace is proactive short-sighted this guy initiates he's proactive
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if you want to say that someone takes action either before they're told to do it
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or before there's a problem you can say they are proactive it means
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that they don't wait around for people to tell them how
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to do things they get things done without being told
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or they get things done easily before it becomes a big problem
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or piles up for instance someone who always plans ahead you
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would call them proactive they are very proactive at their work
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sometimes in english we use the phrase it's important to be
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proactive rather than reactive meaning we plan ahead rather than waiting for problems to occur
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or waiting for things to happen and then trying to solve them
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if you liked this lesson make sure to check out the next one on screen
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that will also help you expand your vocabulary i'm
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so proud of you for studying with me today
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and i want you to study more with me at englishwithkayla.com
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make sure you visit me there to see my community you can join my monthly membership
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and i can help you by giving you weekly challenges
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and notes that will help you in these lessons thanks again so much for watching goodbye
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About This Lesson
You're practicing English with "Strong English Words You Should Be Using" using the Shadowing technique — a method originally developed for professional interpreter training.
Focus on sounding like the speaker — not just repeating words. With 15–30 minutes of daily practice, you'll build real-world speaking confidence.
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.