Vocabulary Hack: Sound smarter and avoid mistakes

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid, and this lesson is a vocabulary hack. What does that mean? It means that this lesson will allow you to learn something to do with vocabulary very quickly, and also will enable you to improve your vocabulary tremendously with just this one little trick. Okay? Now, what does it have to do with? It has to do with something called "Compound Adjectives". Now, that doesn't sound very exciting, but it is actually really exciting. Let me show you what it is and how to do it. Okay? How to use it.

So, first of all, what's an adjective? An adjective is a word that describes, usually, a noun. For example, if we say: "He is a tall man", "tall" describes the man, so "tall" is the adjective. "It's a sunny day", "sunny" is the adjective. Right? "We had a big party", "big" is the adjective. So that's an adjective by itself. Now, what does the word "compound" mean? "Compound" means more than one. So when we have compound adjectives we have two or more words that are used together, but kind of as one unit, to describe a noun. All right? Let's see how it works.

Now, for example, before I show you this, let me give you two sentences. So sometimes people write like this or speak like this: "Tom Cruise is an actor. He is well-known." Now, these are two simple sentences, but it's kind of a very basic way to speak. So if you want to speak more formally, or more academically, or more professionally, then you could take those two sentences and make them into one sentence. For example, you could say... Instead of saying that: "Tom Cruise is an actor. He is well-known", you could say: "Tom Cruise is a well-known actor." Now, when we use "well-known" like this, we have to hyphenate it. We put that little dash in the middle, that's called a hyphen, and then this becomes a compound adjective which describes the word "actor".

Let's take another example: "We decided to go to New York at the last minute." Okay? Or I could say: "We made a last-minute decision to go to New York." Now, the second way is a little bit higher English, more advanced English. All right? "Last-minute" in this case is the compound adjective, which remember is connected with a dash or a hyphen.

The third example: "They live in a country where people speak English." We could say that, but it is better and more advanced to say: "They live in an English-speaking country.", "English-speaking" is the compound adjective. All right.

The last one here, okay: "The city had so much rain that it broke all previous records." Okay? Or we could say: "The city had" or "The city received record-breaking rainfall." Okay? So, again, "record-breaking" is the compound adjective here.

All right. Now, just to show you how important it is for you not to forget the hyphen, let's look at these two sentences. Now, the first one says: "I saw a man eating tiger." Now, what does that mean? Well, let's see if there's any difference between that one and the second one. "I saw a man-eating tiger." Any difference? All right, so there is a difference, there is a big difference, especially for the man. All right. "I saw a man", so this is like the man, and he was eating tiger. He was eating some tiger meat. Okay? The man was eating the tiger. But in this one: "I saw a man-eating tiger", "man-eating" is an adjective which describes the tiger. That means the tiger is the kind of tiger that eats people, and that's called man-eating. So, the meaning is completely different when you add the hyphen, so don't forget to add that. All right.

Now, this is another very important thing to remember when you're doing... Or using compound adjectives, and that's when you use compound adjectives that have numbers. This is such a common mistake, even at advanced levels. But now that you're watching this video, you have a chance to get rid of this mistake forever. And if you don't make this mistake, you will get a much higher score-I assure you-on your... Any exam and also when you apply for a job, or when you're looking for a promotion because this is a very sophisticated thing to correct. It's an advanced correction, but it's a really easy correction, and that's why this is a vocabulary hack. Remember? Okay.

[melekasci]

I have watched lots of your videos, and I have to tell you, you are such a good teacher who can give great information. Please keep the good work up.

[infocosmetica]

I would like to face people who don't like your classes. This is such a difficult world! I can only thank you!

[gafarioketokoun]

I just want to say thank you so much Rebecca.
Since I started washing your videos my life has been changing little by little. I'm getting confident in myself

[robinjoy]

excellent Rebecca.. To score high, I purposefully used 1-2 compound adjectives this time during my writing test and i got 7.. thank you so much.. please upload more videos with similar techniques to score high..

[leonardogarrido]

I like how she gives simple and easy samples to understand. But her level of professionalism to do it awes me.

[baikaldovdon]

Your teaching method is incredible, Thanks a lot,

[ajghai]

your way of teaching is .. like I have no words .. so generous.. you're Ms. Rabecca .. your videos are really worthy for me ... We want more videos from you. .. :)

[eiffeldiaz]

I really love watching this video...
I live in Dominican Republic and I've learned a lot of things by watching engvid.

[gafarioketokoun]

I just want to say thank you Rebecca so much.
Since I started washing your videos my life has been changing. Little by little my getting confident on myself

[veronicasecuya]

Everyday I learn many lessons from you Madame Rebecca.Thank you so much for loading this lessons my great teacher ever.

[fabioosorio]

Hola profesora Rebeca. Gracias por todo ese invaluable esfuerzo que hace, preparar las mejores, prácticas y entendibles lecciones . Nos beneficiamos mucho de su trabajo . Dios le de larga vida . Saludos Fabio de Colombia s.a

[margielopez]

She is a great teacher! I love all her lessons. ❤️

[KamalAsasi]

I am excited when I watch your video, dear Rebecca. They are rich-in-content lectures. Thank you.

[codefordev]

What a wonderful technique, I really appreciate you for such a tremendous teaching methodology...I never read this kind of simple and effective technique to learn English.

[АлександрМитин-ця]

It was almost a thirteen-minute lesson. Thank you.

[liudmilashakurova]

Amazing teacher! Thank you for your lessions!

[rubitalunar]

I like that you are teaching very clear and easy! Thank you Rebecca!

[oindigenous]

Hello from a fan from Guatemala, thank you for everything you’re doing for us as English learners.
Your videos are very helpful and I would love if you would upload these videos to iTunes podcasts that would be very helpful.

[НикаГорохова-ъъ]

Rebecca, you are such a smart person) your explanation is fantastic, thanks a lot!

[marggyjohns]

The more I attend your lessons the more I improve. It was a 12 minute lesson 😊