Hello to all Vocatic students around the world, it’s time for your first class of advanced English vocabulary. The words we will be learning this week are…
Advanced English Vocabulary – list 1a
- To home in on
- Fleeting
- Ruthless
- Sibling
- Squabble
I think the most interesting word in this list of advanced English vocabulary is ‘fleeting’. But that could be because I’m a bit depressed this week about my love life. It seems to me that love is just a ‘fleeting’ emotion. Well, that was a good clue about the meaning of this word, now you have to download the audio and listen to the class to discover more.
Part 2 of our advanced english vocabulary class
- Foaming babeando – muy enfadado
“He was so angry he was foaming at the mouth.” ‘Foam’ means ‘espuma’ but the expression in the example – ‘foaming at the mouth’ means to be either super angry or super-enthusiastic. Now, I know that every time you have a class you foam at the mouth, don’t you? But is it out of anger or enthusiasm? Use the word: Would you start foaming at the mouth if your teacher gave you a punishment for not doing your homework ?
- Bash golpear
“I’m going to bash your head against the wall.” If I bashed your head against the wall every time you made a mistake you’d probably be very angry… but you wouldn’t make many mistakes. That’s right… ‘bash’ means ‘golpear.’ Use the word: Do you bash your head against the wall when you can’t remember something?
- Spears lanzas
“The war was essentially fought with spears.” Spear – lanza – is one of the oldest weapons known to man and was also a fundamental part of Greek military strategy. I’ll admit that second piece of information probably wasn’t so useful but as you’ll hear in today’s class… everything is Greek. Use the word: Would you prefer to fight with a spear or a sword?
- Slaughtered: matado
“All the animals were slaughtered.” Slaughter – matar – is one of those inherently unpleasant words because it doesn’t just mean ‘to kill’ it has an inherent sense of blood and violence. It is also the technical word for the killing of animals for food. Use the word: Would you still eat meat if you had to slaughter it yourself?
- Tear rasgar, dividir
“Addiction tears families apart.” If you get a piece of paper and you tear it in two, you break it into two parts; you can also tear a muscle or a fabric. The phrasal verb in this case is ‘to tear apart’ – seperar – which is to separate two things that don’t want to be separated. Use the word: What is the Joy Division song “Love will never tear us apart” about?
- Seemingly aparentemente
“The SEAT is seemingly better than the Beatle but it’s not true.” As it sounds, ‘seemingly’ – aparentemente – is related to the word ‘seem’. This is an adverb however and is a great example of one of those words a student might recognise, but not use. Well, that’s not good enough at Ingocio, my friends… you have to learn it and use it. Use the word: Is Spain seemingly hotter than Iceland?
- Gripped absorto, presa de
“Sparta was gripped by constant fear of rebellion at home.” The verb ‘grip’ – agarrar – means to hold something very tight. If an entire country is gripped – as in this case, Sparta – it is as if the whole country is in the hands of a particular force or phenomena. Use the word: Do you get gripped with fear every time you go on a rollercoaster.
- The increasing creciente
“It’s due to the increasing dominance of individualism.” ‘All of our advanced students know that ‘increasing’ is the gerundio of the verb ‘to increase’. However, sometimes it’s also an adjective, as in this case of ‘increasing’ – creciente. Use the word: Does the increasing amount of tension between Iran and the United States surprise you?
