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Today we're going to continue to teach you the best English vocabulary words to know, the most useful.
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We're using the Academic Word List.
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You need to know these words if you're preparing for the IELTS or the TOEFL exam,
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or just even for more sophisticated conversation,
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even if you're not preparing for an exam.
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These words are for intermediate students.
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As we study the words and definitions, we're going to go to Youglish
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so we can see lots of examples of these words being used in real life
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so you can better understand the meaning.
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And don't forget, if you enjoy this video, or learn something new,
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please like it and subscribe with notifications. It means a lot to me.
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These are words you can expect to encounter on a daily basis in everyday life,
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newspapers, on TV, and so on.
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You're going to learn, REALLY LEARN, 5 words today.
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We're pulling words from Band 1 of the Academic Word list, in alphabetical order, this is the second five.
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And we're going to do something important here,
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we're going to give you the definition in English.
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And then you'll hear examples in English.
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So you'll learn this as an English word, not just as a translation of a word in your own language,
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and that will help you to think in English and integrate this word into your use of English.
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Our first word is authority.
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Four syllables, second syllable stress, and we have a Flap T in there.
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Au-thor-ity.
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Let's watch it up-close and in slow motion so we can really study the mouth movement.
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Authority. It's a noun, and it means power.
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The power to give orders, make decisions.
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For example, the owner of company has the authority to hire and fire people.
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The parents have the authority in the family.
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They get to make the decisions.
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We decide when kids go to bed.
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Power. It's also confidence.
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When you know a lot about something, when you're respected in that field, you have authority.
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He's the leading authority on penguins.
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He knows so much about them, we trust what he says about them. He's the leading authority.
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Or you could say, he's an authority on, with the preposition 'on'.
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He's an authority on penguins.
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An authority on penguins.
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He spoke with authority.
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That means, he had confidence that what he was saying
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would be trusted and that everyone would believe and respect these words.
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He said it with authority.
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It's power, it's confidence, but we also use it to refer to people who have authority.
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Have you ever noticed the word 'authority' used in the news?
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Local authorities are investigating the issue.
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This would probably mean police.
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He complained to the authorities about his neighbor's dog.
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Now, let's go to Youglish to look at some more sample sentences.
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He said he has the authority, that is, he has the power to do something.
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The next sentence:
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Is a real authority.
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So, referring to the person.
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He IS an authority in a particular field.
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He is seen as one of the most knowledgeable people in the modern art scene.
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Our next sentence:
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May lack the authority.
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That is, they may lack the power to do something.
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Might want to do something but not be able to do it because of the laws.
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The laws have not given that person or group the power to make that decision, the power to act.
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They may lack authority.
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The next sentence:
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Question authority. Have you heard this before?
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It means to challenge the power of somebody.
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Maybe to break the rules: challenge authority.
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For example, a college professor is giving a lecture.
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She's an authority on the subject.
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A student might say, excuse me, I'm not sure that's right, have you thought about this?
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Questioning authority.
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Some people would never do that, and some people think it's very important to do that.
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Question authority.
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Our next sentence:
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An authority on.
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Confidence, knowledge, believed to know a lot about something, respected in that way.
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An authority on youth culture.
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Knows a lot about that, her opinions and what she says about it is respected.
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Authority.
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I want to take a second to shout-out Cambly who is sponsoring this video.
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I know some of you are here for test prep vocabulary learning.
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Type in the test that you're preparing for and you'll find teachers.
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Check them out, find a teacher to connect with,
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and thank you to Cambly for sponsoring this video.
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Ok, we're going to move on to the next word, that is 'available'.
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And to give you guys a heads up, we're looking at benefit, concept, and consistent next.
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Available. Just like 'authority' it's a four-syllable word, with second syllable stress,
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and we have a schwa in the first syllable. Uh, uh, uh, authority.
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Uh, uh, uh, available.
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Do you hear how the rhythm is the same? Da-da-da-da.
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Authority. Available.
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Let's watch this up-close.
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It's an adjective. It means easy or possible to get, to find.
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Just before the big storm, emergency supplies were not available anywhere.
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It was not possible to find emergency supplies, they were all sold out.
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The opposite of available is 'unavailable'.
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We also use it with people.
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Someone is able to talk with someone, or meet with someone, or not.
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I need to call my boss, but she's not available until after 2pm.
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It's not possible to get her on the phone before that.
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Hi, is Rachel there? Sorry, she's not available right now.
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It can also mean not being used, not occupied.
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If you're sitting at a conference and someone says, is that seat available?
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You can say, yes, it's available, you can sit here.
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Or, no, it's not available. My friend is sitting here. She's in the bathroom. Sorry.
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It also means free or ready to do something: I'm available to babysit most weekends.
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That means I'm free. I would like to do that. I'm available.
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And finally, we also use it to mean not involved in a romantic relationship.
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Your friend Jack is so cute. Is he available?
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No, he's been dating someone for a long time.
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Possible. Free or easy to get.
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For a person: able to speak with someone or do something with or for someone.
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Not occupied, like the chair, and not dating someone.
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Let's go to Youglish and check out some more sentences.
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Made benefits available.
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Made them easy or possible to get.
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Our next sentence:
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And it is also available in 17 different languages.
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Available in 17 different languages – possible to get in 17 different languages.
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Our next clip:
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The teachers who are available.
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That is, the teachers who are able to take on new students.
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Our next clip:
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When he's available, when the doctor is free to see patients, for what time can she make an appointment.
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Oh, when is he available? Thursday next week?
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Available. Easy to get, free, not busy, not occupied.
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Next is 'benefit'. Three syllables, first-syllable stress, be-ne-fit.
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Let's look up-close.
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Benefit. A noun: it's a good or helpful effect or result.
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One of the benefits of solar is lowering your energy bill.
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It's also something extra that an employer can offer in addition to salary.
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For example, the benefits at my new job are great: full health coverage, 401k, 6 weeks paid vacation.
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It can also be a social event to raise money:
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We're having a benefit to raise money for the local homeless shelter.
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There's going to be dinner and dancing.
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Have you ever heard the phrase 'the benefit of the doubt?'
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If someone gives you the benefit of the doubt, then they believe you in a given situation.
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For example, some people think he's lying, but I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.
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'Benefit' is also a verb, and it means to be helpful or useful.
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The new park really benefits the families in the neighborhood.
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How did you benefit from your experience at your last job?
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That means, what did your last job help you learn?
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Benefit: a helpful result; something in addition to a salary in a job.
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Now, let's go to Youglish for some more phrases.
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For the benefit of our viewers.
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A helpful result. The interviewer believes this man has experiences, ideas, opinions to share
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that would benefit people watching. That would be helpful to them.
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Our next sentence:
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The enormous benefit. This partnership has been extremely helpful to them.
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And our next sentence:
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He's going to benefit from those decisions.
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He will have a positive impact from these decisions.
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Helpful, positive.
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And now, our next clip:
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The retirement plan.
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That is a benefit of some jobs. In addition to your wages, you might get a retirement plan.
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I hope this video benefits you in some way.
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Has a positive impact.
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Concept. A noun. Two syllables. Can you tell which syllable is stressed?
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Concept. It's the first syllable.
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Let's look up-close.
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An idea of what something is or how it works.
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Maybe someone is explaining a new invention to you and you say,
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I get the concept.
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I have an idea of how it works. Or, she doesn't get the concept of how to write an essay.
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She doesn't understand that you need an introduction, then a body, and a conclusion.
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She doesn't get the concept of how writing an essay works.
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Or maybe someone thinks they have a really great idea of a new way to approach nutrition in school cafeterias.
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Someone could say, that's not a new concept.
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They've been doing that in Europe for years.
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That means it's not a new idea.
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Or maybe, if I like the way a history teacher explains something in a video, I might think,
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I'm going to borrow that concept in my next video.
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Concept. An idea – what something is or how it works.
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Let's go to Youglish.
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That idea was coupled with the concept.
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That means paired together, with the idea of the free market.
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With an understanding of the free market and how it works. That concept.
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Our next sentence:
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Consider a concept more broadly.
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That means take this idea, and how we think it works,
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and ask ourselves to expand that, to look beyond how we think it works and ask ourselves:
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Could it work like this? Could it work like that?
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Expand our concept of it.
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The next sentence.
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It's the same concept, but with lots of bells and whistles.
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It's the same idea, it works the same way, but with extra things.
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'Bells and whistles' is an idiom, this means extra things, things you don't necessarily need,
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but some people might want.
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For example, a toaster.
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I bought a toaster recently for my family, we hadn't had one before,
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and I couldn't decide, did I just want something basic and simple
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or did I want one with more bells and whistles like a digital clock?
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I went with the simple one.
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Our next clip:
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There was no concept of stopping bullying.
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No idea about it – no one was considering it, or thinking about how that might work,
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everyone was just accepting that it was okay, and that they didn't need to do anything about it.
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There was no concept of stopping it.
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And our last word, consistent. An adjective, three syllables with middle syllable stress.
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Make sure that first syllable doesn't even have a vowel in it. Kn. The N absorbs the schwa. Kn.
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Consistent. Also notice I'm not releasing the T at the end. I'm not saying 'consistent'.
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I'm saying 'consistent' and making that a stop. That's the most common pronunciation you'll hear.
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Let's watch this up-close.
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If I wanted to give you a definition of just one word, it would be 'same'.
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Acting the same way. We need to be more consistent in how we discipline the kids.
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Sometimes we ignore them, sometimes we yell at them, sometimes we try to reason with them.
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I think we need to come up with our concept of parenting.
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And be more consistent with it.
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We need to be consistent in our approach to parenting.
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I threw in the word 'approach' there which is a word we learned in our last Band 1 vocabulary video.
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You can find the link to that video here.
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Now, I'm going to use it as an adverb by throwing on LY:
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Their Pad Thai is consistently the best I've had.
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It's the same .
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Every time I have it, it's the best.
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If it's inconsistent, then that means sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not.
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You don't really want a product that's inconsistent. You want people to be able to rely on that.
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Notice, it's IN, inconsistent.
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Earlier we had 'available' and 'unavailable',
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UN, as opposites.
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But here, it's not UN, it's IN.
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Inconsistent. Unavailable. Inconsistent.
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Consistent also means the same over time.
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The pain has been consistent since the accident.
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It's been the same.
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It hasn't gotten any better.
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Your symptoms are consistent with the flu.
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That means your symptoms are the same symptoms that someone would have if they have the flu.
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We think you have the flu based on your symptoms.
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His story about what happened is not consistent with what she said.
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That means not the same, so one of them must be lying.