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The Canadian-English Dictionary. Over 500 sold. Not many Canadians, I think, eh? Just
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joking. It's 500,000, and my name is James from EngVid. Welcome. I'm going to help you
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today learn to use this thing and not this thing. And there's a reason why, and I'm going
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to tell you why today because I think it's an important lesson that I don't see people
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really talk about a lot. They -- in classes, and I teach classes, we mention it. And students
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always come -- not always. Bad. You're so forward. They usually use an electronic dictionary,
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but I prefer the paper because today I'm going to teach you how to build your vocabulary
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using this, something that's a few hundred years old.
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So let's start off: "Know your dictionary." Do you know what your dictionary -- do you
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know who your dictionary is or what your dictionary is? I ask you because I'm going to ask you
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do you know "prescriptive" versus "descriptive"? Most students don't know the difference, and
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it's a very important difference for you to know. If you're a native English speaker,
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this is your dictionary. It's good. It's great. It says things like, "'Choral' -- or of a
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choir. 'Chorale': slow stately hymn tune", and you're thinking, well, if you're learning
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English, "What did James just say to me?" There are many of these things. "'Retrench':
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reduce expenditure, cut." You know, like, "What?" Well, this is because it's prescriptive.
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"Prescriptive". Think of a doctor, you know, the guy who checks your chest, like, your
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heart. He prescribed something to you, right? Gives you something. But he doesn't give you
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any kind of extra information. He's the doctor. He's the expert. They tell you and you know.
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Well, if you have a command of the English language or you speak English, of course you
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know all the other words they use. "'Critic': Professional judge." I know all these words.
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I don't have to learn these words, so it's great. But if you're learning English -- and
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learning English -- and I want to tell you this because a lot of people don't know. You
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know my name, right? My name is James ESL, right? James. I can't even spell my own name.
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It's a lie. My name is James ESL. And some of you said, for sure, What is "ESL?" That's
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a funny name. Because it's not my name. "ESL" stands for "English as a Second Language".
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That's what it stands for. Many of your teachers use it, and they never tell you what it means.
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So it means James is teaching English as a second language. And that's for you guys.
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You have French, Hindi, Arabic as first languages, and you want to get another language. What
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you need is a descriptive dictionary. What does that mean? Well, let me explain something
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to you. There is a thing that is long, has a big head, a smile. It has little lines on
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its body. Its first name starts with M. His last name starts with E. Do you know whom
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I'm describing? It's Mr. E. Right? I described it to you. An ESL dictionary is descriptive,
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right? So the first thing you should know is, is your dictionary prescriptive or descriptive?
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"Prescriptive", like a prescription from a doctor -- it just tells you this is what the
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word means. It does not give explanation -- it gives an explanation, but no diagrams and
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no definition, okay? Or explanation. For example, a descriptive one not only tells you what
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the world is, it gives you an example of its use in speech. It helps you. Maybe even a
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picture to show you. That's for the ESL. So when you're looking for a paper dictionary,
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go to your bookstore and ask for a descriptive dictionary because you're studying ESL, and
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they'll give you the perfect dictionary for you, okay?
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So what are we going to do next? That's the first thing: Know what dictionary you have
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because this one will help. Now, I will tell you this, though: Once you start going from
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the beginning and intermediate, you need the prescriptive because that's what a fluent
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native speaker would use, and that's what you use. So there's a reason for both. Don't
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forget that. If you're advanced, get prescriptive. If you're new, get descriptive. Know your
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dictionary. Next. Does your dictionary use phonetic or
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does it use syllables to tell you how the word sounds? "Huh?" Well, I investigated because
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I'm like a reporter -- like Clark Kent, Superman -- and I discovered that not every dictionary
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is the same. Some use phonetics, and they use the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some
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of you have studied it in school, right? Where you have those funny little things, where,
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you know, like the upside down E -- I can't even do it. I think it's like -- and it means
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something to you people, okay? But in international language, you would use these symbols to show
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language, right? They use this phonetic alphabet because they know it's international, and
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people who study languages will also use it. But a lot of English dictionaries just use
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syllables. They break the word down into, like -- sorry -- numb nuts? Number. Number.
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And what they're looking for is vowel sound, not vowels. Don't make a mistake. I've often
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done it and told students -- I say, you know, "When we use syllables we break it down to
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units of a word with a vowel." And what I mean to say is "with a vowel sound" because
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sometimes there will be two vowels, but they make a sound. For example, "ee" or "ei" can
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make one sound, okay? And that can be in a vowel unit. So check to see if your dictionary
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is either phonetic -- and that means you're going to need the International Phonetic Alphabet
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-- or syllable-based, which means they will break the word into units with a syllable
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sound. Easy? Is that understood? Let's move on, okay?
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So that's something you're going to look at because this will help you build your vocabulary
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because knowing what a word looks like and what it sounds like is very, very different,
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okay? And this is to help you pronounce the word. Remember: Learning vocabulary is (1)know
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when you see it, (2) know when you hear it, (3) know how to say it, (4) understand what
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it means. Then you build vocabulary. And this is "know what it sounds like", okay? Next.
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(C) What part of speech? Well, what is the word? I can spell less "beaty" like "Ned Beatty", but that's not what I wanted to write.
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When you "beautify" something, it's not the same as "beauty". "He's a right beauty." "She's
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a beauty." Right? They're different words. So we're asking ourselves, what, what do these
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words do, right? "She's a beauty", so we're looking at an adjective and adverb. "Beautify",
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adverbs do a different job than an adjective, right? So the dictionary will tell you how
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to use it. Remember we said, "What does it sound like?" First part is, it tells you what
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it looks like, right? It gives you the word, the word. The next one tells you what it sounds
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like. The next one tells you how to use it, right? "That girl is a beauty." Or "What a
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beauty she is." Versus, "We need to beautify our house." It's not the same. And you have
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to know what part of speech to use it otherwise you'll use it badly, okay? Next.
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We're going to go over to "other possible forms". So other possible forms are -- well,
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let me correct something I made a mistake on. I said it. I made a mistake because I'm
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human. I was so busy thinking about the mistake I made with "beauty" I said this was an adverb.
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It's a verb. So I know you guys who love to catch me, you caught me. Ow, ow, bad teacher,
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all right? It's a verb, all right? So we've got noun, verb. Now, let's go to "other possible
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forms", okay? Now, what the dictionary will also do to help you is after it tells you
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this is a noun or this is a verb -- noun, verb, okay -- it'll tell you other forms.
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It might tell you, okay, you could do something "slow" or "slowly". Or you can have "pant",
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which is completely different. "Pant" is [pant like a dog] and "pants", which I'm wearing,
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but you can't see. You know, I am wearing them, trust me. I'm not doing it in my underwear.
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E goes naked; I come clothed, okay? So it'll tell you other possible forms that you can
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use of that word, right? Now, I've given you something to help you
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with the dictionary, and this is fun. It's a nice, short lesson. I'm hoping it's going
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to be very useful because even Canadians -- I say "Canadians"; I'm sorry, but a lot of English
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speakers don't know how to use the dictionary because it's set up in a way they just kind
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of look for the definition, and they don't know that these things are there to help them.
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There have been words I've looked for where I've said, like, "discombooblate" because
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I don't know it's "discombobulate" because I don't understand if it's phonetic or the
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symbol -- syllable. I can speak English, really. And I had to learn when I started teaching
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students. When they say, "Teacher, why?" And I go, "Well this is for this. This -- oh,
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golly, it is." This is very helpful stuff, right? But before I go too far off course,
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which means away from the subject, I want to give you some tips because this is good.
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This gives you power like a super power. You can use this and go, "I can learn words without
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the use of any other human being. Read, see, and hear." But how about we build, because
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that's what the nature of this lesson is, to build our vocabulary. So let's go over here.
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Ready? Tips. Tip No. 1: Look up words you
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hear every day, and then look at the words above and below the word to understand prefixes.
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This sentence makes no sense whatsoever. But it does because I'll explain it. What I mean is,
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every day, when you're learning English, you're going to learn a new vocabulary word
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or whatnot. And what I want you to do is take that word, write it down, then go home, open
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your paper dictionary, okay? And then look at the word, but look at the word above and
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below because -- I'm going to give you one right now. I'm looking here, and it says -- I'm
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looking at "implore". It means "beg", which means to go, "Please, please, please, please
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come back to EngVid and see James! Please! I beg you!" Okay? So "implore". Then, I look
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down at "imply". Then, I look at -- it says "implicit". And each one I get the idea that
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there's something inside. Then I realize "im" means "inside" or "in". Ooh. That was interesting.
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So then, I start looking down and there's "impossible" and "importune", "impose", "impostor",
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"impotent". I'm not impotent. Maybe the worm. He's soft, but not me. Anyway. Well, what
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I'm saying is, all of these "im" words are in here, and I start going, "Oh, my gosh.
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They all kind of have a similar meaning." It helps me build my vocabulary faster because
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I learned what's called a "prefix". A "prefix" means -- "pre" is before -- something in front
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of a word that gives meaning to the word or adds meaning to the word, right? And that's
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what we're doing. We're learning it, so it helps me build my vocabulary by learning prefixes.
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Kind of cool, huh? How about the second one? Let's go to the
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monitor. He's going to talk again. Ready? Actually, it's not a monitor, it's Mr. E.
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You've always wondered what I sound like, and yes, I have a sexy voice. So, the next
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thing you want to do -- tip No. 2 is: Randomly -- "randomly" means not in order, just whenever
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-- for 2 or 3, 2 or 3, and try to make sentences. What the heck does that mean? Well, Mr. E,
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that's why I'm here. What Mr. E meant to say was this: Randomly take, take -- Mr. E -- 2
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or 3 words, okay? I want to make sure you can see it because I'm running out of room
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here. So I'm just going to put 2 or 3 words -- and try and make a sentence with it. So
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I've got "word" -- S. See? Two mistakes. Are you happy now? Bad, bad James. Okay, look.
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So look at randomly for 2 or 3 words. And just open up the dictionary, and you take,
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"bloom", and then take "incentive", and then take "platinum". "As an incentive for my blooming
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business, I got a platinum card." Oh, he teaches English. That's right. I do. What I'm saying
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is you take two or three words randomly, right? And you try and make a sentence with them
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using the rules you find from the dictionary. Is it a verb? Is it an adjective? Put them
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in place. That will help teach you syntax. So here are two ways you can, by yourself,
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use this book by yourself and work on your English, learn things that you haven't been
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taught, and then prove or, as I said, build your vocabulary. Do you like that? Our little
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moderator, Mr. E, that voice of his, will be back -- right? -- to help you build your
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English vocabulary, syntax, conversation skills, grammar, and whatnot. I like that word. It's
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my word of the day. Anyway. Thanks a lot. Mr. E -- out. Know your
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dictionary, and know yourself, and you'll be victorious in every conversation you have.
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Know only -- shut up with the Sun Tzu already. Okay.