Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hello. Good afternoon, good evening, good morning. I hope you're having a great day,

  • wherever in the world you are. Today, we are doing a lesson on adjectives to describe people;

  • maybe yourself, maybe people you know. And the way we are doing this today is by looking

  • at the horoscope. Okay? That kind of old thing of saying: "You were born in this month, so

  • you are like this." I don't really care if you agree or disagree with the horoscope.

  • Irrelevant. Throw it out the window. We are here to learn some great English. Yeah? So,

  • we're going to go through them.

  • And first we start with a positive trait. So, a "trait" is a characteristic, something

  • that you do. Okay? So positive traits of people who are Aries, and then negative traits. Okay?

  • So positive and then negative. Okay? Makes sense? Brilliant. If you are Aries, you were

  • born... So, just before we get started, today is also going to be useful for looking about

  • how we talk about dates as well. It's a little bit of revision on dates as well.

  • So, Aries people are... Were born... Past tense. Were born between the 21st of March

  • and the 20th of April. So if that's you, positive trait: you are adventurous. You like doing

  • things. You like exploring and seeing new lands. Okay? You're quite courageous. But

  • the negative trait is that you may be impulsive. Your friend says to you: "Hey, should we go

  • and cross the road?" And you're like: "Yeah, yeah, I'll cross the road," and a bus comes

  • and "ughl". Okay? So that's being impulsive.

  • Taurus, that's me, the bull. Okay? Taurus... Taurines were born between the 21st of April

  • and the 20th of May. We are persistent. I will carry on until my lesson finishes. Okay?

  • I carry on. I carry on. But I may be a little inflexible. I'm carrying on with my lesson,

  • and someone comes and says, you know: -"The building is on fire." -"No, no, no, no, no.

  • I'm sorry. I am inflexible". "Flexible" means, you know, I am bendy. I cannot bend because

  • I am doing my lesson; this is what I am doing. Okay? So if you do lots of yoga, you would

  • be a flexible person. I am inflexible. [Laughs]

  • Gemini. If you're Gemini, you were born between the 21st of May and 20th of June. Now, Gemini

  • people, they are eloquent and they speak very good English, so probably Gemini people, they're

  • not here, because you know, they're already good. So they're eloquent speakers. Maybe

  • they're... Okay, so we can talk about eloquent speech, and we can talk about maybe eloquent

  • clothes. So you can say: "He was dressed very eloquently." Formal use of language. So they're

  • eloquent, but they're superficial. Okay? Maybe all they care about is their clothes, and

  • they don't want to think about meditation and prayer, and world peace. Okay? So they're

  • just thinking about: "My Gucci top."

  • Cancer, those guys were born between the 20th of June and the 22nd of July. They are cautious.

  • "Is it safe to come in the room now? Is it safe? Do I have time to go into the room?

  • I'm not sure if I have time." Okay? I'm cautious. Sometime... Maybe you've seen this word: "caution".

  • You might see it on a road sign. "Caution: ferrets crossing the road." I have to pay

  • attention. These people are always paying attention. And on... So that... That's meant

  • to be a positive trait, they're cautious. Maybe it's negative. I don't know. A negative

  • trait is that they are hypersensitive. This means... "Hyper" means more than sensitive.

  • So "sensitive" is I am really aware of your feelings. All right? "Oh, no. No. Are you

  • upset? Are you angry? Oh no. No, no, no. He's angry. Oh, no. I've made him angry." Okay?

  • I am more than sensitive. Okay? Good.

  • Leo, the lion. Roar. 23rd of July to the 22nd of August. Expansive. Now, if you've studied

  • your Latin, you'll know that "ex" means out of. "Expand", yeah? We talk about science.

  • Expand, it means to grow bigger. If my stomach is expanding, it's getting bigger. If I'm

  • an expansive person, my horizons are getting bigger. Okay? Maybe I think about going to

  • America, to India, to the Philippines. I have so many ideas. I'm expansive. But maybe I'm

  • intolerant. Okay? This is quite a good little word: "tolerant". If I am tolerant of my boss,

  • it's okay if he walks in five minutes late. I'm being tolerant. "It's okay. Don't worry.

  • You know, I'm here. Don't worry about it." But if I'm intolerant: "So you're late! Aw.

  • It started five minutes ago. Where are you?" Yeah? That is not being tolerant, not being kind.

  • Virgo, 23rd of August to the 21st of September. Virgis, I don't know how you call them. They

  • are meticulous. "Meticulous", this is a great, juicy English adjective. If I'm meticulous,

  • maybe I'm in the army and I'm very good at planning. So my board will look like too-too-too-too-too.

  • Meticulous. Every "t" is perfectly formed with a little cross. If I'm meticulous, my

  • shoes are perfect. My hair is perfect. I'm very neat. Okay? You have the top button done

  • up. Meticulous. Meticulous. But maybe a bit too fussy. "It's a red pen. But I wanted a

  • blue pen. I don't like red pens. Sorry, I only like blue pens." Okay? If I'm fussy,

  • I am too choosy, too picky. Okay? Picky. That's kind of slang; this is a proper word. Still

  • with me? Still understanding? Still remembering? Yeah? Got some great words up here.

  • Libra, September 23rd to October the 22nd. Sociable. We had that word in another video

  • I did earlier. Flatmates wanting you to be sociable, to be able to talk to people. But

  • indecisive. What word can you see there? Can you see...? Can you see...? What other word

  • do you think might be a bit similar, there? That's it, "decision". Okay? So if I'm indecisive,

  • I can't make a decision. "Umm, umm should I go by car or by bicycle? By car or by...?

  • I don't know." I can't make a choice. Okay? Obviously, the answer's bicycle. Indecisive,

  • can't make decision. So, again we're looking at positive traits here; negative traits here.

  • Scorpio, the man with a killer bite. Or woman. October the 23rd to November the 21st. Forceful.

  • Okay? I'm at a party. I go: "Here's my business card." I am forceful. Okay? But maybe they

  • can be a bit too forceful. Okay? If I'm an actor and I meet a film producer, I say: "Put

  • me in your film." And the guy's like: -"No. I'm sorry. I'm looking for a two-foot mole,

  • and you are a six-foot funny looking person." -"But no. I need to be in your film." Obstinate.

  • I am being obstinate. I am forcing too much.

  • Sagittarius, November 22nd to December the 21st. Jovial. If I'm jovial, I have fun, I

  • speak nicely. I share. I am fun. My conversations are enjoyable. Okay? I'm smiling. Yeah? But

  • maybe I have no tact. Now, "tact", this is I know what to say. So I don't tell my boss:

  • "I slept with your mom last night", because that would be no tact; that would be tactless.

  • "Tact", if I'm tactful-okay?-I choose what words I say.

  • Capricorn, December the 22nd to January the 19th. Disciplined. At 6:00am I get up. For

  • my breakfast, I eat porridge with a glass of blueberry juice. And then I go and do swimming

  • in the gym. But whilst they have a good routine... Okay? Discipline goes with routine. They may

  • be too miserly. Okay? -"No. You can't have any money. No." -"Can I have 10P?" -"No. No,

  • you certainly well can't. Go away." Okay? I don't want to give any money away. Keep

  • it in my pocket. I could do with being a bit more miserly.

  • Aquarius, January the 22nd to February the 18th. Humanitarian. You have to think Mother

  • Teresa, think sort of Gandhi, Martin Luther King. They care about the world, about people,

  • the environment. Okay? People who are working for charities have a humanitarian aspect to

  • their personality. "Aspect" means part. Okay? "Aspect", I'll write it down. A part of you,

  • an aspect of you. A humanitarian part. But maybe they are unpredictable. So my wife thinks

  • I am going home to have some dinner, but I decide to go to Heathrow and get on a plane

  • to Finland. That would be being not predictable. Okay? So you can predict Benjamin will go

  • home and eat his dinner. If I am not being predictable, then I do something completely different.

  • Okay. Pisces, the fish. Pisces, February the 19th to March the 28th... 20th. That's my

  • dad. So, compassionate. "Compassion". Let's just look at this part of the word. So "com"

  • means with. "Passion", the heart. Yeah? I care for people. My... My heart is with the

  • people. But maybe I can be a bit vague. It's like: -"Benjamin, would you like a salad or

  • a burger?" -"A salad, a burger, hmm, I don't know. A salad, burger." Yeah? I don't... I

  • don't really give an answer. Okay? That's vague.

  • So, there we have it. Hope you've got some words in here. Adventurous, to go out. Impulsive,

  • woo, I'm doing this now. Yeah? Impulsive. So, there are some quite similar words, here.

  • So impulsive is kind of similar to unpredictable. Yeah? Adventurous kind of goes with expansive.

  • Meticulous kind of goes with cautious. So there are... There are kind of similar ones,

  • here. Compassionate is quite similar to humanitarian. Yeah? Forceful is... Well, what is forceful

  • like? You know what forceful means. I charge ahead.

  • Folks, we've reached the end of today's lesson. I want you to go to www.engvid.com and get

  • 10 out of 10 on your quiz. But more than that, I want you to use these words in your speech.

  • So, you know, write them down, remember them, and then tell me: "Benjamin, you are the most

  • eloquent English teacher I've ever had." And I will say: "Thank you very much."

  • Subscribe to my YouTube channel and check out www.ExquisiteEnglish.com.

  • Well done. Use these words. Be good. Good bye.

Hello. Good afternoon, good evening, good morning. I hope you're having a great day,

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it