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  • Hi.

  • I'm Rebecca from engVid.

  • After teaching English for more than 30 years, my goal in all my lessons is to help you to

  • learn English more quickly and easily.

  • So in the next few minutes you're going to be able to take your English to a higher level

  • by learning seven advanced expressions with intensifiers.

  • Now, what does that mean?

  • What are intensifiers?

  • Let's find out. Okay?

  • So let's start with this example in a general situation.

  • Okay?

  • "Joan likes music."

  • We can say that, or we could say: "Joan really likes music."

  • In this example, the word "really" is an intensifier, and what an intensifier does is that it strengthens

  • or emphasizes the verb.

  • She doesn't just like music, she really likes music, and that's fine to say.

  • Okay?

  • That's called an adverb intensifier.

  • All right?

  • Doesn't matter, but maybe for those of you who like to understand grammar, I'm just telling

  • you what the words are.

  • All right, let's look at another example from a business context.

  • "We appreciate your offer."

  • Okay?

  • No intensifier, there.

  • The next example: "We really appreciate your offer."

  • Now, again, the word "really" was the intensifier.

  • But do we use only "really" as intensifiers?

  • No.

  • We use many, many other words because it would be very boring to keep saying "really" all the time.

  • Also, "really" might be fine in this example because it's kind of informal and conversational,

  • but here it's a little bit more formal, a little bit more businesslike, so you want

  • to use better English, you want to use more advanced English, and you want to use more

  • advanced expressions.

  • So, what do we usually say instead of that with the verb "appreciate"?

  • We usually say something like this: "We truly appreciate your offer."

  • Okay?

  • Now, in this example, the word "truly" is the intensifier instead of "really".

  • Right?

  • And the verb stays the same, so that's "appreciate".

  • So, when you have an intensifier like "truly" or "really" plus a verb, like "appreciate",

  • that's called a collocation.

  • Okay?

  • Or a word combination, two words which are used together very frequently.

  • All right?

  • So people expect to hear them together. All right?

  • So when you use them, you sound much more natural.

  • You also sound a little bit more formal, more polite, more educated, a little bit more refined

  • and cultured, and just more advanced in English.

  • All right? Because obviously if you say:

  • "I truly appreciate your offer", instead of saying: "I really appreciate your offer",

  • then you're going to sound more advanced.

  • Now, of course, it depends on the situation.

  • If you're just talking to friends, maybe you want to keep saying "really appreciate", but

  • I'm going to show you seven other expressions...

  • Six other expressions-you've already learned one, all right?-which you can use and which

  • are used very often in academic circles and also in professional circles because you can

  • use these expressions in speaking and writing, you can use them in social and business situations,

  • like especially in customer service, in meetings, negotiations, presentations, discussions. Right?

  • And, of course, we can use them in a lot of academic situations, like in your essays,

  • or your IELTS, or your TOEFL.

  • Imagine if you started using this kind of vocabulary instead of regular vocabulary.

  • Of course you're going to get higher marks.

  • All right?

  • So, let's look at some of these expressions.

  • All right, so let's first start with an overview of these six advanced expressions.

  • All right?

  • I'll just read them right now.

  • Don't worry about understanding them or how to use them.

  • I'm going to explain that in just a minute. Okay?

  • All right.

  • So the first one: "Strongly recommend",

  • "honestly believe",

  • "deeply regret",

  • "fully recognize",

  • "sincerely hope",

  • and "positively encourage".

  • Okay?

  • So, what did you notice in those?

  • Each of them had an intensifier. Right?

  • "Strongly", "honestly", "deeply", "fully", "sincerely", "positively", and each of them

  • had a verb; "recommend", "believe", "regret", etc. Okay.

  • So, why are they expressions?

  • Why are they called collocations?

  • Because these expressions, these two-word combinations are used together, and they are

  • recognized as good expressions to use together.

  • All right?

  • So let's go through them now so you understand exactly how to use them.

  • So, the first one: "We strongly recommend you back up your files."

  • All right?

  • You see this instruction very often to do with your computer. Right?

  • So you don't want to lose your files, so they tell you:

  • "We strongly recommend you back up your files."

  • All right, another example: "I strongly recommend you go to the hospital."

  • All right?

  • Now, I've used examples with "we" and "I", you can use any pronoun, or name, or anything like that.

  • Okay? Let's go.

  • "We honestly believe he is innocent.

  • He's not guilty. He is innocent."

  • Or: "I honestly believe you deserve a raise.

  • You've been doing such a great job. You deserve a raise."

  • What's a raise?

  • "A raise" means when you get more money.

  • All right?

  • You can get a promotion, a higher position or...

  • And sometimes with that you get more money, which is called a raise.

  • All right?

  • Sometimes you get a promotion, but no raise; sometimes you get a raise, but no promotion;

  • but sometimes you get both. All right.

  • Number three: "We deeply regret the inconvenience to our customers",

  • or "to our passengers". All right?

  • If something went wrong, if you're on an airline and there's a delay, you might hear an announcement

  • at the airport that says:

  • "We deeply regret the inconvenience to our passengers, however we will be boarding in the next half an hour."

  • Okay?

  • Something like that.

  • So this is a formal, very polite way of the airline telling you they're really sorry.

  • Okay?

  • Next: "I deeply regret missing your wedding."

  • Now, just to review a little bit, so "regret", what does "regret" mean?

  • It basically means I'm sorry.

  • Okay? It's a more formal word for that.

  • And same here: "We honestly believe" means I honestly think.

  • And here: "We strongly recommend", means strongly advise or suggest.

  • Okay? Just in case you weren't sure what these words meant.

  • All right.

  • Number four: "We fully recognize"...

  • Sorry. "We fully recognize your contribution to the project."

  • Okay?

  • Somebody did a lot of work on a project, and the company or the management says:

  • "We fully recognize your contribution to the project."

  • Or: "I fully recognize the importance of learning English."

  • That's why I'm watching these videos.

  • Okay. All right.

  • "Fully recognize" means I really know, I completely know.

  • I understand that.

  • I got it, I'm aware of it. Okay?

  • All of these words basically mean "really", but they're just different words and more advanced words.

  • Number five: "We sincerely hope you will fly with us again."

  • After many flights, especially I noticed on American Airlines, they say this before you

  • get off the plane, they say:

  • "We sincerely hope you fly with us again. We really hope", okay?

  • So, "sincerely" just means "really" also.

  • Or you can say: "I sincerely hope you achieve your goals."

  • Okay? "I really hope that you achieve your goals."

  • And "hope" is basically like a wish.

  • All right.

  • And the next one: "We positively encourage our students to use the library."

  • Positively encourage.

  • "To encourage" means, again, to recommend.

  • All right?

  • "Positively", again, means really strongly, very much, really.

  • Or we could say:

  • "I positively encourage you to speak English as often as you can in order to improve your fluency."

  • All right?

  • So, again, all of these expressions are more advanced and they are considered good ways

  • for you to get a higher mark and also to advance in your career because you're using better,

  • more sophisticated English.

  • All right?

  • Let's do one last review to help you to remember these expressions and how they go together.

  • All right?

  • Okay, now, one more point: Even though it's very good to use these advanced expressions,

  • don't use them all the time-okay?-in the same piece of writing.

  • Because sometimes they come across a little bit heavy, so you can use one, you can use

  • another one, but don't use too many of them at one time because they are strong.

  • Okay?

  • But to have a little fun and to review the seven expressions that you've just learned,

  • we're going to read something that I wrote especially for you.

  • So: I sincerely hope you start using these expressions.

  • I fully recognize they're a little challenging.