hello lovely students and welcome to the ultimate C1 video today I'm going to teach you Advanced C1 level vocabulary and a little bit of grammar too what's the logic behind this video well when you're at a C1 level you should be able to express yourself with precision and talk in detail about many subjects you should also be able to speak fairly fluently without too many pauses while you search for the exact words and expression questions you need to communicate your thoughts this means that you need to know a lot of vocabulary luckily the C1 level is my absolute favorite to teach there's so much Nuance there's so much art to the language in fact my most popular course of all time is my beautiful British English C1 program over 5,000 students have taken my C1 program and they have learned so much advanced vocabulary as well as C1 grammatical structures Advanced features of pronunciation how to write different texts at an advanced level and so much more students love the storyline that runs through the entire program and the authentic conversations between me and some of the special people in my life take a look at some of the lovely things my graduates have had to say I would love for you to join them for you to try this program I can guarantee it will boost your English skills in so many ways if you want to check out the program you can click on the link in the description of this video or you can visit that link on screen or scan the QR code to go to the page there you'll be able to learn much more about my beautiful British English C1 program now back to the C1 lesson to make sure you get the most out of this incredibly useful lesson I've prepared two special ebooks that go hand inand with this this video you can download both of them for free for now I might shut this at some point the first ebook contains all of the valuable information that we cover in this lesson all of the vocabulary all of the grammar so you can refer back to it whenever you need a refresher I've basically made lesson notes and lesson quizzes for you and compiled them into an ebook I'm also including my B1 to C1 ebook this ebook is a 92 page ebook that contains all of the grammar and all of the vocabulary that you need to master in order to achieve the B1 the B2 and the C1 levels of English if you would like to download these two ebooks for free right now all you have to do is click on the link in the description box enter your name and your email address you sign up to my mailing list and the two ebooks will arrive directly in your inbox and and then you've joined my free pdf Club you will automatically receive my free weekly lesson PDFs alongside all of my news course updates and offers it's a free service and you can unsubscribe with one click at any time we are going to go through four C1 vocabulary videos and then we're going to end with a special A1 to C1 challenge video to help you test your level first up you're going to learn 20 advanced verbs that will help you express yourself at a C1 or even C2 level we go from Advocate to scrutinize all in just 10 minutes are you ready hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy today we are going to talk about Advanced English our Focus today is on advanced c1c2 level verbs if you incorporate these verbs into your daily spoken English you will impress people especially if you say them in a very natural nonchalant way right let's get started with the advanced English verbs number one to Advocate to Advocate this is to publicly support or recommend a particular policy or action an example the celebrity uses her social media platform to advocate for a more sustainable future or the politician advocated for greater economic equality for all citizens number two to amplify to amplify this is to make something louder or stronger to increase the effect or impact of something the megaphone amplifies the speaker's voice and makes it easier to hear or the digital marketing campaign Amplified the reach and impact of the Brand's message number three to articulate to articulate this is to express or explain something in a clear and effective way or to pronounce words clearly and distinctly for example the public speaker articulated her vision for the future with passion and conviction or the language learner is practicing articulating difficult sounds to improve her pronunciation number four to comprehend to comprehend this is to understand the meaning or significance of something the student struggles to comprehend the complex theories presented in the lecture or the reader will have to reread the passage multiple times to comprehend the author's message number five to convey to convey and this is to communicate or Express something to others this is often a message or information the artist uses her paintings to convey her emotions and experiences or the journalist conveyed the breaking news to the public with accuracy and timeliness number six to corroborate to corroborate a lot of ss in that one to corroborate this is to confirm or support a statement Theory or finding with evidence or testimony the witness is able to corroborate the victim's account of the crime or the scientist corroborated her hypothesis with multiple experiments number seven to decipher to decipher this is to discover the meaning of something written in a bad or hidden way we can use it to talk about converting code or symbols or a foreign language into understandable language The Traveler struggle to decipher the foreign language on the menu or the detective will have to decipher the hidden meaning behind the suspect's cryptic message next we have to differentiate to differentiate this is to distinguish or to recognize the differences between things or people the smellier is able to differentiate between the subtle flavors in the wine or the teacher developed lesson plans to help students differentiate between similar Concepts number nine to dissect to dissect this is to analyze or examine something in detail Often by breaking it down into its components or parts the scientist dissects the specimen to study its internal structure or the lit lary critic dissected the novel to explore its themes and symbols next we have to a face to a face and this is to remove or erase something intentionally so it's no longer visible or noticeable the politician tried to a face the scandal from his public record with a new campaign or the storm winds are so strong that they are effacing the markings on the road next number 11 we are over halfway there elaborate elaborate I love this word it means to add more detail or explanation to something often to expand or to clarify a concept idea or thought the designer elaborated on her original concept after receiving feedback from the client or I can see you didn't understand so I'm going to elaborate on my point next we have to exacerbate to exacerbate and this is to make a situation or problem worse the drought exacerbated the water shortage in the region or the medication side effects have exacerbated my existing health problems number 13 to extrapolate to extrapolate this is to guess or estimate or forecast something using what you already know for example The Economist extrapolates future Trends from current economic indicators or we tend to predict the future by extrapolating from the past next we have to facilitate this means to make something possible or easier or more convenient to do for example the new technology will facilitate communication among team members or the tutor facilitated the development of her student skills next we have to Galvanize to Galvanize and this is to shock or excite someone into taking action the tragic event galvanized the community to come together and support each other or the recent news has galvanized the public to demand change number 16 is to integrate to integrate and this is to combine or blend things together in a harmonious or really functional way the new employee is integrating well with the team or the architect integrated the old and new elements of the building design seamlessly number 17 is to mitigate to mitigate and this is to make something less harmful less unpleasant or less bad you reduce or you alleviate the severity or the impact of something something that's often a problem or a negative consequence the safety measures in place mitigate the risk of accidents or the environmental policies have mitigated the damage to the ecosystem number 18 is to perceive to perceive this is to think of something in a particular way or to become aware or conscious of something through your senses or intuition she perceives that her boss is under un happppy with her work because of his constant criticism or the artist perceived the beauty of Nature and Incorporated it into her work number 19 we have reconcile reconcile careful with the pronunciation it's not reconcile this is normally used passively and it's to make people become friends again after a breakup or an argument it can also mean to find an acceptable way of dealing with two ideas or concept CTS that seem to be opposed to each other to make two conflicting things compatible or consistent with each other the mediator is trying to reconcile the differences between the two parties or the couple reconciled after a period of separation and finally to scrutinize to scrutinize this is to examine or inspect something very closely very thoroughly you're combing through for mistakes potentially his apology was carefully scrutinized by his PR team before it was released to the public or she scrutinized his essay but couldn't find a single error right those were your 20 incredibly Advanced English verbs as I mentioned they are C1 to C2 level okay what did you think of that those Advanced verbs really help you to articulate your ideas precisely ah I used artic articulate now in that lesson you saw 20 Advanced verbs which is quite a lot but if you want to achieve a C1 level in English you need to learn many many more and that is where my beautiful British English C1 program comes in in the program there are so many verbs including tons of phrasal verbs that by the end my students have an enormous Bank of vocabulary to draw from you'll find super Advanced verbs like gazump and to Shell out if you'd like to learn more about it or you'd like to sign up for it click on the link in the description box okay next lesson this one is going to take your descriptive abilities to the next level there are some really beautiful words in this video and I know you're going to love them as much as I do here we go hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy I have a beautiful video for you today I have chosen 20 of my favorite adjectives they are all really Advanced adjectives I would place them at a C1 to C2 level you're not going to hear them every single day on the streets of England but you will see them in texts books and you will hear them used by very well spoken people and if you want to become a well spoken person then consider learning them and incorporating them into your speech I am a a self- diagnosed logophile meaning I love words and I love learning new beautiful words and I'm passing on that gift to you let's get started with the lesson number one our first adjective is ambivalent ambivalent and this means having or showing mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone for example I feel ambivalent about accepting the job offer because it pays well but the work is not interesting or she has ambivalent feelings towards her ex-husband both loving him and hating him number two is capricious capricious and I find this one particularly beautiful and if you are capricious you are given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior his capricious Behavior made it difficult for his friends to keep up with his moods or the weather is capricious this time of year with sunny days followed by sudden rain showers number three great one derogatory derogatory this means showing a critical or disrespectful attitude towards someone or something his derogatory comments about women angered many people or the newspaper received complaints about a derogatory article they published about a minority it group number four not such a common one but very beautiful all the same and it's actually pronounced in two ways in British English the most common version is esoteric you will also hear people saying esoteric the meaning of this one is particularly useful it means intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized interest or knowledge so if something is esoteric it's likely to exclude people the lecture on quantum mechanics was esoteric and difficult for most students to understand or the chef's recipes are esoteric and require knowledge of specific techniques and ingredients number five this one is common you will hear this a lot in the UK flippant flippant this means not showing a serious or respectful attitude and I like to remember this one by imagining a teenager flipping their hair and not taking something seriously they're being flippant the politician's flippant comments about the pandemic angered many people or your flippant attitude towards your studies led to these poor grades next I think this one speaks for itself it kind of shows its definition in the word grandiose this means impressive or magnificent in appearance or style but often lacking in substance something can look amazing but be impractical or not fit for purpose this building is grandiose but impractical for our current needs or your brother is always making these grandiose promises that he never follows through on next I love this one it rolls off the tongue histrionic histrionic this means overly theatrical or melodramatic in character or style that comes off as insincere her histrionic reaction to the news made her friends doubt her sincerity or their histrionic speech Around clean energy failed to persuade the audience at the climate change rally next in congruous in congruous this means strange and not suitable in a particular situation it doesn't keep with the surroundings or other aspects of something the modern art sculpture looked in congruous in the historic town square or the professor's joke seemed in congruous with the seriousness of his lecture another beautiful one I know they're all beautiful but I really like this one juxtaposed juxtaposed this means put together or put near each other for contrast and comparison the juxtaposed paintings showed the contrast between the bright colors of one and the Dark Shades of the other the gallery featured a series of juxtaposed images creating a thought-provoking and Dynamic composition next loable loable and this means deserving praise and Commendation one of his less laudable characteristics not worthy of Praise was his dark sense of humor or her decisions may be open to debate but her manner of speaking is laudable next Mercurial Mercurial this means often changing in a way that is unexpected the new series we're watching is entertaining but the constant Mercurial changes in tone are an emotional roller coaster or the stock market is often described as Mercurial with rapid fluctuations in value next one I love and I must point out the difference between British and American pronunciation nonchalant nonchalant or in American English nonchalant this means behaving in a calm or relaxed way and not giving the Imp ression that you're worried it's similar to flippant uh but it's not as disrespectful unless used in the right context Taylor's mother was nonchalant about her daughter's recent rise to fame or the students nonchalant response to her failing grade showed a lack of concern for her future next we have pentious pentious this means having a harmful effect especially in a very gradual or subtle way the company's pish practices harmed the local environment or the pernicious effect of advertising to children is a problem that we can no longer ignore next quick exotic quick exotic it's like a mixture of quick and exotic this means exceedingly idealistic unrealistic and impractical his quixotic dream of traveling the world with no money seemed impossible to achieve or she ran a quixotic campaign against her rival but came out ahead next we have resplendant resplendant this is often used with with or in it means attractive and impressive through being richly colorful the sunset over the ocean was resplendant with colors of orange and pink or resplendant in white and gold she walked down the aisle on the arm of her father do you see how we used it with both with and in next love this one I know I say that about everyone but I just genuinely love these words subservient subservient this means prepared to obey others without question unquestioningly it's often used in a negative way because if someone is subservient they are often easily exploited for example the assistant subservient attitude towards her boss led to exploitation or Gloria refused to give up her career and accept a tradition subservient role next we have supercilious supercilious that one's so fun to say if you're supercilious you behave or look as though you think you are superior to others his supercilious demeanor towards his audience was met with disapproval or her writing often has a supercilious tone which makes it hard to connect with tenacious do you remember the band Tenacious D they recognized it as a great word and a great word it is tenacious this means keeping or tending to keep a firm hold of something or not giving up easily or being really determined her tenacious grip on the Rope allowed her to climb the Steep Cliff or although he experienced many setbacks he remained tenacious in his pursuit of becoming an MP next don't be fooled by the first letter U we pronounce it with a Y sound ubiquitous U ubiquitous this means very common or found everywhere smartphones have become ubiquitous in modern society or the company's logo was ubiquitous on billboards throughout the city very common now we have vicarious vicarious although in American English they're more inclined to say vicarious British English vicarious this one we use in front of a noun it means experienced in the imagination through through the feelings or actions of another person you'll often hear us saying I'm living vicariously through you I'm living through your experiences he experienced a sense of vicarious Nostalgia when he listened to his parents' stories about their youth he couldn't actually experience it he had to experience it by imagining what it would be like or watching action films allows people to experience vicarious Thrills and excitement Thrills and excitement through other people right that's it for today's lesson I hope you enjoyed it I hope you learned something well did you like the sound of one of my favorite words in that video capricious capricious it's such an Exquisite word some of those adjectives were really Advanced and they are guaranteed to help set you on the path towards achieving an advanced level in English a huge part of being at C1 is having the ability to produce clear and detailed descriptions so adjectives are crucial but 20 adjectives aren't enough you will need many more and you can find them in my beautiful British English C1 program a lot of the words in there really are stunning like Whimsical and palpable they sound so nice if you're ready to take on the challenge of reaching a C1 level come on over click the link or scan that QR code but if you're thinking I Lov those adjectives but what about describing people stay right there next we're going to learn how to describe physical appearance in advanced English say goodbye to he is tall and say hello to he's a bit lanky are you ready let's go hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy in today's video we're going to talk about appearance but we are going to go way beyond the phrases that you learn when you first start studying English you know I have blonde hair and blue eyes instead we're going to learn how to talk about appearance at a super advanced level using C1 and even C2 level words and phrases basically we're going to talk about appearance on steroids not literally all right so let's talk about appearance I'm going to talk to you about my journey with my appearance starting from childhood and then moving on to how I might look in the future yikes let's start with childhood I have nearly always had long hair and my Cascade of blonde hair made me look quite Angelic when I was little but a quick chat with my parents would soon dispel that misconception my brother was adorable all children are cute he had these gorgeous dimples that people teased him about sometimes but I always adored them okay there are two words I want to pick out here firstly we have Angelic Angelic which means like an angel Angelic Angel like we can use it to describe appearance but also personality if you're beautiful or if you're good or if you're kind Ally had an Angelic smile and no one could stay angry with her for long the second word is dimple dimple and this is such a cute word a dimple is a small crease or indentation next to your mouth normally here or on your chin whenever she smiled her dimples would appear making her look even more Charming now let's move on to the teenage years like most people my appearance was quite important to me back then one of the first things I did when I turned 13 was grab a pair of tweezers and pluck my eyebrows into submission I regret it so much I also used to compare myself to my friends a lot and one of the sticking points was my complexion as you can see I'm pretty pale ghostly more like and I used to be so jealous of my friends who would come back after the summer holidays totally sun-kissed I've always been a bit shall we say vertically challenged which never really bothered me on the other hand my husband will was very lanky when he was a teenager but he's filled out now okay a little bit more vocabulary then this first one tweezers tweezers these are tiny tongs the tool you use for grasping and removing small objects such as splinters or hairs Alex used tweezers to remove a thorn from his finger next the verb that goes with tweezers to pluck you can say to tweeze but to pluck that's the verb I used this means to pull out hairs with tweezers or your fingers we also pluck a string when we play the violin we strum a guitar but we pluck a single string on a harp too an example Jewels pluck her eyebrows every week to maintain a neat appearance number five I really like the way this word sounds complexion complex and this is the natural color texture and appearance of your skin especially your face an example lots of English people have quite a pale complexion and burn badly in the sun next we have the Fairly slang adjective Sunkissed Sunkissed this basically means tanned I mean kissed by the sun when you're turned you have a Browner skin color because of the damage from the Sun from spending time in the sun if you look sun-kissed you might be more tanned you might have lighter hair you might have a little bit of red going on it's generally seen as a positive adjective to describe someone with Jane looked like a vision with her summer dress and sun-kissed skin never in my wildest dreams will I ever be sun-kissed however you can can get a similar look from a bottle I do end up looking a bit Tangoed though there's a popular orange drink in the UK called Tango and there was an ad campaign where people would turn orange and there was the slogan you've been Tangoed it became normal to say you've been Tangoed to anyone whose fake tan went a bit too orange sometimes if I apply fake tan and it it's a bit too dark I say oh no I look like I've been Tangoed number seven this is a lovely phrase it's quite a jokey one you have to be careful who you use it with they could be sensitive I'm fine with it vertically challenged this is a funny way to refer to someone who is short I'm challenged in the vertical sense Ruth was only 5ot tall and often joked about being vertically challenged notice how I said 5ft tall you can also say 5T toall but it's very common to say I'm 6' 6 I'm 5' 5 the final word from that section is lanky lanky which means tall and thin in a slightly awkward way we often use it for teenages it's not necessarily a compliment to call someone lanky as a teenager Benji was lanky and had to grow into his long limbs okay let's move forward to the present day I'm 29 now and my worries about my appearance have nearly faded I very much believe it's what's on the inside that counts if you saw me walking my dog on a a wet January morning I don't think you'd recognize me I usually look fairly unkempt with Windswept hair and Scruffy clothes don't get me wrong I try to take care of myself and I think I scrub up fairly well I like putting on makeup for filming as you might see I love makeup and for special occasions one of the things I'm trying to work on appearance-- wise is my posture I believe it can change how you feel and how other people perceive you shoulders back Lucy okay lots of of good vocabulary in there let's look at number nine it's what's on the inside that counts it's what's on the inside that counts you can probably guess that this means character and values are more important than looks an example she believes that true beauty comes from kindness and compassion it's what's on the inside that counts next number 10 and this word is interesting lots of native speakers actually get this confused with something else it's the word unkempt unemp not un kept and I'll talk about that in a second we have a nice consonant cluster at the end there unkempt unkempt this means untidy or not properly cared for or relating to appearance we also have unkempt which means not tidy or not cared for we can use it to talk about appearance but we normally use it for buildings cities places unkempt with is normally about a person's appearance Tom's unkempt hair and wrinkled clothes made it look like he had just rolled out of bed number 11 is wind swept wind swept which means looking like you've been in strong wind and we often use it to talk about hair an example you look a bit Windswept have you been outside in the storm number 12 I love this word scruffy scruffy and this means untidy or dirty in appearance when I walk my dog I put on my scruffiest clothes as I know they're going to get muddy next we have a lovely phrase to scrub up well to scrub up well and this means to look nice when you make an effort I grew up in a really rural area in England and most of my friendss were farmers so 99% of the time they were in dirty jeans t-shirts and with Windswept hair however we loved a party and when we had a party we would dress up to the nines we would dress up in our most elegant clothes the most common phrase I would hear when we'd all see each other in our nice clothes is wow you scrub up well don't you you scrub up well it means you look nice when you make an effort when you actually wear nice things an example of this in use Pete is usually in shorts and a t-shirt but he scrubs up well on special occasions and the final word from that section posture posture and this means the position you hold your body in particularly your neck shoulders and back when standing or sitting Grace used to be a dancer so she has wonderful posture notice how I pronounce it posture posture that's because a T and A Y sound together we make CH posture same as Tuesday tuna okay the scariest part of this lesson the future looking far into the future I can clearly visualize myself and will Will's salt and pepper will be popping and my hair will be all white we'll have a lot more wrinkles and then there will be croth feet around our eyes but I plan to embrace them they tell the story of a lifetime of smiles and laughter and yes there will be frown lines from when our children do something naughty and stress us out finally three words and phrases to pick out from that text firstly salt and pepper and I'm not talking about seasoning we often use it to talk about hair that has two colors mixed together one dark and one light often white and black you will sometimes hear people say it as pepper and salt hair uh but salt and pepper is that common order for us an example Bill's salt and pepper beard gave him a distinguished appearance next slightly lower level but just in case you need it wrinkle wrinkle this is a small line on the skin often caused by aging there were fine wrinkles across his forehead that showed the passing years and finally we have crow's feet Crow 's feet you know what a crow's foot the bird's foot actually looks like like you know a little triangle like little prongs we almost imagine that a crow has kicked us in the face and we have crow's feet here they're the small lines around the corners of your eyes caused by aging but mostly caused by laughter and smiling lots of people call them laughter lines for example Lucy's crow's feet were evidence of a life filled with laughter and joy that's what I hope anyway all right that is everything I have for this video about describing appearance at a more or less C1 level when you get to the higher levels it's hard to say exactly which word is at what level but in general that was fairly Advanced now I have some homework for you I would like you to describe your appearance or if you don't want to describe yourself the appearance of a celebrity or person you adore try to use some of this vocabulary if you can and bring in other more advanced words and phrases I'll be looking at as many as I can I'd also love to know if you've experienced a similar Journey with your appearance how is that how many of you out there can relate to looking a bit unkempt in the mornings or evenings or any time of day so there were a lot of words to describe appearance in that video but what about personality CU after all it's what's on the inside that counts we go into great detail on the topic of describing character in my C1 program you'll learn when to describe someone as a woolflower or whether inquisitive is a positive or negative characteristic you know the drill by now the Link's in the description box if you do want to join okay next vocabulary lesson in this lesson you're going to learn 21 Advanced phrases that you can use to talk about lifestyle and well-being people and work are you ready hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy today we are focusing on an advanced level of English this is an advanced C1 level vocabulary lesson we are going to Deep dive into 21 Advanced English words and phrases that will significantly elevate your level of proficiency in English the words and phrases are divided into three topics we have lifestyle and well-being people and work and I'm going to give you a short quiz after each section to check if you can remember what you've learned let's start with lifestyle and well-being firstly we have at face value at face value means accepting something as it appears to be without questioning its true nature or its authenticity for example you shouldn't take everything you read about nutrition at face value always verify the information is from reliable sources next we have to have a crack at something to have a crack at something this means to attempt or try something often for the first time or with great enthusiasm for example even though she had never tried rock climbing before Tara decided to have a crack at it during the team building event we also have a lovely one to burn the Midnight Oil to burn the Midnight Oil this means to study or work late Into the Night of often to complete a task or to prepare for something or meet a deadline for example with exams approaching Sarah found herself burning the midnight oil to cover all the required material we also have to strike a balance to strike a balance this means to find a compromise or a middle ground another nice phrase between two competing factors for example it's essential to strike a balance between work and Leisure for a healthy lifestyle next we have to let off steam to let off steam this means to do or say something that helps you to release some anger or frustration that you feel I was so Furious that I had to go for a walk around the block to let off steam to release my anger we also have to count one's blessings this one's lovely this means to make an effort to be grateful for the good things in your life to count your blessings for example when I'm feeling down I I try to remember to count my blessings and be grateful for what I have sometimes we use it in a sarcastic or patronizing way if someone is being ungrateful for what they have we might say count your blessings there are people that are way worse off than you are the final one for our lifestyle and well-being section is to bloom to bloom and you might know this word in connection with flowers a flower opens it blooms such a nice word bloom bloom when a person blooms they become healthy happy and confident we sometimes use it when talking about maturity although we'll use Blossom as well um but it's a really positive phrase Carl bloomed during his six week holiday in the countryside thanks to the fresh air and healthy food okay first break first quiz what can you remember from what I just taught you firstly which word is missing from this sentence I'm going to have a at kaying today I'm nervous but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun I'll give you 5 seconds it's crack well done okay next if I'm really angry and I decide to go for a run to calm down what am I doing am I a letting off steam or B letting out a scream it was a letting off steam although if you said letting out a scream I think people would understand you were releasing anger okay and lastly which of the words that I just taught you means to develop healthily and happily can you remember it it was Bloom well done if you got it right okay let's move on to talking about people first one to stick one's neck out to stick one's neck out this means to take a risk or to expose yourself to possible criticism or danger by doing or saying something for example despite the controversy surrounding the issue Jane decided to stick her neck out and support the new policy next we have a knee-jerk reaction a knee-jerk reaction have you ever been to the doctor and they hit your knee with a hammer and you just can't help but react it's your reflex isn't it well a kneejerk reaction is an immediate automatic response to a situation often without careful consideration or thought for example when we heard about the increase in crime rates our knee-jerk reaction was to insist on more police Patrols in the area that was just the immediate gut reaction we also have to split hairs and I do have a few split hairs I just love doing my hair that's the problem but if you split hairs it doesn't mean you're styling your hair too much it means you have a very annoying character trait it means to argue or worry about very small details or differences that are unimportant for example sometimes I feel like my husband splits hairs over insignificant matters and it leads to unnecessary arguments another phrase with a relevant backstory is pecking order pecking order this is social hierarchy in a group in which all individuals in that group are aware of how important everyone is the different levels of important and I presume that this comes from chickens or Birds an example there's a clear pecking order in their group of friends with Sally being top of the pile I was never top of the pecking order at school I just didn't have it in me now the next three words are adjectives used to describe people and the first one is shrewd shrewd and this describes someone who is good at understanding and making judgments about situations they're often quite good at taking the emotion out a shrewd person is able to make decisions that will give them an advantage for example CLA was a shrewd business person and she made several wise investment decisions when she was still young next number 13 we have obstinate obstinate and notice how I pronounce it with a schah at the end obstinate not obstinate this means refusing to change your opinion or actions despite people trying to make you do so we could also say stubborn in a way it's often used for children Henry was a very obstinate teenager and he consistently refused to admit that he might be wrong about something an extra little Lucy's note here I've seen some students mix up obstinate with another Advanced adjective abstinent abstinent it might be the combination of T's and n's but abstinent has an entirely different meaning it means to refrain from indulging in a particular Behavior this is often related to Vices or bad habits you abstain from doing something our final word in this topic is Placid Placid with the S sound the Soft C we use Placid to describe someone who's very calm and isn't easily excited or annoyed despite the haloo around her Ally remained Placid and Contin with her work it's quiz time it's quiz time can you answer these three questions I'm going to give you 5 Seconds to answer each one firstly which word is missing my neat reaction to hearing my son had been arrested was to be utterly lived Jar Jam jet or J it's jerk excellent job if you got that right number two sometimes it's best to keep your opinions to yourself and not your out is it stick your head stack your neck stick your neck or stuck your nose have a think stick your neck out don't stick your neck out or they'll chop your head off and the third one which words that I just taught you are synonyms for these words calm and stubborn which two words are synonyms Placid obstinate bonus points if you got the pronunciation right of obstinate okay let's move on to our last section it is work and our first phrase is to pull some strings to pull some strings this means to use your influence or connections often secretly or une efficiently to achieve a desired outcome by pulling some strings Tom was able to get his sister a prestigious position at a London based accounting firm the next one is to have a field day to have a field day which means to take advantage of a situation typically for personal benefit and often at the expense of other others for example when the news of the Scandal broke tabloid journalists had a field day writing Sensational stories next we have to be privy to to be privy and note that pronunciation not privy privy this means to have access to or knowledge of secret or confidential information the CEO's assistant is privy to all the important decisions in the company another one one I use quite a lot is on the back Bur on the back burner if something is on the back burner it's low priority and it's not being dealt with at the present moment let's put this project on the back burner and focus on more pressing matters ever I'm really busy I put lots of things on the back burner next we have an adjective cushy cushy I wonder if you can guess what it means it's very similar to another word cushion if something is Cushy it means it's very easy requiring little effort comfortable sometimes people say kushy as well this is slang but we use it in professional situations Ellen got a cushy job that pays well but allows her lots of free time number 20 is a fantastic idiom it is to get your foot in the door to get your foot in the door this means to enter a company or organization at a low level with a chance of being promoted or being more successful in the future Lena got her foot in the door as an intern but she worked her way up to department head in just a few years and my final phrase for you is to go Belly Up To Go belly up and we use this to talk about companies and it means to fail completely and to have to close the business went belly up after just a year of trading okay ah it is that time again quiz time which word is missing I managed to get my in the door at an amazing company earlier in my career and I've worked my way up to management level head foot leg or hand foot you get your foot in the door number two you know the prime minister right can you pull some and get me an interview with her is it strikes strides streams or strings that's right we pull some strings and finally if a job is very easy and doesn't require much effort how can we describe it cushy or if you said kushy I'll let you have that one too okay that's everything for me today I really hope you enjoyed learning these 21 Advanced words and phrases in English there was some amazing phrases in there that you can use in so many contexts but as you know 21 phrases aren't enough to get you to an advanced level what can help you achieve that you guessed it the C1 program it is jam-packed with Advanced phrases like a glutton for punishment and to scare The Living Daylights out of someone all of the information is in the link down below right we finished the vocabulary section of this video now I've created a challenge with 20 Questions ranging from A1 to C1 level so you can check whereabouts you are in terms of your English level this is not a dedicated level test it's a fun challenge for you to see how far you can get through the CFR levels are you ready let's go hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy today I have a challenge for you I'm going to ask you 12 questions four at A1 or A2 beginner level four at B1 B2 intermediate level and four at C1 C2 advanced level answer as many questions as you can and see how far you can go after each question I will explain the answer meaning this video contains 12 mini lessons I'm going to give you 5 Seconds to answer each question but you will probably need more time so use the point pause button please keep count of your score and share it with me in the comment section when you're finished let's start with beginner level questions number one choose the correct option to fill in this Gap there aren't books on the table is it a sum or B any I'll give you 5 Seconds the answer is any there aren't any books on the table we usually use any in negative sentences with plural or uncountable nouns okay let's do question two fill in the gaps to create a question in the present simple tense I want you to use the verb to like he olives 5 Seconds okay here's the answer does he like olives does he like olives did you get that to make yes no questions in the present simple we often use do or does we used does here because the subject is he and the verb is in the base form like not not likes all right question number three fill in the Gap using the correct form of the word easy to compare English to German ready I think English is than German 5 seconds are you ready for the answer I'm also checking your spelling easier did you spell that right when a one or two syllable adjective ends in a consonant plus y we usually make the comparative by removing the Y and adding ear i e r easy easier pretty prettier for example let's look at sentence four and this is your last one at A1 A2 level ready choose the correct option to fill in the gap oh no he that mirror watch out is it a will break B is going to break or C is breaking 5 Seconds okay ready for the answer B is going to break oh no he is going to break that mirror watch out we use to be going to to make predictions based on evidence we have now often evidence that we can see so how did you do on that section are you ready to move on to B1 and B2 level questions let's start with question five find the mistake and correct it have you ever been to Tokyo yes I've been in 2019 I'll give you 5 Seconds are you ready for me to reveal the answer the mistake was using I've been which is the present perfect simple tense with a specific time reference in 2019 if you want to use a specific time reference you should use the past simple I went in 2019 you could also remove the time reference from the sentence have you ever been to Tokyo yes I've been it would be more natural to say yes I have but yes I've been is okay let's look at question six choose the correct option to fill in the Gap I finally got round to that film you recommended is it a watch B watched or see watching 5 Seconds the answer is C watching to get round to or or to get around to is a phrasal verb meaning to find the time to do something it can be followed by a gerand an ing verb or a noun pronoun or noun phrase I've explained more about each of those things in the PDF let's move on to question seven which word forms the best collocation with a reputation for something Colin has a reputation for being very stubborn in negotiations is it a constructed B gained or C achieved I'll give you six seconds this time just kidding five the answer is gained B Colin has gained a reputation for being very stubborn in negotiations to gain a reputation for something is a strong collocation we wouldn't usually say constructed or achieved a reputation okay are you ready for the final question in our B1 B2 section number eight fill in the gaps to complete the sentence and use the verbs in Brackets if the weather be better yesterday we eat outdoors however it was pouring so we ate inside 5 seconds for that one are you ready for the answer if the weather had been better yesterday we would have eaten Outdoors this is a third conditional sentence the structure is if Plus past perfect comma would have Plus past participle we use the third conditional to imagine a different past it's a hypothetical conditional because we can't change the past okay that's the end of our B1 B2 intermediate section and remember that the PDF and interactive exercise pack will really help you to understand and remember what you're learning okay now we're moving on to C1 and C2 level questions and these questions are really challenging please don't worry if you can't answer them but do have a go because I'm going to explain the answers and there are more detailed explanations in the PDF even if you're not at this level yet it's interesting to see what to aim for remember to pause the video if you need longer to think about your answer let's start with number nine think of one word to fill in the blank in all three sentences and the word must be exactly the same sentence one I was at a as to how to help to the of his mother hit Eric hard and three we made her during our first year in business 5 seconds but you may need longer ready for the answer the word for all three sentences is loss I was at a loss as to how to help the loss of his mother hit Eric hard and we made a loss during our first year in business explanation time if you are at a loss you don't know what to do or say that's the first sentence in the second sentence loss means the death of a person in the third sentence loss means the money a business lost and it's the opposite of profit all right let's move on to the next one this is a highlevel vocabulary question number 10 choose the correct option to fill in the Gap the singer had a wonderfully voice that was perfect for jazz is it a Gruff B husky or C horse 5 seconds for you the answer is B husky the singer had a wonderfully husky voice that was perfect effect for jazz now Gruff Husky and horse have similar meanings we can use them all to describe the sound of someone's voice however Gruff usually has a negative connotation a Gruff voice is low deep and sometimes unfriendly horse also has a negative connotation if someone's voice is horse it's rough and unpleasant often because someone has a sore throat a husky voice is also low and rough but it's often in an attractive way it's essential to know these nuances in meaning when you get to an advanced level in English Nuance is something we really focus on in my beautiful British English C1 program if you'd like to learn more about that visit englishwith lucy.com okay let's move on to question 11 you might recognize this question type from English exams ready use the word Brink to fill in the Gap and make the second sentence mean the same as the first do not change the word Brink you can use between three and six words in the Gap ready first sentence medical advances should soon produce a breakthrough in gene therapy second sentence this one's for you the medical community is thought a breakthrough in gene therapy 5 seconds but I honestly think you'll need longer ready for the answer the medical community is thought to be on the brink of a breakthrough in gene therapy did you get that if you did well done that's amazing if you are on the brink of something a new or different situation is about to begin it implies that something is going to happen or someone is going to do something in the very near future there was also an impersonal passive structure in that sentence the medical community is thought to be again there is more about that in the PDF if you want to learn about it now the final question number 12 and then you can share your score with me number 12 change the form of the highlighted word so that it fits in the Gap ready the city was by large stone walls the highlighted word is circle I'll give you 5 Seconds to think this through okay the answer is encircled encircled the city was in circled by large stone walls did anyone get that that question was all about word formation something that again we cover in great detail in my beautiful British English C1 program in this case we took the word Circle and made it into a past participle by adding D and we added the prefix n to encircle means to surround completely we wouldn't say circled because that means means moving in a circle or drawing a circle around something and that was the last question wasn't that a challenge I really want to know how you did so please do share your score or let me know which questions were easy or difficult for you in the comments sometimes I find with my higher level students that they get the C1 and C2 questions but then they make a mistake in an A2 question okay how did you do did you manage to answer the C1 level questions they were pretty challenging so don't worry if you didn't if you were able to answer quite a few of the B1 and B2 questions correctly you might actually be ready for my beautiful British English C1 program that program is designed to take you from a B2 or upper intermediate level of English to a C1 advanced level if you're already at C1 don't dismiss this program because we actually overshoot C1 and cover quite a few C2 level words phrases and structures in the course we actually have a lot of English teachers participating in this course which makes the course Community even more interesting when we hear their opinions and thoughts on things it's a fantastic way to consolidate what you've leared in the past especially if you're feeling a little bit Rusty I'm feeling Rusty with my Spanish at the moment I could really use something like this with Spanish my program also focuses on teaching natural English so learn lots of Expressions that proficient speakers really use not just textbook English we don't like textbook English I'm sure you can tell how proud I am of this course how much I love this course it is my favorite I'm not meant to have favorites but this is my favorite program it really teaches the art of English if you want to sign up for it click on the link in the description box scan the QR code if you have any questions please email us on help englishwith lucy.com we'll be right there with you okay we're at the end of the video if you're still here you are one of my most tenacious students in fact I want to know who stuck it out leave me a comment that includes the word tenacious if you made it to the end I will see you in the next video bye [Music] [Music]