Hi there, this is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. I help you to improve conversational skills, your business English, improve your vocabulary, expressions, whatever it is, wherever you're having problems, well, you can find the answer right here on this particular channel.
Okay, so in this particular lesson, it's an advanced English lesson, and we're looking at adverbs. And in particular, we're looking at adverb collocation. So I've got 20 in total for you. As you know, I believe that one-to-one language learning is the most effective way in which you can improve your language skills.
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Now, collocations are a really, really good way for you to improve your English because not only do you get one word, you usually get two words together. And when you have two words together, you've got a phrase. And when you've got a phrase, you can express yourself in a much, much better way. And okay, you still have to remember it, and you still have to know how to use it.
And that's, of course, the purpose of my particular lesson. So, today we've got an advanced English lesson looking at adverb collocations. And in these particular collocations, you'll see pairings of words together.
And it's really, really important that the adverb goes with an appropriate adjective. And that's how we use them. And it gives you much more expression.
And you have to be very careful because sometimes people use the wrong adverb with the wrong adjective. and it doesn't make any sense at all. So you'll see the pairings that I have. Practice them, go over them. If I have any difficulty, as you know, you know the drill by now, just come back to me and I'll give you some further explanation.
Okay, so adverbs, as you should know by now, adverbs always modify, modify the verb, or in this case, adjectives. Okay, so they, what we're trying to do is just to give you a better use of the English language and hopefully these collocations will do the trick for you. So let me give you a quick example.
We often say when we use the word concerned, I am deeply concerned. So it gives you the ability there to put more meaning into it. You might be concerned about your child's health.
You might be concerned about his progress or her progress at school. But if you want to really emphasise it, and you want to modify it with an adverb, you can say deeply concerned. I am deeply concerned.
Now, you could, of course, say very concerned. And very is one of those adverbs that goes almost with everything. Or really concerned. So, really concerned, very concerned, but deeply concerned has greater meaning. Okay.
Now, you know, we wouldn't say I'm sorely concerned. So, that would not make sense. So, deeply concerned, yes.
Sorely concerned, no. Really concerned or very concerned, yeah, you can use them. As I said, we've got it.
20 in total. So I'll go through them slowly, as slowly as I can, and hopefully you'll be able to keep up with me. Okay.
Now, first one is to firmly believe. So in an expression, we might say, I firmly believe that I am correct, or I firmly believe that this is the right thing to do. I firmly believe that you are at fault, or he is at fault, or that it wasn't my fault.
So that's You know, I believe it's a strong enough verb to use, but we can say I firmly believe. I firmly believe. Number two. Happily married. Of course, somebody can say I'm married.
Yeah, I've been married for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. Happily is an adverb that will underline the fact as to how strong your relationship is. I have been happily married for 15 or 20 years.
Yeah, so there's a there's a an old joke about that happily married when the guy is talking to his friend and he says, oh, I've been happily married for five years. He said, yeah, but you've been married to your wife for 20 years. He said, yes, but only five years were happy.
So, yeah, happily married. Strongly criticised or strongly criticised, yeah? He strongly criticised the Member of Parliament or the Minister or the Prime Minister or the President was strongly criticised for his action. So, he can be criticised by somebody, but...
strongly criticized suggests that the criticism was quite deep and very, very tough. So strongly criticized, not toughly criticized, strongly criticized. And don't forget to click on the link in the description below to get your 50% reduction in the first lesson that you purchase with Preply.com.
Badly hurt. Well, of course, when there are accidents and unfortunately Many times there are accidents on our roads when cars are driving too fast or people go with great speed or perhaps for weather conditions, the roads are bad. And if there's an accident, somebody can be badly hurt. OK, so we wouldn't say very hurt or really hurt, but we'd say badly hurt suggests the level of the injuries that he has suffered. So if he was just hurt, perhaps he broke an arm or an ankle, then...
OK, it's serious, but it's not very, very serious. But if he was badly hurt, it would suggest that the level of the injuries was quite serious and perhaps he had to spend some time in the hospital. So badly hurt. To sleep soundly.
Well, we all like to sleep soundly in our beds. Coming up to Christmas time, we always tell our children, you should sleep soundly because Santa Claus will be coming on. Christmas Eve and he'll be creeping around the room. So you have to be sound asleep or you have to sleep soundly. Or somebody would say, oh, I had a great, great sleep last night.
I slept soundly. I, you know, as soon as my head touched the pillow, boom, I was out like a light. So I slept soundly for the first time in many, many weeks.
Number six, completely destroy something. So A fire could break out in a shopping centre, for example, and it will destroy the shopping centre. But if we use the word completely destroy, we get a much better feeling as to the level of destruction. Perhaps all of the buildings were damaged, all of the shops were ruined, the roof collapsed or whatever happened, but it was completely destroyed. Yeah.
But if the report said only part of the shopping centre was destroyed, you'd get a general impression that it wasn't so serious. But completely destroyed tells you that, yeah, the level of seriousness or the fire swept everywhere in that particular shopping centre, and it was completely destroyed. Totally agree.
I totally agree with you. Now, we could say, I completely agree. And that's another collocation you could use.
I totally agree with the last suggestion. So perhaps you're sitting in a meeting. with some of your colleagues, and everybody is chipping in with their ideas as to how things can be improved, and you would like to make some contribution, and you say, yeah, I totally agree with the last person's comments, or I totally agree with the point about relaunching the product, or I totally agree with the idea about providing customers with a refund or some helpline, whatever the suggestion might be. So I totally agree. Number eight, hopelessly devoted.
There's a song, I can't remember who sang the song, but the line in the song was hopelessly devoted to you. Hopelessly devoted to you. So when someone is hopelessly devoted, it means that they are, you know, really, really devoted.
They spend all their time. all their waking hours, doing things to suit their partner, hopelessly devoted. So it's all about what you can and what you can't do. Actually, I tell you exactly who sang the song now. I remember it.
It was Olivia Newton-John. She's dead now. She died a few months ago.
But she had a song and it was hopelessly devoted to you. OK, so that's if you check it out on Olivia Newton-John, you'll find the song. So when someone is hopelessly devoted, they are.
very, very much in love with the person that they are devoted to, and they will do anything they can to help them. So it could be their partner for life. It could be a parent talking about a child.
Or indeed, you could be talking about your pet dog, hopelessly devoted to your pet. But in this sense, it's usually about love and romance, hopelessly devoted. Now, again, you could say really devoted, and it doesn't give you that same sense, whereas hopelessly devoted. underlines the fact that you can't help it. You just head over heels in love with the person and you want to do everything you can to help them.
To completely forget about something. Okay, now, this is something that we use all of the time. You know, we can often in our busy lives forget to return a telephone call to somebody, forget to pick something up in the supermarket on the way home, even though we promised we would. We could forget somebody's birthday or something.
Hopefully not. You could forget your wedding anniversary, your partner's birthday, and then you have to put your hands up and say, oh, look, I've been so, so busy. I just completely forgot all about it. I'm really, really sorry.
I'll do anything you need. I'm really, really sorry. So, when you completely forget, it means it goes out of your head. Yeah. So, it's not just that you forgot for an hour or two hours.
You completely forgot. You were so... caught up in whatever situation at work or family matters, you completely forgot about this very, very important date, an anniversary, a birthday, whatever it might be.
To care passionately. This is number 10 on our list. Remember, you've got 20. So we're almost halfway there. To care passionately about something. So what do you care about the most?
So you find out things in your life that you care about. And if you care really deeply, then you can say I care or he should. cares passionately about football.
He cares passionately about his kids. He cares passionately about his country, about his job. Whatever it is you like the most or whatever you spend your most time doing, this is something that you care passionately about. Okay, so to care passionately means really, really deeply. Number 11. Now we have two words here.
We can say badly or shabbily. Yeah. and we co-locate with dressed. Badly dressed, shabbily dressed.
If you were trying to describe the dress of the people in a certain country or town or city that you visited, you might comment on the fact that, yeah, I think the economy in that country isn't doing so well at the moment, because a lot of the citizens, certainly the ones I saw in the streets, were very badly dressed or shabbily dressed. And they both really mean the same, that they... quality of the clothing isn't good. The age of the clothing is quite old, perhaps worn, suffering from some wear and tear, so they are shabbily or badly dressed.
Number 12. To need something desperately or desperately need. So here we can change the order. I desperately need blah, blah, blah.
I need something desperately. Okay, so when you desperately need something, you really, really need it now. I desperately need a coffee. I've been absolutely waiting for the taste of a coffee for such a long time. I got really busy this morning with some meetings and there was no coffee ready when I went into the canteen.
So I really, really need to run out now and get a cup of coffee because I just won't be able to function anymore. I desperately need an injection of coffee. Okay, if you desperately need some help, or the company desperately needs a new investor to invest some much needed liquidity or cash into the business, otherwise the business is going to have difficulties. Okay, so to desperately need something.
Now just take a pause there. And if you find out that you like this particular lesson, then please like the video. And if you can subscribe to the channel, because it really, really helps. Okay, so we're on to number 13. Okay, and 13 is to break deliberately or deliberately break something. So you might have a young child that's been a little bit bold or is mischievous or he's misbehaving.
And perhaps he's feeling a little bit left out of things. So he deliberately breaks it to get some attention. He drops your favourite cup or mug on the floor and deliberately breaks it.
So it's not that he broke it by accident. he deliberately breaks it. Now, if we're looking at the word deliberately, and we were looking for a synonym for deliberately, we could say on purpose or purposely.
Yeah, but we wouldn't say purposely broke. Deliberately is a much better word and the collocation is much stronger. So deliberately broke or to break something deliberately. So in the example I had, the young boy was feeling a little bit mischievous.
and he picked up the cup and dropped it on the floor and he broke it deliberately. And his mother or father was really, really annoyed. So somebody could deliberately break a contract.
Okay. Perhaps he didn't want to go ahead with the contract. So he just didn't honour whatever the contract said and he broke the condition.
So he deliberately broke it. And then you have to consider whether you sue that person for breach of contract, as it's called, to deliberately break. The conditions of the contract would be to break the terms and conditions in breach of the contract. Number 14, to apologize profusely.
I love this word, profusely. Gives the impression that you're constantly, oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Look what I've done. Oh, I'm really, really sorry. How can you ever forgive me? Oh, oh, oh.
And so you go on and on and on. And so there's a constant stream of apologies. So that's what.
apologising profusely means. Okay, so it's not just a simple apology. Look, I'm really sorry I forgot your birthday. That's okay. Oh, I'm so sorry I forgot your birthday.
What are you ever going to do to forgive me? What can I do to make it up to you? Look, I'm really sorry it'll never happen again. I don't know what I was thinking. I've never done it.
So you apologise profusely. So you get the idea of these collocations. They're really important because, say, they're phrases, they're expressions that... two words together and they really help you with your English.
So, to apologise profusely. Bitterly disappointed is number 15 on my list. Bitterly disappointed.
Well, it can be bitterly cold. That's another way that we can express bitterly. But bitterly disappointed means something really, really strong.
You can be disappointed that you missed the match. You can be disappointed that you didn't get the promotion. You can be disappointed in lots of things.
Bitterly disappointed takes it one step further. Oh, you should see his face. I mean, he's bitterly disappointed that he didn't make the team.
He's bitterly disappointed that his team got knocked out in the semifinals. He's bitterly disappointed that he didn't receive that bonus he was expecting because he had earmarked to buy a new car and now that's not going to happen. So he's really, really upset to be bitterly disappointed.
Number 16. Severely affected. Now, usually it's severely affected by something. Okay, so perhaps the transport system has been severely affected by bad weather. Frozen points on the railway tracks means the trains can't depart or arrive on time. Lots of snow on the runway means that the airports are closed for periods of time and flights are cancelled.
Ice on the roads mean people can't drive at all or they have to drive very slowly. So all... weather or all means of transport are severely affected by the bad weather.
Okay, severely affected. So it means not just partly, not just for a little period of time, but severely means really, really badly, severely affected by. Number 17, to distinctly remember or remember distinctly. I remember distinctly telling you that I would not...
be home tonight for dinner. I distinctly remember sending an email to cancel the meeting and the guy turned up today, I was so embarrassed. I distinctly remember ordering a takeaway, but it never arrived.
So something that you thought happened or you believe happened, and you've got a very good memory because you remember the person you spoke to, or the message you left, or the time you sent the email, whatever it is that gives you that little bit of understanding that, yeah, I'm right. I distinctly remember doing that. So, but if other people don't remember, of course, it causes a problem. So distinctly remember, very clearly.
I clearly remember distinctly. But you could then again, as I say, you could say clearly. I clearly remember telling you distinctly means very, very accurately. Fatally injured. Fatally injured.
Now, fatal usually means unfortunately somebody has died. So the horse was fatally injured in the race. Something happened, the horse jumped over the fence, but then landed. awkwardly broke a leg and the horse had to be, as they say, put down or destroyed. So the horse was fatally injured.
So it wasn't just an injury to the leg and hopefully their vet will cure it. But fatally injured usually means that the horse can no longer run or even walk. And therefore, the horse had to be put down on the racetrack.
Very, very sad. So fatally injured. Or...
if there was some really, really serious accident by train or plane, and the number of people who were fatally injured, meaning they lost their lives. So again, it's a form of words, a collocation that you'll come across all of the time in news reports, journalist reports, online reports on internet sites. So many people were fatally injured.
Not badly injured because badly injured usually means they will recover eventually. Fatally injured, very little chance. Number 19. Perfectly clear.
I made it perfectly clear to you that I did not want to take part in this protest. I thought I made it perfectly clear to the class that I wanted the homework completed and handed up to me on the Tuesday, not on the Wednesday. No excuses.
I made it perfectly clear to everyone. So, it was clear because I told everybody and they nodded or they acknowledged it by way of an email. But I made it perfectly clear means there was no room for misinterpretation.
There was no room for ambiguity. You understood. It was perfectly clear.
Perfectly clear to me that you understood what I was asking and perfectly clear to you what I was asking of you. Perfectly clear. And then finally, number 20, virtually impossible.
That's a nice co-location. What is virtually impossible? Well, climbing Mount Everest for me and for lots of people would be virtually impossible. Being able to go off and play golf on Christmas Day would be virtually impossible because you might end up in the divorce courts. That would be virtually impossible.
So virtually means almost completely, almost impossible. 100%, not quite, 99.9999%. So virtually impossible.
Okay, so those are the 20 collocations, the adverb collocations. It's advanced English, but they're not so difficult. So what I'd like you to do and what you should try to do is to practice some of them.
Pick a sentence, see how you can put them in, see how it sounds. Work your way around it. If you have any problems, come back to me.
Don't try to look at all 20. Pick. three or four or five, and then the next week, pick another three, four or five, and just get to use them. And you'll see situations that are really, really set up to use this type of co-location. Okay, you can enjoy it. You can play around with it.
If you have any problems, contact me. Always happy to hear from you. And I'm always there to help.
Okay, this is Harry saying goodbye for now. Thanks for joining this lesson and join me for the next one.