TRANSCRIPT OF THE ABOVE VIDEO: 'Learn Commonly Used Synonyms - Develop Your English Word Skills: Practical English Vocabulary Lesson'

Hi everyone, it's Nicole here, and I'm back with another learning video answering your questions.

One of my students is really really excited about expanding her vocabulary through the use of synonyms, and, look, this is one of the best ways to improve your vocabulary quite quickly. You already know the meaning, you already know how to use it, you're just replacing a word with an alternative word that means the same thing, and, look, amazing way to, what should I say, sound more advanced, amazing way to not get bored with using the same words again and again and again and again.

So I challenge you to expand your vocabulary, and to really start developing your knowledge of synonyms for the words that you use quite often, the words that you use almost everyday, try to avoid those words, and replace them with their equivalents, with a synonym, and you'll get more excited, and obviously the listener will enjoy listening to you because your sentences are more interesting.

Yeah, so I thought I could maybe talk about a few common words and some example synonyms that you could use instead. If you really like the idea of synonyms, I'm happy for us to maybe record some more videos looking at synonyms and expanding your vocabulary of them in that way.

Ok. So, the first word that people use all the time is the word hard. Do you know any words that mean the same as hard? A synonym that we could use instead of hard? Yeah, absolutely, difficult is the first that springs to mind, you know, most people say difficult instead of hard. There are many others, you know, we could use the word complicated as well. Yeah, so if something's difficult, it can be complicated. It can be hard. You could also say demanding, that's a great alternative, strenuous when it's something that's physically hard, it's a really good one, or exhausting as well, and it's physically hard, you know. Something else that is hard might be back-breaking, again it's physically hard, you're physically breaking your back. It's difficult, you know, hard could even be something like complex or terrible, I suppose. So, there's a few alternatives for the word hard.

Let's have a look at another one that we use quite often. And that is the word correct. So, you know, if you're learning English, and the teacher always says, that's correct, that's correct, that's correct. What's another way of saying that's correct? Yeah, absolutely. That's right, good. So right is a word that we use there, but I actually think correct is probably more advanced. Do you know anything else that we could say? Mmm yeah, I suppose you could use the negative to say it's not wrong, or it's not incorrect. You can always do that. If you can't think of a synonym - great tip, use the negative! So, if something is correct, it could also be appropriate, or legitimate, or even factual, it could be right as we said, it could be, what else, exact. Yeah, there's quite a few alternatives there.

Ok, so next if we're talking about something that is nice. Hmm. Nice. Another word for nice. Absolutely. Yeah, you could say great. Absolutely. You could say something like charming if you're talking about someone's personality, if they have a nice personality they’re charming. Yeah, delightful is another alternative, or friendly might be one if you're talking about personality, kind could be an alternative as well, pleasant could be another great word for nice. Yeah, wonderful. So, there’s a few alternatives.

Now, let's quickly look at the word simple. Any ideas what we could use instead of simple? Yeah, so something could be straightforward or uncomplicated, or it might even be effortless. If you want a fun one we could say it's child's play, yeah, or it's manageable, perhaps, excellent.

So, I hope you really enjoyed that, just a few alternatives there to help you start thinking about synonyms and using them so that you don't feel bored and frustrated by using the same words all the time. Go and practise them, write some sentences, put them in the comments. If you'd like me to have a look, and to correct them, and give you some feedback, I'm more than happy to do that.

Anyway, thanks for listening. Have a great day. Bye.