Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Use these 7 methods to build your vocabulary. These techniques will guarantee that you encounter new words, learn them, remember them, and use them! Before you know it, you’ll have a rich vocabulary – and with it, a richer, more vibrant experience of life. engvid.com/7-ways-to-master-vocabulary
More of my videos about how to learn English:
Learn 10x more vocabulary with Word Webs! youtu.be/e_aA-Hc74Ag
Remember anything with the Memory Palace method youtu.be/PfHNo9HlC8c
In this lesson:
00:00 – 7 ways to master vocabulary –
00:26 Why build your vocabulary?
01:22 1. Use a dictionary & thesaurus
02:57 2. Play word games
03:55 3. Subscribe to word of the day
05:21 4. Make flash cards
06:27 5. READ!
08:38 6. Have conversations
10:10 7. Watch EngVid lessons
11:08 – 5 keys to having strong vocabulary –
15:49 – Homework –
17:08 – Quotes of the Day –
Use these 7 methods to build your vocabulary. These techniques will guarantee that you encounter new words, learn them, remember them, and use them! Before you know it, you’ll have a rich vocabulary – and with it, a richer, more vibrant experience of life. engvid.com/7-ways-to-master-vocabulary
More of my videos about how to learn English:
Learn 10x more vocabulary with Word Webs! youtu.be/e_aA-Hc74Ag
Remember anything with the Memory Palace method youtu.be/PfHNo9HlC8c
In this lesson:
00:00 – 7 ways to master vocabulary –
00:26 Why build your vocabulary?
01:22 1. Use a dictionary & thesaurus
02:57 2. Play word games
03:55 3. Subscribe to word of the day
05:21 4. Make flash cards
06:27 5. READ!
08:38 6. Have conversations
10:10 7. Watch EngVid lessons
11:08 – 5 keys to having strong vocabulary –
15:49 – Homework –
17:08 – Quotes of the Day –
![How to Learn English Vocabulary (and Actually Remember It!)
Learning new English words is easy. Remembering them when you speak is the hard part. In this lesson, I’ll teach you a simple 4-step method that turns “dead” vocabulary on the page into words you can actually use. The secret: treat words like tools. A single word by itself means almost nothing. But when you “anchor” it, it stays in your memory and becomes ready to use in real conversations. I’ll also share 3 study tips that speed everything up. Follow this method and you’ll finally move vocabulary from “I know it” to “I can use it.” https://www.engvid.com/vocabulary-use-words-like-tools/
Keep improving your English:
Improve Your Vocabulary: 8 Words for Intermediate English Learners https://youtu.be/Aa7f_NdYNqs
Read More, Learn Faster https://youtu.be/W6Z94ffQx3s
In this lesson:
0:00 How to Remember Vocabulary: My Method
0:51 Words are tools.
1:53 Step 1: WORD
3:18 STEP 2: PHRASE
5:08 STEP 3: SENTENCES
6:12 STEP 4: SITUATIONS
7:54 Trick 1: English Only!
9:12 Trick 2: Give it meaning!
10:19 Trick 3: You have 24 hours!
11:41 Homework
Transcript:
Lets talk tools and words. Im going to teach you today why you have a problem and it bothers you, but probably no one has talked about it. Im going to change that. And what that problem is, is that you read words, you write words, you study really, really hard, but the moment an English person says these words or says some of the words or you hear them, they seem to, like, disappear, like, you know, rain from the sky just disappears. Gone. Gone. Why is that? Well, this lesson Im going to teach you why that happens, and Im going to show you how to change it so it doesnt happen to you. All right? And it has to do with tools. Using the tools, which are your words, using them properly so that you can get the best results and they become useful.
All right, so lets go to the board. I have four words here, see? Words are tools, and they are. Words are tools of communication. But a word by itself is meaningless; it means nothing. Ill give you an example. Meal. The word meal, its food, right? When you put food together. But when I say the word meal to you, youre like, okay, meal, its a breakfast, lunch, dinner, whats it mean? Well, what happens if I changed it and I took that same word meal and I surrounded it, I used my tools, other words to help give it greater meaning? And if I said, The meal you made last night was spectacular, all of a sudden my brain is exploding, Im imagining wine, Im imagining a nice piece of steak or chicken or what have you, right? With some rice or whatever, and its just, oh, hmm, what was it? Im curious, Im drawn in, so Ive taken this one word meal and elevated it. But if you notice what I did, I didnt just say meal, I had to do a couple of things. Well, three things. And thats what this lesson is about.
The first thing we want to start with is words, vocabulary. You have a vocabulary word. And Im going to start with the word responsible, and were going to work through with the word responsible until we can find a way that we can remember this word no matter what, okay?
So, lets start with the word responsible. Do you know what it means? Okay, so, responsible means to trust in someone to do something, or if youre not thinking of that, its the reason why something happened. This is responsible, and thats why this happened, okay? You know, a person responsible - sorry, a machine is responsible for breaking down so these problems happened or what have you, and trust, hes responsible, I trust him or her, he or she, to do the job. Yeah? Okay, so, thats what it means. Its also an adjective, yeah? You can have responsibility which is a noun, but were just sticking with the word responsible, so I need to know its an adjective, how does it work, I need to know what it means - to trust or the cause of something.
Now, that Ive got that, its great, but its not going to stick in my head. Its going to fall when I hear people say it or when I try to speak it, because its not anchored. It doesnt have anything, as we have here, a nail with hammer, nailing it so I can remember it, I can bring it back. So, how do we change that? Well, we can change it into a phrase. For those of you who dont know what a phrase is, its when you have a sentence fragment, that means a part of a sentence, that can have either a verb or a noun, but not both. Okay? So, in this case, Im going to choose responsible for. Now, Ive taken the word responsible from being something I trust or the cause, and Ive given it a bit more of a meaning. Its like adding a little bit of salt and pepper to your meal, give it some flavour. It brightens the taste or brings out more of the taste, yeah? And were doing it by doing this. When youre responsible for something, you are the one that has to do it. Remember? Cause and you trust them to do it. […] How to Learn English Vocabulary (and Actually Remember It!)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rSeLQtpfJvs/mqdefault.jpg)


![English Grammar Exceptions: Superlative & Comparative
Exceptions, exceptions, exceptions... AAAAH!!! Don’t you hate them? We have so many exceptions in English. In this lesson, I’ll talk about exceptions with comparatives and superlatives in English. A comparative word compares two things by adding an ‘-er’ ending. For example, we change ‘short’ to ‘shorter’ to make a comparative word. A superlative word is one whose quality, whether good or bad, surpasses all others. For example, we change “cute” to “cutest” to show that it is number one of its kind. As you can see, all you have to do to get the superlative is add ‘-est’ to the root word. But, my friends, this is English, and there are exceptions. That’s where this lesson comes in. I will teach you superlative and comparative words that are exceptions to the rule, like “worst”, “best”, “most”, “least”, “farthest”, “more”, “less”, “worse”, and “better”. These are common words that most people use every day, so it’s important to understand them and to say them correctly. Find out how much you know by taking the quiz: https://www.engvid.com/comparative-superlative-adjectives-exceptions/
TRANSCRIPT
Hmm. The One, its probably the best book Ive read in a while. Hi. James from engVid. Today I want to talk to you about, funny enough, The One. And why I say: The One is usually when we talk about superlatives and comparatives, the number one comes up quite often. And, now, Im not going to do your standard lesson on what the comparative is and the superlative is; you probably are aware of this, but I would like to point out five exceptions to the general rules. So, Im going to quickly go over the difference between comparative and superlative, and then go into the exceptions. Are you ready? Lets go to the board.
So, E, you got my five for me. Cool. Youre going to notice on the board I have the number 1 written out repetitively. Theres a reason for it, and well get into it. But lets start looking at: What is a superlative? I like to look at superlative as in Superman. Superman is the best, the strongest, the fastest, la, la, la - number one. So, when you think of a superlative, think of the highest or the best amount. Or, because its extreme, it could be the worst. Now, Ive used a couple of them already, but were going to go to the board and get a little deeper into them. So, it could be number one at the top or number one at the bottom. Okay?
Comparative is when we look at two things and we want to say theres a difference between them. He is bigger than she is or James is bigger than Mr. E - comparing the two. So, with a comparative, you generally find that we add er to the end of the word to tell you that something is being compared to something else. Okay? Comparative, and youll see er: bigger, smaller, smarter, taller. Cool? We got that.
And with a superlative, we add usually est. Right? And the est is for the biggest, strongest, longest, fastest, and it will be the number one in its category. And remember what I said: It could be the number one as in the best, like the best one position, or in the lowest position number one. Are you ready? So lets go to the board and find out what our exceptions are. You might be surprised, but theyre actually quite often used, and actually quite often misunderstood.
So, the first one were going to look at is the best. If youre from Japan, its ichiban; if youre from Mexico or not even Mexico, any Latino country, its numero uno or we say number one. Thats what the best is. Kind of simple, right? And we know what good is, because whats the opposite of good? Bad. Good is something we like. Now, why this is an exception is because usually, if you remember rightly, when I said biggest, we start with big and we go to biggest, and we go bigger. So, we use the root word and we just add the er or the est. But when we look over here, if you look at my chart, increasing-meaning its getting better-theres an improvement going on - we start with the word good. That has nothing to do with the word best. Very different. And this is why its an exception; it doesnt follow the rule of: Take the root word and add er or est. Its a completely different word, but they are related in we say something starts off good - something you like, like 70%... 75% on a test is good. Its not great, but its good, right? Or 80%.
Better, and this is where we talk about the improvement; er means a comparative... A comparison, and were looking at two different things and comparing them; while good is 75%, better than that is 90%. Theres a difference between the two numbers; its an improvement or an increase. But the best would be 100%. Right? See, if you get 100%, you cant get much better than 100%, and we say thats the best. Now, these numbers arent real. Im not saying each number corresponds to these things, but what Im trying to give you an idea is how theyre related. […] English Grammar Exceptions: Superlative & Comparative](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/skt3id-vET8/mqdefault.jpg)

![Learn Real English: Getting sick and buying medicine
We never plan to get sick, but sometimes it happens. In this lesson, youll learn vocabulary and expressions you need to visit a doctor, get a prescription, and buy the medicine you need. If youre traveling to an English-speaking country, this lesson is essential. Ill also give you my advice and warnings for buying and taking medication in an English-speaking country. Most importantly, remember that pharmacists are your friends. They will be happy to help you find the medication you need, and to give you exact instructions on how to take it. I hope your next visit to the drug store is a pleasant one. Dont worry, this lesson is non-drowsy!
Test your understanding of the lesson with my quiz: http://www.engvid.com/travel-english-getting-sick-and-buying-medicine/
TRANSCRIPT
E, youre going to need some medicine. Take your medicine. Dunh-dunh-dunh. Hi. James from engVid. Todays lesson is going to be on getting medicine, going to the pharmacy, and who you should see to get these things. Okay, look, youre learning English, and if youre really lucky, youre going to get to travel to different places, English-speaking places, and when you go there, its not always going to be perfect. Im hoping most of the time you have a great time, meet interesting people, but you might get sick or feel bad, and when you do, youre going to need someone to help you. And what Id like to do is help you with todays lesson, and where were going to talk about how we ack-... Not acknowledge, but we tell someone whats wrong with us, and how they help us get better. Are you ready? Lets go to the board.
So, first: symptoms. Its a nice, long word. What are your symptoms? Symptoms are the things that you feel when you dont feel well. If you say: My back hurts, or My head hurts, or My stomach doesnt feel good, what we are saying is these are your symptoms. When you have a cold, you have a runny nose, your nose is runny-right?-sometimes-[coughs]-you cough, sometimes you have this - well, that would be a fever. If thats the symptoms, Id say you have a flu; not a cold. All right? Okay.
So when you see a doctor, and thats who you go to, you go to a doctor, theyll ask you: What are your symptoms? And you say: Doctor, my arm hurts and my back hurts. Hell go: Okay. You know what? I think you have blah, blah, blah, and you need some medicine. So once you tell them the symptoms, if the doctor feels this is something you wont get better in, you know, two or three days, like: Youre tired, get some sleep, or eat some food, the doctor will tell you to get some medicine.
Now, in North America, which is Canada, United States, and Mexico - they have great... Well, we wont say Mexico, because English speaking, Canada, United States, Great Britain, Australia, you cannot get medicine just because you want it. You actually have to go to a special place, and you have to get whats called a prescription. A prescription actually... The word is prescription, but we say perscription. The prescription is the doctor saying what medicine you need. Remember we said medicine? And he signs or she will sign it, and say: Please give this person that medicine. In this case, I said he because Mr. E, if you didnt know it, hes a doctor. He is a doctor, bona fide. Anyway, Mr. E will sign a piece of paper and give it to you.
You will then go to a place called the pharmacy. The pharmacy is where we actually get medicine. Sometimes they actually make some of the medicines, or put them together there for you. Another word for pharmacy is drug store. A lot of times, Canadians and Americans will go: Im going to the drug store to get something, because they dont just sell medicine and drugs-and drugs is another word for medicine-they sell other things you might need, you know, tooth paste, floss for your teeth, and we have a video on that if you really want to go check-okay?-on how to take care of yourself. But you go to the drug store or the pharmacy to get your medicine.
When you go there and you hand it, youre going to hand the piece of paper to the person called the pharmacist. The pharmacist is the doctor that deals with giving out medicines. They will ask you for your prescription. When you hand them the prescription, they will-here we have number 5-fill your prescription. Fill it, think of a bath tub, or yeah, a glass of water - its empty, but as you put the water in, it fills up. Filling the prescription means putting the medicine inside of the bottle for you to take. The pharmacist will fill your prescription. Learn Real English: Getting sick and buying medicine](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tcVNEK0U78U/mqdefault.jpg)




