Oh, hi.

My time is finally here.

James from engVid.

I can't believe this, this is like the Mirror Universe.

If you watch Star Trek, you'll understand; if not, go watch Mirror Universe with Star

Trek.

I have two, look at them, I have two Mr. Es.

In the first one Mr. E is hot, and the first one Mr. E is cold.

Let's go to the board.

E, what's up?

"It's very hot.

35 degrees centigrade."

You're right.

I see you're wearing your Bermuda shorts.

And the second E is saying he's very cold: "It's minus 30 degrees centigrade."

Ow, this isn't good.

I feel for you.

But don't you think there are better ways to say it's very hot or it's very cold?

I think so, and in today's lesson I'm going to teach some of you...

Not some of you.

I'm going to teach all of you how to get rid of the word "very" to describe everything,

and use other words which give more information, which will make you sound more like a native

speaker and make your writing phenomenal.

Oh, "phenomenal"?

That's a word for "very good".

Are you ready?

Let's go to the board.

So, today's lesson is on "very".

"Very" is a very good word, that's why we use it, but when you're writing, to hear somebody

say: "Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very" is what we call monotonous, it

means "mono" as one, "tonous", one tone, one sound - very boring.

So let's change that from you being...

You know, using "very" because I teach and I notice a lot of students saying things,

like: "Teacher, today it's very cold outside."

I'm like: -"Yeah, it is."

-"And I'm very tired and very hungry."

I'm like: "Okay, okay."

It's like being punched in the face again and again, and I just want to say: "Stop with

the 'very'.

Use a different word."

But it's not fair because "very" is a very good word-there, I did it again-we just need

to find other words to make your language sound richer to improve it so you sound more

like a native English speaker, and to make it more interesting for you because it will

express more of who you are and your ideas in a better way.

It makes you unique.

You ready?

Let's go to the board.

You'll notice I put "very" in red because this is something we don't want to do, we

don't want to keep saying: "very".

We want to change that up.

And I'm going to give you a list of words that people or students usually say when they

say "very" that I've heard many, many times.

And maybe you've done this.

And today I'm going to give you singular words to use instead.

I'll explain them, just in case they're difficult.

Let's start with the first one.

People say: "Very rude", instead of saying that, you can say: "vulgar".

"Vulgar" means very rude, and if somebody says to me: "Your language is vulgar", I'll

probably stop talking because it means it's not right, it's inappropriate, it's very bad.

Vulgar.

"I don't like your vulgar tone", your rude tone.

It's strong.

"Very short", another word we say is "brief", which means small.

We had a very brief...

We had a very brief conversation, a very short conversation.

Cool?

"Boring".

When you say: "Class was very boring today", you can say: "dull".

"Dull" means very boring.

It also means... See?

Here's a bonus when you use these words, stupid.

If you say someone is dull, you can say they're very boring, or dull meaning they're stupid.

Don't use it like that too often; people don't like being called stupid.

And if you say: "He's rather dull, isn't he?"

I have to listen for context to mean stupid or boring.

Next one, everybody's favourite: "Very good".

"Teacher, the food is very good.

The lesson is very good.

I like this, it's very good."

Why don't we change that to the word "superb"?

Look carefully at the word "superb", you have the word "super" written inside it.

"Super" means what?

Above average, excellent, or superb, very good.

"The food was superb."

People don't usually use this word, so if you tell me when I cook for you that it's

superb, I'm telling you right now I will take that as such an amazing compliment.

Gentlemen, if you tell a woman she looks superb, she'll be like: "Thank you.

Really?"

Because no one says it.

All right?

"Freezing", you can say: "It's very cold outside", but in minus 35, it's freezing.

I can put meat outside and it will turn to ice, it's freezing, that's how cold it is.

And if you tell me it's freezing, I'm going to get a jacket and another coat, and a hat,

and a scarf because I know it's very, very cold.

You don't have to say: "It's very, very cold today."

Say: "It's freezing."

Next, here's a nice word, this is what we call a $10 word.

Cha-ching.

"Ravenous".

Even when you say it, there's: "Arr, arr".

When you're ravenous, you're not hungry.

If you walk into a restaurant and say: "I'm ravenous", they will get all the cooks together

and start cooking right away, immediately, knowing that they have to feed you because

you'll eat everything.

You can use this about l'amour, the love.

"I'm ravenous for l'amour.

I love it.

I'm hungry for it.

I want it desperately."

It's a great word.

You can be ravenous about reading, it means: "I want to eat it and take all of it."

Nice word, I like this word, even the: "Arr", it's so sexy.

Sorry.

"Sluggish".

In the morning when I get up I move very slowly, you know?

Like, real, word, if you're in Toronto the TTC is rather sluggish in the morning.

You know what I'm saying?

You're always late.

It means very slow.

But in the morning I'm usually sluggish, I'm moving slow, you know?

Slow, sluggish, like a slug, like a bug.

Slow.

His sluggish reaction.

Slow reaction.

This one has an asterisk: "Very fast", when something's very fast.

I read many of your comments and it's like: "He speaks: 'Blah-blah-blah-blah'.

He speaks so quickly, so rapidly.

I don't understand anything."

Yes, James is a rapid speaker.

I speak very quickly or I speak very fast.

They moved quickly or you say they moved at a rapid pace, very quickly, very fast.

So, instead of saying: "Very quickly, very fast", you can use the word: "rapid" or "rapidly".

Right?

Adverb.

You can say: "rapidly".

Okay?

I told you I'm going to give you lots of information so you can really change up your vocabulary

and sound amazing.

Sound superb.

When you're tired, you're coming home from work, you can say: "I'm so tired.

I'm very, very tired.

I'm always very tired."

Use the word "exhausted".

That means done, finished, totalled, toast, no more.

I'm exhausted.

Cool?

It means you want to go to sleep now.

Or if you're exhausted of this conversation, then no more, I can't do any more, I'm done,

it's over.

"Poor", a lot of people like to use the word "poor".

Most native speakers don't even use the word I'm going to teach you because it's so strong.

If you say: "I'm very poor" it means I have no money.

If I'm destitute, you live on the street, my friend, you eat with the rats.

Okay?

You and the rats share Kentucky Fried Chicken out of garbage at night.

All right?

I'm just saying.

But if you say: "I'm destitute", it means: "I'm very poor."

You want to remember this word for the next time your English friend says: -"Hey, Jimmy.

Can I borrow 5 dollars?"

-"Sorry, dude.

I'm destitute."

He will give you 5 dollars and be like: "I didn't know it was so bad.

You're so poor, you're destitute?"

It means my house is...

I live on the street.

My house, I have nothing.

I'm destitute.

After the divorce, most people are destitute.

Don't get divorced.

Okay, next.

"Rich", "very rich".

I know, students love to: "I'm studying English because one day I hope to be very, very rich.

I'm telling you I'm going to be rich.

You know?

I'm going to be very rich."

And I go: "You want to be rich?

I want to be wealthy."

And they say: "Teacher, what's the difference?

'Very rich' means I have everything."

So I say: "Okay, so, you know Michael Jordan?"

They go: "Yes, yes, he's a very rich man", I go: -"Yeah, he's very rich."

-"They pay him millions of dollars."

I go: "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

I say: "I want to be the man who pays Michael Jordan -- that guy's wealthy."

Sudden silence, and then their vocabulary changes instantly: "I would like to be wealthy,

yes, I think it would be superb to be wealthy.

In fact, I'm looking for a rapid change in my environment so I can become wealthy."

I go: "Oh, you understand."

Change your vocabulary, change your brain, change your life.

Right?

Okay, anyway, before I go on that, I don't want to become dull going over the same points

again and again.

I'm going to try to keep it brief, okay?

Ah, I do want to talk about one difference here, that's why I have it.

We talked about hot, "scalding" and "scorching", they're not quite the same.

These both mean very hot, but usually we use "scolding" for liquids, like water.

Right?

The water is scolding, it will burn you it's so hot.

And we say "scorching" for hot for heat like the summer sun.

So you say, if the water...

If the coffee is scolding, it will burn you because it's a liquid; but it's scorching

outside, it's hot from the fire or the sun.

They're similar, it's just we use it a little differently.

Okay?

You wouldn't probably say: "It's scolding outside."

People would go: "Huh?

Is there water that I'm going to step in?"

You go: "No, no, no.

It's scorching, very hot, 35 degrees.

But don't go and put your foot in the water, it's scolding.

It will burn you and send you to the hospital."

Cool?

All right.

I'll see you in a second.

[Snaps]

Okay, so if you're ready, I want you to pay attention.

Remember I taught you a lot of words, you know: "very happy", "very tired", and we're

going to see how well you understood it by two speeches that I have on the board.

And the first speech I'm going to read it to you and I want you to identify where I've

used "very" and another word together, like an adjective like "hot" or "cold", and tell

me where they are.

Because if you can't identify them, we can't fix them and use the new vocabulary.

You will probably also notice that the story seems or the speech seems very repetitive

as I keep saying "very, very", and why I said that, once we get rid of that word and use

other words, not only your writing because this is writing, but your vocabulary and speech

will seem much more natural and fluent.

Are you ready?

Let's go to the board.

Okay, so: "My name is Tiago."

By the way, Tiago is James in Brazil, so my Brazilian friends and the three Tiagos I've

met, how you doing?

Okay, so: "My name is Tiago.

I live in a very poor"...

Or, sorry.

"...a very poor part of Toronto.