Shake, shake, shake.
William Shakespeare.
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Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on learning English
with William Shakespeare.
Today, we are going to look at some vocabulary, specifically,
some adjectives that are credited to William Shakespeare. Now, if you've been living under
a rock, maybe you don't know that William Shakespeare is one of the most famous English
playwrights and writers in general. He has almost 2,000 words that are credited to him.
This doesn't mean the words didn't exist before him, but it is definitely the first time that
people saw them in print. So, today, we are going to look at 10 adjectives.
Now, what was cool about William Shakespeare is that he would take verbs, he would take
nouns, and he would just mash them together. And if a word, you know, didn't exist that
he needed that he really felt would make the scene that was necessary for the dialogue,
he created it. So, what we're going to do is look at some of those words now. Let me
put my book down, and we can begin.
Okay, number one: "lackluster". So, this will also be a pronunciation lesson for you guys.
Repeat after me: "lackluster". Okay. "Lackluster" means something is without vitality, without
brilliance, or without spirit or life. So, a movie can be lackluster, a performance in
a movie can be lackluster, or on stage. An experience can be lackluster, or a presentation
can be lackluster. Many other things can be lackluster, but these are some common examples.
And again, the examples I will give you today will be the most common ones that are associated
with these adjectives. So, you can say: -"How was the movie?"
-"Mm, it was lackluster."
Okay? It didn't have enough light or life to it. "How was the performance?" if you go
to see a stage play, a Cirque du Soleil. Cirque du Soleil is never lackluster, but imagine,
you know, maybe the performers on that day, they were all sick, and there were lots of
accidents. That might be entertaining, but anyway, you can say: "It was lackluster."
There wasn't enough vitality, enough spirit, enough life in it.
Next: "cold-blooded", so you see the word "cold", you see the word "blood", Shakespeare
took the word "blood" and added "ed" to it, and basically turned a noun, "blood", into
an adjective. "Cold-blooded". "Cold-blooded" means without emotion.
So, a killer, a criminal, a murderer, or a villain.
A villain is the opposite of a hero. Now, you might think:
"When am I ever going to use this word?" Well, this word is very common in crime dramas,
like CSI or like Law & Order, or in movies where there are killers and murderers. A very
happy topic. It's why I'm wearing all black today.
So, next, we have "worthless". "Worthless" means without value; zero, nada, zilch. Okay?
If something is worthless, it has no value. An object can be worthless. An effort to do
something can be worthless. An idea, you might say, is worthless. It can't be used. It has
no use. So, for example, I have a rock, and this rock has no value. And we say the rock
is worthless. Or if you're in a fight and in the fight you have a feather... Does...?
You know, does a feather have any use in a fight? Say:
"No, this is worthless. I can't use this to fight", unless it's a very sharp feather, maybe.
Next: "tranquil". Now, "tranquil" means-breathe-peaceful,
calm, serene. Okay? So, a place, usually,
we say is tranquil. An experience or a feeling that you have can be tranquil as well. So,
if I go to, you know, a place to meditate on top of a mountain and I am at peace with
everything, the mood is tranquil. Okay? This is also where we get
tranquilizer darts-right?-that make someone
just fall down, and be calm, and fall asleep. So, that's "tranquil".
And next: "premeditated". So, I talked about crime dramas before, and murder, and death,
and criminals, and killers. In crime dramas, you might also hear this word a lot. So, if
something is premeditated, it is planned in advanced. So, a murder, typically, we use
this term with, "premeditated", and an action, in general, can be premediated. You might
also hear it in the news, where the police might say: "We believe the murder was premeditated."
It means that it was planned in advance; it was not an accident.
Let's look at five more words.
Next, we have: "flawed". "A flaw" is an imperfection,
"a flaw" is a noun. Now, here, we add "ed",
suddenly, like magic, it's an adjective. So, "flawed" means imperfect; not perfect, there
is something wrong. So, a flawed design for a computer or a car, a flawed argument. So,
if I say: "If you smoke cigarettes, you will do heroin." What? That doesn't make sense.
That's a flawed argument. Next, a flawed idea or a flawed person. Many people believe, and
say, and is true - everyone has flaws, things that are not perfect about them.
Next: "jaded", so if a person is jaded, or a critic, or a reviewer of movies or books
or video games or performances is jaded, it means they are dulled due to overuse or overwork.
Now, what this means is, you know, they are no longer passionate about what they're doing.
They're just: "I'm so jaded." Like, if you are a film reviewer and you have seen thousands
of movies, and nothing surprises you anymore, you just feel jaded, you're like:
"I'm just jaded. I've seen too much, too many movies. I don't have the passion anymore." Okay?
"Countless". "Countless" means numerous, not able to be counted, a very high number. So,
there can be countless reasons to do something or not to do something. A person can have
countless ideas at work for how to improve things. Objects, any object; countless chairs,
countless tables, countless people, even. Okay? Not thinking that people are objects;
"people" is another category, putting over here.
"Deafening", so think of "deaf". "Deaf" means you are not able to hear. If something is
deafening, it can make you deaf, which means it's extremely loud. So, typically we think
of as: "Turn that off, turn that off. It's deafening." The music is deafening. A sound
can be deafening. If you hear a big crash or a big clap, or something like that... Like,
if you have headphones, turn them down right now, or...
[Claps]
That's deafening. Deafening.
Okay? It's extremely loud. And here, I put a star beside "silence", now, this is more
of the poetic way to say something is deafening. This is also a lyric from one of the bands
I used to like when I was in high school called the Matthew Good Band. One of the lyrics is:
"Your silence is deafening." So, if someone does not speak to you in a relationship, you're like:
"Your silence is, you know, driving me crazy. It's really loud silence."
And next: "lonely", sad due to being alone or depressed because you are alone. So, a
lonely person, a lonely feeling. If you take a trip by yourself, a vacation. Say:
-"How was your vacation?" -"It was kind of lonely. I realized I need other people."
Okay, let's look at these words one more time just to focus on the pronunciation.
To practice your pronunciation, just repeat after me. Ready?
"Lackluster",
"cold-blooded",
"worthless",
"tranquil",
"premeditated",
"flawed",
"jaded",
"countless",
"deafening",
"lonely".
Okay. So, we looked at 10 words from Shakespeare today.
Now, these words are a little more
advanced, and high-intermediate, so you can use them and you'll hear them and read them
in books, in movies, and some of them in TV shows, and you can use, obviously, a word
like "lonely", like "deafening", like "countless", like most of them, in an everyday conversation,
and people will know what you're saying.
But a lot of them are more based in text, or in film, or in news.
So, again, William Shakespeare is responsible for a lot of plays,
including the book I had at the start of this video called Hamlet,
and if you'd like to, you know, get a copy of the book,
you can get it at Amazon.
If you're interested in getting an audio version,
we have a partnership with www.audible.com, so for a free 30-day trial, a free download
of an audio book, you can check out the link attached to this video.
And if you'd like to donate to engVid and support the site, you can do that at this link as well.
So, until next time, thanks for clicking,
and I'll see you guys later. Bye.