Advanced English Vocabulary Workbook: Fun Lessons and Effective Exercises to Learn over 280 Real-life Expressions

Hey there! I’m glad that one way or another you’ve got hold of this eBook, and I’m sure it will help you come one step closer to achieving your goal and becoming more fluent in English.

Please note that I had to lose a lot of fine design and things like tables, boxes etc. so that this book could be converted into different formats and read on all devices. If you are going to read this book on a large screen (a tablet or larger) or print it out, you might want a better designed PDF.

If you have a free sample of the book now and would like to see what the PDF I’m offering looks like, please download a sample (http://sample.greenzebra.club/).

If you’ve already got a complete eBook, you can go ahead and download a complete better designed PDF.

If you don’t need a PDF and use this book on your reader, phone, etc., ignore the above links and enjoy what you have.

Now, let me tell you in short what you are going to find here.

THE GENERAL IDEA

This eBook is meant to be an addition to the free English course for upper intermediate and advanced students that you can subscribe to on greenzebra.club. It can also be used separately if you don’t want to take the course and just wish to learn real-life, advanced vocabulary. I recommend using the eBook together with the course though, as it’s much more fun and effective this way. The course will provide you with the context for the vocabulary and a broader perspective on learning in general while forming useful habits that will allow you to keep improving on your own. You’ll find interesting videos with questions to discuss, inspiring articles, puzzling riddles and other exciting stuff there, while the eBook will help you study the words in depth. The course + the book is a perfect combination of materials ensuring the best results.

The vocabulary you’ll find here comes from original videos in English dealing with various subjects, so these are real-life, advanced expressions that people actually use in their speech.

What’s the idea of the eBook? To use the new words so many times in so many different sentences that they will become a part of your active vocabulary. To understand what they mean both in English and your native language. To do lots of exercises and revise them until you memorize them. To go through every single word several times and get to know them from different perspectives with the help of various activities. To enrich your vocabulary and show you effective learning tools and techniques that you can keep using on your own once you’re done with the book.

WHO IS IT FOR?

It’s meant for upper intermediate and advanced students (B2 – C1 levels). If your level is lower you can still try it, but it’s going to be more difficult. You might want to do it with a teacher in this case.

WHAT’S IN THE BOOK?

The book is divided into parts. It has 12 lessons with exercises corresponding to the lessons of the course. If you don’t take the course, don’t be surprised by their titles. They are connected with the videos and articles rather than vocabulary itself and are meant for the people taking the course to relate them more easily to what they are learning.

Every lesson introduces you to a set of real-life vocabulary that comes from an original video in English and offers effective exercises to help you memorize it. Since you should also remember the words from the previous lessons, you’ll find Mixed exercises after each lesson (except the first one). They deal with words you’ve learned before combined with the new ones, so you can always stay in touch with all the vocabulary.

After you are done with all the lessons, you can proceed to Final revision. In this section you’ll go through all the vocabulary you’ve learned all over again to make sure you remember it. You’ll see what’s easy and what requires your attention and have a chance to work on your problems before you get to the last part of the book:

The final test! It will include vocabulary from all the lessons and will demonstrate how much you’ve learned.

Additionally, there is a complete list of all the vocabulary in alphabetical order at the end of the book.

WHAT’S IN A LESSON?

You’ll find a vocabulary list, a link to the video where it comes from, an idiom, a slang expression and a phrasal verb in each lesson. After you study the words, you can start doing exercises that will help you memorize the vocabulary. At the end of each lesson you’ll find a creative task that you can share on social media. It’s different every time, and, hopefully, you’ll find something interesting for you.

YOUR INTERACTIVE FLASHCARDS

There is a set of interactive flashcards with pronunciation, usage examples and images (where possible) for all the words from this book that will help you learn them more easily and quickly! Please download it (http://flashcards.greenzebra.club/). You can work with it on your computer, smartphone or tablet: all you need is to install a program called Anki. It’s free and easy to do (unfortunately, the iPhone app is the only thing you have to pay for, but it’s free to install on your Mac; the Android app and everything else is free too). If you take the course, you’ve got the email with instructions from me, and if you don’t – it’s really as simple as installing any other program, just go to their website (https://apps.ankiweb.net/), choose your operating system and read the manual (https://apps.ankiweb.net/docs/manual.html) if something isn’t clear.

I guess that’s it. Let’s not waste any more time and get straight to business!

Good luck and lots of happiness to you. Enjoy the eBook!

VOCABULARY 1

Every lesson starts with a list of vocabulary for you to learn. Originally meant as an addition to a free English course (http://greenzebra.club/), it can also be used separately: just study the words, watch the video where the vocabulary comes from (Ken Robinson, "Do schools kills creativity? http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity) and do the exercises that follow. All the vocabulary in the book comes from original talks in English, so it’s a good idea to watch a respective video after getting acquainted with the vocabulary so that you can hear the words you’re learning used by a native speaker and understand them in a broader context. Don’t forget to work with Anki interactive flashcards as it will greatly reduce the time needed to memorize the vocabulary and increase the efficiency of learning. Combining that with exercises will give you the best results.

Remember that in the course you’d find questions to discuss the video and other exciting tasks that could help you form useful language learning habits. Did I mention it’s free?

The titles of the lessons are connected to the videos and articles from the course rather than the vocabulary itself.

annoying - causing irritation, bothering or displeasing

be predicated upon - to be based on

benign - gentle or kind

blown away - overwhelmed with astonishment

capacity - ability or power to do or understand something

commodity - a raw material or agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper or coffee

conclude - to make a conclusion or decision

crammed - crowded, full of people

disembodied - existing without a body

distinct - different in nature or quality, dissimilar, separate

evidence - proof, ground for belief

extraordinary - highly exceptional, remarkable

fidget - to behave or move nervously or restlessly

flourish - to do well, grow and develop, prosper

grasp - to understand, comprehend; to seize and hold

have a go - give something a try

humanities - literature, philosophy, art, etc., as distinguished from the natural sciences

output - result

progressively - step by step, steadily

prompt - cause someone to take a course of action

protracted - lasting for a long time

raft - a large quantity, a lot

reconstitute - bring something back, restore, rebuild

relevant - appropriate, connected to what is done or considered

remain - to stay in the same place or unchanged

seamless transition - smooth and trouble-free change of state, position etc.

squander - to waste

stigmatize - to characterize as disgraceful, bad etc.

strike - here: surprise, astonish

thrilled - astonished, amazed

vested interest - a strong, deep interest

writhe - to twist the body

Slang

Go bananas - go crazy (in a positive way) or lose control and act irrationally (in a negative way)

Idiom

Kick the bucket - die

Phrasal verb

Run into - meet unexpectedly

Don’t like how this looks? Remember that you can download a better designed PDF for free!

EXERCISES 1

After you study the vocabulary and work with it in Anki, watch the video (http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity) that it was taken from to hear the words used by a native speaker and do the exercises that will help you memorize them and introduce you to their various usages. You’ll find answers after every exercise. Don’t look at them before you complete the tasks, only use them to check yourself.

Exercise 1. Match the words with their definitions:

1. output, 2. annoying, 3. disembodied, 4. stigmatize, 5. grasp, 6. have a go, 7. blown away, 8. relevant, 9. capacity, 10. protracted

a. appropriate, connected to what is done or considered

b. overwhelmed with astonishment

c. ability or power to do or understand something

d. result

e. lasting for a long time

f. causing irritation, bothering or displeasing

g. existing without a body

h. give something a try

i. to characterize as disgraceful, bad etc.

j. to understand, comprehend; to seize and hold

Answers: 1d, 2f, 3g, 4i, 5j, 6h, 7b, 8a, 9c, 10e

Make up your own sentences with at least 5 of the above words.

It’s very likely that you’re thinking about skipping this task. Let me tell you why you should complete it instead. It’s a natural way to help you memorize the words and make them part of your active vocabulary. What is active vocabulary? The words that you use in your speech. Of course, if you are doing this alone, you can make a mistake in your sentences, but it’s not a problem. The point is to learn how to speak your mind and talk about various subjects. Other people will understand you even if you make a mistake, but they won’t if you don’t speak to them at all. And the only way to learn how to speak is to speak. You can also write your sentences down but remember to say them aloud anyway. If you write them down first, don’t look at what you’ve written when you’re speaking. This is also an effective way to memorize the vocabulary. You can try making funny sentences or stories that will be easier to remember. You can also use controversial subjects like sex or drugs. Experiment and see what works best for you.

Exercise 2. Put the following words into the sentences:

reconstitute, raft, is predicated upon, flourishing, strike, distinct, vested interest, stigmatize

1. Some of your ideas really ____________ me.

2. A ____________ of people want to change the world, but nobody has a clue where to start.

3. Many people ____________ mental illness making life even harder for those who have it.

4. Mark's paintings are very ____________, they're unlike anything I've seen.

5. Some people want to ____________ the Soviet Union because they believe it was a ____________ country, but Sam thinks they are crazy.

6. Carl had a ____________ in technology, he used every chance to learn something new about it.

7. This theory ____________ the most recent scientific research.

Answers:

1. strike, 2. raft, 3. stigmatize, 4. distinct, 5. reconstitute / flourishing, 6. vested interest, 7. is predicated upon

Exercise 3. Change the words in bold to their synonyms (use the vocabulary you’ve just learned). Pay attention to the tenses and verb forms. They should stay the same as in the original sentence:

1. Making a visa can be a lasting for a long time process.

2. The shop was so crowded that we decided to go somewhere else.

3. Everything changes, nothing stays the same forever.

4. This article surprised me.

5. Ben was astonished when he first heard about that.

6. I don't know if it's going to work, but I want to try.

7. Mary seemed kind, but Albert believed she had some hidden motives.

Answers:

1. protracted, 2. crammed, 3. remains, 4. struck (irregular verb: strike-struck-struck/stricken), 5. thrilled, 6. have a go, 7. benign

Make up your own sentences using your answers.

Exercise 4. Change the words in bold to the slang/idiom/phrasal verb that you've learned. Pay attention to the tenses, if the verb in the original sentence is in past simple, the verb you replace it with should