Master English With Tim

👆Learn root words to make surprising connections between words and remember advanced vocabulary better!
Did you know that English contains traces of a prehistoric language first spoken 6000 years ago?
Linguists call this language Indo-European because its daughter languages are spoken in Europe (for example, Spanish, German and Ukrainian) as well as in South Aisa (for instance Hindi and Bengali).
Listen to Episode 136 to explore nine words that all share a piece of ancient Indo-European history: the root BL, found in English words like BLOND and ALBINO, and also in foreign words like Spanish "blanco" and German "bleich".
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One person's ghost story can seem unreal... But when two people see the same thing, we have little choice but to believe both of them.
In this bonus Halloween episode, listen to a true story about two friends and a ghostly white dog from another world.

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This week is a special and scary week- it's Halloween! Tim loves Halloween, so this week he brings you a real-life ghost story told by a close friend. This episode has a lot of advanced vocabulary, much of it connected with ghosts. To get the maximum effect from this episode, learn the advanced vocabulary from the list below- and then listen with the lights turned off!
1 recollect = remember
2 spooky = scary (usually because of ghosts)

3, 4 tumultuous, fraught (/frawt/) = chaotic, complicated (relationships)

5 peninsula = piece of land with water on three sides (e.g., Florida or Korea)

6 desolate = empty and depressing (land, places)

7, 8 marsh, swamp = land with lots of water on it

9 windswept = affected by heavy wind (land, territory- a windswept beach)

10 flanked by = if a road is flanked by trees, there are trees on both sides of the road

11 performer = actor or singer

12 creep someone out = to make someone afraid

13 orchard = land where fruit trees grow, e.g. apple orchard, cherry orchard

14 burial grounds = cemetery, graveyard (for Native Americans)

15 suffice it to say = it's enough to say

16 fraught = complicated, difficult (relationships)

17 tangle = chaotic mix of different objects

18 garb = clothing

19 eyepatch = piece of cloth worn to protect an eye- pirates wear eye patches

20 dilapidated = in bad condition, not taken care of (buildings)

21 hazy = difficult to see through (for example, some beers are hazy)

22 cobwebs = spiderwebs

23 barn = building on a farm where animals live or food is kept

24 bee = a black and yellow flying insect

25 hive of bees = structure built by bees that they live in; hives contain honey

26 general store = old-fashioned store that sells food, tools and clothing- common in the US until the 1950s- General store - Wikipedia

27 skittering = moving quickly and noisily across a hard surface

28 crescendo = climax, most dramatic moment

29 vaporize = to disappear

30 apparition = a ghost

31 taxing = requiring a large effort
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What if you could speak with greater sophistication and detail WITHOUT learning new words? Well, that really is possible! How? You just need to learn more meanings of words you already know.

This technique is even more impactful when you choose words from the NGSL, a list of the 2809 most used words of English. Knowing NGSL vocabulary well can also help you score higher on IELTS and TOEFL.
Listen to Episode 134 today to learn 5 NGSL words and 9 meanings.

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In Episode 133, learn how just one small Latin root can help you learn 12 English words with 17 different meanings. Tim does the hard work for you by explaining what this single root means and how it changes form, and by finding the most interesting and useful words that contain it.
What is this mystery root? Listen to Episode 133 to find out, and to help *send* your English vocabulary to the next level!

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Want to break the B2 barrier? Want to move up to C1 level English vocabulary? Then learn the words of the NGSL, or New General Service List. Knowing NGSL vocabulary. NGSL vocabulary will help you understand advanced, academic, formal and business vocabulary in depth and detail so you can express yourself with accuracy and sophistication.
In this week's episode, you'll learn 18 meanings of 10 NGSL words, 1856-1865:
BORROW, FUNDAMENTAL, DISH, ABROAD, SOUL, CAPABLE, DEFEAT, PRESIDENTIAL, PERFECTLY, and ENHANCE.

More episodes with words from the NGSL:
Episode 2: The NGSL- 2800 Words For Better English.
Episode 11: NGSL 1331-1340. 10 Words, 27 Meanings.
Episode 62: NGSL 1341-1350.
Episode 73: NGSL 1511-1520.
Episode 84: NGSL 1011-105.

Cover photo from Wikipedia, Climbing at Hanging Gardens, Bullock Creek - Rock climbing in New Zealand - Wikipedia.
Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic - Creative Commons

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If you want to master English vocabulary, then you've got to master the most used words in English. That means learning the NGSL, or New General Service List, a list of the 2800 most used words of English. NGSL vocabulary is the vocabulary you need for higher scores on IELTS and TOEFL. Mastering NGSL vocabulary is also an important part of mastering English listening!
Listen to Episode #131 to learn 24 meanings of 10 words of NGSL vocabulary.

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USED TO and WOULD are essential constructions for talking about repeated actions in the past- and you need to know them if you want to master English grammar at level B1 and higher. Be careful, though- there are important differences between these constructions!

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Want to master English grammar? Then master the details!
🤔How do you change a verb into a noun? 😕Or a noun into a verb? One unusual way is to change a word's pronunciation ☑️:
Verb: perFECT Noun: PERfect
Verb: perMIT Noun: PERmit
Verb: obJECT Noun: OBject
Verb: reFUSE Noun: REfuse
Verb: deSERT Noun: DEsert
⚠️Be careful though! ❗Sometimes words' meanings completely change with the pronunciation!
Listen to Episode 129 to learn over a dozen verb-noun pairs with changes in meaning.

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Have you been stuck at B2 level English for a long time? Do you want to move up to C1? Then you need to master English vocabulary, specifically the words of the NGSL, or New General Service List. The NGSL includes the top 2800 most used words of English.
I'm not going to lie- REALLY learning these words is not fast and easy. That's because you MUST know more than one meaning or function for these words. For instance, words 1846 to 1855 have 27 meanings.
Listen to Episode 129 to learn these words and the meanings you need for C1 English vocabulary to score higher on IELTS and TOEFL- and for life in general!

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