Ask Canguro 004
This week’s questions:
GRAMMAR QUESTION
- “Verbing” and “nouning”: How do nouns become verbs in English?
VOCABULARY QUESTIONS
- What’s the difference between “take in”, “soak up”, and “absorb”?
- How can I use the word “mound”?
- What’s the difference between “historic” and “historical”?
.THE BIG QUESTION
- Why is English spelling so irregular, and can it be replaced with a better system?
List of Highlighted Vocabulary
Note: The following words were mentioned in our podcast conversation.
Extra:
- brutal: extremely harsh, cruel, or difficult
- burial mound: a hill of earth covering a grave
- cave: a natural underground space in rock
- conlang: an artificially created language like Klingon or Elvish
- devastating: causing extreme damage or sadness
- flower petals: soft colored parts of a flower
- for the record: used to make your opinion or position clear
- heap: a large messy pile of things
- hedge: a row of bushes forming a boundary
- historic: important or significant in history
- historical: related to history or the past
- inflected: having word endings that change to show grammatical meaning
- language police: people who strongly correct others’ language
- lexicographer: a person who writes or edits dictionaries
- meatball: a small ball of ground meat
- mound: a raised pile or small hill
- obscure: not well known or familiar
- on behalf of: representing or acting for someone
- overwhelmingly: by a very large amount or majority
- pile: a group of things placed together
- praying mantis: a large insect with folded front legs
- Roman ruin: remains of an ancient Roman building
- sponge: a soft material that absorbs liquid
- spread out: to cover a wider area
- standardized: made consistent according to common rules
- termite mound: a large structure built by termites
- to absorb: to take in and understand information
- to bottle: to put liquid into bottles
- to bottle emotions up: to hide and not express emotions
- to bury: to put something or someone under the ground
- to cave in: to collapse inward
- to cave under pressure: to give in because of pressure
- to chicken out: to decide not to do something from fear
- to eye somebody: to look at someone with interest
- to go off topic: to start talking about something unrelated to the main subject
- to kid: to joke or tease
- to look something up: to search for information about something
- to mix something up: to confuse one thing with another
- to pray: to speak to a god or deity
- to show off: to try to impress others
- to soak something up: to fully enjoy or experience something
- to water: to give water to plants
- toxic: poisonous or very harmful
- trimming shears: large scissors used for cutting plants
- vital: very important
- working memory: the information your brain temporarily holds while doing something
Contact us
Send a voice message: Go to canguroenglish.com/ask-canguro/ to record your question for the podcast.
Send an email: For comments, questions, and suggestions, write to us at podcast@canguroenglish.com.
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