BBC Radio Podcasts from Learning English Vocabulary

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'trip'

Why not take a trip to this page?

Business jargon

Can you think out of the box or do you take the helicopter view? Learn business jargon.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'challenge'

How do you respond to the challenges you take on? Phil explains in this podcast.

Pronouncing words that start with ‘c’

Listen out for words that begin with the /s/ sound but start with the letter 'c'.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'method'

Is it best to adopt and follow a method, or just to work out your own one?

Phrasal verbs and context

A guide to multi-word verbs and prepositions that can change the meaning of phrasal verbs

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'opinion'

What's your opinion on learning verbs today?

Prefixes re-, pre- and pro-

'REcycle', 'PREpacked', 'PROactive' - we talk about prefixes in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'source'

What does 'tap into a source' mean? Beth explains in this podcast.

Silent letters

How do you pronounce the words night and knight?

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'technology'

What technology are you using to watch this video? Beth explains how to use 'technology'

Onomatopoeia

Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'environment'

How can we 'safeguard the environment'? Phil explains in this podcast.

Multi-word verbs

Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'image'

What image do you project? Find out what that sentence means with Phil.

Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical

We explain how some adjectives end in either -ic or -ical, depending on their meaning.

English in a Minute: Learn some verbs to use with 'structure'

Phil is here to help you learn some verbs commonly used with 'structure'

Strong adjectives

Learn about strong adjectives in this wonderful, fantastic, amazing podcast

English in a Minute: Learn common verb collocations with the noun ‘data'

Come and interpret some data in this podcast with Beth.

Male and female job words

Policeman / policewoman, actor / actress - learn about job titles and gender.

English in a Minute: Verbs that go with 'role'

Play the role of student and listen to this podcast about the word 'role'.

Weather words

The British love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'design'

Do you know any verbs that go with 'design'?

Homophones

Mail and male... Learn about words that sound the same but have different spellings.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'view'

Georgie is here to help you learn some verbs commonly used with 'view'

Compound nouns

Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'answer'

Georgie is here to help you learn some verbs commonly used with 'answer'

Adjective order

We explain the order you put adjectives in when describing a dog!

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'office'

Learn some verbs commonly used with office.

Contractions

"I've run a marathon." Look at the shorter form 'I've'. Learn how to use contractions.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'research'

What does it mean to 'undertake' research? Phil has the answer.

Job suffixes

What's the connection between a teacher, a driver or a presenter?

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'paper'

Do you often have to prepare a paper? Phil can help with that.

Word stress

How to pronounce the words 'photographer' and 'photograph'? Learn about word stress.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'language'

How do you master a language? Listen to Phil to find out

Compound adjectives

Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).

English in a Minute: Verbs that go with the noun ‘car'

There are lots of verbs we use with 'car'. Hear some of them now.

Lexical sets

Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.

English in a Minute: Verbs that go with ‘hope’

How many verbs do you know that can be used with 'hope'? Learn some more with Neil.

-ing and -ed adjectives

Interested or interesting? Which adjective do you use? We discuss -ing and -ed adjectives

English in a Minute: Verbs that can be used with 'idea'

Do you have any idea how many verbs you can use with 'idea'? There are a lot! Listen now.

Binomials

Learn how to use these short English phrases made of two words that go together

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'programme'

What does it mean to draw up a programme? Phil has the answer.

Useful chunks of language

Do you like to eat a full English breakfast? Listen to find out how to use this phrase.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'example'

Phil wants to give you an example of how to use 'example'. Listen now.

Words with 'ough'

Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'plan'

Here is a simple plan to help you learn English. Listen to this podcast.

Easily confused words

Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'market'

Georgie discusses some verbs that are commonly used with 'market'.

Suffixes –free and -less

Carefree or careless? The suffixes -free and -less.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'information'

Georgie teaches some verb collocations with the word 'information'

Prefixes de, dis, dys

Do you suffer from dyspepsia? Could a detox diet help? Learn about prefixes.

English in a Minute: Beth teaches you some verbs that can be used with 'business'

What verbs can be used with 'business'? Beth wants to tell you about some.

Ordinal numbers

What's the date today? And do you know how to say it?

English in a Minute: Learn common verbs that go with ‘name’

How many verbs do you know that can be used with 'name'? How many does Beth know?

Short spoken forms

Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha… are these really English words? Who uses them and why?

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'increase'

Could listening to this podcast entail an increase in your vocabulary? Listen to find out

Uncountable nouns

What is more important in life: knowledge, money or happiness?

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'job'

What does it mean to land your dream job? Phil knows, he has his. Listen to find out more

Time expression with in, on and at

Learn how to use time expression with the preposition in, on and at

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'area'

Let Georgie explain some different ways to use the word 'area'.

Hyphenation

Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with the word ‘fact’

Do you know what it means to face facts? Georgie is here to let you know.

Words with double letters

Catherine and Finn talk about spelling words with double letters in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

English in a Minute: Learn common verb collocations with the noun ‘report’

How many verbs do you know that can be used with 'report'? Beth has a few to tell you.

Pronouncing verbs and nouns

'Increase' can be a noun or a verb and they aren't pronounced the same way...

English in a Minute: Common verb collocations with the noun ‘system'

Let's set up a system to help you learn collocations with the noun ‘system'

British and American English

Hear about differences and similarities in vocabulary from both sides of the Atlantic.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'money'

Don't squander the opportunity to learn verbs to use with 'money'!

Business jargon

Can you think out of the box or take the helicopter view at work? Learn business jargon.

English in a Minute: Which verbs can you use with the noun 'question'?

Don't evade the question - find the answer in this podcast!

Pronouncing words that start with ‘c’

Listen out for words that begin with the /s/ sound but start with the letter 'c'.

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'point'

There is a point to this podcast - listen to Georgie to find out what it is.

Phrasal verbs and context

Learn phrasal verbs in sentences to help understand their meanings.

English in a Minute: Which verbs do we use with 'way'?

Collocations are words that commonly go together - Georgie has some to use with 'way'.

Prefixes re-, pre- and pro-

'REcycle', 'PREpacked', 'PROactive' - we talk about prefixes in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

English in a Minute:Verbs to use with 'interest'

This podcast will spark your interest. Phil is here to explain why.

Silent letters

How do you pronounce the words night and knight?

English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'problem'

Which verbs do we use with 'problem'. Listen to Phil to find out.

Onomatopoeia

Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.

English in a Minute: 5 ways to use 'share'

Beth wants to share something with you. Listen to this podcast to find out what it is.

Multi-word verbs

Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.

English in a Minute:5 ways to use 'over'

Beth wants to explain how to use the word 'over'. When she has this podcast will be over.

Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical

We explain how some adjectives end in either -ic or -ical, depending on their meaning.

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use the word 'energy'

Phil has a lot of energy - he created this podcast about the word 'energy' just for you.

Strong adjectives

Listen to our fantastic, wonderful programme about strong adjectives.

Male and female job words

How words change depending on whether a man or a woman is doing the job.

English in a Minute: 4 things about the word 'paint'

Phil's not very good at painting but he is brilliant at talking about the word 'paint'

Weather words

British people love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'consider'

Phil took time to consider how to explain the word 'consider'. This is the result. Enjoy!

Homophones

Learn about words that sound the same but have different meanings

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'appropriate'

It is appropriate for you to listen to this podcast. Beth explains the word 'appropriate'

Compound nouns

Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.

English in a Minute: 4 ways to use 'capacity'

Use your spare capacity to listen to Beth explain the word 'capacity'

Adjective order

We explain the order you put adjectives in when describing a dog!

English in a Minute: 4 ways to use 'cause'

This is a cause for celebration. Phil is explaining how to use the word 'cause'

Contractions

Finn and Feifei help you learn this important part of speaking and writing, in English.

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'quality'

Here's Phil with a podcast that is full of quality - listen to it and enjoy it

Job suffixes

What's the connection between a teacher, a driver or a presenter?

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'general'

In general, this is a good programme because Beth shows you how to use the word 'general'

Word stress

Do you know how to pronounce the words photographer and photograph? We can help you.

English in a Minute: 4 ways to use the word 'material'

In a material world you need Beth to explain how to use the word 'material'

Compound adjectives

Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates)

English in a Minute: How to use the word 'during'

During this episode Beth will explain how to use the word 'during'

Lexical sets

Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'nice'

This is a nice programme all about the word ‘nice’. Beth will tell you all about it.

-ing and -ed adjectives

Interested or interesting? Which adjective do you use? We discuss -ing and -ed adjectives

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'count'

How many times can Phil say 'count?' Listen to the podcast and count them.

Phrases made of two words

In this short and sweet episode, learn some common binomials.

Binomials: phrases made of two words

Do you want some cheap and cheerful tips to improve your English? Listen to learn more.

English in a Minute: How to use 'schedule'

Phil has scheduled a time to talk to you about the word 'schedule'. That time is now.

Useful chunks of language

Do you like to eat a full English breakfast? Listen to find out how to use this phrase.

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'supreme'

Thanks to Beth, this programme is supreme. It's also all about the word 'supreme'

Words with 'ough'

Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.

English in a Minute: 3 ways to use 'situation'

We have a good situation here - Beth is explaining how to use the word 'situation'

Easily confused words

Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.

Suffixes –free and -less

Carefree or careless? The suffixes -free and -less.

Prefixes: un-, in- and dis-

Learn some prefixes which we hope won't make you feel unhappy.

Adjectives and adverbs

Fashionable? Fashionably? We teach you adjectives and adverbs.

Suffixes

Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.

Academic vocabulary

Learn how to cope if you are studying at an English-speaking university.

Phrases from Shakespeare

We learn phrases from Shakespeare that are still used today.

Irregular verbs

Some irregular verbs can be grouped into patterns to help remember the different forms.

Eponyms as nouns and verbs

What does the word Hoover have in common with the word Google?

Adjectives from names

We discuss a group of adjectives that are made from the names of famous people.

Large numbers

How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.

Suffixes: -tian, -sion and -tion

Have we got your attention? Listen and learn how to use suffixes -tian, -sion and -tion.

Synonyms

Learn about words that have the same or similar meanings

Discourse Markers: Interjections

Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.

Commonly misspelled words

Weird or wierd? English spelling is fascinating – but it's not always straightforward!

Linking words

Listen to Angela talk about her lucky shark escape and learn some linking words.

Words with more than one spelling

Are you unsure whether it’s disc or disk, sympathise or sympathize, learnt or learned?

Acronyms

Listen to Peter and Catherine talking about acronyms like NASA and FIFA in this podcast.

Antonyms

Finn and Catherine discuss antonyms in 6 minute Vocabulary.

Suffixes: -ness & -ity

Listen to Neil and Catherine talk about words with the suffixes -ness and -ity.

Discourse markers: showing attitude

fortunately, obviously, seriously, ideally.

Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence

ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.

Someone, somewhere, anywhere...

Learn how to use these very useful pronouns with 'some' and 'any'.

Irregular verbs

Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.

Reporting verbs

Learn about verbs that we use when we talk about what someone else has said.

False friends

Embarrassed - or pregnant? Words you think you know but mean something else in English.

Words with 'ough'

Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.

Easily confused words

Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.

Suffixes: -less and -free

Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!

Prefixes de, dis, dys

Do you suffer from dyspepsia? Could a detox diet help? Learn about prefixes.

Ordinal numbers

What's the date today? And do you know how to say it?

Short spoken forms

Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha… are these really English words? Who uses them and why?

Uncountable nouns

What is more important in life: knowledge, money or happiness?

Time expression with in, on and at

Learn how to use time expression with the preposition in, on and at

Hyphenation

Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.

Words with double letters

Catherine and Finn talk about spelling words with double letters in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Pronouncing verbs and nouns

Learn how to pronounce verbs and nouns with Neil and Catherine.

British and American English

Catherine and Doug discuss British and American English

Business jargon

Can you think out of the box or take the helicopter view at work? Learn business jargon.

How to pronounce words that start with 'c'.

'c' or 's'? Learn how to spell words that begin with a /s/ sound.

Phrasal verbs and context

When talking about moving in, moving out and moving on, what do we mean? We explain.

re, pre and pro

Do you recycle your rubbish? Do you buy prepacked food? Are you proactive?

Silent letters

How do you pronounce the words night and knight?

Onomatopoeia

Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.

Multi-word verbs

Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.

Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical

We explain how some adjectives end in either -ic or -ical, depending on their meaning.

Strong adjectives

Listen to our fantastic, wonderful programme about strong adjectives.

Male and female job words

How words change depending on whether a man or a woman is doing the job.

New words

Rob and Catherine are here to help you update your language!

Weather words

British people love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.

Homophones

Learn about words that sound the same but have different meanings

Compound nouns

Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.

Adjective order

We explain the order you put adjectives in when describing a dog!

Contractions

Finn and Feifei help you learn this important part of speaking and writing, in English.

Job suffixes

What's the connection between a teacher, a driver or a presenter?

Word stress

Do you know how to pronounce the words photographer and photograph? We can help you.

Compound adjectives

Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).

Lexical sets

Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.

-ing and -ed adjectives

Interested or interesting? Which adjective do you use? We discuss -ing and -ed adjectives

Binomials: phrases made of two words

Do you want some cheap and cheerful tips to improve your English? Listen to learn more.

Useful chunks of language

Do you like to eat a full English breakfast? Listen to find out how to use this phrase.

Prefixes: un-, in- and dis-

Learn some prefixes which we hope won't make you feel unhappy.

Adjectives and adverbs

Fashionable? Fashionably? We teach you adjectives and adverbs.

Suffixes

Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.

Academic Vocabulary

Do you have to write academic texts and essays? We give you some tips on how to do it.

Talk like Shakespeare

Learn some idioms from 'the Bard' which are in common use today.

More irregular verbs

Write, wrote, written. Speak, spoke, spoken - learn more about irregular verbs.

Eponyms as nouns and verbs

To google, to hoover... Learn about words that have come from commercial products.

Adjectives from names

We discuss a group of adjectives that are made from the names of famous people.

Large numbers

How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.

Suffixes: -tian, -sion and -tion

Have we got your attention? Listen and learn how to use suffixes -tian, -sion and -tion.

Synonyms

Learn about synonyms - words that have the same or similar meaning.

Discourse Markers: Interjections

Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.

Commonly misspelled words

Weird or weird? English spelling is fascinating – but it's not always straightforward!

Linking words

Listen to Angela talk about her lucky shark escape and learn some linking words.

Words with more than one spelling

Disk or disc? Confused about which one to use? Finn and Catherine talk about spelling.

Acronyms

Listen to Peter and Catherine talking about acronyms like NASA and FIFA in this podcast.

Antonyms

A good way of building vocabulary in English is to learn words with opposite meanings.

Suffixes: -ness and -ity

‘Happiness’ and 'responsibility'. Learn words with the suffixes -ness and -ity.

Discourse markers for showing attitude

Fortunately, obviously, seriously, ideally. These words are useful. How do we use them?

Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence

ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.

Someone, nothing, anywhere

Learn about words like someone, nothing and anywhere in 6 minutes.

Irregular verbs

Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.

Easily confused words

Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.

Suffixes: -less and -free

Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!

Prefixes: dys- de- dis-

Do you suffer from DYSpepsia? Could a DEtox diet help? Neil and Finn talk about prefixes.

Ordinal numbers

What's the date today? Do you know how to say it? Listen to the programme to find out.

Spoken short forms

Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha... We give you an introduction to short spoken forms.

Uncountable nouns

Can you count knowledge, money or happiness? How to deal with uncountable nouns.

Time expressions

We look at time expressions with 'in', 'at' and 'on'.

Hyphenation

Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.

Words with double letters

We talk about spelling words with double letters, such as 'accommodation'.

Pronouncing verbs and nouns

Learn how to pronounce verbs and nouns with Neil and Catherine.

British and American English

Hear about differences and similarities in vocabulary from both sides of the Atlantic.

Business jargon

Do you 'think out of the box' or 'push the envelope' at work? Learn business jargon.

How to pronounce words beginning with 'c'

Catherine cycled through the city centre! How do you pronounce all those words with 'c'?

Phrasal verbs and context

Learn phrasal verbs in sentences to help understand their meanings.

Prefixes: 'Re-', 'pre-', and 'pro-'

Learn about words with the prefixes 're-', 'pre-' and 'pro-' in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Silent letters

Silent letters are letters that we see in words, but don’t actually pronounce.

Onomatopoeia

Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.

Multi-word verbs

Learn how to use multi-word verbs to make your English sound much more natural.

Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical

'Classic' or 'classical'? Learn about adjectives ending in -ic and -ical.

Strong adjectives

What word do you use when you want to say something is very good or very bad?

Contractions

Learn how to use 'I've' and 'isn't' - your English will sound more natural.

Male and female job words

We teach you job titles for men and women.

New words

What do the words selfie, photobomb and trolling mean? Help us update your language!

Weather words

Rainy, snowy, windy, sunny. Learn how to describe the weather.

Homophones

Mail and male... Learn about words that sound the same but have different spellings.

Compound nouns

Do you like ice cream? Do you use a keyboard? Words like are compound nouns.

Job suffixes

What's the connection between a teacher, a driver and a presenter? We explain.

Similar words

Explore the similarities and differences in words like 'big' and 'large'.

Adjective order

Do you know how to put adjectives in the right order? We can help.

Contractions

To sound fluent and natural when you speak you might want to learn about contractions.

Job suffixes

What's the connection between a teacher, a driver and a presenter? We explain.

Word stress

Do you know how to pronounce the words photographer and photograph? We can help you.

Compound adjectives

Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).

Lexical sets

Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.

-ing and -ed adjectives

Boring or bored? Interested or interesting? We'll tell you the right adjective to use.

Binomials

Learn how to use these short English phrases made of two words that go together.

Chunks of language

Find out how you can sound much more natural by learning and using chunks of language.

Prefixes

Learn how to add prefixes to the beginning of some words to change their meanings.

Adjectives and adverbs

Fashionable? Fashionably? Learn how to use adjectives and adverbs.

Suffixes

Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.

Academic Vocabulary

Do you have to write academic texts and essays? Finn and Neil give you some tips.

Talk like Shakespeare

Learn some idioms from 'the Bard' which are in common use today.

Irregular verbs 2

Break, broke, broken... We look at verbs that don't behave themselves.

Eponyms as nouns and verbs

To google, to hoover... Learn about words that have come from commercial products.

Adjectives from names

Freudian, Dickensian, Orwellian... learn about adjectives that come from names.

Large numbers

How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.

Suffixes -sion -tion -tian

"I have a confession to make. My ambition is to meet a Martian!" - We teach you suffixes.

Synonyms

Learn about synonyms - words that have the same or similar meaning.

Discourse Markers: Interjections

Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.

Commonly misspelled words

Finn and Catherine talk through some of the complexities of English spelling.

Linking words

Rob and Catherine talk about words and short phrases used to connect ideas.

Words with more than one spelling

Disk or disc? Confused about which one to use? Finn and Catherine talk about spelling.

Acronyms

Nasa, Fifa, Unesco, Nato - Peter and Catherine talk about acronyms.

Antonyms

A good way of building vocabulary in English is to learn words with opposite meanings.

Suffixes: -ness & -ity

Learn how to use the suffixes '-ness' and '-ity' in English.

Discourse markers: Attitude

Words and phrases we use to express our attitude to what we’re saying or writing.

Suffixes: -ment, -ance, -ence

ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.

Someone, somewhere, anywhere...

Learn how to use these very useful pronouns with 'some' and 'any'.

Irregular verbs

Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.

Reporting verbs

Learn about verbs that we use when we talk about what someone else has said.

False friends

Embarrassed - or pregnant? Words you think you know but mean something else in English.

Words with 'ough'

Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.

Easily confused words

Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.

Suffixes: -less and -free

Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!

Prefixes: dys- de- dis-

Do you suffer from DYSpepsia? Could a DEtox diet help? Neil and Finn talk about prefixes.

Ordinal numbers

What's the date today? Do you know how to say it? Listen to the programme to find out.

Short spoken forms

Learn how these words are used: gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha.

Uncountable nouns

Can you count knowledge, money or happiness? How to deal with uncountable nouns.

Time expressions

Neil and Catherine look at time expressions with 'in', 'at' and 'on'.

Hyphenation

Learn how to use hyphens: "They did a ten-foot dive into the swimming pool."

Words with double letters

Catherine and Neil talk about spelling words with double letters, such as 'accommodation'.

Pronouncing verbs and nouns

'Increase' can be a noun or a verb and they aren't pronounced the same way...

British and American English

Hear about differences and similarities in vocabulary from both sides of the Atlantic.

Business jargon

Can you think out of the box or take the helicopter view at work? Learn business jargon.

Pronouncing words that start with ‘c’

Listen out for words that begin with the /s/ sound but start with the letter 'c'.

Phrasal verbs and context

A guide to multi-word verbs and prepositions that can change the meaning of phrasal verbs.

Prefixes re-, pre- and pro-

'REcycle', 'PREpacked', 'PROactive' - we talk about prefixes in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Silent letters

We talk about letters in English that we see in words but don’t actually pronounce.

Onomatopoeia

Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.

Multi-word verbs

Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.

Adjectives ending with -ic and -ical

'Classic' or 'classical'? Learn about adjectives ending in -ic and -ical.

Strong adjectives

'Terrified', 'fantastic', 'amazing' - learn how to use strong adjectives.

Male and female job words

Policeman / policewoman, actor / actress - learn about job titles and gender.

New words

'Selfie', 'photobomb', 'trolling'. Learn what these new words mean and how they are made.

Weather words

The British love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.

Homophones

Mail and male... Learn about words that sound the same but have different spellings.

Compound nouns

Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.

Similar words

We talk about words like 'big' and 'large' and explore the similarities between them.

Adjective order

This is a big, old, smelly dog! Learn which adjective has to come first.

Contractions

"I've run a marathon." Look at the shorter form 'I've'. Learn how to use contractions.

Job suffixes

What's the connection between a teacher, a driver and a presenter? We explain.

Word stress

How to pronounce the words 'photographer' and 'photograph'? Learn about word stress.

Compound adjectives

Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).

Lexical sets

Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.

-ing and -ed adjectives

Boring or bored? Interested or interesting? We'll tell you the right adjective to use.

Binomials

Learn how to use these short English phrases made of two words that go together.

Chunks of language

Find out how you can sound much more natural by learning and using chunks of language.

Prefixes

Have no fear... Finn and Alice are here and they'll teach you everything about prefixes!

Adjectives and adverbs

Fashionable? Fashionably? We teach you adjectives and adverbs.

Suffixes

Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.

Academic Vocabulary

Do you have to write academic texts and essays? Finn and Neil give you some tips.

Talk like Shakespeare

Learn some idioms from 'the Bard' which are in common use today.

Irregular verbs 2

Break, broke, broken... We look at verbs that don't behave themselves.

Eponyms as nouns and verbs

To google, to hoover... Learn about words that have come from commercial products.

Adjectives from names

Freudian, Dickensian, Orwellian... learn about adjectives that come from names.

Large numbers

How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.

Suffixes -sion -tion -tian

"I have a confesSION: my ambiTION is to meet a MarTIAN!" - We teach you suffixes.

Synonyms

Learn about synonyms - words that have the same or similar meaning.

Discourse Markers: Interjections

Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.

Commonly misspelled words

Finn and Catherine talk through some of the complexities of English spelling.

6 Minute Vocabulary: Academic Vocabulary

Neil and Finn's top tips for dealing with specialist vocabulary