Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson,
I'm going to show you how one word can have
multiple meanings. In particular, we'll look
at situations in which the verb and the noun
with the same word is completely different. Okay? Now, this is especially important for
you if you're going to be appearing for any kind of exam, like the IELTS or the TOEFL,
if you're doing reading, if you're doing the
listening section, or the writing section,
or the speaking section. Okay? But in particular,
for reading and listening, because perhaps
when you look at a word, you think of it as having one meaning, but it might actually
have a completely different meaning. So I'm going to show you what... Some examples of
how that works. We're going to start off by
looking at some very simple words, then we'll
look at some slang, and then we'll look at more advanced examples. But basically, the
principle is such that a verb and a noun
sometimes have a completely different meaning,
they're completely different words, they're not just different forms of the word. Okay?
So let's get started.
So let's look at a simple word, "box". Now, when I say "box", you might be thinking of
the verb, and you might be thinking of the
noun, because they are very different. Right?
So the "box" is the sport, right? The sport,
boxing. All right? So this is a verb, to box,
but a "box" is also a noun. Like, I received
the package in a box. All right? So that...
We can see that the noun and the verb are completely different.
Let's look at some other examples.
"Light". So "light" as a verb, you can light
many things. You can light a candle with a
match, you can light a cigarette. Right? Light a fire. But "light" as a noun is, for
example, the light bulb, the light switch.
Right? A light in your... In your home. Okay?
So again, the verb and the noun, completely
different. And if you were doing a listening
section in an exam, and they said "light", you might get thrown off if you're thinking
of the verb, but they actually mean the noun,
or the other way around. So you really have
to be aware of that. Okay? And be able to make
that switch in your... In your understanding.
Let's look at the simple word "fly". Right? To fly a plane, to fly a kite. Okay? But a
fly... A fly sat on the table. Okay? So a
"fly" as a noun is very different from "fly"
as a verb.
Let's look at another simple word, "park". So
you park your car. Right? In the parking...
A parking lot, or in a parking space. You park your car, but you could also go for a
walk on a beautiful day in the park. Right? Walk through the trees, and go to the park.
So the park can be a place, or the park can be
an activity, or a verb. So these are examples
of four simple words. They're not always so
simple. Sometimes they're complex words; we're
coming to those. Okay?
But let's look at some slang words. Not all
forms of the words... Of these words are slang,
but some. So, "to hit" means like, okay, you
hit somebody. Okay? Somebody hit someone.
Or one car hit the other car. Okay? But a "hit" as slang, when you say that movie was
a hit, it means it was a big success. It became
very popular. That song was a hit. That show
was a hit, and it means that something was
very popular. Okay? It became a big success.
"Jam". "Jam" as a verb is what? Do you know
the meaning? When we say the musicians jammed,
means informally they got together, and they
played, and they improvised, and they played
together in an informal way. They jammed. Okay? Usually we talk about musicians doing
this. All right? They had a jam session. But
a "jam" as a noun, you might be familiar with.
Maybe you like to put some strawberry jam on
your bread or on your toast. Okay? So that's
a bottle of... A jar of jam. All right?
Next, "nail". So, as a verb, you might nail your interview. What does it mean to nail
something? To nail something in slang means
to do it very, very well, to ace it. You might
nail your interview, your job interview. You
might nail a presentation. Okay? And you say
to somebody who did something very well, "Hey,
you nailed it." Okay? You're using the verb.
All right? But a "nail" as a noun is that little silver metal thing that you hit with
a hammer into the wall. Okay? That's a nail.
All right? That's what I tried to show you
here. All right.
The verb "foot". As in a slang kind of expression,
when we say "to foot the bill". I'm going
to foot the bill for this. It means I'm going
to take responsibility for paying the bill.
I'm going to pay for the bill. I'm going to
pay for this meal, or this event, or whatever.
"Who's footing the bill?" means who's paying
for this event. Okay? I don't know if you've
heard that expression before. It is used quite
a bit. So, again, "foot" here was used as
a verb in a very unusual way, and if you heard
that in a test or you read it somewhere, you
might say, "What are they talking about? I
know only about foot. Like, here, one foot."
Okay, usually we have two feet, but one foot.
Okay? So you might be thinking of this foot.
Okay? Now, I've only shown you a verb and a noun, and I've only shown you one version
of the verb and one version of the noun. In some cases, you'll... If you look... When
you look in the dictionary, you'll see that
there are different verb meanings. Okay? And
different noun meanings. So, what does that tell you? It tells you that if you have an
opportunity to open up a dictionary or go online and look at a dictionary, then it's
worth looking at all the meanings of a particular
word. And sometimes you'll be surprised, like,
"Really? I can use this word in this way? I didn't know that." Okay. And usually in
a dictionary, an online dictionary or a regular
dictionary, they'll give a sentence, an example
with it. It's a good opportunity for you to learn to use words which you already know,
but in different ways. Okay? That will expand
your speaking vocabulary, and of course, as
I said, if you're doing a reading comprehension
or something like... Or a listening comprehension
on an exam, it will be very, very useful. Okay?
Now, let's look at some advanced words where the
verbs and the nouns are completely different.
Okay, so let's start with our first advanced
word, and that word is "doctor". Now, you're
saying to me, "Rebecca, that's not an advanced
word. I know what a 'doctor' is. Everybody
knows what a 'doctor' is." Sure. Everybody knows what a "doctor" is as a noun. Right?
And what's a "doctor"? He or she is a medical
professional. Sure, you know that meaning,
but did you know the meaning of "doctor" as a
verb? It means to fake or falsify a document
or a report or a certificate or a photograph.
That means to do something to it to make it
look like it's real, but it's actually not;
to falsify it, to make it false, to fake it.
Okay? That's the meaning of the verb "to doctor
something". It's not a very positive word.
This is a positive word. That person helps a lot of people, but the verb is not a very
positive... It doesn't have a positive meaning.
Okay? So that's how different a verb and a
noun can be. All right?
Let's take another example. The word "stress".
You might have heard this word because we
often hear the noun. Okay? And we hear the verb also. In this case, let's look at the
noun first. When you feel stress, you feel
tension. Okay? Some people feel stress before
an exam or they feel stress before a presentation
or they feel stress before a job interview
or they feel stress from life, and some people
never feel stress. They're always relaxed
no matter what's happening. Okay? But that
stress as a noun, it's tension. But what does
the verb "stress" mean? I would like to stress
the importance of backing up your computer
files. It means to emphasize. I would like to stress this. I would like to emphasize
this. Okay? So here, in this lesson, I'm stressing
that certain words have multiple meanings,
especially the verb and the noun sometimes. All right?
Let's continue. "Head". Now, what's a head? As
a noun, this is my head. Right? It's a part of
your body. It's your head. Yes, that's the
noun. But did you know we also use it as a verb,
and very often in a business context. He heads the marketing department. She heads
the sales department. What does that suggest to
you? It means he or she leads that department.
He or she manages that department. He or she
is in charge of or is the top person in that
department, in that division, in that company.
When we say that somebody heads something,
it means that person is at the top of that organization or that department or division
or whatever. Okay? So there you go. That's another word where perhaps you were very
familiar with the noun, but maybe you weren't
as familiar with the verb, but now you are.
Okay? And you can keep doing that with lots and lots of words.
Next... The next one, "sentence". Now, as an
ESL student and as someone studying English,
I'm sure you know what a sentence is. For example, this is a sentence. Right? It's a
set of words that start with a capital letter,
end with a period. They have a subject, there's
a subject, there's a verb. Right? This is a sentence. All right? So you know that one,
but there's also a verb. "To sentence someone".
This is something that in case you watch a lot
of crime dramas, you might have heard this word,
and it means to declare a punishment for someone
who has legally been found guilty. Okay? So
in court, right, they take somebody to court,
and if that person is found guilty, then they have
to say what the punishment is. So when they say
officially or declare what that punishment is,
then they use the verb "sentence", "to sentence
somebody". So, for example, you might hear, "He
or she was sentenced to life imprisonment." Okay?
So that was the punishment for a guilty person
for a crime that he or she committed. That's
"to sentence someone". Let's look at another
example. "Foil". Now, here it has a verb,
there's a verb and a noun. So what's the noun?
Perhaps you've used this material. Okay? It's
shiny, it's silvery, it's a thin sheet of metal,
kind of very thin, and we use it when we're
cooking, when we're baking. All right? Aluminum
foil. All right? Have you seen it? You might have
some at home. All right? So that's a thin sheet
of metal that we use very often at home. And the
verb, however, is completely different. Okay? If
you read superhero comics and watch movies like
that, you might have heard this word, or if you
watch crime dramas, again. So "to foil something"
means to prevent a bad event from happening.
For example, the police foiled the robbery,
or the authorities foiled the attacks. Okay? So
"to foil something" means to prevent something
bad, a bad event from happening. Okay? To prevent
it before it happens. "To foil it". All right?
So there, you just added a nice advanced verb
to your vocabulary. All right. The next one,
"to harbor" as a verb or as a noun? As a noun,
a harbor... What's a harbor? A harbor is a place
where ships kind of park. Right? It's an area...
An area of water near the coast where ships are
safe. Okay? And they wait there. Okay? They're
safe from... From other... Other ships and from
other parts of the water. Okay? Waves and things
that might make... Harm them or hurt the ships in
any way. Damage the ships. Okay? So it's an area
where ships are safe. This is called a harbor.
But what does the verb "harbor" mean? The verb
"harbor" is something completely different.
It's actually something negative. It means to
hide a person that's wanted by the police or
by the authorities. If somebody is hiding a
criminal in... From the authorities or hiding
a terrorist, that's called harboring a criminal.
Harboring the robber. Harboring the terrorist.
To hide somebody that is actually wanted by the
authorities. Okay? That means to harbor somebody.
Completely different meaning. Right? So, again,
can you imagine, like, in your... In your exam,
like a TOEFL exam or an IELTS exam, what would
happen if you come across this verb, and then
they ask you what is the meaning of this word?
Very often there is a section in your reading
comprehension where they'll ask you about specific
vocabulary, and they love to choose words like
this because they know that you know the normal
kind of meaning of the word. Sometimes the normal
meaning of the word is the verb, and sometimes
the normal meaning or the popular meaning that
most people know is the noun. But they're usually
trying to go a little bit deeper in reading
comprehension exams and ask you the not-so-popular
meaning of that word. All right? Of an advanced
word especially. So this kind of lesson will make
you more aware of the fact that some common words
can have uncommon meanings as well. All right?
Let's look at the last one, season. So, again,
you might be familiar with the noun, right? Summer,
spring, winter, fall, these are the four seasons
of the year. All right? You know those. But
what does it mean to season something? To season
something means to add spices to food. Did you
know that? Okay? You need to season it with salt
and pepper or hopefully more interesting spices.
Okay? But basically to season something means to
add some spices to food. All right? So there,
again, a completely different meaning. So now,
if you'd like to do a little quiz on this, please
go to our website, www.engvid.com. There you can
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Bye for now.