Search for a phrase or choose a level. The time filter describes the sample recording, not the whole lesson.
Read for the main point first. Keep the key supporting ideas, put them in a clear order, and express them in your own words. Leave out examples, repeated points, and background details unless they are necessary to understand the central message.
Superfluous means more than needed or unnecessary.
Use swan song for a person's final notable performance, work, or act. It often has a reflective tone because it looks back at the end of a period in that person's life or career.
A sycophant is a person who uses excessive, insincere praise to gain favour from someone powerful or important.
Build a TOEFL study routine around short, specific sessions. Use current official information to understand the test, practise one skill at a time, then write down one error or useful phrase to revisit.
Tentative means not fixed or done with caution. You use it when plans might change or when someone acts carefully.
Use a defining relative clause, usually without commas, when the clause identifies the person or thing. In American edited prose, that is a common choice for this use. Use which with commas when the clause adds extra information. British usage also allows which in many defining clauses, so follow the style expected by your reader.
Use that to introduce a reported statement when it helps the reader hear where the report begins. You can often omit that after common reporting verbs when the sentence remains clear. Do not use that to introduce a reported yes-or-no question or an instruction.
After a formal recommendation or requirement, use that plus the base verb: They suggested that he arrive early; It is essential that the form be complete. For a hypothetical wish or if-clause, were is a common formal choice: I wish I were there.
Say the Himalayas because it is the name of a mountain range. Say Mount Everest without the because it is the usual name of one mountain. The same contrast appears in the Alps and Mount Kilimanjaro.
Top-drawer means excellent or of the highest quality. It usually comes before a noun, or after be when the noun is already clear.
Use tortuous for something with many turns or an indirect, complicated course. Use torturous for something that causes great pain, suffering, difficulty, or a painfully slow experience.