Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 554

In this episode, you’ll learn 10 strong verbs that will make your English sound more advanced and professional. These verbs are often used in business, work, and academic contexts, and they help you express cause, effect, and impact more clearly.

We’ll look at verbs like compound, trigger, devastate, curb, discourage, undermine, benefit, bankrupt, lead, and boost. You’ll hear how they are used in natural English sentences and how you can use them to replace more basic words.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll:

• Understand the meaning of these verbs in context
• Know how to use them in both formal and everyday English
• Improve your vocabulary for IELTS, CAE, TOEFL, and professional communication

Listen now and start using stronger verbs to boost your fluency and confidence.

Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to my podcast where I try to help you to get a better understanding of English through conversation, business English and also aspects where we look at grammar, phrasal verbs and expressions to help you communicate in a much better way. So what do I have for you in this particular podcast? Well, in this particular podcast, we're going to take a look at some verbs. Okay. And in this situation, we're going to look at verbs related to consequences. Okay. So something happens and then we have to use a verb to describe what has happened or what will happen. Okay. So as always, I'll give you the verb, I'll give you the meaning and I'll give you an example. So let's start. Well, the first one is compound, to compound something. To compound something means to make it worse. You have compounded the problem by ringing the customer. You have compounded it, meaning you have made it worse. You have intensified the problem. You have focused attention on it when we didn't want to focus attention on it. So you have made matters worse. You have, in some ways, added to the problem. You have complicated matters more. So all of those words would, or even magnify, to magnify, to make greater. So when we compound the situation, we magnify it. We increase the focus on it. We intensify the focus on it. We focus attention on it, but it's seen in a negative way to compound the problem, to compound the problem. A compound fracture of the leg is a very, very bad fracture of a leg. So you fracture or break your leg. It may be simple. A compound fracture is much more difficult. So to compound something is to make it more difficult, to make it more focused. So it's in a, and has negative connotations. Okay, the next verb I have is trigger, to trigger something. A trigger as a noun is something you pull, like to fire a gun is the trigger. So when we trigger something as a verb, we start something. So it can be used in a negative context as well. So if we insult somebody at a party, we trigger a response. So there's a big argument and everybody ends up falling out with each other. So your actions, the words, trigger a reaction from someone else. So as we said, a trigger is to fire a gun. But when we trigger something, we are a little bit irresponsible. We haven't considered things probably in the correct way. And as a result, things have become a little bit difficult for a while. So to trigger in that sense means to bring about an action, to cause somebody to react in a different way, to give rise to a reason for something else. So let's say there's a big storm, a earthquake triggered a series of volcanic eruptions. Okay, so one led to the other, or the earthquake underneath the ocean triggered a soon army. So there's a devastation in relation to flooding and lots and lots of victims. Okay, so it's not just about people, but it's also about other actions that trigger or begin or cause something else to happen. Okay, so that means to trigger, to devastate. To devastate means to cause complete destruction. We can be devastated, meaning we can be really, really upset when something happens. So to devastate, as we spoke before about the tsunami, so we have the earthquake under the sea. As a result of that, we get this tsunami effect and these huge waves. And these waves sweep through many villages and towns on the edge of the coast. And they are devastated. So the waves devastate the local villages. They lay waste, meaning they ravage everything in their path. They knock down poles, they destroy property, they unfortunately kill people. So to be devastated is to be overwhelmed, to be ravaged, to lay waste to something. So you can also use words like to demolish, to devastate, to destroy, to level, meaning to bring down to the ground, so to devastate. Next verb is to curb. C-U-R-B, to curb. To curb something means to restrict. So when we want to curb the activities of our children, we tell them that they cannot go out late at night, particularly for teenagers. You must be back at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock. So you try to curb, to check, to restrain their activities. To curb anything is to try and control. So the government tries to curb the activities of drug dealers. So they put more police on the streets. They intercept ships coming into the harbor. They stop and search people to curb. The police try to curb late-night drinking in city centers by putting policemen on patrol. And if people are drunk in the streets, they arrest them or they take them to somewhere to sleep it off so that they don't disturb other people. So to curb is to restrict, to control, to restrain, to curb. Discourage. When we try to discourage somebody, it's the opposite to encourage. To discourage means we want them to avoid doing something. So we discourage our children from making the wrong decisions. We discourage our children from making quick decisions. We discourage people from taking bad advice. So to discourage in that sense means to show our disapproval to somebody so they don't do something or we try to deter them, so to prevent them from making mistakes, perhaps making the mistakes that we made. Okay, so in that sense, we can try to dissuade, persuade them in the negative sense, try to dissuade them from taking a particular course of action, to divert them from doing something, to prevent them or to put them off from taking or making something that you believe is a bad decision. To undermine, when we undermine somebody, well, literally to undermine means to dig underground, to dig underneath them. So when we undermine somebody, we make other people see that their idea is bad. So we say negative things about it. And in that way, people won't support the idea. So the person's view has been undermined, it has been weakened. So when somebody digs under the ground, the area above ground becomes weaker and it can collapse. So when we undermine somebody, then the support for them will collapse or disappear and they're not in such a strong position. Okay, so to undermine means to make somebody feel less important, to be less supported and to weaken their position. Okay, so undermine. Other words that we could use for undermine will be weaken, to remove the support or to wear away some support that they have. So to eat away at their confidence, perhaps, to undermine somebody by constantly telling them they don't look good. So we eat away at their confidence, we reduce their confidence, to erode their confidence, to impair or sabotage their position. Okay, so all of those words would have similar meanings to undermine. Now, in a positive way, to benefit, okay, to benefit something, the consequence to benefit. So some action, an investment will benefit us because we can make some money. Some collapse of somebody else's business might benefit ours indirectly because there will be no competition. So we will have a clear path to succeed. The exam results that our children get will benefit them in terms of their entry into a particular university course. A couple of weeks training or not eating chocolate will undermine, sorry, will benefit our position in relation to our health and our weight. So we want to make sure that we have the ability to look better by training a bit harder and we benefit from that. To bankrupt, well, to bankrupt somebody means to literally take everything away from them. When a business goes bankrupt, it means it stops trading and the business ceases. When an individual is bankrupt or goes bankrupt, then they lose everything. They lose their house. They lose whatever cash they have in the bank because their debts far exceed their assets. So they will become bankrupt. So to bankrupt in the use of the verb means to financially ruin somebody. So a bank decides to bankrupt an individual because he hasn't repaid his debts. So they bankrupt him. So they make or they cause or they financially ruin that particular person. So when we are bankrupt, we are left without anything. So we could say, I'm bankrupt of ideas, meaning I have no more ideas. I'm lacking ideas. I am ruined. I am completely destitute. Or I have failed to bankrupt somebody. So often to bankrupt means somebody like a bank or some other large creditor deciding that they cannot wait any longer for their money to be repaid. So they take you to court to make you a bankrupt. And the results are quite obvious. To lead, okay, when we lead somebody, we try to direct them, okay, to lead somebody in a certain direction, to lead our children on the right path for their future in terms of education, life, everything else connected to it. To lead a business, okay, we can be the person in charge of the business. So when we lead, we guide, we persuade, we direct, we control. So all of those words are connected with to lead, to lead a business through difficult times, to lead the football team to the championship. That could be the role of the coach or the manager. Okay, so, and this from this comes the word leader, yeah, somebody and leadership to lead. And then finally, to boost. To boost something is to improve, to give it a lift. Okay, when we have very small children, we buy these little seats that we put in the back of our cars. They're called booster seats. And that means to give the child a little lift up. So one, he can see out of the window and two, he can fit into the seat belt a little better. So it's not so dangerous. So that boost gives him a lift. So when we boost something, we improve it. We lift it up. Okay, so sales in our business were boosted this week. Okay, so to boost is to push something up in a positive way, to increase something. Okay, so anytime that you boost your business, you help it to grow. You boost the confidence of your children, telling them they are great and wonderful. They did great things in their exams. We praise somebody. We give them that lift or we give them that additional support and things jump. So from a business point of view, the profits increase, they jump or they rise or boost. Okay, so there are verbs related to consequences. Let me just give them to you once more. Compound, trigger, devastate, curb, discourage, undermine, benefit, bankrupt, lead and boost. Okay, well, again, as always, thanks for listening. And if you want to contact me, well, then you can do so on www.englishlessviaskype.com, where I'm always happy to take your questions, always happy to listen to your ideas. And when you get there, please look out for the link to the Easy Peasy English Club, which is a fast, effective, efficient, and above all, economic way for you and your friends and family to learn and improve your English. So check it out and see does it suit you. As always, thanks for listening and join me again soon.