10 Adjectives You Need to Describe Change in English [574]

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In this episode, you will learn natural English words used to describe change, from small adjustments to major transformations.

Many learners know basic words like big or small, but they are not always sure how to describe change clearly and accurately. This can make your English sound simple or repetitive.

In this lesson, I explain useful adjectives like dramatic, subtle, radical, minimal, and profound. You will learn what they really mean, when to use them, and how they sound in real conversations.

By the end of this episode, you will be able to:

• describe changes more precisely
 • choose the right word for formal and everyday situations
 • sound more natural and confident when talking about decisions, events, and life changes

If you want your English to sound clearer, more natural, and more confident, this episode will help.

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Transcript

0:10

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language. We help you with grammar, vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation, conversational English, preparing for job interviews, with absolutely every aspect of the English language that you can think of. You've come to the right place. And in this particular advanced English lesson, I'm going to look at adjectives to describe change. Now, remember, when you're using words as a single word, it can be difficult to remember how to use them. It's better when you can have co-locations. And in this particular lesson, these adjectives can be used with the verb change so that we can describe a situation. And I'll give you an example as to how to use them. We're going to create co-locations using adjectives that will describe change. Okay, number one, cosmetic. So cosmetic changes. Well, cosmetic changes could be something when you go into a doctor and you ask for him to take away the wrinkles around your eyes or to give you thicker lips or to make some change to your facial expression. So these would be cosmetic changes, you know, cosmetic surgery. Or if you decide to do some renovations to your home and somebody asks you, well, what are you doing? Are you knocking down some walls or you're putting on an extension? No, no, no, no. We're just making some cosmetic changes, like some paint or wallpaper or something that will brighten up the rooms a little bit. So nothing serious, nothing significant, but it'll just take a few weekends to get it done. So some cosmetic changes. Number two, dramatic. Dramatic changes. Well, dramatic changes are usually something that are very sudden. There have been some dramatic changes in the weather recently. We have noticed times of very high pressure and then the next day very low pressure, high winds, lots of rain, snow, cold weather. So some dramatic changes in the weather over the recent months or even years and all about climate change. Okay, so dramatic changes in the weather. You can also have dramatic changes in somebody's personality. You might be saying, I think there's something wrong with David. He needs to go to the doctor. He's going through some dramatic changes in personality. He's happy one minute and then he's moody, then he's sad. And oh, so I think there's something going on there. He really needs to go and get some professional help. So some dramatic changes. Or a town or a city may have gone through some dramatic changes in the last few years, particularly if you haven't seen it for a while. You could see new roads, new buildings, a new town centre. So when you're describing it to your friends, say, wow, there have been some dramatic changes here. It's not something that I was expecting. Number three, drastic. Drastic is something really needed, very sudden, but something that was done very urgently. So drastic changes. In an organization, if a company is performing badly and for several years they haven't really performed as they had expected, sales are down, profits are down, the competitors are doing much better. So a new chief executive or a new board is appointed. So they have a meeting with the staff and they say, we will have to go through some drastic changes if we're going to get this business to perform the way we think it should. So drastic changes could be additional personnel or some personnel will have to change. Some products will have to be dropped. New products will have to be launched. So really we have to go through drastic changes. So they mean very sudden, but you know, very, very sharp, but very serious changes, because if we continue the way we're going, the business is not going to survive. So drastic changes. Fundamental. Fundamental changes. Fundamental is about the roots of something, the foundations, fundamental changes, for example, in the education process. So a government comes in, they take a look at what the old government had. You know, the education system is the same for the last 100 years. It's really not fit for purpose, as they might say. So we're going to have to make some fundamental changes to the education policy. It might be the entrance age for children. It might be the curriculum as to what subjects they're taught at an early age or the choices of subject that the students will have as they get into secondary school, how the exam structure will be for the final year before they go to university, perhaps moving away from a test-based exam structure to ongoing assessment. So these would be described as fundamental changes to the education system. So the government undertook fundamental changes to the education system, but they realized that it would take two or three years to implement, so they started off slowly. But they announced this to the people as part of their policy when they were elected. So fundamental changes. And for those of you and your friends or family who want one-to-one lessons, well, you know what to do. Just get in touch, www.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free trial lesson and we'll be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. Marginal changes. Well, something that's marginal is very slim, very slight, almost unrecognizable. There have been marginal changes. So you go back to visit your friend after many, many years away from the city and you ask him, have there been many changes? I'm sure the city has gone through lots of changes. Actually, no, there's been a very little change, some marginal changes, but you'd hardly notice, indeed, I'd be surprised when you walk around the city if it doesn't look exactly the same as it was five years ago when you visited me last. Yeah. Okay, so some marginal changes, changes on the very edge, not something core and very definitely not something fundamental. So marginal, very, very small and very insignificant, almost unrecognizable. Marked changes. Now, marked changes are changes that you will recognize. There have been some marked changes to the center of the city. For example, all of the streets are pedestrianized, meaning no traffic is allowed to drive up or down these streets between the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the evening. Okay, so there are marked changes to the center of the city. The center of the city is now a square where, again, there's no traffic. All you'll see are nicely decorated streets with plant pots and areas and benches for sitting, open restaurants and cafes. So again, zero traffic, no noise. So very marked changes to the center of our city, very marked. So very defined, something you will notice and everybody will recognize marked changes. Number seven, momentous changes. Momentous is something big, something very recognizable, but something that makes a huge and has a huge impact. There have been momentous changes in our economy. So perhaps 10, 15, 20 years ago, our economy was very, very weak, very poor. We were looked on as the poor neighbors. But since we joined, for example, the European Union, there have been momentous changes to our economy. The European Union have invested huge funds into our infrastructure. So better roads, better rail connections. So our city has become more affluent. We have attracted new industry. Lots of foreign companies have set up in our economy. They have brought in jobs. They have increased the income and it's very, very noticeable. So we could say membership of the European Union has brought about momentous changes to the economy. Okay, momentous changes, something really significant, really big, very, very noticeable. Number eight, profound. Profound changes. Profound are deep. Yeah, okay, so profound changes in somebody's attitude. Perhaps when he was a young person, he was a little bit, how I would say it, arrogant. Maybe he's a little bit big-headed. Somebody always thought that he was better than everybody else. And of course, as he's got older, he has matured a bit and realizes that you cannot afford to be so arrogant or so big-headed. So he's gone through some profound changes in his personality. Maybe now he's a more interesting person to talk to. Maybe now he's a more accommodating person. Maybe now he's a more sensitive to other people's needs. So profound changes in his personality and more importantly in his attitude to other people. Profound. Number nine, radical changes. Well, lots of things can go through radical changes. Businesses can go through radical changes. And our politics can go through radical changes. So a country that was often governed by centre parties, they could be centre-left, centre-right. Perhaps now there's a right-wing government or a left-wing government. So something on the extremes of politics. So these could be described as radical changes. People now are very extreme in their opinions. They're either far-right or far-left with very little in the middle. So this causes difficulties and problems because those on the far left have certain expectations about social needs, whereas those on the right have very strong opinions about nationalistic views. So, you know, the country is in a difficult situation because of the radical changes in the political opinion, the radical changes in the political geography of the country. Radical changes. Number 10. Now be very careful with the pronunciation here, S-U-B-T-L-E. There's a danger and there's a tendency to pronounce the B, but the B is silent. So we talk about subtle, yeah, not subtle. Subtle, subtle changes. Subtle changes are those that you would hardly notice. Oh, there have been some subtle changes I can see here, but they're really, really good. So if you visit your friend's home and you haven't been there for a long time, but he's carried out some renovations, he's built an extension, he's changed the facade of the building, but the changes are very subtle. They fit in nicely with the landscape around. They fit in nicely with the decoration and the design of the other houses nearby. So the changes are noticeable, but they are very subtle. Yeah, very subtle. They fit in nicely with the rest of the landscape. So subtle, soft, delicate, noticeable, but they don't stand out. Subtle. And remember, the B, the letter B in subtle is silent, subtle, subtle. Okay, you have to practice that a little bit. Subtle changes. And number 11, the final one in my list, sweeping, sweeping changes. Sweeping, imagine if you had a sweeping brush to clean your house. You'd sweep into all the corners to get rid of the cobwebs, the dirt, something. If you hadn't cleaned it for a while, you make huge, huge changes. So the same with sweeping changes to society. So a government comes in and it decides not only to change the education system, it might decide to change the tax system, it may decide to change the social welfare and healthcare system. So we could consider all of those as sweeping changes, change everything to do with society. So the government is promising to spend lots of money on the infrastructure. They're promising to rebuild the hospitals. They're promising to build extra schools, new universities. And to do that, they have to increase taxes. So when you look from top to bottom, they will be sweeping changes, changes that cover everything in society and cover everybody. Okay, so sweeping changes, very radical, a complete overhaul of the whole system. Okay, so hopefully you get an idea there of how we can use these particular adjectives connected with change to create co-locations that will help you to explain different situations. As I said, we have 11 of them in total. Let me give them to you one more time. Cosmetic, cosmetic changes, cosmetic changes. Dramatic, dramatic changes, quite sudden. Drastic changes, really noticeable, something that had to happen, drastic changes. Fundamental, fundamental changes to a system, something that we have to go right down to the very bottom, to the foundations, fundamental. Marginal, hardly noticeable, marginal changes. Marked changes, something that you really can see, marked changes. Big, big changes, momentous, momentous changes, momentous. Profound, yeah? Profound, deep, scientific, profound changes. Radical, radical changes to the politics and the country or the city. Radical. Subtle changes. Hardly noticeable. Subtle changes. And then finally, sweeping, very big, very, very radical, complete overhaul of everything. Sweeping changes. Okay, so you have your 11 adjectives, all with a collocation, all collocate with change, help you to form good expressions for your written work and your spoken English. And as always, you have to practice, and you know the rules by now. You have to practice them by writing them, by dropping them into your conversation. Pick two or three, make sure you understand them, and then use two or three the next week or the next month. And if you need any help, need any assistance, need some extra examples, come back to me, www.englishlessonviaskype.com. Always happy to help you. Always here when you need some assistance. So this is Harry saying goodbye for now. Thanks for listening. And as always, join me for the next lesson.