the academic word list, words you'll want to know  if you're preparing for the IELTS or TOEFL exam,  

but also if you read or watch the news in  English or have conversations with native  

speakers. In other words, these are useful words  that will come through for you once you really  

understand how to use them. You're learning four  new words today with tons of real life examples.  

So grab your friends, have them  join you in this challenge, and  

let's do this! When you learn a new word, make  up your own sentence, record yourself in a video  

saying that sentence, and post to social media  using the hashtag #rachelsenglish30daychallenge

And as always, if you like this video, or you  learned something new, please like and subscribe  

with notifications. It means a lot. Don't  forget, there's a download to go with this video,  

a list of all the words with  definitions and sample sentences,  

as well as quizzes to make sure you're  really getting and remembering these words.  

You can get that download by following this  link or the link in the video description.

Our first word today is the word FORMULA.  

Formula. When AW as in law is followed by R,  like in a stressed syllable here, it's not a pure  

AW vowel. It's not faw— formula, but it's faw--  fawr-- fawr-- so the lips round a little bit more,  

and the tongue shifts back a little bit more  than for a pure AW, fawr—formula. It's a noun,  

it means a plan or method for doing making, or  achieving something. His investment strategy  

is based on a simple formula. Let's  look again up close and in slow motion.

And now we'll go to Youglish for five  examples of this word in real situations.

Yeah, so Netflix, you know they have a  formula and it seems to work for them.

Netflix has a formula. They have a  certain way of creating shows and movies.

Yeah, so Netflix, you know they have a  formula and it seems to work for them.

Here's another example.

We're going to talk about a  formula for procrastination.

A formula for procrastination. Procrastination  is putting something off that you should do,  

like waiting until the very last  night to study for a big exam.  

A formula for procrastination,  a method for procrastination,  

different ways to distract yourself so that  you don't do what you really should do.

We're going to talk about a  formula for procrastination.

Here's another example.

And there's no one formula.

There's no one formula.  There's no one way to do it.  

Many different methods or approaches  or ways of doing it would work.

And there's no one formula.

Another example.

And that's sort of the magic formula.

The magic formula. The way of doing  something that works really well.

And that's sort of the magic formula.

Here's our last example.

My formula was to just be creative.

My formula was just to be creative.  

My way of doing things, my method  was to let creativity guide me.

My formula was to just be creative.

The next word is THEORY. This is one of those  words that can be two syllables or three. Theory  

or theory. The two syllable pronunciation  is more common, and it's what I'll do.  

It's a noun, an idea or set of ideas  that's intended to explain facts or events.  

An idea that's possibly true, but not known  or proven to be true. I've been reading  

Darwin's theories of evolution. Let's look at the  pronunciation up close and in slow motion again.  

IH as in sit is not pure  here. The R does change it.  

It changes into a sound more like EE as in she, so  it's not ih-- thih-- theory, but EE, thee— theory.

And now we'll go to Youglish for five  examples of this word in real situations.

My theory is Venice is sinking,  in part because it just was not  

constructed to hold all those crowds all day long.

My theory, my guess is, I think this is  true, but I haven't proven it to be true.

My theory is Venice is sinking,  in part because it just was not  

constructed to hold all those crowds all day long.

Here's another example.

Do you have a theory on why that is?

Do you have a theory, a guess as  to why this thing is happening?  

Is it something you can try to explain?

Do you have a theory on why that is?

Here's another example.

We really don't know how the universe began even  though we have theory-- or what's before it.

We have a theory, but we really  don't know. It's our idea  

based on what we know, but it's not proven.

We really don't know how the universe began even  though we have theory-- or what's before it.

Here's another example.

So there again, it's true in theory, and it's true  for some women, but for many, many it's not.

When something is true in theory, this means the  idea makes sense and things should work like that,  

but in real life, it might not. For example,  in theory, you should do better on a test if  

you study more, but if you're really  nervous, you might actually do worse.

So there again, it's true in theory, and it's  true for some women, but for many, many it's not.

Here's our last example.

Because his theory was, you cannot have a great  city without a great public school system.

This was his theory, this is what he thought  about cities and schools without having set up a  

city with a great school system. He hadn't proven  it, but it was his idea about how things worked.

Because his theory was you cannot have a great  city without a great public school system.

Our next word is INTERPRET. It's a little tricky  with those two R's, isn't it? Inter-- that's the  

UR vowel R combination, inter-- pret. Then a  quick P, tongue stays in position for the R,  

before the final syllable. Interpret. It's a verb,  it means to explain the meaning of something,  

to understand in a certain way, or  to translate. The team is trying to  

interpret results from their study. Let's  look again up close and in slow motion.

And now we'll go to Youglish for five  examples of this word in real situations.

And normally, we interpret these  physical changes as anxiety.

We explain the physical changes by saying these  people were anxious and that's why it happened.

And normally, we interpret these  physical changes as anxiety.

Another example.

And the the way that I interpret  what's going on is a couple of things.

The way that I explain this, we have a  situation, I have ideas about why it's this way.

And the the way that I interpret  what's going on is a couple of things.

Let's go on to our next example.

Now, there's many ways to interpret  this and I have to be careful here.

There are many ways to interpret this. Many  different ways this can be explained. For example,  

the baby is crying because he's  too tired, because he ate too much,  

because he's hungry, because  he's hot, because he's too cold.  

There are many different explanations, many  ways to interpret why the baby is crying.

Now, there's many ways to interpret  this and I have to be careful here.

Here's another example.

But I'll let you interpret that however you want.

You interpret it, you decide what it means,  or how it came to be, you explain it.

But I'll let you interpret that however you want.

Here's our last example.

So that led us to an assessment so trying  to interpret, well, why did this happen?

Trying to understand and  explain why this happened.

So that led us to an assessment so trying  to interpret, well, why did this happen?

Our last word today is DEFINE. It's a verb,  it means to explain the meaning of a word or  

a phrase, or to show or describe clearly and  completely. I go to learnersdictionary.com to  

define difficult terms. Let's look  again up close and in slow motion.

And now we'll go to Youglish for five  examples of this word in real situations.

Once we define the problem,  we can prevent that death.

You have to define the problem  to really understand what it is,  

to be able to describe it fully and clearly,  before you can start to solve the problem.

Once we define the problem,  we can prevent that death.

Another example.

We use technology to define ourselves,  

by sharing our thoughts and  feelings even as we're having them.

We define ourselves. We explain  the meaning of ourselves,  

we show who we are by what  we post on social media.

We use technology to define ourselves,  

by sharing our thoughts and  feelings even as we're having them.

Here's another example.

But I'm here to define a little  bit more about what Chemistry is.

Define more about what Chemistry is. Describe  clearly and completely what is chemistry.

But I'm here to define a little  bit more about what Chemistry is.

Here's another example.

How do you define yourself?

How do you define yourself? Do  you define yourself by your work,  

your relationships, your hobbies, your  passion. How do you describe yourself?

How do you define yourself?

Here's our last example.

Patiently is being patient, and you know you can't  define a word by a word so I had to look it up.

You can't define a word by a word. That means you  can't explain the meaning of a word by using that  

same word in the explanation. For example,  you can't say an ant is a little brown ant.  

You have to say something like an ant is a little  brown insect. You can't explain something using  

that same thing to explain it. You have to  use other words, other things to define it.

Patiently is being patient, and you know you can't  define a word by a word so I had to look it up.

Seeing their real-life examples can really  help you understand how to use these words,  

can't it? I have a challenge for you now.  Make up a sentence with one of these words,  

and post it to social media, tag me, and use  the hashtag #rachelsenglish30daychallenge

Don't be shy, you can do this. Our next video  comes out tomorrow at 10AM Philadelphia time, come  

back to learn four more vocabulary words. In the  meantime, keep your studies going with this video,  

and check out my online courses  at rachelsenglishacademy.com  

You'll become a more confident English  speaker. And please do remember to subscribe.  

I love being your English teacher. That's it  and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.