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Martin, the restaurant was very good.
Good.
And Elena's English presentation was very good.
Also good.
And the winner's performance was very, very good.
Julia, I think your vocabulary needs help.
But everything was good.
Yes, but not everything was good in the same way.
I see. This is going to become a vocabularylesson, isn't it?
An excellent vocabulary lesson.
Welcome to your English Toolbox and Practice Arena5-Minute English. I am Martin.
And I am Julia. Today we are replacing
very good with three more precise words.Excellent, impressive, and outstanding.
Let us return to the restaurant.
The food was fresh, the service was friendly, andevery dish was prepared perfectly.
Then the restaurant was excellent.
Excellent means extremely good in quality.
We use it for food, service, work, ideas, orgeneral quality.
Excellent service. An excellent meal. Excellentwork.
It is a strong, clear alternative to very good.
Now, Elena's presentation, she has studied Englishfor only six months.
And she spoke for ten minutes without notes,answered difficult questions, and stayed calm.
Her English was not perfect, but what she achievedwas impressive.
Exactly. Impressive describes something thatcreates admiration or makes people notice it.
A difficult achievement or fast improvement can beimpressive.
And an impressive presentation makes the audiencethink,
that took skill or effort.
There is a useful grammar difference here.
The presentation was impressive. The audience wasimpressed.
Impressive describes the thing. Impresseddescribes how a person feels.
Now, what about the winner's performance?
Twelve people entered the competition, but onespeaker was clearly better than everyone else.
Then her performance was outstanding.
Outstanding means exceptionally good, especiallywhen something stands above the rest.
03:02
We say an outstanding performance, student, orresult.
So excellent focuses on very high quality.
Impressive focuses on the admiration somethingcreates.
And outstanding suggests exceptional qualitycompared with others.
Exactly.
Can one performance be all three?
Yes, the words overlap, but the picture you choosechanges.
There is also a second meaning of outstanding.
An outstanding payment is a payment that has notbeen completed.
But today, we are using outstanding to meanexceptionally good.
Time for a quick challenge. Say the best wordbefore Julia answers.
Situation 1. A hotel gives you perfect servicefrom beginning to end.
Excellent.
Situation 2. Your friend learns to play adifficult song after only three weeks.
Impressive.
Situation 3. One student receives the highestresult in the entire school.
Outstanding.
Final situation. Complete the sentence.
The audience was blank by her progress.
Impressed.
Think about something you saw or achieved thisweek.
Was it excellent, impressive, or outstanding?
Complete one sentence aloud.
Blank was blank because blank...
Quick recap.
Excellent means extremely good in quality.
Impressive means good in a way that createsadmiration.
Outstanding means exceptionally good oftencompared with others.
Before you go, open this episode atyourenglishtoolbox.com
and turn these three words into active English.
Follow the interactive transcript or enter cinemamode
and watch each sentence appear with the audio.
Compare every line with Spanish, German, French,or Farsi
and use the vocabulary section to review meanings,
grammar, collocations, and natural examples.
Use Practice Arena for immediate feedback and apersonal speaking challenge.
You can also download the transcript andvocabulary PDFs in your language
and study away from the screen.
The site also includes our episode library,
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And our free 25-lesson course teaches 100 idioms
through dialogues and interactive practice.
Everything is organized to help you listen,understand, practice, and remember.
Visit yourenglishtoolbox.com
or use the direct link to this episode in thedescription.
06:05
All these learning resources are free.
Three stronger words, three clearer meanings,
and a complete lesson waiting for you online.
Martin, how was my vocabulary today?
Excellent.
Only excellent?
Your improvement was impressive.
And compared with everyone else?
Julia, let us not get carried away.
I was hoping for outstanding.
Perhaps next Thursday.