STOP studying lists of the most common words

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• 00:00

  Hi, and welcome to the Espresso English podcast, where you can improve your English in just a few minutes a day.

• 00:07

  My name is Shayna, and I'm the teacher at Espresso English.

• 00:11

  Make sure to visit the website, EspressoEnglish.net,

• 00:14

  where you can get online courses and e-books that will help you learn English even faster.

• 00:20

  Let's get started with today's lesson.

• 00:26

  Have you ever searched for lists of the most common words in English?

• 00:30

  It seems like it would be a good idea, but it's not.

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  Let me explain.

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  Now, I agree that it's good to focus on the words that are most commonly used in everyday life.

• 00:39

  A word like instead is much more useful than a word like incontrovertibly.

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  But here's the problem.

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  Many of the most common words are used in multiple ways, and a single word can have several different meanings.

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  For example, the word get is one of the most common verbs in English.

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  However, get can mean become, like get angry, get married, or get lost.

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  Get can mean arrive, like get home, get to work, get to the store.

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  Get can also mean receive, get a present, get an email, get an award.

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  Or buy or obtain, like get a job, get a computer, get something for a good price.

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  And the word hand is one of the most common nouns.

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  That's simple, right?

• 01:26

  Your hand is part of your body.

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