6 Minute Vocabulary

Learn how to cope if you are studying at an English-speaking university.

We learn phrases from Shakespeare that are still used today.

Some irregular verbs can be grouped into patterns to help remember the different forms.

What does the word Hoover have in common with the word Google?

We discuss a group of adjectives that are made from the names of famous people.

How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.

Have we got your attention? Listen and learn how to use suffixes -tian, -sion and -tion.

Learn about words that have the same or similar meanings

Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.

Weird or wierd? English spelling is fascinating – but it's not always straightforward!

Listen to Angela talk about her lucky shark escape and learn some linking words.

Are you unsure whether it’s disc or disk, sympathise or sympathize, learnt or learned?

Listen to Peter and Catherine talking about acronyms like NASA and FIFA in this podcast.

Finn and Catherine discuss antonyms in 6 minute Vocabulary.

Listen to Neil and Catherine talk about words with the suffixes -ness and -ity.

fortunately, obviously, seriously, ideally.

ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.

Learn how to use these very useful pronouns with 'some' and 'any'.

Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.

Learn about verbs that we use when we talk about what someone else has said.

Embarrassed - or pregnant? Words you think you know but mean something else in English.

Cough, thought, enough, although: Learn how to pronounce words with 'ough'.

Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.

Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!

Do you suffer from dyspepsia? Could a detox diet help? Learn about prefixes.

What's the date today? And do you know how to say it?

Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha… are these really English words? Who uses them and why?

What is more important in life: knowledge, money or happiness?

Learn how to use time expression with the preposition in, on and at

Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.

Catherine and Finn talk about spelling words with double letters in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Learn how to pronounce verbs and nouns with Neil and Catherine.

Catherine and Doug discuss British and American English

Can you think out of the box or take the helicopter view at work? Learn business jargon.

'c' or 's'? Learn how to spell words that begin with a /s/ sound.

When talking about moving in, moving out and moving on, what do we mean? We explain.

Do you recycle your rubbish? Do you buy prepacked food? Are you proactive?

How do you pronounce the words night and knight?

Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.

Do you ever 'meet up with' your friend in the park? We talk about multi-word verbs.

We explain how some adjectives end in either -ic or -ical, depending on their meaning.

Listen to our fantastic, wonderful programme about strong adjectives.

How words change depending on whether a man or a woman is doing the job.

Rob and Catherine are here to help you update your language!

British people love to talk about weather! Learn some useful vocabulary about it here.

Learn about words that sound the same but have different meanings

Ice cream, popcorn... Learn about nouns made up of a combination of two words.

We explain the order you put adjectives in when describing a dog!

Finn and Feifei help you learn this important part of speaking and writing, in English.

What's the connection between a teacher, a driver or a presenter?

Do you know how to pronounce the words photographer and photograph? We can help you.

Learn how to use compound adjectives (e.g. low-fat yoghurt, high-quality carbohydrates).

Finn and Catherine give you some tips on how to remember new words.

Interested or interesting? Which adjective do you use? We discuss -ing and -ed adjectives

Do you want some cheap and cheerful tips to improve your English? Listen to learn more.

Do you like to eat a full English breakfast? Listen to find out how to use this phrase.

Learn some prefixes which we hope won't make you feel unhappy.

Fashionable? Fashionably? We teach you adjectives and adverbs.

Finn and Alice look at a very important part of word building – suffixes.

Do you have to write academic texts and essays? We give you some tips on how to do it.

Learn some idioms from 'the Bard' which are in common use today.

Write, wrote, written. Speak, spoke, spoken - learn more about irregular verbs.

To google, to hoover... Learn about words that have come from commercial products.

We discuss a group of adjectives that are made from the names of famous people.

How many stars are there in the universe? Learn how to say big numbers in English.

Have we got your attention? Listen and learn how to use suffixes -tian, -sion and -tion.

Learn about synonyms - words that have the same or similar meaning.

Do you know your ouch! from your ugh!? These words are called interjections.

Weird or weird? English spelling is fascinating – but it's not always straightforward!

Listen to Angela talk about her lucky shark escape and learn some linking words.

Disk or disc? Confused about which one to use? Finn and Catherine talk about spelling.

Listen to Peter and Catherine talking about acronyms like NASA and FIFA in this podcast.

A good way of building vocabulary in English is to learn words with opposite meanings.

‘Happiness’ and 'responsibility'. Learn words with the suffixes -ness and -ity.

Fortunately, obviously, seriously, ideally. These words are useful. How do we use them?

ExciteMENT, performANCE, differENCE - how suffixes turn verbs and adjectives into nouns.

Learn about words like someone, nothing and anywhere in 6 minutes.

Choose, chose, chosen... We talk about verbs that don't follow the -ed pattern.

Boring or bored? Learn about words that look similar but have very different meaning.

Is this a smoke-free or a smokeless workplace? Learn the difference!

Do you suffer from DYSpepsia? Could a DEtox diet help? Neil and Finn talk about prefixes.

What's the date today? Do you know how to say it? Listen to the programme to find out.

Gonna, wanna, dunno, whatcha... We give you an introduction to short spoken forms.

Can you count knowledge, money or happiness? How to deal with uncountable nouns.

We look at time expressions with 'in', 'at' and 'on'.

Find out why we write some phrases with hyphens but not others.

We talk about spelling words with double letters, such as 'accommodation'.

Learn how to pronounce verbs and nouns with Neil and Catherine.

Hear about differences and similarities in vocabulary from both sides of the Atlantic.

Do you 'think out of the box' or 'push the envelope' at work? Learn business jargon.

Catherine cycled through the city centre! How do you pronounce all those words with 'c'?

Learn phrasal verbs in sentences to help understand their meanings.

Learn about words with the prefixes 're-', 'pre-' and 'pro-' in 6 Minute Vocabulary.

Silent letters are letters that we see in words, but don’t actually pronounce.

Learn about words that sound like the thing they describe.

Learn how to use multi-word verbs to make your English sound much more natural.

'Classic' or 'classical'? Learn about adjectives ending in -ic and -ical.

What word do you use when you want to say something is very good or very bad?

Learn how to use 'I've' and 'isn't' - your English will sound more natural.