Comprehensive English Language Study Notes

Unit 0: Life Milestones and Legal Actions

• Actions: Soft drink, own a pet, have a tattoo, apply for a passport, withdraw money, open a savings account, join the army, go to war, make a will, hold a licence, commit a criminal offence, general election, local election, give blood, vote in an election.
• Phrasal Verbs: Toy with, take on, pick on, leave out.

Unit 1: Risk, Caution, and Adjectives

• Concepts: Play safe, appeal to, go wrong, think twice, make sure, have a go, dare, apprehensive, willing, weigh up the pros and cons, predictable, take risks, cautious, thrill seeker, on the spur of the moment, hesitant (indecisive), fearless, timid, foolhardy (imprudent).
• Vocabulary: Climbing/scaling, adrenaline junkies, trend, dull, euphoria/exhilaration, common/mainstream.
• Phrasal Verbs: Spring up, break out, get through, pass down.
• Synonyms: Breathtaking/spectacular, exhausted, exhilarating/thrilling, fascinating, filthy, gigantic/huge, hair-raising/terrifying, petrified/scared to death, starving.
• Expressions: A close shave, cut it fine, just in case, safe and sound, the coast was clear.
• Adverbs: Absolutely, completely, extremely, quite, really, slightly, terribly, totally, utterly.
• Intensifiers: Fast asleep, wide awake, brand new, soaking wet, wide open, pitch black, rock hard.

Unit 2: Sports, Diet, and Fitness

• Sports Terms: Athlete, ban, beat, championship, compete, disqualify, doping offence, get through, foul, opponent, qualify, round, runner-up, sponsorship deal.
• Phrasal Verbs: Throw out (expel), pull out, call off (cancel), turn up (arrive), turn out (result).
• Diet and Exercise: Balanced diet, body mass index, crash diet, junk food, nutrient, overdo it, push yourself, sedentary lifestyle, set a goal, skip, stay in shape, strenuous, cut out, get round to, put on weight, stick to, work out.
• Collocations with 'Take': Advantage of, advice, drugs, for granted, it easy, part in, something seriously.
• Collocations with 'Put': At risk, out of your mind, pressure on, your arm round, hand up, mind to something, yourself in my position.

Unit 3: Education and Academic Life

• Study Terms: Assignment, bother, cram, disruptive, get stuck, hand in, mess around, pass with flying colours, play truant, revise, scrape through, skip, strong points, deadlines.
• Phrasal Verbs: Put on, drop out, get on, liven up.
• School Vocabulary: A-level, apply for, boarding school, bully, campus, deadline, degree, expel, fees, graduate, lecture, professor, pupil, retake, secondary, seminar, subject, undergraduate.

Common Collocations and Prepositions

• Prepositional Phrases: Decrease in, hope of, in charge of, influence on, lack of, lesson on, letter about, on the basis of, put the blame on, suggestion for.
• 'Be' Phrases: Be in tears, be in trouble, be in two minds, be on edge, be out of breath, be out of order, be out of the championship, do something on purpose, be on one's way.