Mastering English Vocabulary: Shopping, Opinions, and Media

Unit 4: Shopping and Consumerism Vocabulary

Key Terms: advertisement, bargain, brand, browse, designer label, eco-friendly, exploit, junk, make a purchase, material possession, online auction sites, purchase, sell off, splash out, treat someone to something, unethical, window-shopping.

Phrasal Verbs: catch on (become popular), do away with (get rid of), get across (communicate), stand out (be noticeable).

Money Matters: afford (permit luxury), borrow (pedir prestado), broke (arruinado), charge for (cobrar), have money to burn, be in debt, lend something (prestar), have money on, overcharge by, overdrawn (en números rojos), owe (deber), save up for, stingy (tacaño), waste money on, wealthy, be well off.

More Phrasal Verbs: club together, fork out (desembolsar), knock off (rebajar), sell out, shop around.

Unit 5: Expressing Opinions and Beliefs

Vocabulary: be economical with the truth, bluntly (sin rodeos), deny, fake, fall for something, gossip, hoax (broma pesada), make up, own up (reconocer), pigs must fly, pretend (fingir), tell tales (contar chismes), two-time, white lie.

Phrasal Verbs: back up, cover up (evitar), point out, tamper with (manipular).

Related Vocabulary: activist, atheist, agnostic, environmentalist, extremist, justifiable, left wing, right wing, terrorist, be convinced, believe in, condemn, condone, disapprove of, maintain, oppose, reckon (creer), support.

Expressions: black and white, play devil's advocate, point of view, see eye to eye, sit on the fence, wind up (molestar).

Collocations: keen on, skeptical about, obsessed with, fussy about (quisquilloso), grateful to, brilliant at, responsible for, concerned about, different from, suitable for (adecuado a), concentrate on, cope with (soportar), hear about, hear of, rely on, succeed in, think about, think of.

Unit 6: Media and Current Events

Vocabulary: biased (parcial), blog, broadband (banda ancha), broadcast (transmitir), broadsheet (periódico grande), censorship, download, dubbed (doblado), foreign correspondent, gossip, launch (lanzar), live coverage, podcast, publish, search engine (buscador), sensational, Sunday supplement, tabloid.

Phrasal Verbs: increase suddenly (crecer), follow, out of control, deal with, frown out, live off, tip off, release, fork out (retractarse), blame on, be keen to, be willing to, make a living (ganarse la vida), be in the public eye.

More Vocabulary: breakthrough (descubrimiento), casualty (víctimas), draw (empatar), economic downturn (recesión), forecast, go on strike, make redundancies (reducir plantilla), outbreak (brote), premiere (estreno), rave review (crítica excelente), union (sindicato), venue (lugar de actuación).

Additional Phrasal Verbs: blow up (hacer estallar), break out, crack down on (tomar medidas), die out (desaparecer), take over (absorber), go ahead (seguir adelante), fall through (fracasar), call off (cancelar), put up (subir el precio), step up (reforzar).

Common Collocations

Set: set a date, set a good example, set a record, set fire to, set free, set homework, set your alarm.

Go: go ahead, go back on your promise, go bald, go down well, go far, go for a run, go smoothly, go to great lengths.