IELTS Energy 1454: Is Your IELTS Vocabulary Old-Timey?
11:56 Share

This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1454. Is your IELTS vocabulary old-timey?

Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams. Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com

forward slash my score. In today's episode, you'll learn four impressive vocabulary phrases to describe old things, something that comes up surprisingly often in IELTS speaking and writing. Plus, you'll hear us use this vocabulary in sample speaking answers. So you'll be ready to use it yourself on test day. If fashion is your thing, eBay is it.

eBay is where I find all my favorites, from handbags to iconic streetwear, all authenticated. For real. This time, a little Supreme, some Gucci. I even have that vintage Prada on my watch list. That's why eBay is my go-to for all my go-tos. Yeah, eBay. The place for new, pre-loved, vintage, and rare fashion. eBay. Things people love. Hello, Aubrey. How are you today? I'm great. How are you? I'm great.

I'm good. Would you say that you are an old fashioned person in any respects? Sometimes, yeah. We're going to talk about this in one of the sample answers, but I think when it comes to hobbies, I'm a little old fashioned. I'm not really checking out like the newest. My daughters use like an iPad with a pencil to draw and design. And I'm like, I'm good with like paper and pencils. Yeah.

I love it. I think it's fun being old fashioned in some ways. All right, guys. So that is one word that we will use today. We're going to give you some great vocabulary that has to do with the word outdated. So how did we decide on this episode today? Yeah, we got a great question from a listener, Mohammed, who just said, what is the meaning of outdated? And we realized this is such a great question.

Vocab, like such a great idea for so many speaking answers to share that either something you do is outdated or maybe that a friend does or policies that a government has might be outdated. This is so useful for IELTS speaking and writing.

Yes, totally. Yeah, today's vocabulary, guys, is very useful for speaking and writing. So we're going to teach you four phrases, including outdated, and we're going to give you example sentences of how you can use these phrases on the speaking exam. So let's get into it. Outdated. What does outdated mean?

yeah this means something that is no longer either in fashion or useful anymore like at one time it might have been trendy it might have been useful but no longer exactly exactly so if i were to ask you aubry a part three question like

In your culture, have ideas about gender roles changed recently? How could you use outdated? I could say, you know, the idea that one's role in life is tied to their gender is extremely outdated. Women can work and men can be stay-at-home parents now. In fact, I know three couples personally that have structured their partnership in this way. That's a really good example. Jessica actually wrote that example and it's fantastic. Well done.

Thank you so much. I have practiced a lot. And that's true because I wrote that and it's true. I know like three families where the dads actually are the stay at home parents. And I find that very interesting. My daughter, Gigi, just went to a sleepover and she came back and she was like, she has two moms, you know, her mom this and I was like, I love that so much. I'm glad that she didn't even George was like, this is normal. Why wouldn't she have two moms? I love it.

No big deal. It's fine. There's a lot of love to go around, guys. Exactly. Okay, so the next word is old fashioned. Do you think this is different than outdated? It's very similar, right? But often we'll use it less about, I mean, we do, we use it for clothing, we use it for language. It's very similar. I would say these are pretty synonymous. I think outdated, though, has a meaning where like, it's not good anymore.

Right. But old fashioned doesn't necessarily have that meaning. Right. Old fashioned just means, um, something is like it was in the past. Could be good. Could be bad. No judgment. That's true. I agree. Outdated has more of a negative connotation that like nobody wants to do that now. Whereas old fashioned is like, yeah, it used to be more trendy, but it might still be useful. Yeah. So, um,

the phrase old-timey um to be the same as old-fashioned so it's a little bit slangy so reserve that for the speaking exam but old-timey is still very fun all right aubrey so if

If I were to ask you, do you prefer shopping online or in person? How would you use that vocab? I could say I prefer to shop in person. I know this is a bit old fashioned with everyone making purchases online. It's definitely more convenient to pull up your phone and have packages delivered without ever leaving your house. However, especially for clothing, I want to be able to try it on before buying. Nice. Excellent.

On this podcast, we are all about your IELTS score. What the examiner is looking for in speaking and writing. What tricks to watch out for in listening and reading. And what strategies you need for all four sections. We want you to get the score you need on IELTS and be done with this exam.

Before you pay all that money to take the exam, you have to be sure that you'll get the score you need. Find out now with our free IELTS band score quiz at allearsenglish.com slash myscore. It only takes five minutes and we'll give you extra free study materials for your exact score. Check it out now. AllEarsEnglish.com.

Okay, the next word guys is antiquated. This is a very formal word and I have seen students attempt to use this without knowing exactly what it means. I think some people, well, I've seen students use it when they think it's the same as like ancient, right? Like super, super old, ancient,

And it's not exactly ancient, right? It can be something super, super old, but it also just could be something kind of old. You know what I mean? So it's not exactly the same as ancient. Just think of the word antique, guys. You might know the word antique already. People go antique shopping, right? And they find like...

like cool old like bowls or gadgets or something, right? Now that those things aren't ancient, but they are very old. And it's interesting to think about, you could just say something looks antiquated where, you know, it's actually not old at all. Like it was made now, but it was sort of maybe has that patina glaze to make it look like it's an antique.

Totally, totally. And that is how it's used in these samples. So if the part two question was describe a small town you have been to. Aubrey, how can we use antiquated there? I might say, well, the downtown looked quite antiquated, but that's precisely why it was so charming. There were no chain stores or restaurants. Everything looked like a mom and

pop shop that you could have seen 50 years ago. I love those kind of towns. We drive through a bunch of them, driving from Arizona to Idaho. They're all these cute little old downtowns. I love it.

I feel like every suburb and town now has like one, like a main street that looks antiquated now. They like, just everybody's doing that now. Totally. It's very hip. It's very trendy. It is not old fashioned to have an antiquated downtown. I know, I know. All right. What is the last phrase today? All right. The last one is behind the times.

And this is often, we might say this about like a grandparent or me compared to my teenagers. Like you're not updated on the newest trendy, you know, fashion or language or whatever it is. You could say someone is behind the times. Totally. Totally. I'm pretty sure our kids think we are behind the times in a lot of ways. So Jessica, if you were asked in a part one question, what is a hobby you enjoy? How might you answer?

I actually started coloring with my son. And at first I felt like, what are you doing, Jessica? This is really behind the times. But it was so relaxing and kind of addictive. And now I wish I had more time to just sit and color.

I love it. I love when we read the examples we've written for ourselves. I know. I totally wrote that for myself, so I had to quickly change it to Jessica. There was like an adult coloring book, and we started coloring, and I was kind of feeling like, this is why am I coloring? But it was actually really relaxing. That is such like a trendy hobby now to coloring, guys. I don't know if this is happening in your cultures, but for the past –

I would say like five years here in the States, bars will have coloring nights and stuff. This is a full-on adult hobby. And there's a lot of adult coloring books marketed that way, where it's not like the children's coloring book. They're really intricate drawings where it's detailed, precise coloring. And it is. It's like if you have anxiety, I recommend it. It's just a way to not think about anything and just relax. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. It's a meditative process, I would say. Absolutely. All right, guys. If you have any IELTS questions for us, write [email protected] and we can give you a shout out in a future episode. Awesome. Yes. We will see you guys next week. Thanks, Jessica. That's good. Thanks, Aubrey. Bye.

Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy. Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash myscore. Hair thinning can happen for so many reasons. Whether it's strenous or hormones or anything, at Nutrafol, we've learned that real change starts below the surface.

Our hair growth supplements take a whole body approach and target the key root causes of hair thinning. So you can see visibly thicker, stronger hair in three to six months. Hair growth starts from the inside at Nutrafol.com. That's N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L dot com.