I learnt a new word today.
Yes, even I (an English teacher and lecturer) learn new words regularly. That’s because learning never stops.
But that’s a point for another day… Let’s get back to the word I learnt.
Recently, I’ve been replaying a video game that I finished a while ago. It’s called Bloodborne and it’s an action adventure game for the Playstation 4. It’s notorious for being difficult.
The story of the game is a weird one, and I’m still figuring it out. But basically, you’re a hunter who needs to hunt ‘beasts’ and discover why people are turning into beasts. The reason why people are turning into beasts seems to be related to some sort of blood infection or experiment.
One of the bosses, a really strong enemy, is a large spider known as ‘Rom, the Vacuous Spider’.
Rom is one of the mysteries in the whole game. It’s something that you never really understand.
But the interesting thing is Rom’s name: Rom, the Vacuous Spider. Vacuous is a word that I had never heard before. So I decided to look it up, and you know what… I think it’s quite an important word (for the game).
Vacuous means to be mindless or to have no thoughts. Interesting word, but is it useful in real life?
Probably not.
But that’s why you should always look at the context of the word.
This is something that not a lot of people do, but it’s very important for learning and using English because if you know where a word comes from, you know how to use it.
Context basically shows you exactly how to use a word.
If you know how to use context, then you’ll learn English faster and easier than ever before.
The good news is I show you exactly how to use context in my Find Your Path training. There’s a training video dedicated to showing you how to find and use real English inside the Silver package.
If you’re ready to learn and use the English you need through context… Come and join the Find Your Path Program:
https://englishforstudy.com/fyp/
Who said you’d never learn anything from video games, eh?!
