EnglishMasterclass

Here is an introduction from one of our talented, professional teachers. You can contact Clare or any of our other teachers from this link. https://www.english-masterclass.co.uk/academy

One of the fun things about learning English is learning the many different ways we can express similar ideas. There are many synonyms for most common words, but you will find that there are often slight differences between them. Today I want to look at words with a similar meaning to “smart.”
You probably understand this word and you know that a “smart” person did well at school, can think through complex math problems, and can read and write well. Here is a list of many words similar to the word “smart.”

book smart – someone who does well in school but might be gullible (easily tricked or fooled)

example: She is book smart, but she got scammed out of a lot of money.

street smart – You are street smart if you have common sense and are difficult to trick or fool.

example: He didn’t do well in school, but he is very street smart, and he was able to open a business shortly after high school.

clever – someone who is smart and can learn things quickly

example: She’s very clever. She taught herself how to play the guitar.

intelligent – often used in more academic situations

example: I always enjoy Professor Smith’s lectures. She is so intelligent.

bright – usually used to describe young people

example: She’s a bright young girl. She’s at the top of her class in school.

brilliant – exceptionally clever – Just like “huge” is bigger than “large”, someone who is brilliant is smarter than someone who is just clever.

example: Elon Musk is brilliant. He has so many big ideas.

wise – This is usually used to refer to older people who have knowledge, experience, and good judgment.

example: My father can’t use a smartphone, but he is very wise.

shrewd – Someone who is shrewd has sharp powers of judgment. This is often used to talk about businesspeople.

example: He is a shrewd businessman. He recognized the power of the internet and he was an early investor in Google.

astute – This word is used to talk about the ability to accurately judge people and situations. This is also often used to talk about business sense.

example: He made an astute decision when he changed his marketing strategy from print ads to online ads.

You probably know that we use the simple past tense to talk about an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past.

Another common use of the simple past is to describe a habit that stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as "used to." To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, and when I was younger.

Look at the following examples to see how this works.

I "took" piano lessons when I was a child.
We always "went" skiing in the wintertime.
He never "cleaned" his room.
"Did" you play basketball when you "were" a kid?

Here is an old-fashioned proverb that people still use today. The funny thing is that in everyday conversations, you will often hear people say, "When opportunity knocks," and then they skip the second part of the proverb. The idea is that everyone knows the second part, so you don't need to complete the entire saying. Look at the following examples to see how this works.

A: They offered me the job. Do you think I should take it?
B: When opportunity knocks...

A: Do you think I should take the plunge and open my own business?
B: When opportunity knocks...

A: Did Rachel decide to invest in Bitcoin?
B: When opportunity knocks...