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Have you ever read something in English and thought, "Oh, that's beautifully put" – but you'd never phrase it that way yourself? |
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Or heard someone use a phrase in conversation that you completely understood... but couldn't imagine pulling out of your own brain? |
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You've been absorbing C2 language for ages. You just haven't activated it all yet. |
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One of my students told me recently:
"I understand words when I hear them or see them written. But I wouldn't be able to produce the same sentence myself."
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Does that sound like you? |
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You've got this massive wealth of passive knowledge sitting in your brain, but so many of these brilliant phrases are unreachable when you need to produce them. |
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You read "inherently flawed" and think, yes, I know what that means.
But when you're writing? Your brain offers up "has problems."
You hear someone say, "They're always at odds with each other," in a discussion.
But when it's your turn, out comes "They always disagree."
It's not wrong. It's just not as precise as you'd like to be. It’s not the sophisticated version of yourself you want to express.
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C2 language you've probably seen before |
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Here are some expressions I bet you recognise: |
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“The energy breakthrough I was working on just came to fruition.” [Watchmen, 2009] |
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- to come to fruition - when a plan or project finally succeeds or produces results after a lot of work
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“Well, in all likelihood, she's completely guilty as well.” [Legally Blonde, 2001] |
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- in all likelihood - very probably; almost certainly (more sophisticated than "probably")
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“It's not so much what you look like, it's what's inside that he can't stand.” [How to Train Your Dragon, 2010] |
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- It's not so much X as it is Y - correcting or clarifying a point by saying the real issue is Y, not X
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Do these feel familiar? You've probably encountered all three without even realising it.
That's because they're extremely common in everyday conversation.
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From understanding to using |
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The leap to C2 isn't just learning entirely new things. It's making what you recognise become what you use.
Shifting from:
- "I understand that." → "I say that naturally."
- "That sounds sophisticated." → "That sounds like me."
And once you start noticing these patterns, you’ll see that they are quite literally everywhere.
C2 is so much more than sounding academic. It's having the range to say exactly what you mean, exactly how you want to say it.
It's you – fully expressed, not simplified.
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