Maria: Yay. So, dear listeners, encouragement. Encouragement means words…
Rory: …words we use to tell people they did a good job or they did something right.
Maria: Yeah. Like we praise people, we encourage people. When you praise someone, you say like, yeah, well done, you, good job. So we express our admiration and approval of their achievements. So I praise him for his honesty, for example. And that's why some questions could be about achievements. What have you achieved? Have you had any achievements? Or like “praise someone for something”, right, for doing something. I feel pretty elated when I'm praised. So elated means happy, extremely happy and excited. Actually, elated is a C2 word, yay, Band 9 word. So I feel elated by the praise. I'm ecstatic, you can also say. I feel ecstatic, I'm over the moon, I'm super happy and I feel pleased with myself. So it's nice to be recognised. So when people praise you, it means that they appreciate what you are doing, they recognise…
Rory: Tell you you did a good job.
Maria: Yeah, they kind of recognise your effort and achievements. The last time somebody praised me. So the last time when someone told you, like, you've done a good job or well done you. And then you can use like, oh, I think it must have been last week when I was at the gym. Like probably it was when I was at the gym. So it must have been…
Rory: …or it might have been.
Maria: …last week at the gym or it must have been the other day at the gym or at school, at university. So kind of, I think probably it was. And then what were you doing? I was doing sports, I was swimming, I was doing a test and then something was amazing. Your friend did a good job and then you praised them, you encouraged or encouraged them.
Rory: Or you gave them encouragement.
Maria: I gave my friend some encouragement, yeah. And then the situation when you've been praised. So I've been praised or I've recently been encouraged by my teacher. My teacher praised me. And also we can use some models with the present perfect. I might have been praised last week or at the gym, or at school, like maybe they praised me at school. So I might have been praised last week, actually.
Rory: But we're not sure. Yes, we should be… Well, we shouldn't worry too much about sounding uncertain, if you know, amazing. But it will not affect your score if you say that you're not sure, because this is how people communicate these ideas in real life. Plus I think past models like must have been are pretty advanced, right?
Maria: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Band 9. Totally. So kind of like, have you ever been praised by a teacher? Well, I think so. I might have been at school when my teacher said that or when my teacher complimented how I did this task. So to compliment someone is a nice synonym, to praise. And we use this word as a noun, a compliment. So we pay compliments to people and to compliment.
Rory: Compliment.
Maria: Compliment. Yes. Actually, it's a C2 word.
Rory: Oh, very nice.
Maria: Hmm. Yeah. So kind of pay compliments to people and as a verb, to compliment somebody on something. So he complimented me on…