Today let's learn a new word, discourse!

[Transcript:

Hi and welcome to Let’s Word Up! Each day we post a word of the day to help you improve your English language skills.

Today’s word of the day is discourse.

Nouns are words that we use to name things. It can be a person, a place, a thing, an
idea or concept. Therefore, discourse is a noun.

Discourse has three meanings. Firstly it is communication or debate that is written or spoken. Secondly it is a formal discussion of a topic in speech or writing. Lastly, in linguistics, it is a connected series of utterances, usually a body of text or conversation.

An example of discourse used as a noun in a sentence would be:

The discourse was taking a heated turn, it seemed like a fight could break out any second.

We decided to open a discourse on the new rules to see how everyone feels about them.

Or, Any unit of connected speech or writing that is longer than one sentence and has clear meaning or purpose is referred to as discourse.

Discourse can also be used as a verb with two meanings. Firstly it is to speak or write authoritatively about a topic. Secondly it is to engage in conversation.

An example of discourse used as a verb in a sentence would be:

She was confident in providing discourse on marine life since she has studied it for fifteen years.

Or, Let's discourse on this and we can see what we can come up with.

Synonyms: discussion, conversation, lecture, pontificate, confer.

Antonyms: quiet, silence, peace, agree listen.

Thank you for listening, we hope that you found it helpful and interesting. Until next time.]

Ver todos los episodios