eng7-V3· Vocabulary· ~13 min

Talent & Abilities

Words for talents, skills and performing.

This lesson teaches words about talents and abilities. You will learn the names of different talents like painting and singing, adjectives that describe skilful people, and words about performing on stage. These words help you talk about what you and others can do.

Key terms

talented — having a natural ability to do something very well
skilful — good at doing something that needs practice and ability
creative — good at thinking of new and interesting ideas
audience — the group of people who watch a performance or show
rehearse — to practise something before you perform it in front of people
competition — an event where people try to be better than others to win a prize
Word Groups for Talent & Abilities
CategoryWords
Talents (things you can do)painting, singing, dancing, acting, playing an instrument
Ability adjectives (words that describe people)talented, skilful, creative, brilliant, amazing, hard-working
Performance words (words about shows and events)audience, stage, competition, prize, performance, rehearse, win

Three groups of words to learn in this topic.

✎Using the Words in Sentences
  1. 1Talents: My sister loves painting and dancing. She is very creative.
  2. 2Adjectives: He is a talented musician. His guitar playing is brilliant.
  3. 3Performance: The audience clapped after her amazing performance on stage.
  4. 4Competition: She worked hard every day to win the singing competition.
🚫Common mistake

Do not say 'She has many talent.' The correct form is 'She has many talents.' 'Talent' is singular; 'talents' is plural.

⚠️Caution

'Rehearse' is a verb. You rehearse for a show. Do not say 'make a rehearse' — that is wrong in English.

💡Note

'Skilful' and 'talented' have similar meanings. 'Talented' often means a natural gift you are born with. 'Skilful' often comes from lots of practice.

Rules

  1. 1Talents are things you can learn and do, such as painting, singing, dancing, acting and playing an instrument.
  2. 2Ability adjectives like talented, skilful and creative describe how good someone is at something.
  3. 3Performance words like audience, stage and rehearse are about shows, concerts and competitions.
  4. 4The word 'skilful' (British English) has one 'l'. American English spells it 'skillful' with two 'l's.
  5. 5Do not confuse 'talented' (adjective) with 'talent' (noun). You say 'She is talented,' NOT 'She is talent.'
  6. 6The verb 'rehearse' means to practise before a real performance. You rehearse a play, a song or a dance.

Practice

10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard

10 random questions per test

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