Vocabulary practice · Episode 74

Review the useful expressions from the episode

Study the episode’s central expressions with English definitions, nuance and examples, plus reviewed support-language versions where available.

B1–B2Everyday EnglishAbout 13 min + dynamic ads5 PDF versions available
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  1. Choose one expression. Read its definition, nuance and examples.
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Vocabulary from the episode

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Expression 1

to prompt

to give a cue or instruction that causes someone or something to act or respond; in AI, to write an input that produces a desired output

Nuance: Prompt has both its traditional meaning (a cue for an actor who has forgotten their line) and its new AI meaning. Understanding both helps with cultural English — the AI sense is now mainstream in educated English conversation.

A good prompt gives AI enough context to give you a useful, specific answer.

She started prompting herself in English — writing a question each morning and answering it out loud.

Expression 2

to iterate

to repeat a process, making small improvements each time, until you reach the desired result

Nuance: Iterate comes from software development — you release a version, learn from feedback, and improve it. Applied to English: write a sentence, notice what's wrong, revise it, try again. This is how good writers and speakers improve.

Don't try to write the perfect email first time — iterate: draft, revise, improve.

She iterated on her English introduction until it felt completely natural and authentically hers.

Expression 3

a prompt

an instruction or question given to an AI system to guide its response

Nuance: Prompt is now a technical term that has crossed into everyday language. In AI contexts, a prompt is what you give the AI to get a result. The quality of the prompt determines the quality of the output — this is called prompt engineering. For language learners, learning to write clear, specific prompts is itself a language practice: it rewards precision, structure, and clarity.

A well-crafted prompt saves you multiple rounds of revision — be specific about what you want.

She rewrote her prompt three times before the AI finally produced the summary she was looking for.

Expression 4

to refine

to improve something gradually by making small, careful adjustments — removing what does not work and enhancing what does

Nuance: Refine is the improvement verb. In AI prompting, refining means taking a working output and making it better: more precise, better structured, better suited to the purpose. In language learning, refining means moving beyond 'correct' to 'natural' — adjusting vocabulary, register, and rhythm until the language feels effortless.

Refine your prompt after each attempt — small adjustments often make a large difference to the output.

She refined her writing over multiple drafts until each sentence said exactly what she intended.

Expression 5

the output

the result produced by a process, system, or tool — what comes out after something has been put in and processed

Nuance: Output is the process result noun. In AI contexts, the output is what the AI produces in response to your prompt. In language learning, the output is what you produce when you speak or write in English. Both uses share a common idea: the quality of the output depends on the quality of the input and the process used to create it.

Evaluate the output critically — even impressive-looking results can contain subtle errors.

She was happy with the overall output but asked the AI to adjust the tone and shorten the final paragraph.

Expression 6

to generate

to produce or create something — especially automatically or through a process

Nuance: Generate is the AI production verb. In AI contexts, generating refers to what the AI does: it generates text, images, code, or other content in response to a prompt. In professional English more broadly, generate is used for any kind of production: 'generate ideas', 'generate revenue', 'generate interest'. It conveys that the output comes from a process.

Generate a first draft quickly, then refine it — speed at the draft stage beats perfectionism.

She used the AI to generate a list of possible titles and then selected and refined the best three.

Expression 7

to give feedback on

to provide a response or evaluation of something — pointing out what works, what does not, and what could be improved

Nuance: Give feedback on is the evaluation phrase. In AI workflows, giving feedback to the AI means telling it what was right or wrong about the previous output — so it can adjust. In language learning, giving and receiving feedback is one of the fastest routes to improvement. Clear, specific, constructive feedback is far more valuable than general praise or vague criticism.

Give feedback on the specific part that did not work — vague feedback produces vague improvements.

She gave feedback on each AI draft by identifying the exact sentence that missed the mark and explaining why.

Expression 8

to tailor something to

to adapt or customise something specifically to suit a particular purpose, audience, or requirement

Nuance: Tailor something to is the customisation phrase. A tailor makes clothes fit a specific person — and by extension, tailoring content, prompts, or communication means making them fit a specific context. In AI prompting, tailoring means specifying exactly who the content is for, what level it should be, what tone it should take. In language learning, tailoring means adjusting register for different audiences.

Tailor your prompt to the specific audience you are writing for — generic prompts produce generic output.

She tailored the explanation to a complete beginner and found the AI's response immediately more useful.

Expression 9

step by step

describing a process where each stage follows the previous one in a clear, ordered sequence — one action at a time

Nuance: Step by step is the process clarity phrase. It is used both to describe how something should be done ('explain it step by step') and how something was done ('I worked through it step by step'). In AI prompting, asking for a step-by-step explanation consistently produces clearer, more useful output. In language learning, step-by-step instructions are easier to follow and remember.

Ask for a step-by-step explanation when a concept feels complicated — it forces clarity.

She broke the process down step by step until the most complex part became manageable.

Expression 10

to adjust

to make a small change to something in order to improve it or make it more suitable

Nuance: Adjust is the fine-tuning verb. It implies a smaller change than 'change' or 'fix' — a calibration rather than a replacement. In AI workflows, adjusting means telling the AI exactly what needs to change: the tone, the length, the level of formality, a specific word. In language learning, adjusting register, vocabulary, or pronunciation all involve small deliberate changes rather than complete rewrites.

Adjust one thing at a time when refining AI output — changing everything at once makes it hard to know what worked.

She adjusted the formality of the email from casual to professional and immediately got a more positive response.

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