yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Advantage | Vocabulary | Khan Academy


2m read
·Nov 10, 2024

I have The High Ground, word Smiths, because we're talking about the word advantage in this video.

Advantage, a noun, it means a better position, something that helps. If we're running a foot race and I get a three-minute head start over you, that's a definite advantage. I got to start before you did. Indeed, that's what the derivation of this word gives us: avantage can literally be translated from French as "beess." So, avant means before in French, both before in time and before in space. It can mean both earlier and in front of.

A in English pronounced "AG", right? This AG is a noun-forming suffix that also comes from French. It works like this: you pack stuff into a package, you store things in storage. Leaky things are prone to leakage. You get the picture.

So, thinking about avant or advant right with the D in there and H G as a noun-forming suffix, what similar words can you think of? I'll give you ten seconds. Here we go!

[Music break]

Here are three that I came up with: disadvantage, right? The opposite of advantage. This is when something is making things harder for you, like your opponent in a foot race getting a three-minute head start, for example.

Advance is a verb that means to go forward or to go onward or up. Advantage, this noun, is usually part of the phrase "vantage point."

Means a good spot to view things from. The top of a hill is a great vantage point from which to watch a fireworks display, for example.

All right, let's use advantage in a few sentences. Elias P. Beanpole, the tallest boy in sixth grade, had a distinct advantage on the basketball court; he was like 20 feet tall. He could dunk from half court; that was his advantage. That's his superior position, right? But he did keep bonking his head on the ceiling, which I would say is a distinct disadvantage to being that tall.

Listen, just because my mom runs a candy shop doesn't mean you could take advantage of our friendship. To take advantage of an opportunity is to get some benefit from it, but not always in a fair way.

To take advantage of a friendship is to say something like, "Hey, your mom has that candy shop. How do you feel about hooking up your friend David with some free candy?"

Hm, you do that enough times, and you're probably going to exhaust your friend and your friendship.

Taking advantage doesn't have to have a negative connotation or feeling, though. You could take advantage of a windy day and fly a kite, or take advantage of a rainy day and play a board game. That kind of thing.

I hope you take advantage of these videos, dear wordsmiths, and realize that you can learn anything. Dve it out.

More Articles

View All
250,000 DOMINOES! - The American Domino Record - Smarter Every Day 178
DESTIN>> That’s right! You stand on the right. Hey, it’s me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. I’m teaching my kids that you’re supposed to stand on the right. Stand on the right. He’s standing… she’s there… you go. All right, we’re in Detr…
Why Does the Moon Orbit Earth?
Now tell me what does the moon do? Uh, the moon orbits the Earth. I know it. Let’s do an orbit. Can we do an orbit? Okay, so go like this. I’m guessing, I’m guessing around, around. If you will, you spinning it? Are you going to… doesn’t it stay? Isn’t it…
ETHEREUM IS ABOUT TO TAKE OVER
What’s up, Graham? It’s guys here. So, I think it’s no surprise that overall 2021 has been a breakthrough year in so many ways. Like, we now have a brain implant that translates thought to text with 94% accuracy, a new lithium metal battery technology tha…
Warren Buffett: The Upcoming Stock Market Collapse (Warren Buffett Indicator)
So as we all know, 2022 was a rough year for investors in the stock market. The S&P 500 was down 18%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down seven percent, and the NASDAQ was down a whopping 33%. After these big declines in the stock market, one wo…
Kathryn Minshew at Female Founders Conference 2014
So next you’re gonna meet Kathryn Minshew. Fun fact, when she was a kid, Kathryn wanted to be Zorro. Now, Kathryn is founder and CEO of The Muse, a career platform and job discovery tool. Kathryn was part of the YC Winter 2012 batch. Please welcome Kathry…
Ride Along With a Team of Lion Protectors | Expedition Raw
Right now, we’re looking for a group of lions that we heard were in the area. When we locate them, we want to pass this information on to the lion anti-snaring team so that they can come to the area, check it for snares, and prevent any lions from getting…