Arduous is an adjective describing something that needs great effort or a lot of work. So learning English is very arduous.So some synonyms of arduous are 1) tough, 2) tricky, 3) complex, 4) difficult, 5) laborious, 6) exhausting, 7) back-breaking.
So the conditions for the race were arduous. There was snow, there was rain, there were high winds. These are tough and difficult conditions.
After an arduous climb up the mountain, we arrived at the village. It was strenuous; it was hard to do.
Manual workers very often have to arduous tasks. The construction industry can be very arduous unless you have machinery.
It was an arduous winter. It was long; it was very cold; it was very frosty.
So something that's arduous is something that requires a lot of energy, a lot of effort, or metaphorically, a lot of concentration, a lot of thinking. It's not something you can do in five minutes.
But normally, if things are arduous, when you're finished, you've got something worth having, like they say, 'No pain, no gain.'
This word, arduous, comes from Latin, xxx, meaning steep or difficult -- a steep slope, a steep hill that you have to go up. So if you have to walk up a steep slope, then it's certainly very arduous.
I hope my videos are enjoyable for you and they make the task of improving your English less arduous, less difficult, less laborious.
Now the question of formality, I think arduous is slightly formal, not very formal. I think you could just about use it in an informal conversation.
You might say, knackering, exhausting, or something like that. Arduous, for something, semi-formal or very formal, it's a good word, because you're avoiding, difficult, tiring; it's a very descriptive word.
I hope it hasn't been very arduous for you to listen to this video.
An assay *n, to assay *v | To assay is to analyse *UK (analyze *US) a substance, to discover what's in it.
This is particularly common either for mining samples, or for Biochemistry, Phamacology, Medicine.
So for example, if you are digging a mine, you'll assay the ore. Ore is the earth with metal in it to find out the purity of your sample to decide if it's worth refining or not.
In the UK, you have assay offices which mostly nowadays assay and stamp the purity of gold and silver produced in the jewelry, but you assay a mining sample.
In the pharmaceutical laboratory, you assay something, you assay a sample to find out the chemical ingredients within it.
This is the main meaning of the verb, to assay, to test and discover what's in it. You can also use 'to assay' metaphorically, to assess or evaluate something.
Now, an essay. You've all written an essay, a piece of writing on a specific subject. For the exam, you need to write two essays, one essay of 350 words:
You could also use essay, either as a noun or as a verb, to mean an attempt or a try, but notice this is very formal as well. So you wouldn't want to use it as: His last essay to win the title was in vain. You could use that for a very formal document but I wouldn't use it elsewhere.
To assay neutrality is a technical word *(expression), you assay a sample. You could use it informally or very formally. You assay or evaluate a situation; to me this sounds quite literaray; this sounds reasonably formal. I wouldn't use, 'He assayed the situation in an informal context.' I would say, 'He summed up the situation, or he weighed up the situation.'
So an assay, a chemical analysis, or an evaluation or an analysis of something. Then an essay, a piece of writing, or a very formal word meaning 'to attempt' *v or 'an attempt' *n Both of these words, 'assay' and 'essay' come from French. In French, there is a word, 'essayer', meaning 'to try', when they say, 'a try', 'an attempt'. And this itself comes from Vulgar Latin, exagiāre meaning 'to weigh out'.
So I can understand the written essay. So 'assay', *n 'a chemical analysis', or *v 'to evaluate'. Then 'an essay' is 'a piece of writing' as a noun, or formally, 'an attempt'. As a verb 'to try', 'to attempt', 'to make an effort'. Both words, assay and essay, are regular. If you enjoyed the video, give it a rating, subscribe to my channel, and I'll see you soon. Bye for now.
An assay *n, to assay *v | To assay is to analyse *UK (analyze *US) a substance, to discover what's in it.
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