Confusing English Words: COST, PRICE, WORTH, VALUE 🤔

0:00 Hello.

0:00 I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson

0:05 on a set of words people have asked me to explain the difference.

0:12 So, we have "cost" and "price" on the left here,

0:18 and we have the words "worth" and "value" on the right.

0:23 Sometimes they can be used in a similar way to do with money in particular,

0:31 but also "worth" and "value" can often be a little bit more abstract in meaning.

0:39 So, I think it's helpful to understand the kind of context where you can

0:47 use each one and the different vocabulary that would go with it in a sentence.

0:53 So, let's have a look.

0:56 So, the cost of something is what you pay for it in money, pounds, dollars,

1:03 or euros, or whatever your currency is, what you pay in money, the price of it.

1:11 Okay?

1:11 So, you can talk about the cost of a new suit.

1:15 You could say, "Oh, a new suit these days,

1:18 it costs so much money." So, the cost in money, what you pay.

1:23 Okay?

1:24 And then if you're in a shop and looking at the clothes and at the prices,

1:31 you often have a price tag on, you know,

1:34 a piece of card hanging from the garment with the price on it.

1:42 So, the cost of a new suit.

1:45 So, if you're with a friend in a shop

1:49 and you're looking at the suits, you might say,

1:53 "Oh, what's the cost of this one?" And your friend might say,

1:59 "Oh, here's the price tag.

2:01 It says on the price tag, this suit costs 200 pounds." And then you decide,

2:08 is that a bit too much or can you afford it?

2:12 If it's for an interview for a job and you need a new suit,

2:17 you might think it's worth the investment.

2:21 So, okay, it's all about buying things,

2:26 usually materialistic objects in shops, what you pay.

2:32 Okay?

2:33 So, then if we look at the other two words,

2:38 "worth" and "value", often, as I said, they can be more abstract.

2:44 So, you can talk about people and friends and friendship, for example.

2:51 "My best friend is worth the world to me." In fact, you can't put a price...

2:57 You could say you can't put a price on friendship,

3:01 so that's using the word from over here,

3:04 but you can't put a price on friendship.

3:08 It's more abstract.

3:10 It goes beyond money.

3:12 Okay?

3:12 "My best friend is worth the world to me."

3:17 And you might talk about the value of friendship,

3:20 where you can't really calculate the value in money terms.

3:25 Okay?

3:26 So, there is a kind of difference between the two.

3:31 Although sometimes what is something worth can be

3:37 to do with money, an amount of money.

3:41 We'll see in a minute some examples of that.

3:45 So, if you imagine that I bought a vase in an antique shop.

3:50 I just like the look of it.

3:52 I thought, "Oh, that's a nice vase, and it's only £5.

3:56 I think I'll buy that." So, I bought a vase in an antique shop.

4:02 It cost me...

4:03 So, the cost in money, it cost me £5.

4:08 But I later discovered that it was worth...

4:13 So, that comes from here, which is often more abstract,

4:18 but it was worth at least £50.

4:21 So, this shows that sometimes you can use the word "worth" for money,

4:28 depending on how you're using it.

4:31 It cost me £5, but it was actually worth in...

4:36 You know, on the antique market,

4:39 what people are prepared to pay for something is what it's worth.

4:45 So, it was worth at least £50,

4:48 and the shop who was selling it didn't realise its true value.

4:54 So, again, we've got "worth" and "value", but it's relating this time to money

5:02 in the sense of maybe a rather special vase, which is an antique.

5:09 And that's, you know,

5:11 maybe you're using the words "worth" and "value" because it's to do with...

5:16 It's something special, and so it has a value on the antique market.

5:22 Okay?

5:23 What people are prepared to pay.

5:28 So, that can be used.

5:30 "Worth" and "value" can be used with money in this particular way.

5:35 Okay?

5:36 And then here as well, if you're looking at cars,

5:42 and you're with your friend, and your friend is looking at a car with £10,000,

5:50 usually on the windscreen, the price of the car,

5:54 but I might say to my friend, "Oh, don't pay £10,000 for that car.

5:59 They've overpriced it." So, the price they've put on it,

6:05 they're asking more money than it's actually, you know, well, "worth".

6:11 Again, we've got this word "worth".

6:14 So, it's the sense of how much money you should pay.

6:20 They've overpriced it.

6:22 They've made the price too high.

6:25 They're trying to make a lot of money out

6:27 of a car that's not really worth that amount.

6:31 They've overpriced it.

6:33 It's only worth about £7,000.

6:36 Okay?

6:36 So, it is a little bit confusing because you can use these words with money,

6:45 but they have this additional abstract use as well.

6:49 Okay.

6:52 And then just a couple of sayings to end with.

6:56 People say that something cost them an arm and a leg.

7:01 That car, if you do pay £10,000 for a car or 20,000,

7:07 that car cost me in money an arm and a leg.

7:14 So, that's the saying in English.

7:16 I know that sort of idiom, that saying in other languages.

7:21 I think in French it may just be an arm, it's not an arm and a leg.

7:28 Correct me if I'm wrong,

7:30 but I think different languages have different idioms for the same idea.

7:35 If you pay a huge amount of money for something that you can't really afford,

7:42 it cost me an arm and a leg, but not literally, of course.

7:48 Okay.

7:49 And then another saying using "worth".

7:53 A picture is worth a thousand words.

7:58 If you have a picture of something,

8:00 it saves you having to write a thousand words to describe the same thing.

8:09 If you're seeing maybe a picture of a family

8:14 sitting round a table having a nice meal, that's a nice picture.

8:20 People, a family together enjoying themselves,

8:23 rather than writing a thousand words about

8:26 the family getting together and having a meal,

8:29 you get more from the picture than you would get from a thousand words.

8:34 So, a picture is worth a thousand words.

8:38 Okay.

8:39 So, I hope that helps to explain the difference between the two,

8:47 but also the fact that you can still use "worth"

8:50 and "value" for money as well as in this more abstract way,

8:55 but "cost" and "price" are usually to do with money,

9:01 but also you can use "cost" to mean in a more abstract way,

9:08 you know, that mistake has cost me a lot of trouble, something like that.

9:15 You can use that "cost" in an abstract way, and you can say, "Oh,

9:22 the price is too high to do that", meaning

9:26 the price in a sort of metaphorical way,

9:30 it's too costly in a metaphorical sense rather than money.

9:36 So, it's a little bit of a grey area, but that's more to do with money,

9:44 and that's more to do with a sort of deeper meaning.

9:49 Okay.

9:51 So...

9:52 Okay, so I hope that's helped to explain those sets of words,

9:58 and if you'd like to do a quiz on this topic,

10:03 just go to the website, www.engvid.com, and see how you do.

10:08 And thank you for watching.

10:10 I hope to see you again soon.

10:12 Bye for now.