HOW TO BUILD YOUR VOCABULARY?

How to build your vocabulary

How can I learn new words? It seems impossible – there are so many. I want a manageable system to help me build my vocabulary – nothing unrealistic or trendy, simply a few tips to help me learn easily.

Word attack skills
The easiest way to extend your vocabulary is to improve your word attack skills. In English, we often use prefixes (letters added to the beginning of a word) and suffixes (letters added to the end of a word) to change or add to the word’s meaning. In this way, we create a word family.
Word attack skills involve looking for the stem (or root) of the word – the part which never changes – then working out how the prefix or suffix has changed the meaning.

Prefixes
These often give a word a negative or opposite meaning. Look at the adjectives below.

Impossible illegal untidy incomplete imprecise illiterate Unreal irrational immovable irrelevant

Can you notice a pattern in how we use these prefixes?

Suffixes
Different suffixes can give words different meanings. Look at the passage below. Can you identify what the suffixes -able, -y and -ish mean? What type of word do we add each suffix to – noun, verb or adjective?
I love listening to BBC World Service.The programmes are usually shortish – between 15 and 30 minutes, and always understandable.The news is very reliable and the music programmes are good for trendy, youngish people. It’s always easy to find something to listen to because World Service broadcasts on so many frequencies.

Learning tip: When learning a new word, always try to identify any prefixes or suffixes.This will help you focus on the word stem. If you are using a dictionary to help you, always take a note of the prefixes and suffixes listed in the dictionary entry.They are often divided from the word stem by a hyphen (e.g. im-possible).

Learning tasks
1. Link the words below to the appropriate prefix: im-, il-, ir-, un-, in-, convenient legible replaceable known passable

Complete the following sentence with one of the words with its prefix from exercise 1.
a) My brother’s handwriting is terrible. It’s so_____________________that his teacher refused to mark his
English composition!
b) Many mountain roads are_____________________in winter because they are blocked by snow.
c) Anna was very upset when she lost her necklace because she will never find another one like it.
It is_____________________.
d) ‘Is this an_____________________time to call you?’ ‘Not at all. I’m not busy at the moment.’
e) This poem was written by an_____________________poet. I wish I knew who he was!
2. Add a suffix to the words in brackets below to complete the sentences. Choose -y, -ish or -able.
a) The weather in London is very (rain) in winter so the streets are often wet.
b) I love food which is hot and (spice).
c) I bought my radio six months ago, so it is (new).
d) It was sunny this morning, but then it went (cloud) and now it’s raining!

Guidelines and answers

Prefixes: The prefixes attached to many adjectives to give them an opposite meaning depend on the first letter of the adjective. So, in many cases:
adjectives beginning with m or p take the prefix im
adjectives beginning with the letter l take the prefix il
some adjectives beginning with the letter r take the prefix ir-

Un and in: These can be quite confusing. However, as a general rule, longer
adjectives (which come from Latin) take in- and shorter adjectives take un-.

Suffixes have very specific meanings:
-able is added to the end of verbs to make adjectives which show that
something can be done, e.g. a book can be very readable, or a song singable.
-ish is added to short adjectives to show that something has some of the
properties of the adjective, e.g. someone who is 19 years old can be described
as twentyish, or youngish.
-y is added to nouns to make adjectives: tea with milk is milky tea; if you can
do a task with ease it is easy.

Learning task answers
1. a) illegible b) impassable c) irreplaceable d) inconvenient e) unknown
2. a) rainy b) spicy c) newish d) cloudy

From: BBC LEARNING ENGLISH