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Developing your Vocabulary
  • vocabBuy a good monolingual dictionary.
  • Read as much English as you can. Read anything that interests you, in any format available to you. If you find news or literature difficult, try reading 'graded readers', which are simplified books.  

  • Select carefully the words or phrases you look up in a dictionary. It's frustrating to look up every word that you don't understand. Only look up those words that you think are important, such as:

    • Words or phrases that occur often
    • Words or phrases that are essential for understanding a sentence. 

  • You can often get the general meaning of the sentence without having to use a dictionary, so save yourself some work!

  • From the words or phrases that you look up, decide which ones are important for you to understand and use. For example, words that you need for your job or study, or words that occur often.  

  • Use a dictionary to get the essential information about these words and phrases (grammar, stress, pronunciation and meaning), then make an effort to practice these words. Write down the new word in a sentence of your own, and try to use the word as often as possible, until you are sure that you remember it.  

  • When you look up a new word, make sure you know which words you can use with it. For example, you do a test, but you make an effort.  

  • When you find a new word, check to see if you can use it in other ways. English is a flexible language - nouns, verbs and adjectives can often be made from each other. For example, to apply for a job, a letter of application, the applicant for the job, and so on.  

  • Keep a vocabulary book with you. You can use it while you are reading, or watching television or a film. You can also refer to it when you have some spare time to help you revise new words and expressions.
 
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