FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH

Vocabulary Building Skills

What is vocabulary?

A vocabulary is a set of familiar words that a person knows. Usually developed with age, vocabulary is a useful and
essential tool that helps children (and adults!) to communicate and expand their knowledge.

Tiers of Vocabulary

There are three 'tiers' that vocabulary can be placed into.

1. Basic Vocabulary

Basic and simple words are the first things that build up a child's vocabulary. These are tricky words, early reading
words, adjectives, verbs or nouns. They typically only have a single meaning.

2. High-Frequency Vocabulary

This tier is also sometimes called multiple meaning vocabulary tier, as the words within it can have more than one
meaning. These words are also important for reading comprehension, used for direct instructions and may be
descriptive.

3. Low-Frequency Vocabulary

These are words that are only used for a particular topic, so they may be called topic vocabulary. A child's low-
frequency vocabulary might encompass topics like the weather or geography

Types of Vocabulary

We may have different vocabularies to draw on depending on whether we're speaking, listening, reading or
writing.

1. Speaking

Speaking vocabulary consists of the words we can speak aloud. Containing around 5000 to 10,000 words, these
words are used for communicating and giving instructions.

2. Listening

Our listening vocabulary is the words we can understand through hearing them said aloud. Similar to the speaking
vocabulary, we use these words to listen to what others are communicating to us and what they might be
instructing us to do.

Did you know? A fetus may start recognizing some words when in the womb. Your listening vocabulary starts
before you are even born!
3. Reading

Our reading vocabulary is how many words we can understand when reading. Reading is also the main way to
build and grow vocabulary - as you read, you encounter new words you may not have seen or heard before.

4. Writing

Our writing vocabulary is determined by the words we can spell and use correctly in context. People's writing
vocabulary is typically smaller than their speaking or listening vocabulary, which is why it's essential to work on it
and keep learning new words.

Guessing the meaning of new words using the context of the situation also means using a dictionary less. When
you are reading something, if you stop and use a dictionary every time you come across a new word, not only do
you use more time, but you may forget what you learned from the reading and you won’t remember the new
vocabulary as well. In addition, many words in English have several different meanings depending on the context.
As much as possible, try to guess the meaning of the vocabulary using context clues. You could make a note of the
new word and look up the meaning in a dictionary after you read, just to confirm your guess against the dictionary
definition, but wait until you have finished reading a page or two before you use a dictionary. Also, of course you
should use a dictionary if what you are reading becomes confusing and it is difficult to understand. One of the most
important strategies to help build your vocabulary, increase your reading speed and how much you understand is
by learning vocabulary in context. “In context” means using the situation that you understand in the sentences you
have read so far to guess the meaning of new vocabulary without depending on a dictionary constantly.

Guessing the meaning of new words using the context of the situation also means using a dictionary less. When
you are reading something, if you stop and use a dictionary every time you come across a new word, not only do
you use more time, but you may forget what you learned from the reading and you won’t remember the new
vocabulary as well. In addition, many words in English have several different meanings depending on the context.
As much as possible, try to guess the meaning of the vocabulary using context clues. You could make a note of the
new word and look up the meaning in a dictionary after you read, just to confirm your guess against the dictionary
definition, but wait until you have finished reading a page or two before you use a dictionary. Also, of course you
should use a dictionary if what you are reading becomes confusing and it is difficult to understand.

There are many different strategies you can use to help you build your vocabulary without becoming dependent
on a dictionary

 He broke a twig off the tree and started writing in the dirt with it.
 During the meeting, the secretary documented all important discussion topics and later emailed the notes
to all workers in the office.
 There is empirical evidence that shows that human activity is contributing to global warming.
 Lovely purple hydrangeas were in bloom in the gardens.
 Yesterday for dinner, I had a delicious enchilada.
 Apollo played on his lyre and the Muses sang.
 The father said to his son, “I do not condone this behavior. You must be punished. Give me your
smartphone now!”
 Universal healthcare would naturally increase American’s taxes, but also alleviate many problems in the
current American healthcare system.
Synonym

A word or phrase that means that same, or nearly the same as another word or phrase.

 big - large
heavy - weighty
thin - slim

Antonym

A word or phrase that means the opposite or nearly the opposite of another word or phrase.

 tall - short
thick - thin
difficult - easy

Example Synonym and Antonym Charts

Adjectives: Beginning Level

Nouns: Beginning to Intermediate Levels

Word Synonym Antonym Example Sentences

big large small He has a big house in California.
She has a small apartment in Manhattan.
difficult hard easy The test was very difficult.
I think riding a bike is easy.
new recent used I bought a recent book.
She drives a used car.
clean tidy dirty He keeps his house tidy.
The car is dirty and needs to be washed.
safe secure dangerous The money is secure in the bank.
Walking through downtown at midnight is dangerous.
friendly outgoing unfriendly Tom is outgoing with everyone.
There are many unfriendly people in this town.
good great bad That's a great idea!
He's a bad tennis player.
cheap inexpensive expensive Homes are inexpensive at the moment.
That car is very expensive.
 interesting fascinating boring That's a fascinating story.
That TV show is boring.
quiet still noisy It's nice and still in this room.
The children are very noisy today.

Word Synonym Antonym Example Sentences

student pupil teacher The pupils are in their seats.

The teacher began the class.

owner director employee The director hired three new people.

The employees are very happy with their jobs.

earth ground water The ground here is very rich.

You need water to live.

day daylight night It's daylight out. Get up!

I usually go to bed early at night.

answer response question What is your response?

She asked him a number of questions.

beginning start end The start is at 8 am.

The end of the book is very good.

man male woman Tim is a male.

Jane is a woman.
dog puppy cat I'd like to get a puppy.

The cat meowed so I let her in the house.

food cuisine drink Let's eat some French cuisine tonight.

She had a drink after work.

boy lad girl The lad is waiting for you in the other room.

There are four girls in the class.

Adverbs: Intermediate

Word Synonym Antonym Example Sentences

fast quickly slowly He drives very quickly.
I slowly walked through the park.
 carefully cautiously carelessly Tim walked cautiously through the room checking everything.
Those who drive carelessly will probably have an accident.
always all the time never She eats lunch at her desk all the time.
She never goes to the dentist.
seriously thoughtfully thoughtlessly He thoughtfully answered the question.
She speaks about her private life thoughtlessly.
colorfull plainly brightly She painted the picture plainly.
y He brightly spoke about his adventures.

Here are some other ideas for learning synonyms and antonyms:

 Use vocabulary trees to help you organize synonyms and antonyms into categories such as things and
places in the home, business-related vocabulary for work, etc.
 Build word form charts based on the synonyms and antonyms you are learning.
 Make synonym and antonym flash cards to quickly check your knowledge.

English idioms, proverbs, and expressions are an important part of everyday English. They come up all the time in
both written and spoken English. Because idioms don't always make sense literally, you'll need to familiarize
yourself with the meaning and usage of each idiom. That may seem like a lot of work, but learning idioms is fun,
especially when you compare English idioms to the idioms in your own language.

Learning to use common idioms and expressions will make your English sound more native, so it's a good idea to
master some of these expressions. The tables below are organized by how common the idioms are in American
English. You can start by learning the very common English idioms, since these are the ones you'll encounter
regularly watching American movies or TV, or visiting the United States. When you've mastered those, move on to
rest. None of the idioms on this page are unusual or old fashioned, so you can be confident using any of them with
native English speakers from all English-speaking countries.

Most native speakers nowadays choose to speak in idioms, so their conversations will be less formal and more
flexible. As a result, EFL students must acquire multi-word expressions, particularly idioms, in order to recognize or
grasp what native speakers have said. Unfortunately, EFL students have a difficult time learning idioms because
they learn vocabulary by memorizing words one at a time. The goal of this study is to discuss a solution to the
difficulty of EFL students acquiring idioms. A method shall be stated as simply as possible so that the readers,
particularly foreign language students, may understand it.

A phrase or a fixed statement with a figurative or occasionally literal meaning is known as an idiom. It is difficult for
EFL students to learn about idioms because idioms have quite different meanings when translated word for word.
Most foreign language students, in fact, prefer to literally translate English as the source language into their own
language as the target language. It can sometimes undermine the meaning of an idiom because the meanings are
not the same. Misunderstandings in communication are a result of this particular difficulty.

Consider the following scenario:

Idiom (figurative meaning) Meaning Idiom

(literally meaning)
1. A piece of cake. Very easy.

2. All of a sudden. Suddenly.

3. Break a leg! Good luck!

4. After one’s own heart. As what heart wants.

5. A man of the world. Keep the promise.

6. Easier said than done. It’s easy to say, but hard to do.

7. On leave. Out of duty.

8. Man proposes, God disposes. Man plans,