Vocabulary

Vocabulary Building

Definition

• Vocabulary refers to one word or collection of words in a language.
• With the help of vocabulary, one can read and write.
• Without knowing the meaning of the words, one cannot read or write a text.

There are various types of words in the English language. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Types of Words

1. Action Words
• Action words are the ones that explain the action done by the person. It tells us what a person is doing.

Examples:

1. Let’s play football.

In the above sentence, ‘play’ is the action word that explains the action in the sentence.

2. My mother loves to cook.

In the above sentence, ‘cook’ is the action word that explains the action in the sentence.



2. Naming Words

Words that show the name of a person, place, animal or thing are called naming words or nouns. Learning to group these words into names for people, places, or things will help you remember the words better.

Examples:

1. Place names: city, state, country, island, river, etc.
2. Names of people: parents, grandmother, postman, teacher, etc.
3. Animal names: bear, dog, cat, alligator, lion, bird, wolf, etc.
4. Names of things: tree, table, chair, iron, seat, etc.
3. Sound Words

Sound words refer to those words that describe the various sounds around us.

Let’s take a look at a list of vocabulary related to various sounds of animals.

Examples:

a.

Ways to Build Vocabulary

1. There are many words which has multiple meanings, take a look at the meaning of those words. Try to remember the meaning of the words as this will help you to learn more words.

Examples:

The word ‘right’ has two meanings. It means ‘direction’ and ‘correct’.


2. Try to learn more about the root word. Whenever, you come across a new word, try to learn more about that word. Look for its meaning, similar words, etc.

Examples:

1. Scared

Meaning of scared – Frightened

Similar word for scared – Afraid.

3. There are many words whose meaning changes when a prefix is added to them. This will help you to learn two words at one time.

Examples:

1. 

After joining the prefix ‘un’ to the main word ‘happy’, we get a new word ‘unhappy’.

Common Mistake

Don’t get confused with describing words and other types of words. Some words can sound confusing, like the words ‘farther’ and ‘further’.These words have different meanings and are used in different contexts. They might sound similar, but they have different meanings. This is a common mistake that people often make.

Examples:

1. Rima was five meters farther away from school than Neha.

Farther’ is used to refer to a measurable difference. In the above sentence, the word ‘farther’ has been used to refer to the difference in distance between Rima and Neha.

2. There is a chance for further improvement.

On the other hand, ‘further’ talks about more distance. In the above sentence, the word ‘further’ has been used to refer that there is a chance for more improvement.