Monday, January 28, 2019

Vocabulary In Use series - Great resource to improve your english vocabulary

There is an excellent series of books published by the Cambridge University Press about improving your vocabulary.


I have read through the basic vocabulary in use and I am currently working through the intermediate vocabulary in use.

I got to know the importance of  learning and using colocations, phrasal verbs, fixed expressions and idioms in speaking to make our words flow easily.

Colocations are words that go together like

make + mistakes
under + table
on + the bus
have + breakfast etc
go + up the stairs
do + the dishes

Phrasal verbs is a phrase that combines two or three words from different grammatical categories like a verb + a particle or a verb + a preposition to form a a single semantic unit.

e.g. turn down
       get along
      give up etc.

Though I know of the words already, it gave me a refresher of all the words I could use instead of good
good = nice, beautiful, great, terrific, wonderful, excellent, fantastic fine, gorgeous super, friendly, happy, thoughtful, well behaved, smart and kind.

bad = worse, awful, terrible, nasty, mean, unkind, horrible, difficult, stupid (very strong word), selfish, childish.

A fixed expression is a standard form of expression that has taken on a more specific meaning than the expression itself.
as a matter of fact
inspite of
for starters
to make matters worse etc

Idioms is a group of words with a meaning different from the individual words and often difficult to understand from the individual words. Many phrasal words are idiomatic.
get a move on - hurry up
take turns -
offhand - without looking up
small talk
make it - come
keep an eye on - watch

It has been a very helpful resource and if I'm looking for ways to practice my new vocabulary.

Each book has number of lessons. The lessons are always one page in length on the left side of the page and the right side has exercises to practice. Different units take different words or different situations for using vocabulary and make teach us.

I highly recommend going through those books if you are interested in speaking english fluently and increase your vocabulary.

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