Study, work or travel in the UK. British
culture and life.
Study English vocabulary
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Study, work or travel in the UK. British
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Study English vocabulary
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Sections:
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Vocabulary |
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Related pages:
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Bookshops | |
| Dictionaries | ||
| Grammar | ||
| Spelling | ||
| Pronunciation | ||
| Mistakes |
Carry a small notebook (paper or electronic) at all times, and write down new
words when you come across them. Test yourself on new words you learn; try to
use these new words, and look for them in things you read.
Vocabulary textbooks can be a useful way of studying words in a structured way,
with words being groups by subject.
Some possible methods of increasing your vocabulary are suggested below.
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English
Vocabulary in Use: Elementary Author: Michael McCarthy, Felicity O'Dell Publisher: Cambridge University Press Date: April 1999 |
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Target
Vocabulary 1 (Elementary) Author: Peter Watcyn-Jones Publisher: Penguin Date: April 1994 |
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English
Vocabulary in Use: Pre-intermediate and Intermediate Author: Stuart Redman Publisher: Cambridge University Press Date: February 1997 |
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Target
Vocabulary 2 (Intermediate) Author: Peter Watcyn-Jones Publisher: Penguin Date: September 1994 |
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English
Vocabulary in Use: Upper-intermediate Author: Michael McCarthy, Felicity O'Dell Publisher: Cambridge University Press Date: November 2001 |
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Target
Vocabulary 3 (Upper-intermediate) Author: Peter Watcyn-Jones Publisher: Penguin Date: January 1995 |
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English
Vocabulary in Use: Advanced Author: Michael McCarthy, Felicity O'Dell Publisher: Cambridge University Press Date: June 2002 |
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Business
Vocabulary in Use |
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Words Author: John Seely Publisher: Oxford University Press Date: July 2002 |
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Key
Words in Business Editor: Bill Mascull Publisher: Collins Educational Date: April 1996 |
| Longman
Photo Dictionary of British English Publisher: Longman Date: September 2001 |
Collins
Talking English Dictionary (CD software) Publisher: Intense Educational |
The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100 million word collection of
samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed
to represent a wide cross-section of current British English, both spoken and
written.
You can see some example sentences showing how a word or phrase is used by searching
the British National Corpus; see http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/lookup.html
Word frequencies
One way for advanced English students to increase their vocabulary is to learn
words according to the order of frequency of usage. The dictionary "Collins
Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced Learners" contains information
on the frequency of usage of the words it lists, helping the user to concentrate
on the most common words first. For details, see: Dictionary.
A list of the most common words in British English is contained in the file
lemma.num available free from the site: http://www.itri.bton.ac.uk/~Adam.Kilgarriff.
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Word
Frequencies in Written and Spoken English Author: Geoffrey Leech, Paul Rayson, Andrew Wilson Publisher: Longman Date: July 2001 |
When you learn a new word, why not see if there are other words with similar
or opposite meanings (synonyms or antonyms) and study these at the same time?
One way of doing this would be to use Roget's Thesaurus, which is available
online at: http://www.thesaurus.com/roget.
Solving crossword puzzles (the ones with simple or "straight" clues
are easier) can be a good way to increasing vocabulary. You can use a thesaurus
or a crossword dictionary to help you. Crosswords appear every day in most British
newspapers, or books of crossword puzzles can be bought.
Some electronic dictionaries provide links to similar or opposite words, helping
you to expand your vocabulary
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Roget's
Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Editor: Betty Kirkpatrick Publisher: Penguin Books Date: October 2000 |
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Bradford's
Crossword Solver's Dictionary Editor: Anne R. Bradford Publisher: Peter Collin Publishing Date: October 2000 |
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The
Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology Editor: T. F. Hoad Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks Date: June 1993 |
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Cassell's
Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins Editor: Nigel Rees Publisher: Cassell Date: March 2002 |
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English
Words from Latin and Greek Elements |
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English
Vocabulary Quick Reference Author: Roger S Crutchfield Publisher: Independent Publishers Group Date: January 1999 |
Some word differences: British English (American English):
A: Aerial (antenna); Aeroplane (airplane); Aluminium (aluminum); Anti-clockwise
(counter-clockwise); Aubergine (eggplant); Autumn (fall)
B: Biro (ballpoint); Block of flats (apartment building); Biscuit (cookie);
Bonnet (hood); Boot (trunk); Braces (suspenders)
C: Cannabis (marijuana); Car (automobile); Caretaker (janitor); Chemist
(drug store); Cinema (movies); Condom (rubber); Corn (maize/sweet corn); Cot
(crib); Courgette (zucchini); Crisps (potato chips); Crossroads (intersection);
Cupboard (closet)
D: Dinner jacket (tuxedo); Draughts (checkers); Dustbin (trashcan)
E: Essay (term paper); Estate agent (realtor)
F: Film (movie); First floor (second floor); Flat (apartment); Flyover
(overpass)
G: Garden (yard); Grill (broil); Ground floor (first floor)
H: Handbag (purse); Hoarding (billboard); Holiday (vacation); Homework
(assignment)
J: Jam (jelly); Jelly (Jello); Jug (pitcher)
K: Knickers (panties)
L: Lawyer, solicitor (attorney); Lift (elevator); Lorry (truck)
M: Maths (math)
N: Nappy (diaper); Notice board (bulletin board)
P: Pants (underpants); Paraffin (kerosene); Pavement (sidewalk); Petrol
(gas); Plaster (Band-Aid); Post (mail); Postcode (zip code); Power point (outlet);
Pram (baby carriage); Pub (bar); Pudding (dessert); Purse (changepurse)
Q: Queue (line)
R: Railway (railroad); Reverse charges (call collect); Ring (call) -
telephone; Roundabout (traffic circle); Rubber (eraser); Rubbish bin (garbage
can/trash can)
S: Sacked (fired); Scone (biscuit); Serviette (paper napkin); Sofa (couch);
Solicitor/barrister (attorney); Spanner (wrench); Subway (underpass); Sweets
(candy)
T: Tap (spigot/faucet); Taxi (cab); Tea towel (dish towel); Tick (check);
Tights (pantyhose); Timetable (schedule); Tin (can); Torch (flashlight); Trainers
(sneakers); Tramp (hobo); Trousers (pants)
U: Underground (subway)
V: Vest (undershirt)
W: Waistcoat (vest); Windscreen (windshield)
Z: Zip (zipper)
The following are guides to British English words and phrases:
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British
English A to Zed Authors: Norman W. Schur, Eugene Ehrlich Publisher: Facts on File Inc Date: May 2001 |
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The
(Very) Best of British: the American's Guide to Speaking British Author: Mike Etherington Publisher: Effingpot Productions Date: September 2000 |
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Lonely
Planet: British Phrasebook |
English/English dictionary: Dictionary
Automatic (machine) translations: Translate
Tests of English: English/Exams
Wordplay: Ideas/Fun
Home page: Home
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