1) A person's vocabulary consists of words they are familiar with in a language and develops with age, serving as a fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. 2) There are many strategies for improving and expanding one's vocabulary, including extensive reading, repetition, learning words in context, using vocabulary trees, word walls, root words, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms and antonyms, word formation charts, word lists, and word games. 3) Mastering vocabulary is important for effective communication, understanding, thinking, and being understood by others. Regular practice over time is needed to significantly improve one's vocabulary.

1. A person’s vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are
familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age and serves as a
usual and fundamental1
tool for communication and acquiring knowledge.
Acquiring an extensive2
vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning
a second language.
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basic
2
wide
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Do you
know?
Vocabulary is the
basic tool of writing.
Can you write without
vocabulary
?

2. Vocabulary Development
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 Vocabulary is of much more importance than grammar. It is the key to
communicate3
successfully with other people. Words are the currency of
communication. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of
communication-Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.
 To have mastery over vocabulary4
is of much importance because the
people judge you by the words you use. Secondly,
having a better vocabulary really improves
your ability to think.
 Vocabulary is the most important skill to learn any language.
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commune
4
lexis

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Do you know?
 We have full
command on
our active
vocabulary
us tha
here are two kinds of vocabulary:
1- Active vocabulary
2- Passive vocabulary
1. Active vocabulary:
he active vocabulary of a person consists of those
words that he can use
correctly in his own speech and
writing. He fully understands
the meaning of those words. It is
also called working or functional5
vocabulary.
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useful
T
T

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Do you know?
 Passivevocabulary
is always smaller
no larger than
Active vocabulary
2. Passive vocabulary:
he passive vocabulary of a person consists of those words
which he recognizes when he encounters them in print or in
the speech of others. He can make out the meanings of those
words e.g while reading an editorial in the newspaper, he finds a
number of unfamiliar words,
but he has not sufficient
mastery over those words. He
is able to judge their meanings
from the context but can’t use them
in his own speech and piece of writing. It is also called
recognition6
vocabulary. Passive Vocabulary is always larger
than Active Vocabulary.
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identification
T

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ords are of two kinds:
1. Content Words
2. Structural Words
1.Content Words:
ontent words are those that stand for
 Things , ideas and entities7
. They are called Nouns .
 Actions- they are called Verbs.
 Qualities- they are called adjectives and adverbs.
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individualities
W
C

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 All the pronouns: I, You, He, They, etc.
 All the prepositions: on, under, at, etc.
 All the auxiliary verbs: did, shall, etc.
 All the conjunctions: and, but, or, etc.
 All the relatives: whose, which, etc.
 Some structural adjectives: that, any, etc.
 Some structural adverbs: again, even, etc.
2- Structural Words:
tructural words are those which have little or no meaning in themselves, but they
bind together other words to make phrases, clauses and sentences.
The following is the list of structural words
S

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 Expansion through reading
 Expansion through repetition
 Expansion through words in context
 Expansion through vocabulary trees
 Expansion through word walls
 Expansion through root words
 Expansion through prefixes and suffixes
 Expansion through synonyms and antonyms
 Expansion through word formation charts
 Expansion through word list
 Expansion through visual dictionaries
 Expansion through word games
Strategies to improve vocabulary
There are many ways to improve your vocabulary. There are a number of
methods to help you improve and expand your vocabulary. You must cultivate a habit of
extensive and regular reading.

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1. Expansion through reading:
eading is one of the best ways of expanding8
vocabulary. While reading the
reader should be encouraged to highlight familiar vocabulary in one color and
the unfamiliar vocabulary with another color. Teacher May also adopt the methods of
“Pre teaching or Reading Vocabulary.” The teacher may write the unfamiliar words on the
board with their meanings before starting reading of the lesson.
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growing
R

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2. Expansion through repetition:
epeat, repeat and just repeat. Repetition has a powerful impact on learning.
The more times we are exposed to a word, the stronger our understanding
becomes. It takes a minimum9
fifteen encounters with a new word for a student to
understand and apply the word independently.
9
Smallest amount
R

10. 3. Expansion through words in context:
The very best way to learn and teach vocabulary is in context. When students see
new words or expression in context, there are two advantages:
Do not select individual words, teach words in context. Teaching vocabulary “in
context” is more effective.

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4. Expansion through vocabulary trees:
Vocabulary trees help to provide content. Once you have mapped out a few
vocabulary trees, you will discover yourself teaching in vocabulary groups. When you see a
cup your mind will quickly relate such words as knife, fork and dishes etc.
So it will help the students get started.

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5. Expansion through word walls:
word wall is systematically organized collection of key words from a unit of
study. Word walls receive a prominent place in a classroom environment10
.
They are usually front and center, large and easy to see. These word walls are great places
to put sight words and high frequency words throughout the year.
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surroundings
A

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6. Expansion through Root Words:
eacher should focus first on teaching roots. Students should be familiar with
the basic word and, then, they will observe how the help them understand
the word’s definition.
So, before teaching them the words:
 “Useful”
 “Helpless”
 “Careless” etc
Tech them about the words:
 “Use”
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 “Help”
 “Care” etc
They know the meaning of root words; they will be able to understand words having
prefixes and suffixes.
7. Expansion through prefixes & suffixes:
hen students will have learnt the root words, the next step is to add prefixes
and suffixes. This will help them in enriching their vocabulary. For example,
if a student knows the meanings of the words ‘ ir ’ and ‘in’ are negative
prefixes and he knows the meaning of the words ‘regular’ and ‘correct’ he can easy
understand meanings of the ‘irregular’ and ’incorrect’
Similarly, if a student knows that the suffix ‘ness’ indicates11
a noun and
he knows the meanings of the root word ‘kind’ he will find no difficulty in knowing the
meaning of “kindness
Prefixes showing quantity
Meaning Prefixes in English Words
half semiannual, hemisphere
one unicycle, monarchy, monorail
two binary, bimonthly, dilemma,
dichotomy
hundred century, centimeter, hectoliter
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Points to
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thousand millimeter, kilometer
Prefixes showing negation
without, no,
not
asexual, anonymous, illegal,
immoral, invalid, irreverent,
unskilled
not, absence
of,
opposing,
against
nonbreakable, antacid, antipathy,
contradict
opposite to,
complement
to
counterclockwise, counterweight
do the
opposite of,
remove,
reduce
dehorn, devitalize, devalue
do the
opposite of,
deprive of
disestablish, disarm
wrongly,
bad
misjudge, misdeed
Prefixes showing time
before antecedent, forecast, precede,
prologue
after postwar
again rewrite, redundant
Prefixes showing direction or position
above, over supervise, supererogatory

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across, over transport, translate
below,
under
infrasonic, infrastructure,
subterranean, hypodermic
in front of proceed, prefix
behind recede
out of erupt, explicit, ecstasy
into injection, immerse, encourage,
empower
around circumnavigate, perimeter
with coexist, colloquy, communicate,
consequence, correspond,
sympathy, synchronize
8. Expansion through synonyms & antonyms:
Another way of teaching vocabulary is through synonyms and antonyms of the world.
Synonyms and antonyms are fun and lively ways to teach your students new vocabulary
and improve their English language skills e.g.
Synonyms of
“intelligence”
: bright, smart, gifted, etc
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Antonyms of “intelligence: stupid, dim, slow, dull, etc
TESTS OF SYNONYMS

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9. Expansion through word formation charts:
Word formation is one of the keys to success for students of high classes. These word
formation charts provide the concept nouns, personal noun, adjective and verb form of the
key word e.g.
Word formation chart

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Key Word: Pollution
10. Expansion through Word List:
Provide students with any key word and make word lists of that word e.g

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11. Expansion through visual dictionaries or cues:
A picture is worth a thousand words. It is
also very helpful for learning precise vocabulary
e.g you can show them the pictures of ‘painter’,
‘policeman’, ‘judge’ etc. Relevant vocabulary will
come in their minds.

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12. Expansion through word games:
Word games also improve vocabulary making the exercises fun and
enjoyable. In these exercises you obtain meanings and are required to remember and
associate the right word with the right meaning. There are a number of games which
you can utilize to expand vocabulary e.g.
Games

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n short, vocabulary can make or break your life successful. These several
techniques will dramatically change how you will express yourself. But there is
no magic bullet; you can’t improve your vocabulary overnight. So, the more you
practice, the more you learn.
Here are some worksheets attached to improve vocabulary for the learners
Vocabulary Tests:
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