Vocabulary and idioms: Class 11 English

Key points

Vocabulary means the words you know and can use correctly. A strong vocabulary helps you read faster, write more clearly and score better in comprehension and composition. Learn a word with its meaning, its part of speech and one sentence of your own.

A word can have three parts. The root carries the main meaning, the prefix is added before it, and the suffix is added after it. Knowing these parts lets you work out many new words. For example, the word unhappiness has the prefix un, the root happy and the suffix ness.

Common prefixes and their meanings:

• un, in, im, il, ir, dis, non mean not or opposite (unfair, incomplete, impossible, illegal, irregular, disagree, nonsense).
• re means again or back (rewrite, return).
• pre means before (prepare, prehistoric).
• mis means wrongly (misuse, misunderstand).
• over means too much and under means too little (overeat, underpaid).
• sub means below (submarine) and inter means between (international).

Common suffixes and the words they make:

• ness, ment, tion, ity, ship make nouns (kindness, agreement, education, honesty, friendship).
• ful, less, able, ous, ive make adjectives (careful, careless, readable, dangerous, active).
• ly makes adverbs (slowly, bravely).
• ize or ise and en make verbs (modernize, widen).
• er, or, ist name a person who does something (teacher, actor, artist).

Synonyms are words with nearly the same meaning, such as big and large, or begin and start. Antonyms are words with opposite meanings, such as ancient and modern, or generous and selfish. No two synonyms fit every sentence equally well. Choose the one that matches the tone: 'cheap' can sound negative, while 'economical' sounds careful and sensible.

Homophones sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning: their and there, write and right, piece and peace, principal and principle. Homographs are spelled the same but differ in meaning, such as bat (an animal) and bat (used in cricket). Always check the sentence before you choose the spelling.

Pairs of words that students often confuse:

• affect (verb, to influence) and effect (noun, a result): Heavy rain affects crops. The effect was a poor harvest.
• accept (to receive) and except (leaving out): She accepted the gift. Everyone came except Bilal.
• advice (noun) and advise (verb): He gave me good advice. I advise you to study.
• lose (to misplace) and loose (not tight).
• stationary (not moving) and stationery (paper, pens).

An idiom is a fixed group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the separate words. You cannot guess it by translating word for word. Examples: to break the ice means to start a friendly talk, to hit the nail on the head means to say exactly the right thing, a piece of cake means something very easy, and to burn the midnight oil means to study or work late at night.

More idioms to learn with meanings:

• spill the beans: to tell a secret by mistake.
• once in a blue moon: very rarely.
• under the weather: slightly ill.
• cost an arm and a leg: be very expensive.
• call it a day: stop working for now.
• a blessing in disguise: something that seems bad but turns out good.

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word (a particle) that together give a new meaning. Give up means stop trying, look after means take care of, put off means delay, run out of means have none left, and turn down means refuse. Some phrasal verbs can be split (She put the meeting off) and some cannot (She looked after her brother).

Collocations are words that naturally go together. We make a mistake, do homework, take a decision, pay attention and heavy rain, not do a mistake or strong rain. Learning words in pairs like these makes your English sound natural.

To guess an unknown word, look at the words around it. Check for a definition, an example, a contrast word such as but or however, and the prefix and suffix. Then replace the unknown word with your guess and see if the sentence still makes sense.

Study tip: In the exam, write idioms and phrasal verbs in a short sentence that clearly shows the meaning, since a bare meaning may lose marks. Keep a small notebook with ten new words each week, with a prefix or suffix note and your own sentence. In multiple choice questions on synonyms, put the word into the sentence and read it aloud before you decide.

Definitions and flashcards

Say the meaning first, then open the card to check.

Short questions with model answers

These are the kind of questions asked for 2, 3 and 5 marks. Try each one before opening the answer.

Common mistakes

• Using an idiom word for word, such as saying 'it is raining cats and dogs' when asked to explain it in plain words. State the meaning, not the picture.
• Mixing up homophones such as their and there, or accept and except, because the sound is the same.
• Choosing a synonym that does not fit the sentence, for example 'The teacher was cheap' when 'economical' or 'careful with money' is meant.
• Adding the wrong prefix, such as writing unpossible or inregular instead of impossible and irregular.
• Learning a word without a sentence, which makes it hard to use it correctly in an essay.

Practise this chapter

Practice questions and timed test Printable worksheet