Vocabulary: Class 9 English

Key points

Vocabulary means the words you know and can use. A good vocabulary helps you understand passages, write clearly and answer questions with the exact word. You build it by reading regularly, noting new words with their meanings, and using them in your own sentences within a few days.

Synonyms are words with the same or nearly the same meaning: big and large, begin and start, rapid and quick. Few synonyms are perfectly equal. Strong, sturdy and powerful all describe strength but are used differently: a sturdy table, a powerful engine. Always choose the word that fits the sentence and its tone.

Antonyms are words with opposite meanings: ancient and modern, generous and selfish, expand and shrink. Some antonyms are made by adding a prefix: happy, unhappy; legal, illegal. Others are different words: hot and cold, success and failure.

A prefix is added to the front of a word and changes its meaning. Common prefixes:

• un, in, im, il, ir, dis, non: not or the opposite (unkind, incorrect, impossible, illegal, irregular, dislike, nonsense).
• re: again (rewrite, rebuild).
• pre: before (prepare, prehistoric). post: after (postpone, postwar).
• mis: wrongly (misunderstand, misspell).
• over and under: too much or too little (overcook, underestimate).
• sub: below (submarine). inter: between (international). trans: across (transport).

A suffix is added to the end of a word. It often changes the part of speech:

• Noun endings: ness, ment, tion, ity, hood, ship, er, or (kindness, enjoyment, creation, honesty, childhood, friendship, teacher, actor).
• Adjective endings: ful, less, able, ible, ous, ive, al (helpful, careless, readable, possible, dangerous, active, national).
• Adverb ending: ly (slowly, bravely).
• Verb endings: en, ify, ise or ize (widen, simplify, modernise).

Spelling changes when adding endings. For a word ending in silent e, drop the e before a vowel suffix: hope, hoping; but keep it before ment or ful: hopeful, advertisement. For a word ending in consonant plus y, change y to i: happy, happiness; carry, carried. For a short word with one vowel and one final consonant, double the consonant: run, running; stop, stopped.

Homophones sound alike but differ in spelling and meaning. Examples: their (belonging to them), there (in that place) and they're (they are); to, too and two; right and write; weather and whether; piece and peace; principal (head of school) and principle (a rule); stationary (not moving) and stationery (paper and pens). Learning each pair with a sentence helps you keep the meanings apart.

Words that are often confused include affect (a verb, to influence) and effect (a noun, a result); accept (receive) and except (leave out); advice (a noun) and advise (a verb); lose (to misplace) and loose (not tight); then (time) and than (comparison); quiet (silent) and quite (fairly).

A word family is a group of words made from one root. From the root act we get action, active, actor, react and activity. Learning families lets you guess new words: if you know that able means can do, then unable, ability and capable become easier.

An idiom is a group of words whose meaning differs from the meaning of its separate words. 'Break the ice' means to start a friendly conversation. 'A piece of cake' means very easy. 'Once in a blue moon' means very rarely. 'Under the weather' means slightly ill. 'Spill the beans' means reveal a secret. Idioms must be used as they are, without changing the words.

A phrasal verb is a verb plus a small word, and the meaning is new: give up (stop trying), look after (care for), put off (delay), turn down (refuse), carry on (continue), break down (stop working). The same verb can have many meanings with different particles: look up to someone means to respect them, while look up a word means to find it in a dictionary.

Context clues help you work out an unknown word. Look at the words around it. A definition may follow: 'The nomads, people who move from place to place, live in tents.' An example may help: 'He studies reptiles such as lizards and snakes.' A contrast may help: 'Unlike his frugal brother, he spends freely.' Use the clue, guess, then check that your guess fits the whole sentence.

Study tip: Keep a small notebook with each new word, its meaning and one sentence of your own. Revise ten words a day. In synonym and antonym questions, read the whole sentence first and test your answer inside it. For confused words and homophones, memorise one short example sentence for each member of the pair.

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 a word because it sounds grand without checking its meaning, which leads to wrong choices among near-synonyms.
• Mixing homophones such as their and there, or to and too, in written work.
• Changing the words of an idiom, for example 'a piece of the cake'.
• Adding a prefix or suffix without the spelling change, such as writing 'happyness' instead of 'happiness'.
• Learning a word only as a list item and never using it in a sentence, so it is forgotten in the examination.

Practise this chapter

Practice questions and timed test Printable worksheet