Vocabulary and Word Formation

A strong vocabulary is the foundation of every other skill in English. It lets you understand a reading passage, choose the exact word in writing, and answer the short word-study questions that usually open the Grade 11 paper. This chapter covers the practical word skills the exam tests directly: using a dictionary, finding a word's quarter, arranging words in alphabetical order, correcting spelling, distinguishing commonly confused words, and forming new words with prefixes and suffixes. These marks are among the most reliable on the paper because the answers are exact rather than a matter of opinion.

Using a Dictionary

A dictionary does far more than give meanings. Each entry begins with the headword, the word being defined, followed by its pronunciation in phonetic symbols, its part of speech (noun, verb, adjective and so on), and then one or more meanings, numbered when there are several. Entries use short abbreviations: n for noun, v for verb, adj for adjective, adv for adverb, C for countable, U for uncountable, pl for plural, sth for something, sb for somebody, OPP for opposite and syn for synonym. Because a single word can carry several meanings, when a sentence is given you must choose the meaning that fits that context. In "Every person should have a sense of humanity", for example, the meaning that applies is the quality of being kind to people and animals, not the meaning "the human race".

Quarters of the Dictionary

For the common task "in which quarter of the dictionary will you find this word", divide the alphabet into four roughly equal parts and judge by the word's first letter:

So cereal (c) is in the first quarter, intelligence (i) in the second, outlook (o) in the third, and sweetheart (s) in the fourth. Knowing the quarter tells you whether to open the dictionary near the front, the middle or the back, which speeds up looking a word up.