VOA名师答疑2024--Improve Your Vocabulary: Part 1

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we talk about how you can improve your vocabulary.

Question

Many VOA Learning English fans write to us with this question: What is the best way to improve my vocabulary?

Answer

This is a good question, VOA fans.

Many learners think the best way to improve their vocabulary is to learn the definition of many words. But this is not necessarily the best way to improve. The best way is to fully¹ know a word.

To know a word, we must know its form, meaning, and usage. Today let's talk about the form of a word. In the coming weeks, we will talk about meaning and usage.

The form of a word can relate to how it sounds, is written and what its parts are. Knowing the sounds of a word includes recognizing it when it is spoken and being able to say it correctly. This includes the individual sounds and also how the sounds may change when people are saying the word quickly. For example,

It's nice to meet you.

When some people say this sentence at a natural speed, they might make a /ch/ sound at the end of the word "meet" and the beginning of the word "you" although the words' spellings do not suggest this.

This sound change does not affect the meaning of the words. But it might cause you trouble when you are trying to understand the sentence.

In English, stress is important to the sound of a word, and it can even decide whether a word is a noun or a verb.

For example, the word spelled r-e-c-o-r-d can be thought of as two words. When we stress the first part of the word, RE-cord, it is a noun. When we stress the second part of the word, re-CORD, it is a verb. What appears to be one word is really two parts of speech. This is part of knowing what form a word takes.

The form of a word also involves its parts. It is important to recognize the root word in addition to prefixes³ or suffixes⁵. These are added beginnings or endings, which change the meaning of the word's root.

For example, knowing that the word "addition" includes recognizing the verb "to add" plus the suffix⁴ -t-i-o-n, which suggests a state or an action. Knowing the word "untrue" includes recognizing the base word "true" and the prefix² -un, which means "not."

When we look at English words in this way, we can see that our vocabulary expands by understanding a word's form.

As we saw in the word "record," the same word can work as two parts of speech.

VOA fans, the best way to improve your vocabulary is to really "know a word," its form, meaning, and usage, not just a definition.

Words in This Story

vocabulary -n. all the words a particular person knows

stress -n. giving attention to one part of a word when speaking it

prefix -n. a group of letters appearing at the beginning of a word that changes the word's meaning

suffix -n. a group of letters appearing at the end of a word that changes the word's meaning

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

3 prefixes   

n.前缀( prefix的名词复数 )；人名前的称谓；前置代号（置于前面的单词或字母、数字）

参考例句：

• The prefixes cis and trans are frequently applied to disubstituted cycloalkanes. 词头顺和反常用于双取代的环烷烃。 来自辞典例句
• Why do you use so many prefixes while talking? 你说起话来，怎么这么多中缀？ 来自互联网

4 suffix   

n.后缀；vt.添后缀

参考例句：

• We add the suffix "ly" to make the adjective "quick" into the adverb " quickly ".我们在形容词“ quick”后加“ly” 构成副词“quickly”。
• It described the meaning of suffix array and also how to built it.它描述的含义，后缀数组以及如何建立它。

5 suffixes   

n.后缀，词尾( suffix的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many domain name suffixes have failed to gain general popularity. 很多域名后缀没有获得一般的通用性。 来自互联网
• For example, consider the use of prefixes and suffixes. 例如，那前缀和后缀的使用来说。 来自互联网