VOA名师答疑2024--Improve Your Vocabulary: Part 2

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we continue our answer about the best way to expand your vocabulary.

Last week, we said the best way to improve vocabulary is to really "know a word." We talked about the form of a word -- or how it sounds, is written, and what its parts are.

Today let's talk about the meaning of words.

Knowing the meaning of a word seems easy: translate it into your native language or look up the definition¹ in a dictionary. But, to fully² know the meaning of a word in English, one definition is often not enough.

English words are famous for having more than one definition. For example, look at the word "run" in these sentences.

I'm going to run to the shop.

She runs the local bakery.

Water was running down the table.

All the papers³ are running the story.

The first definition in Merriam-Webster's dictionary for "run" is to go faster than a walk. That is certainly the meaning of run in the first sentence but not in the others.

When we say, "she runs the local bakery", we mean she is the person who operates, manages or owns the shop.

We could say "Water was running down the table" or "Water was flowing down the table."

And when "all the papers are running the story", they publish it.

We also have to know the ideas or feelings that a word suggests to fully understand the meaning of a word.

Let's look at the first example with the word "run."

I'm going to run to the shop.

This is different than saying:

I'm going to go to the shop.

The second example simply states that we are going to the shop. But the word "run" tells that the trip will be fast.

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

However, we cannot just exchange one word for another without changing the overall⁴ meaning of the sentence. So, next week we will take a look at synonyms⁵ - or words that have the same or nearly the same meaning.

Words in This Story

vocabulary-n. all the words a person knows

1 definition   

n.定义；限定，确定；清晰度

参考例句：

• The book attempts a definition of his role in world politics.该书要阐明的是他在世界政局中的作用。
• I made a definition for this word.我给这个字下了定义。

2 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。

3 papers   

n.文件，纸币，论文

参考例句：

• I want to check with my secretary before I sign the papers.在签署这些文件前，我要与我的秘书商议。
• The lawyer read all the papers relating to the case.律师阅读了与该案有关的全部文件。

4 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

5 synonyms   

同义词( synonym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If you want to grasp English, you must carefully discriminate synonyms. 如果你想掌握好英语，你必须仔细区分同义词。
• Study the idioms and synonyms l wrote down before your test. 学考试前我给你写的习惯用语和同义字。