All sections
Foundations
The verb system
Describing and connecting
- 09 Adjectives and adverbs
- 10 Prepositions
- 11 Conjunctions
- 12 Building longer sentences
- 13 Punctuation and capital letters
Words and sounds
Practice and progress
14Core
Vocabulary and word building
Seventy words worth owning, split into two pages, plus the prefixes and suffixes that turn each one into a whole family.
How to learn a word. Read the Urdu, cover it, say the three sentences aloud, then write one sentence of your own about your own life. Ten words a week is enough: seven weeks and the whole list is yours.
The two word lists
- 50Intermediate wordsEveryday words for speaking and for every essay you write. Each with three synonyms, the Urdu meaning and three sentences.
- 20Advanced wordsUse these carefully and only where they fit. One correct advanced word raises a score; three wrong ones lower it.
Word building: one word becomes four
This is the fastest way to grow a vocabulary. Learn one word, then learn its family, and you can use the idea as a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb, whichever the sentence needs.
| Prefix | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| un- | not | happy → unhappy, fair → unfair, able → unable |
| in- / im- / il- / ir- | not | correct → incorrect, possible → impossible, legal → illegal, regular → irregular |
| dis- | opposite | agree → disagree, honest → dishonest, appear → disappear |
| mis- | wrongly | understand → misunderstand, spell → misspell |
| re- | again | write → rewrite, apply → reapply, new → renew |
| over- / under- | too much / too little | work → overwork, paid → underpaid |
| pre- / post- | before / after | paid → prepaid, graduate → postgraduate |
| Suffix | What it makes | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -tion / -sion | makes a noun | educate → education, decide → decision, apply → application |
| -ment | makes a noun | develop → development, improve → improvement |
| -ness | makes a noun from an adjective | happy → happiness, weak → weakness |
| -ity | makes a noun from an adjective | able → ability, secure → security |
| -er / -or / -ist | the person who does it | teach → teacher, act → actor, science → scientist |
| -ful / -less | with / without | care → careful / careless, hope → hopeful / hopeless |
| -able / -ible | can be done | rely → reliable, access → accessible |
| -ly | makes an adverb | quick → quickly, careful → carefully |
| -ise / -ify | makes a verb | modern → modernise, simple → simplify |
| Verb | Noun | Adjective | Adverb |
|---|---|---|---|
| succeed | success | successful | successfully |
| decide | decision | decisive | decisively |
| improve | improvement | improved | not used |
| educate | education | educational | educationally |
| apply | application | applicable | not used |
| depend | dependence | dependent | dependently |
| analyse | analysis | analytical | analytically |
| compete | competition | competitive | competitively |
| achieve | achievement | achievable | not used |
| differ | difference | different | differently |
Check yourself
Use the word list.
- Give a synonym for crucial.
Show the answer
vital, essential, critical
- Give a synonym for feasible.
Show the answer
possible, practical, workable
- Complete: The bank statement is ___ of your funds.
Show the answer
evidence
- Complete: The officer noticed a ___ between the form and the certificate.
Show the answer
discrepancy
- Which is stronger: improve or deteriorate? What does each mean?
Show the answer
They are opposites: improve = get better, deteriorate = get worse.
- Make the noun: succeed, decide, improve, apply
Show the answer
success, decision, improvement, application
- Make the opposite with a prefix: possible, honest, regular, agree
Show the answer
impossible, dishonest, irregular, disagree
- Write one sentence of your own using opportunity.
Show the answer
Example: Studying abroad is an opportunity to learn how other people work.