Building vocabulary the smart way
By Michael Ukwuma
How to learn words that you will really use and remember them.
Learn words in groups
Learn words together with their partners. Instead of just learning the word decision, learn make a decision, a difficult decision and a final decision. These word partners help your writing and speaking sound natural.
Learn from what you read and hear
After each reading passage or listening audio, choose three useful words or phrases. Write them with a sentence of your own. Use at least one of them in your next writing task.
Review often
Review new words after one day, three days and one week. A few minutes of review is enough. Say each word aloud, because speaking helps memory and also improves your pronunciation.
Use the words correctly
Using a new word wrongly is worse than using a simple word right. Only use a new word in the test after you have used it correctly in practice several times.
Key points
- Learn word partners, not single words.
- Choose three useful words from each practice.
- Review after one day, three days and a week.