Text c learning english vocabulary

I. Прочтите текст и укажите, какие утверждения соответствуют тексту т (True), а какие нет – f (False):

1. Vocabulary is one of the main elements in learning a foreign language.

2. If you know grammar perfectly you can speak a language without words.

3. The best way to memorize English words is to put them down on sheets of paper.

4. If you start learning a language you should take some easy-reading book with essential vocabulary at the end of it.

5. It is better to watch more films in English without subtitles.

6. While learning English it is advisable to keep in mind synonyms and antonyms.

7. It you don’t train your vocabulary, you’ll soon start to forget it.

Vocabulary is one of the main ele­ments in learning a foreign language (others are pronunciation, grammar and spelling). Even if you know grammar perfectly you won't be able to speak a language without words. Now we are going to observe some ways and me­thods of learning English vocabulary.

Most learners memorize English words and word combinations putting them down with their Russian equi­valents on sheets of paper. Usually their pockets are full of these sheets of paper, which they are looking through pronouncing something while going to work or to another place in public transport (the drawback is that you can't learn these words when driving). Some peo­ple prefer to stick long lists of English words on the walls in different places in their flats (e.g. in the kitchen or in the toilet). But one day such learners discover that there are a lot of paper sheets in their pockets, bags, and even the flat and they decide to get rid of them. The main draw­back of this way of learning English vocabulary is that language learners tend to forget the words as quickly as they learn them because, as a rule, they don't use them in practice. So, if you learn the words in such a way, train them.

Another way to learn English vo­cabulary is reading. If you start learn­ing a language take some "easy-reading" book with essential vo­cabulary at the end of it. Don't be lazy and look up into the dictionary. The more often you run into a word, the more chances you have to pick it up. If you are an intermediate student or something, try to read interesting arti­cles from newspapers and magazi­nes — they are written in modern language and contain a lot of useful expressions.

Try to watch more films in Eng­lish — but with subtitles, so that you could read the moments in the speech of actors you can't understand. While watching take some notes with useful words and expressions. Having watched the film several times you will certainly memorize them.

But what are the methods of learn­ing English vocabulary? Here are some of them.

Try to learn not only one word, but the whole word family (e.g. for­tune — fortuity — fortuneless — (un-)-fortunate — (un-)fortunately), as you learn not only words but the ways they are built.

There is a very effective technique called a "spider activity": you draw a circle, put some main word into it and then find in the dictionary or while reading a text the words semantically close to it.

If you want to learn more adjec­tives the following technique can help you: choose a word, e.g. "tree", then write the alphabet and for each letter find some adjectives which could cha­racterize this word: A — apple-tree, amazing, astonishing etc.

It's also advisable to keep in mind as many synonyms as you can. They enrich your vocabulary, make your speech more diverse and help you with translating. But don't forget about the rules of words combination. For exam­ple, you can say «I'm ill'» but you can't say «My head is ill». Instead of that you should say «I have a headache» or «My foot/arm hurts». Learning words in opposite pairs can also be effective: you can auto­matically recall some word when it's necessary through the antonym.

In conclusion I'd like to say that if you really want to learn as much of English vocabulary as possible have patience and work hard. Remember that no teacher can learn it for you. Besides, if you don't train your vocab­ulary, you'll soon start to forget it. So, communicate with native speakers. And the last thing — learn to think in English, put your ideas into words, it really helps.