TIPS for English (a): Vocabulary TIPS (Words)

Vocabulary TIPS: Words

Practice (as a noun) /// As a verb: Practise (in British English) or Practice (US English) 

Unhelpful  // Painful

Inequality

Invaluable

Objective = goal (My comment: all kids know it from SWAT computer games)

Conceptualization

Consciousness

Nursing homecare or care home or home care. Also known as ''Old people's home''

True - truly

Continuous - Continuously 

Immune

Divide - division

Mosquitoes or mosquitos (mossie or mozzie in British English (informal))

In contrast,..../ Contrary,...

National census

Rely on

Simultaneously

Unsuccessful

Carelessness

Unexposed

At present = currently (pronounced ˈkʌr.(^ə)nt.li) = at the present time; now; nowadays, in these times, at this time, in this day and age, at the present moment, at this moment in time.

Older adults (senior citizens or people over retirement age are more politically correct terms compared to ‘elderly’ or ‘old people’).

Welcome

Dawn (= the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise) / daybreak (= the time in the morning when daylight first appears; dawn)/ Sunrise (= the time in the morning when the sun appears, or full daylight arrives) vs. Sunset (= the time in the evening when the sun disappears, or daylight fades)

Hemorrhage

Glucose – hypoglycemia (= low blood glucose)

Heavy – heaviness

Strain – strenuous (e.g., A strenuous exercise)

Edgy – edginess

‘Spacecraft’ is an uncountable noun (so, spacecrafts is wrong)

Rock 'n' Roll

Firefighter (1 word) /// Fire brigade (= an organized body of people trained and employed to extinguish fires)

Defenceless (British English) (defenseless in North American English)

Pharmaceutical (pronounced ˌfɑː.məˈsuː.tɪ.k(^ə)l) company

Powerlessness (noun) 

Apologize for

Nonsense (1 word)

Beyond

Belonging to

Opponent

Apparent

Indigenous

Necessary – Necessarily

Employee - employer – employment

Misc. = miscellaneous

Vulnerable

Personnel

Sweden

An account of (e.g., A detailed account of all what has been achieved)

Scotland – Scottish

Offspring (not ‘offsprings,’ as it is a plural noun)

Ghetto – Plural = Ghettoes or Ghettos – The verb is ghettoize (‘ghettoise in British English) (pronounced ˈɡet.əʊ.aɪz)

Stephanie

Curry (= a dish cooked in a spicy sauce) (vs) carry (= transport)

Catastrophe (pronounced kəˈtæs.trə.fi) (noun) (not ‘catastrophy’ as this word does not exist!).

Protester is a more common form than ‘protestor.’ The former has prevailed as spelling, so the latter should be avoided in the IELTS exams.

Refugee (pronounced ˌref.juˈdʒiː) crisis/ surge

Sandwich (Mnemonic trick: sand + wich)

Mnemonic trick

Tattoo – Tattoos (plural)

Allow

Bayonet (pronounced ˈbeɪ.ə.nət) charge

Launch (= begin or send; e.g., Military forces launched an attack) (vs.) Lunch (= a meal eaten in the middle of the day)

Unspoiled in North American English (or Unspoilt in British English)

Mobile phone (or ‘cell phone’ in North American English) My comment: in the U.S. they often call it colloquially ‘cell!’)

Gesture is pronounced ˈdʒɛstʃə(r)

Parachute

Nitrogen (pronounced ˈnaɪ.trə.dʒən)

2016 (date) (usually pronounced ''twenty-sixteen'' or it may be ''two thousand sixteen'')

2006 (date) is called two thousand six, but it may also be called twenty six!

2,016 (as a number) is pronounced ''two thousand and sixteen''

Conscience (mnemonic trick: con + science)

Inequity (= lack of fairness or justice (i.e., injustice); e.g., Always acutely socially conscious, he was struck by the poverty and social inequity in the countries that he visited)

Stakeholder (= a person with an interest or concern in something, especially a business) (not to be confused with ''shareholder''). Remember the phrase (what is) ''at stake.''

Firebomb = Molotov cocktail (e.g., Rioters armed with firebombs set light to police barricades (1) (***)). (1) barricade = an improvised barrier erected across a street or other thoroughfare to prevent or delay the movement of opposing forces).

Hamburger (mnemonic trick: ham + burger). You may watch the videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6oeAdemFZw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz0IT4Uk2xQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rt_5lkN_BE

Recipe

Cereal (it is pronounced ˈsɪərɪəl (not to be confused with ‘serial’ that sounds the same!) e.g., ‘I eat cereal such as Cornflakes’)

Fair = (of complexion (= face skin)) pale./// (of hair) pale yellow or gold (*)).

Blond (hair) on males and blonde (hair) on females.

Various is pronounced ˈvɛːrɪəs. Variety is pronounced vəˈrʌɪəti. Variable is pronounced ˈvɛːrɪəb(ə)l

Stonehenge (mnemonic trick: stone + henge (= a prehistoric monument consisting of a circle of stone or wooden uprights).

Success – Succeed in

Of course

Saddam Hussein

Anchor (of a ship)

Machete (sometimes written as matchet) (pronounced məˈʃet.i) e.g., A thug wielding (1) a machete. 

(1) wield (pronounced wiːld) = to hold a weapon or tool and look as if you are going to use it (*).

Deceitful is pronounced dɪˈsiːtfʊl

Czech (pronounced tʃɛk) Republic (formerly called Czechoslovakia)

Serviette = table napkin

Nappy (plural = nappies) = diaper in North American English

Encyclopedia Britannica

Penguin (pronounced ˈpeŋ.ɡwɪn)

Research as a noun is pronounced rɪˈsəːtʃ or ˈriː.sɜːtʃ. The verb is always pronounced rɪˈsɜːtʃ.

Civil aviation

Middle age = 45 – 60 years old

Parking space (Garage parking space in British English))

Car park  (British English)  = Parking lot (North American English) = a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles (*****). See https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Multi-level_stack_parking_NYC_07_2010_9583.JPG and https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Bad_car_parking.jpg

Applicant – Application – Applicate (rare form) – Apply (to) (verb)

The vast majority vs. The small minority of the population

Social conflict

Inaccurate (not ‘unaccurate or innacurate) 

Referral

On July 4^th /// In August

1 dollar ($) = 100 cents

Whip [as a noun (= a device for hitting) or a verb (= hit)] is pronounced wɪp.

Pay – paid (not payed!) – paid e.g., His wage was paid (not ‘payed’) annually.

Holidays (don’t think holy + day; a holy day, for instance, for the Christians is Xmas)

Thai – Thailand (not Thayland)

Annually

A spoonful of sugar

On the web/internet

Genuine (= authentic) (adjective) is pronounced ˈdʒɛnjʊɪn. The adverb is genuinely; e.g. They speak genuinely about how proud they are. The noun is genuineness. 

A khaki (1) (pronounced ˈkɑːki) (military) uniform. 

(1) Khaki = a textile fabric of a dull brownish-yellow color, in particular, a strong cotton fabric used in military clothing.

Stationery (the things needed for writing such as pens, pencils, and envelopes (^^)) (vs) Stationary (= (adjective) not moving, or not changing; e.g., A stationary car/ train.// e.g., The rate of inflation has been stationary for several months (^^)).

Accommodation

Choose – chose – chosen

In infancy/ childhood/adulthood/ old age./// But: ‘at birth’

Correspondingly

Obsession

Pattern

Fulfil (in British English) (fulfill in North American English) (not fullfill)

Extend (verb; e.g., ‘He extended her hand as a greeting’) (vs) extent (noun; e.g. ‘To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?’)

Come across (mnemonic trick: a + cross) = (phrasal verb) Meet or find by chance; e.g., ‘I came across these old photos/ an old friend recently.’

Disappoint (mnemonic trick: dis + appoint) – disappointing – disappointingly

Butterfly (mnemonic trick: butter + fly) stroke (butterfly stroke = a swimming style. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_stroke#/media/File:Butterfly-Stroke.jpg )

A two-story (or storey – in British English; = level, floor) building 

Subway (US English) = tube (the subway only in London!) = underground = metro (metro = a subway system in a city, especially Paris)

Croissant (pronounced ˈkrwasɒ̃)

Subsequently 

The shell (not ‘cell’) of a fruit

Bin = dustbin, garbage can, trash can

Antiperspirant is pronounced antɪˈpəːspɪrənt or ˌæn.tiˈpɝː.spɚ.ənt

Ashtray (1 word) 

Veto is pronounced ˈviː.təʊ (plural = vetoes) (veto = an official power or right to refuse to accept or allow something; e.g., The president has the power of veto over any bill (= a draft of a proposed law presented to parliament for discussion) that comes across his desk) (*).

Data is pronounced ˈdeɪ.tə and is an uncountable noun that goes with singular or plural verb (e.g., The data was/were collected by various researchers.// e.g., Now the data is/are being transferred from magnetic tape to hard disk) (*).

Bloodshed is only a noun; it has no verb form, so we say e.g., ‘The Nazis were responsible for the bloodshed of Europe’ (we do not say ‘The Nazis bloodshed Europe’).

Theft (= an act of stealing; e.g., He was jailed for theft (*))  vs. Thief (= a person who steals; e.g., The thief got away with all my money) (*). Both are nouns. 

Live-streamed (or live streamed)

Synagogue 

Ambassador (not embassador)

Taiwan

Strait (= a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or two large areas of water) of Hormuz

Gesture is pronounced ˈdʒɛstʃə

Cliché (= a saying or remark that is very often made and is therefore not original and not interesting) is pronounced ˈkliː.ʃeɪ in British English and kliːˈʃeɪ in North American English

Soccer (in the UK, it is usually called football) 

Kabul (pronounced ˈkɑːbʊl)

Shaped (adjective)

Geneva (pronounced dʒɪˈniːvə)

Sovereignty (not sovereignity) (pronounced ˈsɒv.rɪn.ti) the power of a country to control its own government, e.g., Talks are being held about who should have sovereignty over the island (*).

350,000 (pronounced three hundred fifty thousand)

''As usual'' (not ''as usually'')

Coalition

Imprudent (pronounced ɪmˈpruː.d(ə)nt) (adjective) not showing care for the consequences of an action; rash, e.g., To further minimize the imprudent use of antibiotics for treatment of influenza, diagnostic techniques should be considered (*).

Committed

Committee 

Religious

Controlled

Destructing (gerund; from destruct = cause deliberate, terminal damage to) vs. distracting ((adjective) = preventing concentration or diverting attention; disturbing) 

The former Eastern bloc

Impossible

Disconnect

Mushroom (Mnemonic trick: mush + room)

Exam-marker or grader (= the person marking or grading an exam) (the word examiner is more general; the word ''grader'' is more US English)

Invest in

Air conditioning 

Purchase is pronounced ˈpɜː.tʃə

Ambiguity (= the quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness) is pronounced ˌæm.bɪˈɡjuː.ə.ti/ and ambiguous (= having or expressing more than one possible meaning, sometimes intentionally (*)) is pronounced æmˈbɪɡ.ju.əs.