Vocabulary and Word Choice
What this domain tests
Vocabulary and Word Choice measures precision, register, collocation, and connotation in formal prose. It asks whether a word means exactly what the sentence needs and fits the surrounding grammar and tone.
Core rules
- Denotation and connotation: Choose a word whose meaning and tone match the context. Inexpensive is neutral; cheap can suggest poor quality. Assert is stronger than suggest.
- Register: Formal written English avoids slang, chatty filler, and needlessly inflated wording. Prefer use to utilize when use is accurate.
- Collocation: Words combine conventionally: conduct a review, draw a conclusion, meet a deadline, raise concerns. Unusual combinations distract readers even when grammatically possible.
- Precision: Replace vague verbs (do, get, make) with specific ones when the action matters. Distinguish affect (verb: influence) from effect (noun: result); comprise (include) from compose (make up).
- Idiom and preposition: Use the preposition that belongs to the expression: comply with, differ from, responsible for, capable of.
- Concise control: Cut redundancy (advance planning, close proximity) and empty phrases (in order to → to) when meaning is unchanged.
Worked example
The new policy will effect how managers approve overtime. Effect is usually a noun meaning “result”; the verb meaning “to influence” is affect. The sentence needs will affect. If the intended meaning were “bring about,” the verb effect would be possible (effect a change), but it does not fit how managers approve. The corrected sentence is The new policy will affect how managers approve overtime.
Traps that cost marks
- Choosing a near-synonym that changes connotation: The report was critical versus The report was picky.
- Mixing up principal/principle, complement/compliment, ensure/insure, and lie/lay.
- Using a preposition from a different idiom: comply to instead of comply with.
- Overusing nominalizations: make a decision is fine, but undertake an evaluation of can usually become evaluate.
- Repeating an idea in two words: the final outcome or past history.