Vocabulary and Idiomatic Usage
Vocabulary items test meaning in context: synonyms and antonyms, one-word substitution, phrasal verbs, idioms, word formation and commonly confused pairs. The exam rewards the sense a word carries in a particular sentence, not its first dictionary gloss.
Core rules
- Context decides. 'Bear' can mean endure, carry or give birth; only the sentence tells you.
- Phrasal verbs change with the particle. bear out = confirm; bear with = be patient with; bear up = stay cheerful under strain.
- Idioms are fixed and figurative. 'To let the cat out of the bag' has nothing to do with cats; never decode them literally.
- Word formation follows pattern: credible - incredible - credibility; note spelling changes such as refer - reference.
- Collocation matters in composition: you make a decision, take a decision is British but do a decision is wrong; you commit a crime, not do one.
- Register: idioms suit informal writing; formal letters and reports need neutral lexis.
Worked example
Sentence: 'The witness's account bore out the police version of events.' Task: replace the underlined phrasal verb with one word. Reasoning: the witness is supporting a version, not enduring or carrying it; bore out here means confirmed. Check by substitution: 'the account confirmed the police version' fits. Answer: confirmed.
Traps
- Picking a synonym from the wrong sense of a polysemous word.
- Reading an idiom literally.
- Confusing affect/effect, principal/principle, compliment/complement, stationary/stationery.
- Wrong prefix: un- versus in- versus dis-.
- Using a colloquial idiom in a formal letter.
- Ignoring whether a synonym must match the passage's register.