Vocabulary and Usage
Vocabulary and Usage tests whether you can choose the word that fits a sentence's grammar and meaning, recognise collocations, and interpret words in context. A word you know from a list can still be wrong if its collocation or register does not fit.
Context beats the first meaning
For a polysemous word, test each candidate in the sentence. 'Address' can mean 'speak to' or 'deal with'. In 'The report addresses the shortage of nurses', only 'deal with' works; 'speak to' would require a person as object.
Collocation and form
Learn nouns that travel with particular adjectives and verbs: 'lukewarm support', 'a marked increase', 'raise a concern', 'meet a deadline'. Check part of speech and countability: 'information' is uncountable, so 'an information' is wrong; 'advice' takes no plural -s.
Worked example
Sentence: 'The proposal received lukewarm support from the board, so it was postponed.' Question: What does 'lukewarm' mean here? Reasoning: The second clause gives the result - postponement. That rules out strong support. But 'lukewarm' does not mean hostility; it means weak or unenthusiastic. The best answer is 'not enthusiastic'. A choice like 'strongly opposed' goes too far, and 'uncertain' changes the meaning: the board did support the plan, only weakly.
Phrasal verbs and prepositions
Treat the particle as part of the meaning: 'carry out' a survey, 'carry on' working, 'put off' a decision, 'put up with' noise. In exam options, the wrong particle often creates a plausible but non-English combination.
Traps
- Choosing a synonym with the wrong grammatical pattern.
- Ignoring a negative prefix such as 'in-', 'un-', or 'dis-'.
- Translating a Japanese loanword back into English literally.
- Picking a formal word in an informal sentence, or the reverse.