June's Words: a Summary of Showcased Vocabulary
This is a roundup of the "Word of the Day" notes posted this month. How many do you use regularly?
Recently, I read an article about how people are starting to talk like AI and that’s one of the reasons why I started posting the Word of the Day. I realize that I haven’t posted one every day (the first one was in a note on June 17th), but I’m still trying to figure out the best format.
I’ve used some of these words in my more recent posts, and I’ve seen others in posts that I’ve read elsewhere. Most of them are normal words, and several are linked to language learning, which is the main topic of Conversation Starters.
I started Conversation Starters to help students and teachers of English as a second or foreign language find topics to discuss during lessons. I believe that fluency can be obtained only by speaking: the more real conversations you have with people, the better you get at expressing yourself.
More words = better communication?
The short answer is: not necessarily. However, communication improves if we use precise words correctly. Using a word successfully means understanding what it means and what you can do with it, so I’ve structured these posts to highlight some points that English teachers emphasize when teaching new vocabulary.
In the image below, you’ll notice meaning, form, and pronunciation, in addition to an example of the word being used in context. Let’s unpack these terms.
Meaning
When we look up a word in a dictionary, we are usually looking for the definition, or rather, the precise meaning of the word. On the other hand, meaning usually indicates a broader sense of the word, possibly with a subjective or regional interpretation depending on the word or phrase you are studying. English dictionaries show a range of definitions for many words, all of which can be described as meanings. CELTA teachers use the term “meaning” instead of “definition” because we also need to teach how words and phrases are used, and we encourage students to look up words by themselves.
So which dictionary should you be using? Publishers of print dictionaries have compiled good online dictionaries, so take your pick: Cambridge, Oxford, Merriam-Webster, or your own favorite. Tell me about your favorite dictionary in the comments.
Some of the online dictionaries I use are Dictionary.com and WordReference. These are easy to find and appear to have good definitions. WordReference also has forums where people can ask questions and discuss the meanings of words and phrases, and it can provide easy translations of words into and from English.
When using automatic translation or AI translation, please double-check meanings to make sure you’re using the right words. Some platforms allow anyone to add translations and definitions, which can undermine credibility. Many words and phrases have more than one meaning, like the phrase “depends on” in the image above, so it’s very important to be sure that your message is clear.
Another issue is “false friends”, which are words that look similar but have totally different meanings in another language. An example would be the English word “eventually”, which means that something will happen and there is no avoiding it. Its Italian counterpart, “eventualmente”, means “maybe”. This is another issue that I’ll write about in the future, but in the meantime, keep this in mind when trying to communicate in a language that is not your own.
Meaning is the first thing to learn about a word, but then you have to decide where to put it in the sentence to get your point across. That’s when form becomes important.
Form
Are you trying to convey an action or state of being, or are you talking about an object or a concept? That explains the difference between nouns and verbs. English has eight parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, article, pronoun, and interjection) to help us express ourselves effectively. I’ll be explaining these terms in future posts.
For right now, remember it this way:
Nouns: naming words that identify people, places, things, or ideas.
Verbs: action words or descriptions of states of being. English verbs always require a subject unless used in the imperative mode. (Confused? Subscribe. I’ll explain it later on.)
I offer online conversation lessons for ESL students and professionals who need to practice speaking. Contact me for more information.
Adjectives and adverbs modify nouns and verbs, respectively. An adjective tells you something about the noun, and an adverb tells you something about the verb.
Here’s an example: The big ball rolled quickly across the floor. “Big” is the adjective: it tells us about the ball’s size. “Quickly” is the adverb: it tells us about the ball’s speed.
Prepositions give us an idea of our relationship to the noun in question, and “across” is the preposition in our example above. In today’s phrase, “depends on”, I’ve reminded readers that “on” is the correct preposition. These words are tricky because they don’t translate well, and some of the most difficult English verbs are actually made up of a verb and a preposition. Yes, I’m referring to the dreaded phrasal verbs.
Articles are easy: in English, we have the, a, an. That’s all
Pronouns stand in for nouns. We have he, she, my, and your, plus other relative pronouns that we can discuss at a later time.
Interjections show strong emotion. These are usually the first words people learn in a foreign language.
Pronunciation
This is how we say a word, or how it sounds when we hear it. English words can be tricky to pronounce because we don’t spell them the way they sound, and letters can have different sounds depending on their order. In my Word of the Day notes, I write the sounds as simple syllables between two backslashes, rather than using the International Phonetic Alphabet used in dictionaries. It’s easier for students because they can reason about pronunciation using their own methods without having to learn a different system.
For example, I would write /pruh-nun-see-a-shun/ to help you learn to say the title of this section. WordReference shows it as /prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃən/, which is correct but hard to read if you don’t know what the symbols mean. I’d like to create a short course on this in the future, especially explaining the schwa (ə) and the accented /uh/ sound (ʌ).
Roundup
These are the words showcased in June. You can use these to start a “Vocabulary Notebook” that will help you remember them, use them properly, and make them part of your working vocabulary. I’ll explain the Vocabulary Notebook concept in an upcoming post. I’ve linked these words to their respective Substack notes so you can find them.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this slightly technical post. Let me know if this helped you.
Talk to you soon,
Marsha