Author: YK Lim
SME, English
Unless you are a polyglot (a person who can speak and use several languages), learning a language requires effort. Language learning is a skill and everyone can learn a new language if they put in enough effort. Speaking a language requires a certain amount of vocabulary and it is said that with about 2500 to 3000 words, we can understand 90% of everyday English conversations. That makes it less intimidating, doesn’t it?
There are many ways a language learner can improve or increase their vocabulary and one of these is the use of antonyms (words having opposite meanings) and synonyms (words having the same meaning).
Here are some examples:
1. Antonyms
| arrive |
leave |
| better |
worse |
| careful |
careless |
| dead |
alive |
| easy |
difficult |
2. Synonyms
| alike |
same |
| big |
large |
| confess |
admit |
| dear |
expensive |
| easy |
simple |
Don’t just make a list like the above. Make sentences and then try to rewrite the sentences by using words with the same or different meanings. Here are two examples:
This novel is so
dear. This novel is so
cheap.
I did a
simple sum within seconds. I did a
difficult sum within seconds.
