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Working out unfamiliar vocabulary in the IELTS Reading Test part 1.

One question I hear regularly from students is 'What do I do if there are words I
don't understand in the IELTS Reading Test?'

Well, let me tell you first of all that there will ALWAYS be words you don't
understand. I'm sure that even in your own language, you come across words
you don't understand when you're reading but you still manage to understand.

In this post I'd like to discuss what to do when you come across unfamiliar words
when reading a passage in the IELTS test.

Sometimes you might not need to understand the exact meaning of an unknown
word, unless there is a question directly related to it.

Sometimes you do need to know the meaning. OK, first of all, don't panic! I'm
going to teach you some strategies to work out the meaning of unknown words.

Context

You can often work out the meaning of a word by checking the context it's written
in. The context is the words and phrases surrounding the word and it often
contains clues about the meaning of the piece of unfamiliar vocabulary. The
words and phrases just before and just after the word are particularly useful.

Definitions

Sometimes writers give a definition of a word, they explain it or they give an

example. There are certain words that express meaning:

• is
• means
• refers to
• that is
• consists of

e.g. A philanthropist is a person who loves his fellow human beings.

In this example, the word 'is' shows us that a definition is about to come.

Word Class and Punctuation

Look at the unknown word in the sentence and decide if it is a noun, an adjective,
a verb or an adverb. Punctuation can also sometimes be a clue; you should look
for colons or question marks in particular.

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Connective Words

Connective words e.g. however give clues about the meaning of the unknown
word. They usually help to identify the general direction of the argument. If you
understand the general direction of the argument, this will help with the
understanding of the unknown word.

For example, if you see the words 'in addition', then you know that the writer is
giving more evidence to the previous argument.

Break the word down.

If you break the word down into syllables; looking at he root of the word, prefixes
and suffixes, this may help you with understanding. My post Working out
unfamiliar vocabulary in the IELTS Reading Test part 2 discusses this point
further.

The tips here obviously require some practice so don't just leave it till the day of
the IELTS test. Do practice reading tests at home without a dictionary and try to
work out the meaning of any unknown words. I'm sure you don't use a dictionary
for every word you don't know in your own language, so transfer these skills to
English.

Also, do plenty of exercises to improve your reading skills. Over the years, I
have taught from many different IELTS books and one of the best I have found
for self study is 202 Useful Exercises for IELTS ~ Academic & General
Training Module.

Here's to your success!

Working out unfamiliar vocabulary in the IELTS Reading Test part 2.

In my post Working out unfamiliar vocabulary in the IELTS Reading Test

part 1, one of the strategies I suggested was to break the word down into
syllables; in other words use your knowledge of word formation to help with your
understanding of the unfamiliar word.

Many English words use prefixes; added to the beginning of the word, and
suffixes; added to the end of the word, to make new words. Let’s deal with them
separately:

Prefixes

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One of the most useful parts of a word to look at when dealing with unfamiliar
vocabulary is the prefix. Prefixes are ‘pieces’ added at the start of a word which
change the meaning of the word. The actual word prefix is a good example in
fact; contains the prefix pre-. Here, pre- tells us that an extra ‘piece’ is fixed to
the front of the word.

The following table gives examples of some common prefixes in English,

together with their meaning and examples.

Prefix Meaning Example(s)

*dis- not dishonest
*un- not unhappy, undo,
*in- not insane
*il- not illegal
*ir- not irrelevant
*im- not impossible
*non- not nonsense
In/im- old Latin definition ‘into’ Inflame, impoverish

put into a certain condition

or state (makes verbs from
nouns)
extra- outside, beyond extraordinary, extrasensory
multi- many multicultural
re- again retell
post- after postgraduate
mis- wrongly misunderstand
pro- for, on the side of pro-American
under- below, not enough underestimate
sub- below, beneath substandard
semi half semicircle

• * Often the opposite of a word can be formed by adding the correct prefix;

dishonest, unhappy, undo, insane, illegal, irrelevant, impossible, nonsense.

• When you guess the meaning of a word, please remember to check that
it makes sense in what you are reading. I have seen students assume
that if a word begins with ‘un’ or ‘post’, then un and post are prefixes. This
is NOT always the case; think of simple words such as unit or postcode.

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Suffixes

Suffixes are another useful part of a word to look at when dealing with unfamiliar
vocabulary. Suffixes are ‘bits’ added at the end of a word; unlike prefixes, they
don’t change the meaning of the word. They usually change a word from one
part of speech to another. One of the examples that students are usually most
familiar with is the addition of the suffix ‘ly’ to turn an adjective into an adverb,
e.g. quick, quickly.

In the following table are some common suffixes. In the first column, I have
indicated the part of speech to which they change words.

Part of Speech the suffix Suffix Example

changes the word to.
Nouns -ance acceptance
-ence reference
-or assessor
-ist pianist
-ness happiness
Verbs -ise realise
-ate originate
-fy terrify
-en sweeten
-ify purify
Adjectives -able washable
-ible terrible
-less senseless
-ic romantic
-ical musical
-ish childish
ive creative
Adverbs -ly quickly

Using your knowledge of typical suffixes, you can work out what part of speech
the word is and this may help you in working out the meaning.

In my post What’s the best way to do a practice IELTS Reading Tests?, I

suggest looking up different word forms of new vocabulary. This is a good habit
to get into to consolidate your knowledge of word formation.

Let me give you a few examples of how to do this.

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Noun Verb Adjective

creation create creative
acceptance accept accepting
economist economise economical

So, from now on when recording new vocabulary, ask yourself the following
questions:

• Does the word have a prefix?

• If so, what does this prefix generally mean?
• Does the word have a suffix?
• If so, what part of speech does this suffix usually create?

Asking yourself these questions when practising for your IELTS test and you’ll be
well-prepared to deal with new vocabulary on ‘the big day’.

Here’s to your success!

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