Vocabulary and text types · ⁨المفردات وأنواع النصوص⁩

A wide vocabulary 词汇 helps you in every part of the exam.

Learn words well

• Learn a new word with its meaning, its spelling, and how it sounds.
• Keep a vocabulary notebook. Group words by topic, such as travel or health.

Use natural phrases

• Learn words that go together. These are called collocations 词语搭配, like "make a decision" or "heavy rain".
• Learn set phrases 固定短语 and common phrasal verbs 短语动词, like "give up" or "look after".
• Using natural phrases makes your English sound fluent 流利.

Each writing task is a text type 文本类型 with its own rules.

Common text types

• An email is a message to one person; an article 文章 is for many readers; a report 报告 gives facts to a person in charge.
• A blog 博客 is a personal, informal online post – like an article but more personal and casual, so it sits near the informal end of the formality scale.
• A review 评论 gives an opinion about something you tried; an essay 议论文 argues a point of view.
• A notice 通知 and a leaflet 传单 give short, clear information.

Match style to type

• Each text type has its own purpose, reader and tone.
• Before you write, ask: what is this text type, and what style does it need?

A vocabulary routine

Turn new words into words you truly own with four steps:

1. Meet it — when you find a new word, write it down with one example sentence.
2. File it — put it in your notebook under a topic group (travel, health, school).
3. Test it — cover the meaning and try to recall it the next day, then again a week later. This spaced review 间隔复习 fixes words in your memory far better than reading a list once.
4. Use it — put the word into your own writing or speaking within a few days, before you forget it.

Five words learned this way each day is over a thousand a year.

• Learn words in families, one family per text type: email openers, report verbs, review adjectives.
• In the writing exam, put the text type's fixed parts down first: greeting, title or headings. They are the easiest marks on the paper.
• Keep a personal word list. Five new words a day beats fifty words once a month.
• When a new word appears in the reading paper, guess it from the context and keep moving; never freeze on one word.