STUDY AND WRITING SKILLS
94
9.5
STUDY SKILLS
EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY
1
Look at these phrases. What do you think the word
nice
means? Does it mean the same in each phrase?
1
Have a
nice
day.
4
That’s a
nice
haircut.
2
Nice
to meet you.
5
Let’s have a
nice
cup of tea.
3
She’s really
nice
.
6
It’s a
nice
place to live.
2
Read this extract from a book about expressing
yourself accurately. Is this the same as in your language?
GRAMMAR TIP
Adjective-noun collocations are also important.
A good thesaurus will help you to recognise
collocations and find better words to express what
you mean. Look up the basic idea of what you
want to say and you can find alternatives.
5
Collocations
Which of the following can be
fascinating
,
absorbing
,
gripping
or
compelling
?
1
a book
2
a fact
3
a film
WRITING SKILLS
AN ONLINE REVIEW
6
Look at the different ways you can use to research a
holiday. What are the advantages and disadvantages of
each? Which would you use to get information?
•
visit a travel agent
•
check the websites of travel agencies
•
look at some travel blogs
•
consult a guidebook
•
get advice from friends or colleagues
7
9.3
Listen to an extract from a talk on ‘How to
improve your writing skills’. Denise Couture, a lecturer
in Communications, is talking about travel blogs. Work
with a partner and discuss the questions.
1
What advantages of writing a travel blog does she
mention in her talk?
2
Which do you think is the most important advantage?
3
Does she mention the same advantages you thought
of in Exercise 6?
8
Read the travel blog about the Adliya district of
Manama in Bahrain.
1
Which tourist sites did Alessandra and her friend
visit during the day?
2
What was their general impression of each site?
3
What did they learn about Naser Al Yousif?
9
Vocabulary competition
Work in small teams. Note
down as many words as you can that are similar in
meaning to the ones in bold in the blog. The time limit
is five minutes and you may use a dictionary. At the
end, count your words. The team with the most wins.
10
Write a travel blog of a trip you have made, either
in your country or abroad. Mention any unusual or
interesting experiences you had and describe one or
two sites. Try to use some of the new vocabulary that
you have learnt.
It pays to increase your word power
Expanding your vocabulary is a sure way of improving
your English and the way you express yourself in English.
However, spoken and written English are often quite different.
Take a simple example – the word
nice
is very common in
spoken English. It is a very general adjective, which is rather
vague in meaning, as in the following examples:
Have a nice
day
,
Nice to meet you
,
She’s really nice
,
That’s a nice haircut
. In
this spoken context,
nice
is very useful – often we don’t need
to be very precise because a lot of meaning is carried by our
intonation and facial expression. Also, the listener and speaker
can clarify what exactly is meant. In written English, these
clues are absent so we need to be more precise in order to
convey what we really mean.
In addition, it is good to expand your vocabulary for stylistic
reasons. Your writing will be much more interesting if you
avoid repeating the same words.
3
What does the word
nice
really mean in phrases
1–6? Choose two words from the box for each phrase.
beautiful charming delicious friendly
picturesque productive relaxing restful
stylish tasty trendy useful
1
a nice view
4
a nice jacket
2
a nice meal
5
a nice person
3
a nice holiday
6
a nice meeting
4
Look at these other common, basic adjectives 1–8.
Add three more precise adjectives from the box below
to each one.
1
good:
excellent
2
bad:
terrible
3
interesting:
fascinating
4
sad:
upsetting
5
boring:
dull
6
funny:
humorous
7
exciting:
dramatic
8
stupid:
crazy
absorbing absurd amusing appalling awful
brilliant compelling dreadful exhilarating
gripping heartbreaking hilarious laughable
monotonous moving nailbiting outstanding
repetitive ridiculous tedious terrific
thrilling touching witty
