When we talk about vocabulary, it does not involve individual words only. It includes idioms (e.g. as easy as pie meaning very easy), phrasal verbs (e.g. do something over, meaning to do something a second time), and collocations (i.e. words that often appear together such as commit suicide, lions roar, etc). Vocabulary, for the purposes of TOEFL, means using words the way native speakers use them.

Vocabulary in TOEFL ?
Even though there is no section in the TOEFL called “Vocabulary”, it undoubtedly plays an important role in every section. Every section?
Look at the sample sentences below.
David wants to marry as beautiful a woman as possible.
You’ll just have to make do with what you have.Do any of the sentences seem incorrect and strange to you? If yes, you do need to improve your vocabulary skills.
There is nothing wrong with those two sentences, no matter how strange they may look to non-native English speaker. So have you convinced to learn vocabulary now?
You surely know how TOEFL Reading Section needs your skills in vocabulary: for helping you understand the passage more. Listening section tests your listening skills, that is very true. But how can you expect to answer questions about what you have heard if you do not know the meaning of what has been said in the audio?

In the Structure and Written Expression Section, getting the correct answer often depends more on your knowledge of idioms and collocations (which is belong to vocabulary skills) rather than your grammar. What is more, it depends on your knowing whether something “sounds right or not”.

Here are some tips on how to improve your English vocabulary skills.

1.    Read. This is the most powerful way to build your vocab skill. When you read something, you will encounter many new words you do not know. You may also encounter idioms that you haven’t heard before. Many of them you can often predict its meaning from its context. Reading offers not only your sense and awareness of words, but also a real feel for them. Instead of reading easy passage, try challenging yourself by reading entire news from New York Times or Wall Street Journal.

2.   Listen. Remember that as a kid, you learned words by listening what your parents and people around you said. Listen to some podcast (especially that talk about hard topic such as lectures), and when you find new words, again, try to figure out the meaning by its context. You will get not only a whole bunch of new vocab but also how to pronounce them.

3.    Writedown words you read and hear that you do not know. Reading and listening are the ways you expose yourself to new words. Once someone uses a word you’re unfamiliar with, or you come across a new word while reading, write it down in your notebook, or smartphone. Don’t forget to look up its meaning in dictionary, and write it next to the correspondent word. Do the same for idioms, collocations, and phrasal verbs.

4.   Use the new words in your writing or conversation as much as you can. This will surely help you to sear the word into your mind, thus it will soon become your habit.

We in TEST English School, Kampung Inggris like to learn about vocabularies: idioms, collocations, phrasal verb.. you name it. Learn together is much more fun, right? So, what else are you waiting for?