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Cambridge – English Vocabulary in Use – Pre-intermediate & Intermediate

Worksheet 4: English language words

A Parts of speech

nouns

verbs

adjectives

adverbs

prepositions

pronouns

articles

e.g. chair, information, happiness

e.g. choose, tell, complain

e.g. happy, tall, dangerous

e.g. slowly, carefully, oftene.g. in, at, on

e.g. me, you, him, we, it, she

e.g. definite article (the); indefinite article (a/an)

B Special terms

Uncountable noun:  (U) a noun which has no plural form and cannot be used with the indefinite

article, e.g. information.

Plural noun:  (pl) a noun which only has a plural form and cannot be used with the indefinite

article, e.g. trousers. 

Infinitive:  the base form of a verb, e.g. (to) work, (to) stop, (to) be.  

Phrasal verb:  a verb+ adverb and/or preposition, e.g. turn on (verb+ adverb), look after (verb+

preposition), give up (verb+ adverb), put up with (verb+ adverb+ preposition). 

Idiom:  a group of words with a meaning that is different from the individual words, e.g.

never mind, hang on, a short cut, keep an eye on something. 

Transitive verb:  a verb which needs a direct object, e.g. Police caught the man ('the man' is the

direct object of the verb 'caught'). 

Intransitive verb:  a verb which does not need a direct object, e.g. The books arrived on time.

(There is no direct object after arrive.) 

C Word building

In the word uncomfortable, un- is a prefix, comfort is a root, and -able is a suffix. Other common prefixes

include: re- , in- , and dis-; common suffixes include: -ity  , -ment  , and -ive.

Many words also have synonyms, which are words with the same meaning. For example, 'big' is a synonym

of 'large'. The opposite is 'small'.

D Pronunciation

Dictionaries show the pronunciation of a word using phonetic symbols, e.g. book /bʊk/, before /bɪ'f ɔ:/,

cinema /'sɪnəmə/, and so on.

Each word contains one or more syllables: 'book' has one syllable; 'before' has two syllables (be-fore);

'cinema' has three syllables (ci-ne-ma); 'education' has four syllables (e-du-cation); and so on.

For pronunciation, it is important to know which syllable has the main stress. On 'before' it is the second

syllable (before); on 'cinema' it is the first (cinema); and on 'education' it is the third (education).

Note: Dictionaries mark stress in different ways: in bold (return); or a ' before the main syllable (re'turn).

Make sure you understand how your dictionary shows it.

E Punctuation

full stop . comma , brackets ( ) hyphen - question mark ? 

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Cambridge – English Vocabulary in Use – Pre-intermediate & Intermediate

Exercises

1 There is one word missing in each line of this text. Where does the missing word go? What

could it be? And what type of word is it (noun, verb, etc.)? Look at the example first.

Last year I went to ^ for my holiday. I spent the first

week Seville staying with a couple of friends, andthen I took a train to Barcelona where spent another

ten days. It is beautiful city and I had a marvellous

time. I stayed in a very hotel right in the centre, but

I didn't mind spending a lot money because it is a

wonderful and also very convenient. My brother was

the person who recommended it; he goes Spain a lot

and he stays anywhere else.

noun (Spain)

 ________________ ________________

 ________________

 ________________

 ________________

 ________________

 ________________

 ________________

2 Find in the dialogue at least one example of: an uncountable noun; a plural noun; a phrasal verb;

an idiom?

A: What's the time?

B: 8 o'clock, so we'd better get a move on if we're going to meet your sister at the airport.

A: That's alright. Her flight doesn't arrive until 8.30.

B: Yeah, but it'll take us an hour to get there - you know what the traffic is like.

A: OK. I'll just go and get changed.

B: What's wrong with those shorts?

A: I don't like driving in shorts. I'm going to put some jeans on.

3 Look at the underlined verbs. Which are transitive and which are intransitive?

1 She broke her leg. 4 Take off your jacket.

2 I got up at seven thirty. 5 She doesn't like Chinese food.

3 We arrived late. 6 He told me to sit down.

4 How many syllables are there in each of the words in the box?

English understand before noun informal education adjective

decide pronunciation opposite preposition comfortable

Now mark the main stress on each of the above words.

5 Look at these words, then answer the questions below.

happy correct lucky sure possible

1 What part of speech are these words?

2 Change each one into an adverb.

3 Can you write down a synonym for at least three of the words?

4 Which prefix do you need to form the opposite of each word? (three different ones)

5 Which word has the main stress on the second syllable?

1 1 in Seville (preposition) 2 I spent (pronoun) 3 a beautiful city (indefinite article) 4 expensive hotel (adjective) 5 of money (preposition)

6 wonderful hotel/place (noun) 7 to Spain (preposition) 8 never stays (adverb)

2 uncountable noun: time; traffic plural noun: shorts; jeans phrasal verb: get in; put on idiom: get a move on

3 1 transitive 2 intransitive 3 intransitive 4 transitive 5 transitive 6 intransitive

4  Syllables and main stress (underlined) / One syllable: noun / Two syllables: English; decide; before Three syllables: informal; understand; adjective; opposite;

comfortable (Four syllables are possible here, but the 'or' is silent for most native speakers most of the time) Four syllables: education; preposition / Five syllables:

pronunciation

5 1 adjectives 2 happily; correctly; luckily; surely; possibly 3 happy/content; correct/right; lucky/fortunate; sure/certain; no clear synonym for 'possible', although

'maybe' and 'perhaps' are very similar 4 unhappy; incorrect; unlucky; unsure; impossible 5 correct