Vocabulary - Upper-Intermediate

This page has four pre-created vocabulary exercises for students learning English as a second language.

• Suffixes
• Phrasal Verbs
• Disaster Vocabulary
• Commonly Confused Words

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Suffixes

A suffix is a word's grammatical ending. If you recognise suffixes, it will help you with grammar and meaning.

There are two types of suffix:

1. derivational - tells you what type of word it is eg. noun or adjective. For example, -or (in actor) indicates a noun.
2. inflectional - tells you something about the word's grammatical behaviour. For example, -s indicates that a noun is plural.

Here is a list of some of the most important derivational suffixes:

• Nouns (people): -er, -or, -ee, -ess
• Nouns (abstract): -ness, -ity, -al, -ion, -ment, -hood
• Nouns or adjectives: -ist, -ian, -ese
• Adjectives: -al, -ous, -ic, -ful, -less
• Verbs: -ize/-ise, -ify, -en

The Web-based activity below gives you some practice in using suffixes. For each item, circle your answer in the table below. Check your answers. Make sure you circle the letter before checking! Write down the number correct out of 9. Go to this Website to access the activity: http://a4esl.org/q/h/9704/jj-suffixes.html 1 A B C D E 2 A B C D E 3 A B C D E 4 A B C D E 5 A B C D E 6 A B C D E 7 A B C D E 8 A B C D E 9 A B C D E Total Correct: ______/ 9 Student's Name: ________________

More Information and Practice

To learn more about suffixes and/or do more practice, the following Websites might be useful.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/wordbuilding/suffixes/factsheet.shtml
http://ueno.cool.ne.jp/let/prefix.html
http://www.wordfocus.com/

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Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs, also known as 'idioms' are very common in English. There are dictionaries which only contain phrasal verbs.

Do you know the meaning of "put off" or "brought up", for example? The following Web-based activity will give you some practice on the meanings of phrasal verbs such as these as well as some other English words.

Which choice has the closest meaning?

The Website below will test your understanding of the following phrasal verbs and some other vocabulary items. Perhaps you would like to go through them first to see how many you know before trying the activity.

- give someone a hand	- taken off
- put off	- hang on
- catch	- make of
- link	- look it up
- do without	- quit
- brought up	- take place
- put on	- could
- put away

Read the 'About' and 'Options' information before starting. You will be given 15 multiple choice items on word forms. Click the answer you think is correct. You will be told if it is the correct answer or not. At the end of this activity, please note down how many correct you scored out of 15. (The computer will tell you this.) You can retry any items you got wrong. If you are not sure why you got an item wrong, please make a note of it and ask the teacher. Go to this Website to access this activity. http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz89mmo.htm Total Correct: ______/ 15 Student's Name: ________________

More Practice

For more practice on idioms, go to this Website:
http://a4esl.org/q/h/idioms.html

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Disaster Vocabulary

Very often, the news includes an item about a disaster somewhere in the world. They may be natural or man-made. Your country may experience one of more types on a regular basis.

The following Web-based activity gives you the chance to test your understanding of the names of various disasters. Before you begin the activity, you might like to go through this list to see how many you already understand.

explosion	drought	tornado
earthquake	blizzard	pollution
tidal wave/tsunami	famine	epidemic
riot

In this activity you have to give the name of the disaster for each definition. The list above will help you. Record your answer to each definition in the space provided below. Check your answers by clicking on the "Answer' arrow. Please write down an answer before checking the answer otherwise there is no point in doing this activity. Record the number correct out of 10. Go to this Website to access this activity. http://a4esl.org/q/h/vc-disaster-lb.html 1. 6. 2. 7. 3. 8. 4. 9. 5. 10. Total Correct: ______/ 10 Student's Name: ________________

More Information

For more information on disasters, try these Websites:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001437.html
http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Environment_and_Nature/Disasters/

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Commonly Confused Words

In English, as you will know, there are many words which have the same pronunciation but are spelled differently and have different meanings. For example, do you know the difference between 'holy' and 'wholly'? Or, what about 'blew' and 'blue'?

The next two Web-based activities will present you with a number of pairs or groups of words which sound the same but you will have to understand their meanings in order to complete the activity.

Part 1 - Quiz 8 For each item, circle the letter of the correct answer in the table below. Please make your choice before checking the answer otherwise it's a waste of time doing this activity. Write down how many were correct out of 20. If you do not understand any of the words or why you were wrong, please ask the teacher. Go to this Website to access this activity. http://a4esl.org/q/h/dt/conwd08.html 1 A B 11 A B 2 A B 12 A B 3 A B 13 A B 4 A B 14 A B 5 A B 15 A B 6 A B 16 A B 7 A B 17 A B 8 A B 18 A B 9 A B 19 A B 10 A B 20 A B Total Correct: ______/ 20 Student's Name: ________________

Part 2 - Quiz 11 For each item, circle the letter of the correct answer in the table below. Please make your choice before checking the answer otherwise it's a waste of time doing this activity. Write down how many were correct out of 20. If you do not understand any of the words or why you were wrong, please ask the teacher. Go to this Website to access this activity. http://a4esl.org/q/h/dt/conwd11.html 1 A B 11 A B 2 A B 12 A B 3 A B 13 A B 4 A B 14 A B 5 A B 15 A B 6 A B 16 A B 7 A B 17 A B 8 A B 18 A B 9 A B 19 A B 10 A B 20 A B Total Correct: ______/ 20 Student's Name: ________________

More Practice

For more practice on commonly confused words in English, you could try this Website: http://a4esl.org/a/v5.html

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