A Brief Description Of How To Enrich And Use Learner’s English Vocabulary

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A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HOW TO ENRICH AND USE

LEARNER’S ENGLISH VOCABULARY

A PAPER

BY

SYAIDATI IFDARI

Reg. No. 062202002

DIPLOMA III ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LETTERS

UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA

MEDAN

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Approved

Supervisor

Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A Nip: 130535807

Submitted to Faculty of Letters University of Sumatera Utara

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for DIPLOMA (D-III) in English.

Approved by

Head of Program Study

Dra. Syahyar Hanum, DPFE Nip: 130702287

Approved by the Diploma III of English Study Program,

Faculty of Letters, University of Sumatera Utara

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Accepted by the Boars of Examiner in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

the D-III Examination of the Diploma III of English Study Program, Faculty of

Letters, University of Sumatera Utara.

The examination is held on

Faculty of Letters, University of Sumatera Utara

Dean,

Drs. Syaifuddin, M.A, Ph.D Nip: 132098531

Board of Examiner and Reader:

Examiner : Dr. Syahron Lubis, M.A

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AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

I am, SYAIDATI IFDARI to declare that I am the sole author of this paper. Except where reference is made in the text of this paper, this paper contains no

material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a paper by

which I have qualified for or awarded another degree.

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main

text of the paper. This paper has not been submitted for the award of another

degree in any tertiary education.

Signed :

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COPYRIGHT DECLARATION

Name : SYAIDATI IFDARI

Title of Paper : A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HOW TO ENRICH AND

USE LEARNER’S ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Qualification : D -III / Ahli Madya

Study Program : English

I am willing that my paper should be available for reproduction at the discretion of the Librarian of the Diploma III English Study Program Faculty of Letters USU on the understanding that users are made aware of their obligation under law of the Republic of Indonesia.

Signed :

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ABSTRAK

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the name of Allah SWT, The Benefit and Merciful. Praise be to Allah.

Firstly, I would like to thank and praise Allah SWT for blessing and guidance

given to me during the process of completing this paper to finish my study in

Diploma III English Study Program, Faculty of Letters, University of Sumatera

Utara.

My deep love and special gratitude are sent to my beloved parents, who

have patiently given me their moral and financial support, advice, love, and

prayers so that I can accomplish my study on time, my beloved young sister, Siti

Hazar Maulidia, my beloved brother, Wawan Hardana. Then my special thanks to

someone who has always accompanied in my life daily since a years ago.

My sincere thanks are expressed to my supervisor Dr. Syahron Libis, M.A,

who has spent his precious time to provide me with guidance and suggestion

during the process ofwriting this paper, and to Drs. Muhizar Muchtar, M.S who is

as my reader.

I also thank the head of Diploma III English Program, Dra. Syahyar

Hanum, DPFE, the Dean of Faculty of Letters University of Sumatera Utara, Drs.

Syaifuddin, M.A, Phd. I also express my sincere gratitude to all my lectures for

their valuable knowledge, guidance, and advice during my study.

Then I would like to express my special thanks for my best friends, Dinda

Artika, Winda Maya Sari, Dewi Salfia, Maryam Damanik, and Ermila Sari

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gave suggestions and help me when I was in difficult condition. Especially,

Maisyarah who always give mw information, good and bad news about her

condition and so do i.

I would like to thank all my classmates of class A and B. I am also grateful to all

my junior in Diploma III Study Program and to all the members of SOLIDAS.

Finally, as the Writer I would like to admit that this paper may be far from

being perfect. Therefore, I am open to any constructive critics and suggestions

Medan, 2008

The writer

SYAIDATI IFDARI

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ... i

COPYRIGHT DECLARATION ... ii

ABSTRACT ... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Background of the Study ... 1

2. The Scope of the Study ... 3

3. The Purpose of the Study ... 3

4. The Significance of the Study ... 4

5. The Method of the Study ... 4

CHAPTER II. THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY 2.1 English Vocabulary ... 5

2.2 Importance of Enriching ... 7

CHAPTER III. THE WAYS OF LEARNER’S ENGLISH VOCABULARY 3.1 Making Plane for Vocabulary Learning ... 9

3.2 Learning Vocabulary-General Advice ... 10

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3.4 Developing Vocabulary ... 14

3.4.1 Reading and Listening ... 14

3.4.2 Vocabulary Study Book ... 16

3.4.3 Idiom ... 16

3.5 Revising Vocabulary ... 21

CHAPTER IV. WORD USE 4.1. Common Confusing Words ... 24

4.2 Effective Words Choice ... 26

4.3 New Words in English ... 29

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Conclusions ... 32

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

In the world, people need a common language so that all of people any

country in the world can communicate to other people. According to Siahaan

(2008:1)

“Language is a set of rules used by human as a tool of their communication. The use of language is governed by the conventional rules shared by the speakers of the language. Each of them must obey the rules. Otherwise, they can not use it effectively for the sake of their communication. They can not communicate well. Event most, they can not understand each other. Therefore, in order to be successful to join commutative interaction, the members of speech community must use their language according to the conventional rules they share among themselves”.

English is international language. It is used by all of country in the world.

Although every countries have native language in, but they have the second

language to communication to other people in the world. The language is English.

So, to enter the international world we need English to communicate.

We have known that learning English is very important. We learn English

not only to pass examination, but also to improve our knowledge about English

and also to develop our ability in English to communicate. Learning English by

enriching our vocabulary can increase our skill in English.

Vocabulary is about words. A good vocabulary is an important part of

effective communication. A command of many words will make us a better

writer, speaker, listener, and reader, because having good vocabulary makes us

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effective words to write, easy to speak about what we want to tell to someone and

they understand it. What happens if we do not know about words that we want to

use? Of course, we are not confident and brave to speak. Perhaps, many people

are confused because they do not understand. To be a good listener, because we

can understand what they say to us in English and of course, we can respect it

directly without asking again what they say. Besides that, we will often listen to

the radio, songs and news on TV in English. So, learning and controlling

vocabulary is very important to overcome all of difficulties which are met in

English.

A research found that good vocabularies, more than any others factors was

common to people enjoying successful career, and also studies have shown that

student with a strong vocabulary and students who work to improve a vocabulary

are more successful in school. However, it must be supported by a good grammar.

Having good vocabulary without a good grammar is impossible for us to

understand reading. So, our skill in English will be perfect and then we have to

always improve continually our vocabulary.

In this paper, the writer chose the topic of vocabulary. The writer wanted

to describe some ways of enriching vocabulary. The writer wants to improve her

ability in English. We can do everything besides learning vocabulary, like

learning grammar, conversation, and how they are used because we do not only

enrich vocabulary but we use it in conversation, in making sentences, etc.

In this case, the writer cannot hope so much, she only hopes that the paper

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Speaking English well with enough vocabulary; the difficulties in English will be

overcome.

1.2 The Scope of the Study

In learning English, we need to enrich our vocabulary, because it can

improve our ability in English. In this topic, the writer wants to explain about

learning English by enriching English vocabulary. The writer will show some

useful techniques to enrich vocabulary. They will help us to learn not only the

meanings of words but also how they are used. We will learn more about the

words. However, it is impossible to explain them all in this paper. Therefore, the

writer has limited the scope of the study to how to enrich our vocabulary, how to

use them and how to activate new words.

1.3 The Purpose of the Study

The purposes of writing the paper are to

1. Improve our ability in English by enriching our vocabulary

2. know how to enrich vocabulary

3. Understand meaning of words and how to use them

4. Have enough vocabulary that will make us a better speaker, reader,

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1.4 The Significance of the Study

It is written to help us improve out English vocabulary. It will also help us

learn not only the meaning of words, but also how they are used as well to know

their meanings. We can use this paper either for self-study.

If we want to learn about language, of course we have to know more about

vocabulary of the language, the writer hope that this paper will help readers and

the other people to enrich vocabulary in English.

1.5 The Method of the Study

This study was made by doing a library research, some data were also

collected from internet.

The method of study is further justified as follows:

1. Collecting reference books that can support the study.

2. Reading reference books which are relevant to the paper

3. Selecting some important information from the reference book to

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CHAPTER II

THE ENGLISH VOCABULARY

2.1 English Vocabulary

In learning English, of course we must learn a lot of English vocabularies.

How many words are there in English? The question is unanswerable because

according to Bauer (1998:13),

“English keeps getting new words and probably in excess of 500 per years are deemed worthy of listing in mayor dictionaries. If all possible technical words are included, it seems likely that the total member of word of English exceeds one million”.

English vocabulary has a remarkable range, flexibility, and adaptability.

English seems to have far more words in its core vocabulary than other language.

All this tell you about how many words you know and how many you need to

know. Sometimes, we know how many words have to know when we are reading,

writing, hear them. We simply need to understand them. Clearly, we need to

spend most time learning the words and we would like to able to use.

In English vocabulary, there are some common words. The very common

words in English are article (a, an, the) preposition (to, at, in, etc) demonstrative

(this, these, etc) pronoun (I, you, she, he, etc) auxiliary verb (am, have, can, etc).

Beside that, we can find many words in an English-English dictionary; we will

find thousands of entries. Each word in the listing is called an entry. Each entry

begins with the correct spelling of the word. After the spelling, we will find the

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speech is very important to know function and position of the word in a sentence.

A common system to indicate the part of speech for an entry is:

- A noun (n) is the name of person, place, thing or feeling. A word is a noun

can conjugate. Conjugate means to change the form of the verb depending

on the noun or pronoun. For example: eat is a verb. It is possible to say, “I eat, you eat, he eats”. Other examples of verbs are: see, go, and run. - An adjective (adj) is a word that describes a nouns or pronoun. A word is

an adjective if we can use it in front of a noun. For example, good is an adjective. It is possible to say “the good boy” or “the good cars”. Other example of an adjective are: bad, tall, short, important, possible, and

rainy.

- An adverb is a word that tells how, when, or where. Here some example:

He drives his car slowly. (“Slowly” tell how he drives) I called her yesterday. (“Yesterday” tell when I called) He went there after lunch. (“There” tell where he went)

Other examples of adverbs are quickly, really, always, now, then, and

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- A preposition is a word that shows the relation of noun (or pronoun) to a

verb, and adjective, or another noun (or pronoun). For example of

prepositions are at, in, with, under, and near.

- A conjunction is a word that connects words, groups of words, or

sentences. Examples of conjunction are and, or, because, and however.

All of statement above is the first lesson to introduce about English. Then

we learn about structure language in English, because it is different with our

language.

English language has also idiomatic expression. This idiom language is

one of difficult part in learning English, because we must memorize to master

idiom. Idiom is a group of words with a meaning that is different from the

individual words (Lou, 2007:1). For example; never mind, call down. Therefore, English vocabulary is thing that we must master to improve our ability English.

2.2. The Importance of Enriching Vocabulary

Learning vocabulary is very important if we are learning English. If we

make a mistake in grammar, perhaps listener can still understand. However, if we

do not know word exactly to tell about something, it makes people confused.

Speaking English fluently means it needs rich vocabulary.

Perhaps, learning to know many words more intimately and any new word

that we learn in our study will add to our power to think well. However, the

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continue with our word study, watch for new words at all the time. Studying new

word, every day will add our vocabulary-collection tremendously.

We cannot always produce a word exactly when we want it, and

sometime, we do not know how many words we need to know. However, in

English vocabulary in use by McCarthy and O’Dell (1994:2) says:

“There are many words you do not need at all and there are other words that you simply need to understand when you read them. Finally, there are words, which you need to be able to use yourself. Clearly you need to spend most time learning this last group”.

The easiest way to extend our vocabulary is by acquiring group of word

from new experience. We can learn in hearing a radio station or some other new

place for the first time, new word come from experience, from job, sport, art,

book, and study. Perhaps, in that way, we can get vocabulary without making us

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CHAPTER III

THE WAYS OF ENRICHING LEARNER’S ENGLISH VOCABULARY

3.1 Making Plans for Vocabulary Learning

First of all if we want to do something, of course, we have planned firstly

about the planning. Besides, we learn grammar or structure an English language,

and we enrich our vocabulary. Do you learn English only to pass examination? In

addition, what do you want to hope better than only to pass examination? The

writer sure that all of us do not only want to pass examination, but we want to

improve our knowledge about English and improve our skill to use it as a means

of communication.

How are we going to plan our vocabulary learning? We will think how to

attend words in our mind every day, week, or month. Any question to make

planning in learning vocabulary. Here are some of the questions:

1. How many words and expressions do you intend to lean each week?

a) 5 b) 10 c) 15 d) more than 15

2. Where and when are you going to learn them?

a) in school b) in bed c) at leisure time d) other

3. How often are you going to revise your vocabulary?

a) Once a week b) once a month c) once a year d) other

Perhaps, the questions can help us to make planning in learning

vocabulary. Besides that, we can do our plans in enriching vocabulary through:

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2. learning idiom

3. making group with our friends that is called English club

4. card method

5. etc

After you make planning in learning vocabulary, you must do it like what

you plan so that your effort can be successful and perfect. Clearly making plan in

learning to enrich vocabulary is the first step toward success and master English.

3.2 Learning Vocabulary-General Advice

When we are studying English, we research many source to add our

knowledge in English. We read many books about English to know so much about

English. It is the same thing as when we are learning English vocabulary. We read

books about how to improve our vocabulary. In the books, we can read the words.

We can also know how many words that we have because the exercise can test our

vocabulary. It is a lesson. There are many ways of learning vocabulary; we can

memorize the words in our mind every day. We can do it anywhere in school on

the road, at home, in the library. May be in the library is a place where we learn

seriously. We can learn them whenever and wherever if we open our mind to get

information everything at the entire place. The information becomes knowledge

for all of us.

On this occasion, we do not only learn to memorize many words in our

mind, but also we learn to understand the meaning of word and how to ways of

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are studying. There are some ways to know a new word according to Mccarthy

and O’Dell(1994:2), they are:

• It is not enough just to know the meaning of a word. You also need to know:

a) What words it is usually associated with

b) Whether it has any particular grammatical characteristics c) How it is pronounced

• Try to learn new words not only in isolation but also in phrases.

• Write down adjective together with nouns they are often associated with and vice versa, e.g. royal family; rich vocabulary

• Write down nouns in phrases, e.g. in contact with; a train set; shades of opinion.

• Write down words with their preposition, e.g. at a high level; thanks to your help.

• Note any grammatical characteristics of the words you are studying. For example, note when a verb is irregular and when a noun is uncountable or is only used in the plural.

• Make a note of any special pronunciation problem with the words you are learning.

We can also learn vocabulary by reading or listening to English, talking to

native speakers in English. They are good and useful advice to increase our

vocabulary. The important thing is you can understand the meanings of the words

simply when you read and hear them.

3.3 Organizing a Vocabulary

Organizing a vocabulary is a good idea to think about possible ways of

enriching vocabulary. It is an easy way to memorize words in our mind without

making us confused and causing difficulty to memorize. It is also more flexible

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Sunbathing a. Organizing words by meaning

In this way, you need a notebook. This notebook divides vocabulary into a

large number of different topics. You could build families of words related in

meaning. For example, organize words for feelings, words for describing places,

words for education, etc.

Examples of organizing words for feelings are sad, confuse, love, happy, nice,

hate, like or dislike, etc. It is a similar way of organizing words for describing places and education.

b. Using various type of diagrams

A more general word can be drawn as a tree-diagram. We search words

that can be grouped at the general word or words that can be grouped under a

heading. As shown below.

FURNITURE

Living room bedroom kitchen

Television

Sofa bookcase lamp wardrobe mirror stool dresser

You can draw any other diagram with the different topic; it would help

you to remember vocabulary.

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c. Organizing by word-class

This section draws your attention to the traditional part of speech. The

importance of mastering word-class seems self-evident and it is the learner’s duty

to recognize a word-class that is an item belongs to especially when dealing with

the sentence structure and translation of phrase. In this way, you learn how to

operate word in the sentence and hope that this strategy is facility learning.

You can note words that have been organized by using card. Here are

some ways to make a vocabulary card,

1. Write down English words or phrases who you are not known meaning.

Write down each the word into the card or small paper. Do not forget to

write part of speech at each word.

2. At the back card, we can write meaning of the vocabulary. Beside the

meaning of the word, you also write the example of sentence from the

word. It is very useful because we can know how to use them

3. After you have 20 cards or more, you could play with them. You take each

the card, and then you learn word and meaning of the word. Do not

memorize them without voice, using our voice hardly. Therefore, you

could hear your pronunciation what it wrong or true is.

4. You can to test your memory ability whether you have mastered

vocabulary that is in the card. Repeat it repeatedly so that you have

mastered so much and vocabulary will not forget it.

One of the efforts to keep our vocabulary that we have in your mind is to

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3.4 Developing Vocabulary

This section will describe four ways of developing your word power. They

are reading and listening, vocabulary study book, idiom and making a new word

active. You should keep in mind from the start; however, that none of the

approaches will help unless you truly decide that vocabulary development is an

important goal.

3.4.1 Reading and listening

Reading and listening can be done as hobbies. we can read interesting books and listen to the music and speaking in English to improve our vocabulary.

Reading

Learning by reading English will certainly help ours self in learning

English vocabulary not only study with the book’s vocabulary. When we are

reading, we have just heard some new words. Moreover, we do not know the

meaning of word. When you have finished reading, look back what you have read,

afterwards write down the new word or expression that interest you. Before you

ask its meaning, decide first what part of speech word is and then look for clues in

its context or form. If it cannot help you, you can go to a dictionary.

Through reading a good deal, we will learn word by encountering them a

number of times in variety of sentences. We should develop the habit a daily

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some book for pleasure. Doing so, you may eventually reap the rewards of an

improved vocabulary and discover that reading can be truly enjoyable.

On book’s title is “ENRICH OUR VOCABULARY THROUGH READING

AND IDIOM” (Pora, 2002:10) tell about the simply effort to improve our ability

in reading. Here some ways of improving reading are:

a. Read as mush as possible

There is a very beautiful proverb tell that success today would lose tomorrow if stopping read. Reading by many topics will help to add insight and also vocabulary. More and more your vocabulary, more easy you read reading well and exactly. Moreover, you do not one only reading, but also the another one.

b. Read a challenge reading

You should not always read an easy reading but look for difficult enough subject, so if you have mastered it, of course the subject easy reading could handle.

c. Read critically

There is a proverb again tell that to read only give insight material for you. Think so that the reading becomes our own (John locke). Yes all right, think what b you are reading, ask to yourself about what the reading subject are you reading? and how the writer defend him ideas.

Listening

Listening is different from reading. Listening can introduce words in our

ears. If we never hear words in conversation’s native English speaker, although

we know the word in reading matter, it means we also know when we are hearing

them. Listening can help to improve our English in pronunciation.

Similarly with reading, when we listen to English do not panic when we

hear some or expressions that we do not know. Keeping listening and the overall

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3.4.2. Vocabulary study book

The way to increase you word power is to use vocabulary study books.

Many vocabulary books and programs are available. These books will help you

increase your vocabulary if you have the determination required to work with

them on a regular basis.

3.4.3 Idiom

English has a lot of idiom. It is not only used in conversation but also in

writing like books, newspapers, magazines etc. if someone speak no use idiom, so

the language that is use certainly will monotonous. Idiom make a language

become beautiful. Ability’s someone use idiom in daily conversation or in writing,

it means someone really understand language that is used.

In this section, we will learn about the meaning of idioms and types of

idioms.

a. The meaning of idioms

Idiom is a group words with a special meaning, which cannot be

understood by taking the meanings of the words one at a time (Robby lou, 2007:1)

Examples:

- He failed his test; it served him right because he had not studies.

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From the examples and definition of idioms, Robby Lou (2007:1) in his

book “The Handbook of English idioms” can conclude that:

1. Idiom cannot be understood from the word by word, but it should be

learned on the whole

2. Position of idiom is often strange, illogical, and frequently in grammatical

cannot be accepted.

Idioms have become from combination vocabulary that form new

meaning. Combination of the words is unexpected and does no have exact pattern

because they can be gotten from culture, histories, proverbial, and in fact daily.

For example,

- Crocodile tears, means “sadness which is actually not felt”. This idiom was gotten from legend that crocodile have a sad voice to interest attention

sacrifice and crying when it eat them.

- Cry wolf, means “give emergency warming which is actually not true”. Idioms were gotten from history about a shepherd child that gave a false

scream. It means that the wolf is eating sacrifice just for nicely.

- Pay the piper or pay the fiddler means “take consequence”

The idiom was gotten from the proverbial ‘who dances must pay the piper

or the fiddler’.

- Tail between one’s leg means that “lose feeling, shy, and very

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b. Types of idioms

Idiom can be grouped into eight parts, namely; idioms with adjectives and

noun in combination, idioms with preposition or adverbs, two-two verbs, idioms

in comparison, idiomatic verbal expressions, verbs and nouns used together

idiomatically, idiomatic adjective phrases, verbs, and preposition used together

idiomatically. Each of the types has some combination. We can study them in the

idiom books. In the book have been explained all about idiom.

A. Idiom with adjectives and nouns in combination

1. Pairs of adjectives

The both adjectives is usually joined with and, or and but, etc.

Examples:

a. Short and sweet (not wasting time; direct; brisk)

- Today’s lecture is short and sweet. b. Far and wide (everywhere)

- His name has spread far and wide

c. Last but not least (important although coming at the end)

- Last but not least i would like to thank God for every think.

2. Pairs of nouns

Examples:

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- They left the place bag and baggage.

b. Heart and soul (wholly)

- do it heart and soul, and you will be successful. c. Flesh and blood (one’s family or relations)

- No matter how sinful he is, he is your own flesh and blood.

3. Pair of adverbs and prepositions

Example;

a. Again and again (very often, repeatedly)

-haven’t I told you again and again not to do it? b. Once and for all (finally and completely)

- Let’s settle his once and for all.

c. Here and now (immediately, at this very time and place)

- I want my money back, and I want it here and now.

4. Pairs of verb

Example:

a. Hope and pray

- hope and pray for the best b. Wait and see (wait patiently)

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- do not moan and groan all the time. You are actually much luckier that most

people

5. Collective noun phrases a. people

Examples:

1. a company of actor

2. a troupe of dancer

3. a party of friends

4. a gang of laborers

5. a band of musicians

6. a tribe of natives

7. a team of players

8. a posse of policeman

9. a class of pupils

10.a crew of sailor

b. things

Examples:

1. a flight of aero planes

2. a heap of sand

3. a library of book

4. a pack 0f cigarette

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6. a bale of cotton

7. a chest of drawers

8. a suit of furniture

9. a group of islands

10.a set of tools

11.etc

c. animals

Examples:

1. a brood of chicken

2. a flight of bird

3. a flock of sheep/bird

4. a nest of ants/mice/rabbits

5. a swarm of bees/insects

6. a herd of buffaloes/cattle a shoal of fish a pack of wolves a team of oxen

7. a litter of kittens/puppies etc

In this section, explanation about idiom is enough here, it is still so many

else types of idiom. The other explanations about types of idiom, you can get it in

the book’s robby lou by title ‘The Handbook of English Idioms’.

3.5 Revising Vocabulary

When you have done all the steps each ways of enriching vocabulary,

close your book and notebook and remind yourself of what you have been

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In this section, you can revise your vocabularies that have been studying.

One of the great advantages of revising vocabulary is it help you make the step

from having something in your passive vocabulary to having it in your active

vocabulary.

Here are some suggestions to revise your vocabulary;

 Highlight any word and expression that you forgot when you remind them

 Look at the vocabulary and choose ten words and expressions or more that

you particularly want or need to learn. Write down them.

 Look up any word that you selected in an English-English dictionary.

 Perhaps the dictionary can help you find some other word based on the

root. Look up the noun, employment, will lead you to the verb “employ”,

to the noun “employer and employee, and, perhaps, to the adjectives

“employable, unemployed” and “self-employed”.

 Write down the words and expression you wish to learn in phonetic script.

Use a dictionary to help you.

 Write down the word and phrase from the unit in your notebook in a

different way.

 The next day, ask yourself again, how much can I remember?

 Test your self. Cover part of a word or phrase. Can you remember the

complete word or phrase?

The great way to memorize our vocabulary is you must use them in your

daily activity. You have time to present them in your life or make the new word

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 Write the words and expressions, you are trying to use it in a sentence relating

to your life and interests at the moment.

 Make a point of using the new words and expressions in your homework

 Keep a learning diary in which you note down thing that particularly interest

you about the words you have learnt.

 Watch out for the words and expressions you are trying to learn in your

general reading of English. If you come across any of them in use, write them

in their context in your diary or notebook

 Write a paragraph or story linking the words and expressions you want to

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CHAPTER IV WORD USE

4.1 Some Common Confusing Words

Some common confusing words have the same sound but different

meaning and spelling. Such word are known as homonyms (examples, all ready

and already), the same pronunciation and spelling (example, specially and

especially, a number of and the number of), one word have many functions

(example, before as adverb, conjunction, and preposition). It should be learnt

similarity and difference of function of those confusing words. Knowing

similarity and difference of function of the confusing words, can avoid snares of

the questions in the TOEFL.

- All ready completely prepared Already previously; before

We are all ready to start the play. I have already called the police.

- All together all people; all thing Altogether very; really

The teacher and student sang all together

My new house is not altogether finished

- Brake stop; the stopping device in a vehicle

Break rest; pause

He braked suddenly He breaks for coffee

- Hear perceive with the ear

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“The salespeople act as though they do not see or hear me, even though I have been standing here for fifteen minutes,” the woman complained.

- Knew past form of know

New not old

I read new book about English

I knew there was some reason the place looked better.

Many kinds of confusing word have the same sound but different meaning

and spelling.

Following is a list of other words that frequently make people confuse.

- a, an.

Both a and an are used before other word to mean, approximately, “one” Generally you should use a before words starting with a vowel (a,e,u,i,o):

An experiment an elephant an ache

Generally, you should use a before word starting with a consonant (all other

letters): a coke, a brain, a television.

- Among implies three or more

Besides being unattractive, these uniforms are impractical.

- Advice noun meaning “an opinion”

Advise verb meaning “to counsel, to give advice

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- Affect verb meaning, “to influence”

Effect verb meaning, “to bring about something”; noun meaning “result”

The full effects of marijuana and alcohol on the body are only partly known; However, both drugs clearly affect the brain in various ways.

Finally, you should learn the function the word that have same sound, but

different meaning and spelling, or same meaning but different function in the

sentences. Therefore, we would not be confused to choose word exactly in

conversation or writing.

4.2 Effective Word Choice

In writing, you should choose word carefully. Effective word choice

means you must have enough vocabulary. You must know word exactly in

writing. We should develop the habit of selecting words that are appropriate and

exact for our purposes. One way we can show sensitivity to language is by

avoiding slang, clichés, and pretentious words.

Slang

We often use slang expression when we talk because they are so vivid and

colorful. However, slang is usually out of place in formal writing. Here are some

examples of slang expression:

My girlfriend got straight with me by saying she wanted to see other man

My boss keeps riding me about coming to work late.

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Slang expressions have a number of drawbacks: they go out of date

quickly, they become tiresome of use excessively in writing and they may

communicate clearly too some readers but not to others. In addition, the use of

slang can be a way of evading the specific detail that are often needed to make

one’s meaning clear in writing. For example, in “The tires on the Corvette make

the car look like some thing else,” the writer has not provided the details about the

tires necessary for us to understand the statement clearly. In general, then, you

should avoid slang in your writing. If you are in doubt about whether an

expression is slang, it may help to check a recently published hardbound

dictionary.

Examples: The movie was a real bomb, so we cut out early (slang)

The movie was terrible, so we left early (formal word)

Clichés

A cliché is an expression that has been worn out through constant use

(Langan, 2002:531). Some typical clichés are listed below:

All work and no play saw the light

At a loss for words short but sweet

Better late than never sigh of relief

Drop in the bucket singing the blues

Easier said than done taking a big chance

Had a hard time of it time and time again

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In this day and age too little, too late

It dawned on me took a turn for the worse

It goes without saying under the weather

Last but not least where he (she) is coming from

Make ends meet word to the wise

On top of the world work like a dog

Sad but true

According to Langan (2002:532)

“Cliché are common in speech but make your writing seem tired and stale. In addition, cliché like slang, they are often a way of evading the specific details that we must work to provide in our writing. We should avoid cliché and try to express our meaning in fresh, original ways”.

Examples: I passed the test by the skin of my teeth (cliché)

I barely passed the test (trite expression)

Pretentious word

According to Langan (2002:532) says,

“some people feel that they can improve their writing by using fancy, elevated words rather than simple, natural words. They use artificial and stilted language that more often obscures their meaning than communicates it clearly”.

Here are some unnatural-sounding sentences:

I comprehend her statement.

While partaking of our morning meal, we engaged in an animated conversation.

I am a stranger to excessive financial sums.

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The same thoughts can be expressed more clearly and effectively by using

plain, natural language, as below:

I understood what she said

While eating breakfast, we had a lively talk.

I have never had much money

Police officers directed traffic when the lights stopped working.

4.3 New Word in English

No language stands still. New words and expressions are always being

created, usually because something new is invented or sometimes just for fun. No

government committee decides whether a new word is acceptable or not; if it is

used frequently, and in a variety of context, it will find its ways into dictionary.

Here are some of the words and expression that have come into English since

1980.

New science and technology

Faxable : able to be sent by fax machine

Junk fax : unsolicited material, such as adverts, sent by fax

Tummy tuck : a plastic surgery operation to remove fat from the stomach

Sound bite : a brief excerpt from a speech or statement, broadcast on TV

New sports and fashions

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Snow surfing : skiing downhill sideways on a large single ski

Vogueing : a style of dancing to house music incorporating the movements

and gestures of models displaying clothes

Political and social trend

Eco-friendly : not harming the environment

Cardboard city: area occupied by cardboard boxes serving as homes for the

homeless

Teleworking : working from home communicating by computer and fax

Advertocracy : pursuit of public policy by mass advertising campaigns

Destatisation : withdrawal of the state from areas that was previously

state-controlled as in the (former) soviet bloc in the 80s and 90s

Gorbymania : extreme enthusiasm for the former Soviet President, Mikhail

Gorbachev

Newmannery : behavior of the new man (gentle, caring, non-sexist)

Couch potato : a lazy person who prefers watching TV to being active

New words from other languages

Fatwa : formal legal opinion delivered by an Islamic leader (Arabic)

Karaoke : singing pop songs solo to recorded music in bars (Japanese)

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New word or meanings for old words

Ageism : prejudice against someone because of their age

Nostalgise : to indulge in nostalgia

Pre-schooler : a child not yet old enough for school

Dark-green : holding radically green political beliefs

Singlehood : the state of being single rather than married

Clegyperson : a male or female member of the clergy (a typical development

from clergyman. Compare chairperson)

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions

Enrich vocabulary is not an easy thing when we are learning English, but it

is very important for us to develop our ability in English. Learning English is not

only to pass examination, but also to improve our knowledge in English and also

to improve our skill in using English to communicate. In this paper, it is clear that

the ways of enriching and using learner’s English vocabulary are by learning

vocabulary-general advice, organizing a vocabulary and then developing

vocabulary by reading and listening, vocabulary study book, idiom. This paper

also let the readers know about the step in learning vocabulary, namely, planning,

studying, and revising vocabulary.

5.2 Suggestions

By writing this paper, the reader can learn about how to enrich and use

English vocabulary. It is also necessary to improve ability in English by mastering

vocabulary. Rich vocabulary will make us a good listener, writer, reader and

speaker. However, it is not only enough to know ways of enriching and using it

without practicing it.

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Halim, Paul. 2005. Percaya Diri Berbahasa Inggris. Jakarta: Puspa Suara

Langan, John. 2002. English Skill with Reading. New York: McGraw-Hill

Lou, Robby. 2007. The Handbook of English Idioms. Jakarta: V-print.

McCarthy, Micheal and Fecility O’Dell. 1997. English Vocabulary in Use: Pre-Intermediate & Pre-Intermediate. Cambridge: ERLANGGA

McCarthy, Micheal and Felicity O’Dell. 1994. English Vocabulary in Use: Upper-intermediate & Advanced. Cambridge: ERLANGGA

Poran, Yusran. 2002. Enrich our Vocabulary through Reading and Idiom. Yogyakarta : Pustaka Pelajar

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Solahudin, 2008. The Great Problems in English. Jogjakarta: DIVA Press