English vocabulary
Build English Vocabulary You Can Actually Use
A useful word is more than a translation. Learn what it commonly appears with, when it sounds natural and how to retrieve it during a real conversation.
Learn phrases and connections
Record a short context, a common collocation and your own example. For “deadline,” useful connections include “meet a deadline,” “miss a deadline” and “extend a deadline.”
Context
Could we extend the deadline until Monday?
Collocation
meet a deadline
Personal example
I need to meet a deadline at work this week.
Review by recalling, not rereading
- Cover the target phrase and retrieve it from the situation.
- Use it in a new sentence about your life.
- Review after a short gap, then again after longer gaps.
- Mix old and new phrases so recognition becomes active recall.
Create a small topic bank
- People and relationships
- Daily routines and services
- Work and study
- Travel and directions
- Opinions, reasons and comparisons