Vocabulary questions are where candidates decide they are "bad at English". That conclusion is usually wrong. A paper cannot test a vocabulary of 100,000 words; it tests a few hundred words that recur across past papers, plus a set of Latin and Greek building blocks that let you work out words you have never met.
The consequence is that this section is unusually improvable. Learning fifty roots and prefixes is a weekend of work and it pays marks in vocabulary, analogies, sentence completion and reading comprehension at the same time.
Attack an unknown word with three tools, in this order.
The model's limit: some words are simply arbitrary, and no decomposition helps. Those are the ones to add to a review list rather than reason about.
Prefixes that reverse or oppose. un-, in-, im-, il-, ir-, dis-, mis-, anti-, counter-, non-. Incredible, implausible and irreversible all carry the same negative prefix in different spellings chosen for pronunciation.
Prefixes of direction and degree. pre- (before), post- (after), sub- (under), super- and hyper- (above), hypo- (under), over-, under-, extra-, co- (together), re- (again).
Roots worth memorising.
| Root | Meaning | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| dict | say, speak | predict, contradict, malediction |
| spec / spect | look, watch | inspect, retrospect, circumspect |
| ject | throw | reject, eject, project |
| port | carry | transport, portable, export |
| scrib / script | write | describe, prescribe, manuscript |
| vert | turn | convert, revert, avert |
| duc / duct | lead | conduct, induce, abduct |
| cred | believe | credible, credulous, credentials |
| bene | good | benefit, benevolent, benediction |
| mal | bad | malice, malignant, malnutrition |
Combine the roots and the meaning appears without a dictionary. Malediction is mal (bad) plus dict (speak): a curse. Benediction is its opposite: a blessing. Credulous is cred (believe) plus the sense of "given to": someone who believes too readily — which is why credulous is a criticism while credible is a compliment.
Words that recur, in pairs. Learning antonyms together is more efficient than learning single words, because antonym questions are common and the pair reinforces both meanings.
| Word | Meaning | Opposite |
|---|---|---|
| candid | honest, direct | evasive |
| frugal | careful with money | extravagant |
| tenacious | persistent | yielding |
| lucid | clear | obscure |
| ephemeral | lasting a very short time | enduring |
| benign | harmless, kindly | malignant |
| obstinate | stubborn | compliant |
| superficial | shallow | profound |
Choose the word closest in meaning to "ephemeral".
Options: permanent, short-lived, colourful, expensive.
The root is not decisive here — ephemeral comes from the Greek for "lasting a day" — so use the recall pair from the table: ephemeral is the opposite of enduring, and its meaning is something that lasts a very short time. The answer is short-lived.
Now the same word inside a sentence, which is the harder form:
The applause was ephemeral; within a minute the hall was silent again.
Here the context does the work: the second half of the sentence tells you the applause ended quickly, so whatever ephemeral means, it must be consistent with a one-minute life. Notice that a candidate who does not know the word can still answer a question framed this way, provided the sentence contains a definition or a contrast. Learn to look for that structure — a semicolon, a dash, or a word like although — because it is placed there deliberately.
Using the roots mal and dict, what does malediction mean?
What does frugal mean?
Using the root cred, which meaning fits credulous?
Without looking back: what do the roots spect, vert and port mean, and how do you handle a word you have never seen before?
The answer is: to look, to turn and to carry. An unknown word is handled by splitting it into prefix, root and suffix, then checking the sentence's charge and structure before choosing.
Fill in the blanks from memory:
The prefix meaning bad is , and describing something that lasts a very short time uses the word . The word that means honest and direct, whose opposite is evasive, is .
Without a dictionary, decide what each of these words most likely means, and say which clue decided it: circumspect, induce, prescribe.
Circumspect: spect means look, and circum means around, so the sense is looking around before acting — cautious and careful. Nothing about the word suggests certainty or speed, which is why it is the opposite of rash.
Induce: duc means lead, and in- suggests into, so the sense is to lead someone into something — to persuade, or to bring about a result. This is why a doctor inducing labour is bringing a process about, and a fact inducing a conclusion is leading you to it.
Prescribe: scrib means write, and pre means before, so the original sense is writing in advance — which is why it applies both to a doctor writing instructions ahead of the treatment and to a rule laid down before the situation arises. Its near-twin proscribe shares the root and means to forbid; it is written pro- (before, publicly) + scrib (write), that is to write publicly against something. The pair is a favourite of test writers precisely because it is so easy to confuse.
The skill being practised is not memorising these three words, it is committing to an inference and being able to name the clue that produced it. Naming the clue is what prevents you from talking yourself into the wrong option under time pressure.
Vocabulary gives you the meaning of individual words. The next lesson works the same knowledge in both directions: picking the closest synonym and, more sharply, the antonym, where a single prefix can reverse the answer. Synonyms and antonyms are where roots pay off twice, once to decode and once to choose.