Good English Guide For GCE Level ISBN : 978-981-05-0135-8

To prepare good curry, you need kitchen utensils and the basic ingredients like chilies, onion, ginger, garlic, cumin seed, coconut milk etc. Likewise, to prepare for the English paper of the General Certificate of Education  or Senior High School Diploma, you will need to know a number of basic English words. These words are listed in this book and each word is explained in details to indicate its meaning beyond any doubt.

 

Each word is used in  a full sentence to indicate  its meaning beyond any doubt. Speak and write Standard English. Command respect and admiration, be confident and effective. Express your ideas clearly.

 

The following are some of the words you need to know before appearing for any college entrance examination:

 

Item 1

Associate (noun: declaring oneself in agreement)

Partner (noun: a person who takes part in a business with shared risks and profits)

                                                  

Correct: Mr. Brown is our business associate.

Correct: Mr. Hill is one of the partners in this company.

 

Item 2

Assignation (noun: a secret appointment to meet between illicit lovers)

Assignment (noun: handling over of something)

 

Correct: The hotel owner arranged assignation for this gentleman and the lady.

Correct: My last assignment was to teach English language to engineers

              who graduated from non-English medium colleges.

 

Item 3

Arouse (verb: to give rise to, especially a feeling or emotion, to induce)

Rouse (verb: to stir to action or to bring out of a state of sleep)

 

Correct: His nervousness aroused the suspicions of the police.

Correct: The loud bang of the thunder roused every body last night.

 

Item 4

Abjure (noun: to renounce or repudiate)

Adjure (verb: to request earnestly)

 

Correct: He abjured the consuming of meats from today.

Correct: His friend adjured him to consider carefully before handing over his

               resignation letter.

 

Item 5

Abrogate (verb: to abolish)

Arrogate (verb: to assume without right)

 

Correct: Slavery was abrogated long ago.

Correct: The maintenance head arrogated the recruiting responsibility.

 

Item 6

Appraise (verb: to estimate or evaluate the worth of)

Apprise (verb: to inform or advise)

Assess (verb: to estimate the size, quality, or value of)

 

Correct: Before you appraise the employees, you will not know which are the ones to

              retrench.

Correct: The king has not yet been apprised of the decision by the armed forces. 

Correct: Our accountants assessed the amount of tax we had to pay last year.

 

Item 7

Amoral (adj.: cannot understand the concept of right or wrong)

Immoral (adj.: morally wrong, wicked, evil)

 

Correct: The truly amoral people are the babies and the lunatics

Correct: It is immoral to kill innocent people.

 

Item 8

Await (verb: wait for)

Wait (verb: defer)

 

Correct: A surprise awaits you for your next birthday.

Correct: We waited for a month before we received the cargo.

 

Item 9

Assume (verb: to accept as true without proof)

Presume (verb: to accept as true with something to back up, but not a  strong evidence)

 

Correct: The customers did not complain before and therefore we assumed they are

               satisfied.

Correct: We received a complaint from one of our customers before and therefore we

               presumed majority of them were not satisfied with our service.

 

Item 10

Assure (verb: to reassure, make confident)

Insure (verb: to safe guard against loss or damage by paying insurance)

Ensure (verb: to make certain)

 

Correct: We assured the casualty that we could reach a hospital within an hour.

Correct: He insures his cargo for a million dollars.

Correct: I ensure the client will receive the component by next week.

 

Item 11

Aircraft (noun: machine capable of flight, word is used as singular or plural)

Aeroplane (noun: powered aircraft with wings, British spelling)

Airplane (noun: powered aircraft with wings, U.S. spelling)

 

Correct: One of the aircraft was damaged by the terrorists.

Correct: The aeroplane / airplane landed safely.

 

Item 12

Alternate (adj.: following each other in succession)

Alternative (noun: a choice between one of two or more things)

 

Correct: These two groups of people work on alternate days.

Correct: There will be a lot of alternatives to consider.

 

12.1

Ascetic (adj. self-discipline, one who renounces material comforts to lead a life of self-     discipline)

Acetic (adj. sour, containing acid or vinegar)

 

Correct : Sakyamuni became an ascetic at the age of twenty-nine.

Correct:  Lime juice is acetic.

 

12.12

Assurance (noun: a guarantee or pledge, confidence)

Insurrance  (noun: a means of being insured, a sum paid to provide for a possible 

                    contingency, e.g. an accident)

 

Correct:  He did not start the project until he obtained the assurance from his friends that

               they would back him up with financial support.

Correct:  He pays over $600 every year for his car insurance.

 

Item 13

Although (conj.: despite the fact that)

Though (conj.: Interchangeable with although except at the end of a sentence, e.g.

               They looked tired, though.)

 

Correct: Althoug h he was having fever, he came to work.

Correct: Though he was sick, he came to work.

 

Item 14                                  

Aren’t you

 

Correct:  You’re going to England tomorrow, aren’t you?     

Wrong:   You’re going to England tomorrow, isn’t it?

 

Item 15

Advise (verb: offering words of opinion)

Advice (noun: words offered as an opinion)

 

Correct:  He advises her not to waste the money.

Wrong:   He advices her not to waste the money

Correct: She was not happy with his advice.

Wrong:  She was not happy with his advise.

 

Item 16

Am not going to do nothing

 

Correct: I am not going to do anything today.

Wrong: I am not going to do nothing today.

 

Item 17

Allude (verb: to mention something indirectly, without identifying it)

Elude (verb: to manage to get away from)

 

Correct: He uses his poems to allude the corrupt practices of his manager. 

Correct: He eluded paying some income tax last year.

 

Item 18

Allusion (noun: indirect reference to something, a hint)

Illusion (noun: deception)

Delusion (noun: a false impression or opinion)

 

Correct: The allusion of the poem was about the corrupt manager    

Correct:  All the sufferings and pains are caused by greed, hatred and illusion.

Correct:  Some people have the delusion that regardless of how many innocent human

               beings they have murdered, their almighty god will still accept them in heaven.

 

Item 19

All right (predic.: in satisfactory condition)

Alright (adv.: less frequently used than “All Right”, but readily found in journalistic and

             business  publications, or in fictional dialogue)

 

Correct: It is all right / alright to be late because your presence will not affect anyone.

 

Item 20

Award (verb: to bestow for performance or quality)

Reward (verb: to give something in return for a meritorious action or service)

 

Correct: The best employee for the year was awarded with a return air ticket to

              a destination of his or her choice.

Correct: The first aider was rewarded for his bravery in saving the life of the casualty.

 

Item 21

Abnormal (adj.: does not conform to the rule or standard)

Subnormal (adj.: below or inferior to the average)

 

Correct: The abnormal guy urinates on the road when all the tourists are there.

Correct: Because his intelligence is subnormal, he failed his driving test six times.

 

Item 22

Absurd (adj.: wildly unreasonable)

Ridiculous (adj.: unreasonable)

 

Correct: It is absurd for the factory owner to demand that all workers must

              work 14 hours per day, six days per week.

Correct: It is ridiculous to believe the people like you because you are rich.

 

Item 23

Accessory (noun: additional or extra things fitted to cars, equipment etc)

Accessary (noun: someone involved in a crime but did not actually commit it as chief

                   actor)

 

Correct:  I wish to buy this car without accessories.

Correct: Because Abang was an accessary to that crime, he escaped

              the death sentence and was jailed for ten years.

 

Item 24

Affable (adj.: agreeable, friendly)

Efface (verb: to make disappear)

 

Correct: The new director was an affable person.

Correct: Although the document had been folded many times, we were lucky the name

              of the author was not totally effaced.

 

Item 25

Amend (verb: to alter, change)

Emend (verb: to correct, or improve by removing errors and corruptions)

 

Correct:  This society must amend its constitution so that even the foreigners can

               become members.

Correct:  Many monks sat together to comment on a religious document, so as to

               emend it, by removing errors and corrupted portions for the sake of the

               future generations.

 

Item 26

Adjacent (adj.: lying near or close)

Adjoining (verb: suggests actually touching)

 

Correct: His workshop is adjacent to mine.

Correct: His workshop adjoins mine. (in a terrace or semi-detached) 

 

Item 27

Annunciate (verb: to proclaim or promulgate)

Enunciate (verb: to pronounce clearly)

 

Correct: The new leaders gathered on that day to annunciate the formation of a

              Republic of China, thus ending the over 4000 year-old kingdom.

Correct: Phonetic teachers who are able to enunciate each English

              word  properly are most appreciated.

 

Item 28

Averse (adj.: disinclined, unwilling, opposed)

Adverse (adj.: opposing, unfavourable)

 

Correct: Some students are averse to the idea of doing any work.

Correct: The new president of the society has to face adverse opposition from some

              of the members.

 

Item 29

Affluent (adj.: wealthy, prosperous)

Effluent (noun: liquid industrial waste that is discharged into the environment)

 

Correct: Children from affluent families are lucky.

Correct: An officer from the Department of Environment comes to our factory

              once a month to collect samples from the effluent to make sure that the

              toxic contents in the effluent are not beyond the permitted limit.

 

Item 30

Alternate (adj.: refers to the every other one, e.g., one, three, five, seven, nine ……..)

Alternative (noun: means one of the two choices)

 

Correct: Please pick all the alternate names on the list and put these names into two 

              teams.

Correct: You have two alternatives, one of them is to remain in this country.

 

Item 31

Ante (prefix forming nouns and adjectives: means before, in front of, e.g., antennas or

         anteroom) 

 

Correct: The anteroom is a small room leading to the main one which is a bigger room.   

Correct: Antennas are television aerials.

Correct: Antennae are the feelers on the heads of some insects.

 

Anti (prefix forming nouns and adjectives: against, e.g., anti-American)

Correct: The Japanese were once anti-American.

 

Item 32

Anxious (adj.: means there is a sense of anxiety, or worry)

Eager      (adj.: means there is a pleasant expectation, full of intense interest  or deisre)

 

Correct: She was so anxious about her mother’s health that she flew from London to            

              New York to visit her in the hospital.

Correct: She did well in her final examinations and therefore she was very eager to have 

              the result of the examinations.  

 

Item 33

Apt (adj.: means natural tendency, e.g. habitual probability)   

Liable (predic. adj.: refers to habitual probability and also responsible for)

Likely (adv.: means probably)

 

Correct: The snake is apt to bite you if you step on it.

Correct: He is liable for all the mistakes committed in the workshop.

Correct: It is likely to rain heavily during the next few days.

 

Item 34

Affect (verb: to produce an effect on something, an action is taking place)

Effect (noun: the result of an action)

 

Correct: His bad behaviours affect the reputation of our company because he is one of us.

Correct: She does not smoke and therefore she does not suffer the effect of smoking.