Page 7 - English Vocabulary in Use : Elementary

Introduction

To the student
This book has been written to help you learn new vocabulary. You already know hundreds
of English words, but to speak and write English in normal situations you need at least
1-2,000 words. In this book, there are around 1,250 new words and phrases for you to
learn. You will find them on the left-hand page of each unit. Every new word or phrase is
used in a sentence, or in a conversation, or has a picture with it, or has some explanation
of what it means. On the right-hand page there are exercises and other activities to help
you practise using the words and to help you to remember them. The book has been
written so that you can use it yourself, without a teacher. You can do the units in any
order you like, but we believe it is a good idea if you do Units 1 and 2 first, as they will
help you to work with the rest of the book in the best possible way.
The key at the end of the book is for you to check your answers to the exercises after you
do them. The key sometimes has more than one answer. This is because often there is not
just one correct way of saying something. The key also has possible answers for most of
the exercises which are open-ended, or where you are asked to talk about yourself.

The index at the end of the book has all the important words and phrases from the left-
hand pages. The index also tells you how to pronounce words. There is a table of phonetic
symbols to help you understand the pronunciation on page 157.
You should also have a dictionary with you when you use the book. This is because
sometimes you may want to check the meaning of something, or find a word in your own
language to help you remember the English word. Sometimes, you will also need a
dictionary for the exercises; we tell you when this is so.

To learn a lot of vocabulary, you have to do two things:
1 Study each unit of the book carefully and do all the exercises. Check your answers in
the key. Repeat the units after a month, and then again after three months, and see how
much you have learnt and how much you have forgotten. Repeating work is very
important.

2 Develop ways of your own to study and learn new words and phrases which are not in
this book. For example, every time you see or hear an interesting phrase, write it in a
notebook, and write who said it or wrote it, and in what situation, as well as what it
means. Here is an interesting example:
ready: (man at the door of a theatre, to all the people waiting) ‘Have your tickets
ready please!’ = have your ticket in your hand.
Making notes of the situations words are used in will help you to remember them and
to use them at the right moment.

We hope you like this book. When you have finished it, you can go to the next book in
the series, English Vocabulary in Use: pre-intermediate and intermediate, and after that, to
the higher level, English Vocabulary in Use: upper-intermediate and advanced.

English Vocabulary in Use (elementary)