Learn how to use different word families and expand your vocabulary faster.

Hello! Teacher Guil here, sharing some insider tips. A frequent question I get from students is how to quickly broaden their vocabulary. My top recommendation is to focus on word families; it is an incredible strategy that can potentially triple the number of words you know. It is a surprisingly straightforward "formula" that you can easily integrate into your daily routine, and I am excited to show you how it works.

I like to call it “word families”, they will simply help you expand your vocabulary by identifying the root words and using different prefixes and suffixes.

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Note: fear is the noun, fear can also work as a verb, and scared is the adjective form related to the verb scare.

In a recent session with my student Rocha, we utilized a root word table to explore how to transform verbs into nouns and adjectives, using examples like act/action and produce/production. To accelerate your vocabulary growth, I recommend identifying other members of a word's "family" whenever you encounter a new term. Pay close attention to common patterns, such as using the suffix -er to describe people (e.g., employer) or -ation to refer to concepts or things (e.g., organization).

Keep in mind, recognizing the patterns is just the first step (for both suffixes and phrase structures). You start spotting a few exceptions, and then you will be ready to use the diversity of formulas to enrich your way of communicating. The best way to learn here is through practice and observation; do it, and you will soon expand your vocabulary as never before.