4 Vocabulary In Context Exercises: Easy & Effective

Before we get into my favorite 4 super easy exercises to help you memorize vocabulary in context, you might be wondering – what is context anyway?

By definition, it is “the situation within which something happens“.

OK, that makes sense. So, how does context help me remember vocabulary?

Everything happens in some sort of situation or environment, and we use vocabulary to talk about that particular situation. So, it makes sense that connecting words to a situation will make it way easier for us to remember the word itself.

Context is also what allows us to understand the meaning of a sentence without necessarily understanding a particular word.

Let’s look at this sentence:

Although I always try to save _____, I cannot resist a sale.

I bet you figured out the missing word (money) right word. I’m also sure you guessed it right thanks to other words such as “sale” or “save” that usually goes with money. Both of these words created a situation, or context.

1) Decide on the word’s category

Is the new word a verb or noun? Or maybe an adjective? Etc. This information will help you know how to use the word.

 Usually, we use nouns to describe things or people, pronouns instead of nouns, verbs describe actions, adjectives are used to describe nouns and adverbs modify verbs or adjectives, prepositions show the relationship, conjunctions connect ideas or words and interjections express a strong emotion.

Guess the word category of the words in bold below:

Mike and Scott were anxious to go to the mountains; they packed up their ski gear and climbed into the van with alacrity. (cheerful eagerness)

Was Bruce too brusque when he rejected Jack’s request with a short “Not now!”? (abrupt in manner of speech, rudely abrupt)

This has been of the most difficult conundrums for the scientists. (difficult problem, riddle)

Peter, a gregarious bookstore owner, is a tall man. (sociable, outgoing)

2) Personalize the word

When you come across a word in a text or in a dictionary example, you know that the context must be right but you don’t know when to use it yourself. So, make a sentence that is very similar to the example sentence but true for you or someone you know. By making it personal, you’ll connect it to your own experience, therefore creating context!

Let’s work on some phrasal verbs:

Bring down – make unhappy – This sad music is bringing me down.

What’s bringing you down right now?

Call sth off – cancel – They have called off the wedding so we are free this weekend.

What has recently been called off?

Come across – find unexpectedly – I came across my old high school photos as I was cleaning.

Who/what did you come across?

Dress up – wear nice clothes – It’s a fancy restaurant so we have to dress up.

When do you usually dress up? 

3) Create context clues

Create context clues

What are context clues? They are hints that will help you remember or guess a word from the context.

There are different types of context clues, some of which are: direct definition, synonym, antonym and cause and effect context clues.

Let’s take the word ”loquacious” as an example.

Direct definition: Sarah is such a loquacious person. She always talks a lot.

Synonym: Sarah is such a loquacious person. She’s so talkative that she’ll talk the whole day without getting tired.

Antonym: Sarah is very loquacious, unlike John, who’s very quiet and barely says anything.

Cause and effect (so, since, therefore, thus): Since Sarah is very loquacious, I didn’t have to say much and just listened to her stories.

4) Connect words to create a story

Let’s say you have a list of words to study. You understand the meaning, but by studying them separately you are very, very likely to forget them because your brain cannot connect them to anything. Let’s think of some simple words: eat, sky, happy, talking, perfume, tennis, obvious.

What you can do is be creative and write a short story that will make sense to you. If it’s a verb, feel free to use any tense you like. Here I go:

The sky was blue and I was eating my lunch, when all of a sudden I heard someone calling my name. Obviosly, I thought: ”This is not a good time, I’m eating my lunch!”. I turned around and looked out my window – it was and lady with a tennis racket. She seemed happy. She introduced herself and I realized she was my high school friend! We spent the whole evening talking and her perfume smelled soooo nice!

I really hope you’ve realized how much context can help you memorize vocabulary more effectively! Now go study those words you’ve been meaning to for a long time and increase your range of vocabulary!

Baiiiii! ✌