Vocabulary, Idioms and Proverbs: notes

Meaning

• Synonym: a word with a similar meaning. Huge and enormous.
• Antonym: a word with the opposite meaning. Generous and mean.
• Context: use the words around an unknown word to guess its meaning.

Confused Words

• Homophones sound the same: their, there, they're; to, too, two; past, passed.
• Look-alikes: affect (verb) and effect (noun); advice (noun) and advise (verb); principal and principle.

Idioms and Proverbs

• Idiom: a fixed phrase whose meaning is not the sum of its words. To pull someone's leg means to joke with them.
• Proverb: a short saying with advice. A stitch in time saves nine means fix small problems early.
• Never read an idiom word for word.

Figures of Speech

• Simile: compares with like or as. As brave as a lion.
• Metaphor: says one thing is another. The classroom was a zoo.
• Personification: gives human actions to things. The wind whispered.
• Hyperbole: deliberate exaggeration. I have told you a million times.

Spelling

• i before e except after c: believe, receive.
• Double the last consonant before -ing in short words: run, running.