THE EFFECTIVE WAY OF PASSING VOCABULARY TEST IN CIVIL SERVICE EXAM.

VOCABULARY TIPS AND TRICKS

CONTEXT

If the given word is not used in a sentence, try to recall where you encountered (read or heard) the word before. If the given word is used in a sentence, look for helpful context clues.

Examples:

debilitating(illness) - incapacitating

insurgent(a faction in a sci-fi novel turned movie) - rebel

potable(water) - drinkable

PARTS OF SPEECH

If the given word is not familiar to you, try to associate it with another word in a different part of speech.

Examples:

sophomoric(adjective) - sophomore(noun)

notoriety(noun) - notorious(adjective)

skepticism(noun) - skeptical(adjective)

ROOT WORDS AND PREFIXES

Learning to recognize the common root words and prefixes can help you make educated guesses when confronted with unfamiliar words.

Words which start with negative prefixes ofteb have negative meanings,while words which start with positive prefixes often have positive meanings.

Negative Prefixes: a,ab, an, anti, contra, contro, counter, de, dis, dys, im, in, ir, mal, male, mis, non, un

Examples:

disparage - ridicule

incorrigible - delinquent

maleficent - wicked

Positive Prefixes: ben, bene, bon, co, col, com, con, mag, magni, omni, pro, super

Examples:

benevolent - kind

compassionate - caring

magnificient - wonderful

ROOT WORDS/PREFIXES	MEANING	ROOT WORDS/PREFIXES	MEANING
a, an	not, without	micro	small
ab, abs	away, from, separated	mis	bad, improper, hatred
alter	other	mono	one
ambi	both	mori, mort	death
ante	before	morph	form, structure
anti	againts, opposite	multi	many
arch	first, chief	neg	deny
aud, audit	hear	neo	new
bene	good	nov	new
bi	two	non	not
biblio	book	ob, oc, of, op	againts, in the way of
bio	life	omni	everywhere
capit, capt	head	pan	all, every
carn	flesh	patr	father
cata	down	pater	father
chron	time	path	feeling, emotion
circum	around	oara	beyond
co, col, con, com	with, together	phil	love
cor	with, together	poly	many
contra, contro	againts	post	after
cred	believe	pre	before, earlier than
de	down, away	prim, primo, proto	first
demi	half, partly	pro	forward, supporting
di, dif, dis	apart, separation	pseudo	FALSE
di	two	pysch	mind
dic, dict	speak	re	again, back
dis, dys	abnormal, bad, difficult	retro	backward
e,ex, extra, extro	away, out, beyond	sacer, sacr	holy
ego	self	se	apart, away
ex	out of from	semi	partly
fal, fals	deceive	somn	sleep
gam	marriage	sub	under, below
graph	write	super, supra, sur	above, over
hyper	above, excessive	syn, sy, syl, sys	with together
ig, il, im, in	not	tele	from afar, distance
ir	not	therm	heat
inter	between, among	trans	across
intra, intro	within	ultra	beyond, excessive
jur	swear	un	not
macro	large, long	under	below
mal, male	bad, ill, wrong	uni	one
mega	great, million

CONNOTION

Pay attention to the emotion that the given word stirs up. Some words sound positve, while others sound negative.

Examples:

malediction(negative) - curse                                                     acrosanct (positive) - holy

nefarious(negative) - villainous                                                  jubilant(positive) - euphoric

If a word is used in a phrase or sentence, then it is relatively easy to uncover its meaning by using context clues.

Example:

Rebecca was convinced that the fortunate teller was truly PRESCIENT because the latter was able to predict who the president of the country would be.

(1)vociferous (2) scrupulous (3) clairvoyant (4) recalcitrant (5) enigmatic

The correct answer is (3). Clairvoyant is synonymous with prescient. They both mean having the power to tell the future.


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