English vocabulary definition test. Mastering typical phrases for standard situations

The language is quite difficult. The complex and large history of Great Britain has led to a very large number of words. The Oxford English Dictionary, known in many circles, has approximately 600,000 words and expressions. And if you add dialect and slang to this list, then the number of words will exceed 1 million. But do not be afraid of this a large number, because even native speakers do not know all the English words. On average, an educated person, a native speaker, knows 12,000-18,000 words. Well, the average resident of the UK knows 8000-10000 words.

How many words do you need to know?

If a person is not a native speaker and does not permanently live in an English-speaking country, then it will be almost impossible for him to bring his stock to the cherished 8000-10000 words. A good indicator is 4000-5000 words.

There is a standard and generally accepted gradation of the language. If the number of learned words is in the region of 400-500 words, then the level of proficiency is considered basic. If the active stock is in the range of 800-1000 words, then you can safely communicate on various everyday topics. If such a quantity refers rather to a passive vocabulary, then you can safely read simple texts. The range of 1500-2000 words will allow you to communicate freely all day long. If the vocabulary is 3000-4000 words, then you can safely read the English press or various thematic materials. A dictionary base of 8,000 languages guarantees fluency in English. With such a number of learned words, you can freely read any literature or write texts in the language yourself. Those who have more than 8000 words in their luggage are considered highly educated people who learn English.

According to the standard vocabulary base is distributed as follows:
- beginner - 600 words;
- elementary - 1000 words;
- pre-Intermediate - 1500-2000 words;
- intermediate - 2000-3000 words;
- upper-Intermediate - 3000-4000 words;
- advanced - 4000-8000 words;
- proficiency - more than 8000 words.

Thanks to this data, you can determine your level of language proficiency, as well as set goals for yourself. But how many words have already been learned? No, you do not need to measure anything with a ruler for this. Everything is much easier. There is a test capable of determining the number of studied words with a margin of error of 10%.

To create this test, 7000 words were taken from the dictionary. Outdated and rarely used words were removed from there. Also removed the words, the meaning of which can be determined through the usual logic. As a result, 2 small pages with words remained.

How to pass the test?

The test must be taken with extreme honesty. The first page contains a list of words in columns. If at least one of the possible meanings of an English word is known, then a tick is placed next to it. The same columns with words appear on the second page. But there is already a selection of previously unknown words. This program checks whether these words are really unknown. To complete the test, there is another page that indicates age, gender, how many years English has been studied and other important questions. After specifying all the data, the end button is pressed and the number of words in the vocabulary of the tested person appears on the screen. Test control is one of the most popular forms of testing knowledge of the English language. The undeniable advantages of tests are the speed and ease of assessing knowledge, as well as the obligatory availability of keys (correct answers) to them.

English vocabulary tests can be:

a) to determine the number of vocabulary units in your passive and active vocabulary;

b) to determine the acquired vocabulary on any topic.

Let us give examples of some online tests.

Test http://testyourvocab.com/ allows you to determine your vocabulary. It consists of two obligatory parts: the first determines the possession of the general vocabulary of the English language, the second - the special one. On average, the result of those people for whom English is not native is from 2500 to 9000 words, while the result of native speakers is 20000-35000 words.

Why know your vocabulary? The answer is very simple: each level of language proficiency corresponds to the approximate number of words that need to be learned. Yes, for the levelbeginner- This 500-600 words. In order for the language level to be close toElementary, the student needs to know about 1000 words.

Level	Number of words
beginner	500-600
Elementary	1000
Pre-Intermediate	1500-2000
intermediate	2000-3000
Upper Intermediate	3000-4000
Advanced	4000-8000
Proficiency	over 8000

Test http://www.efl.ru/tests/formal2informal-1/ will show how well you know the colloquial vocabulary of British English. What 'comfortable‘and how to dress if you are invited to ‘barbie', you'll find out by taking this fun quiz.

Next test http://www.efl.ru/tests/colours/ will help you better understand English colors and shades. In the first part, knowledge of the colors of the main palette is checked, in the second, attention is paid to the shades of colors, in the third part, knowledge of English idioms containing the name of the color is trained. Why is it bad to get 'pinkslip', and what color is a lie? You will find all the answers in this quiz.

Test How strong is your vocabulary? by Merriam-Webster consists of only 10 questions, the content of which is constantly changing. The test checks advanced synonyms, but thanks to it you can significantly enrich your vocabulary.

Test MyVocabularySize is distinguished, first of all, by its impressive size: it contains 140 questions. The test has an option to select a language: when choosing Russian, you will need to choose a translation of the word given in the context; when choosing English, you find a synonym phrase.

Online Quizlet.com there is a huge number of vocabulary tests created by teachers from all over the world. Some of them are based on vocabulary from English textbooks, which you yourself are probably studying. Other tests test knowledge of special vocabulary, which can also be useful for those who want to deepen their knowledge.

A few tips for those who want to increase their vocabulary

1. Read in the original! Whether it's fiction, world news, recipes or advertisements, it doesn't really matter if you get into the habit of working with a dictionary while reading. Each new word is another step towards learning English.

2. Work with a monolingual dictionary! Not immediately, but gradually, accustom yourself to abandon the usual "word-translation" scheme. Sometimes it is difficult to give an explanation of a concept, even in your native language. However, when working with a monolingual (written in one language) dictionary, you will have a chance to better understand the meaning of many words.

3. Learn words in context! Keeping your personal dictionary, do not write down individual lexical units, but phrases and sentences. Thus, your language will play with new, lively phrases faster.

Where to practice vocabulary?

Online LearnEnglishTeens There is an opportunity to practice words on a variety of topics. Each topic is presented at three language levels - from A 1 to B 1 - and is accompanied by five exercises.

Online http://lengish.com/tests/vocabulary exercises for training thematic vocabulary necessary in everyday life are also presented.

Resource Merriam-webster offers not only dictionaries and tests, but also a huge number of exercises and games to replenish vocabulary.

In conclusion, we invite you to take our vocabulary test, created on the basis of vocabulary from New Headway Elementary.

1. If you … somebody, you take care of this person.

a) pay b) look after c) lose

2. My sister and I are very … and we phone each other every evening.

a) happy b) independent c) close

3. How many languages do you … ?

a) speak b) say c) tell

4. This book is really… !

a) interesting b) interested c) bored

5. I'm … in reading books.

a) interesting b) interested c) bored

6. Hey! Let’s… a cake!

a) do b) make c) mix

7. New York is older … London.

a) then a) of c) than

8. If the weather is bad, we can ... .

a) have a picnic a) go for a walk c) watch a DVD

9. Let's go to the… and buy some stamps.

a) library b) post office c) police office

10. How about having lunch?

a) I'll have some pizza and a coke. b) That sounds great! c) I can help you.

Test Keys:


b	c	a	a	b	b	c	c	b	b

And finally, remember that objective can only be named comprehensive knowledge assessment.

Every serious lover of anything in the world sooner or later sets on fire with the desire to measure his collection: in money, in volume, in quantity ... The philatelist carefully blows dust off the hundredth mark in the album, Henry Ford polishes the new tire, Rockefeller looks at the number of zeros in the amount stored in the bank, etc. How to be an English lover? Love for English can also be measured. Hours dedicated to study? Words that make up an active vocabulary!

Stocks vary.

No, not firewood for the winter and not sweets under the pillow, as you already understood, but English words in the lexicon. There is nothing shameful or boastful about measuring vocabulary: after all, there is no limit to perfection, but there are intermediate stages on the way to the goal.

Statistics, backed up by practice, says that in order to freely express your thoughts in English, you need only 2000 words. Statistics, backed up by optimism, call the figure 1000-1500 words, and the creators of Basic English are magicians and our best friends - only 850 words. Realists and optimists, wait a little with skepticism! Basic English is divided into thematic groups of words (objects and phenomena, actions and movements, expression of qualities) - a kind of selection of the most hit instances from each category. In fact, frequently used mostly monosyllabic words (514 out of 850), which are easy to remember and pronounce, were selected.

We want to ask everyone who relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief after the announced figures: what do you personally mean by the concept of “speaking freely”? Of course, in order to ask for a window seat at the check-in desk at the airport or order a veal chop in a restaurant, 2000 words are enough. Diving begins where, when answering a question, you will not catch the meaning of unfamiliar words spoken or you will not be able to talk about specific gastronomic preferences in the company of gourmets. And then we multiply 2000 by two and get 4000 words, which will surely allow you not to lose face and keep a conversation in English well done.

Another nuance: so far we have been talking about active vocabulary, i.e. layer of those words that you regularly use in conversation. What you once wrote out in a dictionary and on occasion it is possible (!) Remember the meaning is called passive reserve - words that you seem to know, but most of them lie on the shelves of memory under a layer of dust. Yes, they get into the overall standings, but they do not bring special dividends.

Perfectionists looking for more! Outside the language environment, it is quite difficult to learn the 8,000 words that make up the active vocabulary of an English-speaking citizen. It is possible, of course, but with great energy consumption, diligence and methodicalness. With a baggage of 4-5 thousand words, you can safely pack your bags to Britain, the USA or Canada, where you are doomed to expand your vocabulary to the cherished 8-10 thousand units.

Vocabulary gradations

Or how much is needed for complete happiness? You can start with the top 10 or top 100 words of the English language and already rejoice. A selection of the most commonly used English words around the world will set the right vector for vocabulary replenishment. And we again pick up the ruler and return to simple arithmetic, this time dedicating you to gradations (types) of vocabulary.

400-500 words of active vocabulary - a pass to the world of English and a certificate of language proficiency at a basic level
. 800-1000 "assets" of words will give you the opportunity to explain yourself and talk about everyday topics, the same amount of "passives" will allow you to read simple texts
. 1500-2000 words of "assets" will be rewarded with the opportunity to communicate freely during the day, or the same number of "passives" - with confident reading of more complex texts
. 3000-4000 words bring you closer to almost fluent reading of newspapers or books and magazines in your specialty
. 8000 words guarantee full communication for the average European. This is also enough for free reading and writing thoughts.
. up to 13,000 words characterize a highly educated person learning English as a foreign language.

How to determine and check the vocabulary of the English language?

Find out on the accounts? Marking familiar words in the dictionary? Let's not reinvent the wheel and borrow the answer from the creators of the test, which can weigh your vocabulary with an error of up to 10% in 2-3 minutes. The link to the test will be in a minute, but for now, a brief instruction on its use and the answer to the question "how it works."

The developers took a dictionary of 70,000 words as a basis, discarded obsolete, compound words, scientific terms and derivatives from each other, getting 45,000 as a result. Then they sorted by frequency of use, sincerely admitting that the last 10,000 of 45,000 are extremely rare, so even a respectable Briton may not feel remorse, having never used them in his life. From the test for English vocabulary, words were excluded, the meaning of which can be obtained by friendship with logic.

The whole test consists of two pages: each contains English words in several columns without any logical sequence. If you know at least one of the possible meanings of the word, then confidently put a tick next to it. The task is the same on two pages, only on the second page the program selects words from those unfamiliar from the first page, as if wanting to make sure that you really do not know them. No sleight of hand, no cheating: the only condition is to be honest with yourself and not overdo it with the number of ticks.

We invite you to take a test for a couple of minutes, and then return to our article for debriefing. We have already prepared a line :)

We measure the results

And now you are left alone with your test result. How did others do? Statistics collected after passing this test says that among non-native speakers, the majority of respondents received in the end from 3 to 7 thousand words. There are noticeably fewer owners of 7-10 thousand words, and even fewer from 11 to 30 thousand (oddly enough, even 30-thousanders honored this test with their attention).

Among those for whom English is native, the situation looks different: a cosmic vocabulary of 30,000 words for non-native speakers is the norm for 30-year-old English-speaking friends. The average result of the previous category of 3-7 thousand is typical for children 5-6 years old. Do not forget that just at this age the world is actively explored and the entire surrounding family with 30,000 deposits around is not actively silent.

Summing up

The fact that the dictionary of a language contains approximately 300,000 words is only of theoretical interest to a beginner in learning that language. Perhaps the main principle for the reasonable organization of one's studies, especially at the initial stage, is the economy of words. You need to learn to memorize as few words as possible, but do it as best as possible.

We emphasize that our approach is directly opposite to the leading principle of "suggestopedia", with its emphasis on the abundance of words presented to the student. As you know, in accordance with its canons, a beginner needs to be literally "showered with words." It is best to ask him or her 200 new words every day.

Is there any doubt that any normal person will forget all those numerous words that he was "showered" by such, so to speak, method - and most likely very soon, in just a few days.

Don't chase too much

It will be much better if, at the end of a certain stage of the lesson, you know 500 or 1000 words very well than 3000 - but poorly. Don't be fooled by educators who will tell you that you must first learn a certain number of words in order to "get on with it." Only you yourself can and should decide whether the vocabulary you have mastered is sufficient for your goals and interests.

The experience of learning languages shows that about 400 correctly chosen words can cover up to 90 percent of the vocabulary that you need for the purposes of everyday communication. In order to read, more words are needed, but many of them are only passive. Therefore, with the knowledge of 1500 words, you can already understand quite meaningful texts.

It is better to master the most necessary and important words for you than to constantly rush to learn new ones. "He who chases too much runs the risk of missing everything," says a Swedish proverb. “If you chase two hares, you won’t catch one,” a Russian proverb answers her.

Vocabulary in oral speech

Speaking very roughly, about 40 well-chosen, high-frequency words will cover about 50% of everyday speech usage in any language;

200 words will cover about 80%;
300 words - approximately 85%;
400 words will cover about 90%;
well, 800-1000 words - about 95% of what you need to say or hear in the most common situation.

Thus, a well-chosen vocabulary helps to understand quite a lot with very modest effort spent on cramming.

Example: if a total of 1000 words are spoken in everyday conversation, then 500 of them, that is, 50%, will be covered by 40 most common high-frequency words.

We emphasize that these percentages, of course, are not the result of exact calculations. They just give the most general idea of how many words you need approximately to feel confident entering into the simplest dialogue with a native speaker. In any case, there is no doubt that by choosing correctly from 400 to 800 words and remembering them well, you can feel confident in a simple conversation, since they will cover almost all 100% of those words that you can’t do without. Of course, under other, less favorable conditions, 400 words will cover only 80% of what you need to know - instead of 90 or 100%.

Vocabulary while reading

When reading, by correctly choosing and remembering well about 80 of the most common, most frequent words, you will understand about 50% of a simple text;

200 words will cover approximately 60%;
300 words - 65%;
400 words - 70%;
800 words - approximately 80%;
1500 - 2000 words - about 90%;
3000 - 4000 - 95%;
and 8,000 words will cover almost 99 percent of the written text.

Example: if you have a text of about 10 thousand words in front of you (this is about 40 printed pages), then, having learned the most necessary 400 words in advance, you will understand about 7000 words that are used in this text.

Note again that the figures we give are indicative only. Depending on various additional conditions, 50 words will cover up to 50 percent of the written text, but in other cases you will need to learn at least 150 words to get the same result.

Vocabulary: 400 to 100,000 words

400 - 500 words - active vocabulary for language proficiency at a basic (threshold) level.
800 - 1000 words - active vocabulary for explaining yourself; or passive vocabulary for reading at a basic level.
1500 - 2000 words - an active vocabulary, which is quite enough to ensure everyday communication throughout the day; or a passive vocabulary sufficient for confident reading.
3000 - 4000 words - in general, it is enough for practically free reading of newspapers or literature in the specialty.
About 8000 words - provide full communication for the average European. It is practically not necessary to know more words in order to communicate freely both orally and in writing, as well as to read literature of any kind.
10,000-20,000 words is the active vocabulary of an educated European (in their native language).
50,000-100,000 words - the passive vocabulary of an educated European (in their native language).

It should be noted that the stock of words by itself does not yet ensure free communication. However, by mastering 1,500 well-chosen words, with some extra practice, you will be able to communicate almost fluently.

As for professional terms, they usually do not present any particular difficulties, since in most cases this is an international vocabulary that is easy enough to master.

When you already know about 1500 words, you can start reading at a fairly decent level. With a passive knowledge of 3,000 to 4,000 words, you will be fluent in reading literature in your specialty, at least in those areas where you are confidently oriented. In conclusion, we note that, according to calculations carried out by linguists on the material of a number of languages, the average educated European actively uses about 20,000 words (and half of them - quite rarely). At the same time, the passive vocabulary is at least 50,000 words. But all this concerns the native language.

Basic vocabulary

In the pedagogical literature, one can find the terminological combination "basic vocabulary". From my point of view, at the maximum level, the vocabulary is about 8000 words. It seems to me that learning more words, except perhaps for some special purpose, is hardly necessary. Eight thousand words will be enough for full communication in any conditions.

When starting to learn a language, it would be wise to make do with shorter lists. Here are three levels that I have found in practice to give a good guide to the beginner:

level A("basic vocabulary"):

400-500 words. They are enough to cover about 90% of all word usage in everyday oral communication, or about 70% of a simple written text;

level B("minimum vocabulary", "mini-level"):

800-1000 words. They are enough to cover about 95% of all word usage in everyday oral communication, or about 80-85% of written text;

level B("medium vocabulary", "medium level"):

1500-2000 words. They are enough to cover approximately 95-100% of all word usage in everyday oral communication, or about 90% of written text.

An example of a solid dictionary of the main vocabulary can be considered a dictionary published by E. Klett in Stuttgart, 1971, under the name "Grundwortschatz Deutsch" ("The main vocabulary of the German language"). It provides 2,000 essential words in each of six selected languages: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.

Eric W. Gunnemark, Swedish polyglot

The well-known Ellochka from the novel "12 Chairs" easily managed thirty words of the Russian language, but, apparently, she did not achieve great success in life. How many words do we need to know in English in order to communicate on everyday and professional topics? According to researchers, about 40 words are the minimum required for 50% of understanding and speaking in everyday speech situations, 400 words should be enough for 90% of cases, and 1000 words will provide you with 95% successful communication. Native speakers use an average of 3,000 to 20,000 words, it depends on the education of each individual and the typical situations in which he has to communicate. Practice shows that for English learners it is enough to learn 1500-2000 words to feel confident in a conversation. As for professional terms, they usually do not cause difficulties, because in most cases this is an international vocabulary. But the most important thing is to understand that words should not just be written on beautiful cards and hung around the house, they should become your working tools. Let's see what steps will help you to firmly master the necessary vocabulary, that is, vocabulary.

1. Read carefully and draw conclusions

Whether you read fiction, stock market news, or a gardening blog, pay attention to how words are used and what combinations they make. Highlight, write out, copy what seems useful to you. For example, here is an excerpt from the article "How to Become an Early Riser" (by Steve Pavlina):

It seems there are two main schools of thought about sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same times every day. It's like having an alarm clock on both ends - you try to sleep the same hours each night. This seems practical for living in modern society. We need predictability in our schedules. And we need to ensure adequate rest.

How can we analyze what we have read?

"It seems" - it seems, apparently. We just take it as an introductory word.
"This seems practical" - it seems practical. We understand that an adjective is used after “seems”, and now we can speak by analogy: “This seems interesting”, “This seems stupid”, “Your ideas seem nice”.
"Predictability" - predictability. If we know that “predict” means to predict and “ability” means ability, then we can calculate the meaning of this word as well.

2. Watch videos with and without subtitles

The same work can be done while watching your favorite movies, series and TV shows. If you use subtitles, it will be more convenient for you to write out the phrase you like, if not, then train your auditory perception, pause and repeat after the speaker. We can recommend an excellent resource that provides the opportunity to watch TV shows in the original with super-useful subtitles: when you hover over a word, a Russian translation appears. It saves a lot of time and improves memorization.

3. Sing your favorite songs

We have already discussed how songs can help us learn English. Vocabulary expansion is one of the areas where songs can be applied particularly well. It is always much easier to remember what you like and what is associated with positive emotions. There are many sites with lyrics on the Internet, for example:

By listening to your favorite songs and singing along to the performers, you learn whole phrases easily and with pleasure.

4. Take a cue from celebrities

Search for something like "Brad Pitt interview" or "chat show with celebrities" and you'll get a ton of do-it-yourself material. After reading or listening to interview fragments, you will probably notice that certain words are used more often. For example, "amazing" is a very popular adjective for expressing delight:

"You look amazing!"
"The film was amazing!"
It was an amazing experience.

5. Mastering typical phrases for standard situations

If you like to travel, you will surely need a set of certain phrases and expressions that you may need at the airport, customs, hotel, store, etc. As you know, such conversations do not differ in a special variety, therefore, for greater confidence, you can learn several mini-dialogues on the necessary topics. Various Internet resources will help you with this, where audio recordings and texts are collected, as well as tasks for them are presented. For example, you can start from this site

6. Learning words by topic

It is much easier to memorize new words that are related in meaning. If, for example, you are studying the topic "Food", you just need to learn the names of different products, ready meals, adjectives to describe them, etc. By discussing the tasks with the teacher, you will be able to activate these words, i.e. transfer from a passive stock to a set of "working tools". Learning will be more effective if you use different types of memory: look at pictures, listen to pronunciation and repeat yourself. Use, for example, such a resource that will help you do all of the above and learn new words with ease.

7. Use Dictionaries

In our age of information technology, paper dictionaries are no longer popular, and even schoolchildren are willing to use their online versions. Starting from the Pre-Intermediate level, it is recommended to use the so-called "English-English dictionaries", that is, not to translate unfamiliar words, but to look for their definitions in English. In addition, dictionaries can provide you with a stock of synonyms, antonyms, and idioms for a given word. According to Wikipedia, the following dictionaries are the most useful and reliable sources of information:

8. Playing word games

Crosswords, gallows, scrabble and other games can also help you enrich your speech, because thanks to them you will remember the spelling of the words you know in a fun way. In addition, many word games can be played in a fun company, combining business with pleasure: learning English with friendly communication. Tip for the curious: try playing Scrabble with an open dictionary.

9. We arm ourselves with devices and gadgets

It takes a long time to write words on cards, there is no time to make sentences, but we always have smartphones, iPhones and other devices at hand. When a free minute appears, you can start learning new words, and you don’t need to carry any leaflets, printouts, textbooks with you. If you don't know which app to choose, take advice from the British Council experts.

10. Use it or lose it!

The most important thing in mastering vocabulary is to use it in your speech. Passive vocabulary is good for reading and listening, that is, for recognizing words. For speaking and writing, we need to learn how to retrieve words from memory very quickly, and this is achieved only by practice. According to researchers, in order for a word to become active in speech, it must be used in various contexts about 17 times. Therefore, before class, set yourself the task of speaking more than the teacher and be sure to use new words.

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