Phrasal Verbs, Synonyms, Antonyms and Vocabulary Building
Vocabulary is the deepest predictor of a high English score. A candidate with a thousand-word working vocabulary will struggle; one with five thousand will glide through every question. This lesson teaches how to build vocabulary efficiently, and lists the highest-yield items.
Phrasal verbs
A phrasal verb is a verb combined with a preposition or adverb (a "particle") whose meaning is often not predictable from the parts. Look + up doesn't mean to point your eyes upward — it means to consult a reference.
Twenty high-yield phrasal verbs
| Phrasal verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| break down | stop functioning; lose emotional control | The car broke down. |
| bring up | raise (a child); mention (a topic) | She brought up her concerns at the meeting. |
| call off | cancel | They called off the strike. |
| carry out | perform, execute | The team carried out the plan. |
| come across | encounter by chance; appear to be | I came across an old letter. |
| do away with | abolish | The new policy did away with the tax. |
| fall through | fail to happen | Our deal fell through. |
| get along | have a friendly relationship | They get along well. |
| give in | surrender, yield | He gave in to their demands. |
| give up | quit | She gave up smoking. |
| go through | endure; examine carefully | He went through a difficult year. |
| hold up | delay; rob | The flight was held up. |
| look forward to | anticipate eagerly | I look forward to your reply. |
| look into | investigate | The committee will look into the matter. |
| put off | postpone | They put off the meeting until Friday. |
| put up with | tolerate | I can't put up with this noise. |
| run out of | exhaust the supply of | We ran out of fuel. |
| set up | establish | He set up a new business. |
| take after | resemble (a relative) | She takes after her mother. |
| turn down | refuse | He turned down the offer. |
Some phrasal verbs are separable: the object can go between the verb and the particle. "She turned the offer down" / "She turned down the offer." Others are inseparable: "He came across the letter" is fine, but "He came the letter across" is not. When the object is a pronoun (it, him, her), separable phrasal verbs require separation: "She turned it down", never "She turned down it."
Synonyms and antonyms
CSS frequently tests pairs of words that share or oppose meaning. Below are high-yield examples.
Common synonym families
- happy → joyful, elated, jubilant, cheerful, content, delighted
- sad → sorrowful, melancholy, dejected, despondent, mournful
- brave → courageous, valiant, intrepid, fearless, gallant, audacious
- clever → astute, shrewd, ingenious, cunning, sharp, perceptive
- important → significant, crucial, vital, pivotal, paramount, momentous
- strange → bizarre, peculiar, odd, eccentric, uncanny, outlandish
- destroy → demolish, raze, annihilate, ruin, devastate, obliterate
- praise → commend, laud, extol, applaud, eulogise, acclaim
Common antonym pairs
| Word | Antonym |
|---|---|
| benevolent | malevolent |
| diligent | indolent |
| generous | miserly / stingy |
| transparent | opaque |
| candid | guarded / evasive |
| frugal | extravagant |
| optimist | pessimist |
| literate | illiterate |
| ascend | descend |
| concur | dissent |
| sanction | prohibit |
| meticulous | careless |
- Synonyms are rarely perfect. Clever and cunning both mean intellectually sharp, but cunning carries a negative shade. Choose by register and connotation, not just meaning.
- Many "opposites" are formed by prefixes: un-, in-, im-, dis-, mis-, non-. Honest → dishonest, capable → incapable.
- Greek and Latin roots unlock dozens of words at once: bene (good), mal (bad), chron (time), theo (god), bio (life), graph (writing).
A method for retaining new vocabulary
- Read widely, with a notebook. When you meet a word you don't know, write it down.
- Don't look it up first — guess the meaning from context. Then verify.
- Record three things in your notebook: the word, its meaning in your own words, and the sentence you met it in.
- Use the word in two original sentences within a week.
- Review your notebook weekly. After three reviews, most words stick permanently.
Worked example
In the village, the patwari's word was canonical: no land transaction could proceed without his stamp.
You don't know canonical. Context: the patwari's word was authoritative — final, the official record. So canonical ≈ accepted as authoritative, official.
Notebook entry:
- Word: canonical
- My definition: accepted as authoritative, official, standard
- Original sentence I met: "The patwari's word was canonical."
- My new sentences: "The Penal Code is the canonical reference for criminal law in Pakistan." / "His translation has become the canonical text in undergraduate courses."
A short, deliberate vocabulary practice — ten new words a week, faithfully revised — produces a richer English than years of cramming long lists. Quality of engagement beats quantity of exposure.