Information collection & exchange

Mixing Liquids 
Cleaning with Liquids Transferring 
Liquids Changing 
the 
Temperature of Liquids 
[Adapted from John Swales and Paul Fanning. English in the Medical Laboratory. Thomas Nelson & 
Sons, 1980.] 
Whereas the first general type of vocabulary exercise deals with words in terms of their meaning, the second 
Exercises on the form of words lead students to recognize commonly occurring prefixes, roots, and suffixes. 
Th
me
pra
in T
Directions: One of the listed words is needed for completing each sentence. The underlined prefix
type treats words in terms of their form (prefixes, roots, suffixes), their occurrence in common combinations 
or collocations, and their role in linking together the parts of a sentence or sections of a discourse. 
e word in which the prefix, root, or suffix is illustrated should be presented in a larger context so that the 
aning is clear and the appropriate use of the word within the sentence is shown. The following exercise 
ctices the use and meaning of certain prefixes. (The book from which the exercise is taken, Techniques 
eaching Vocabulary, is available through Information Collection and Exchange, No. ED 106.) 
will tell 
you which word is needed. The first sentence has been completed for you. 

---

across
again
poorly
before
below 
1. A subway does not go above a city; it goes below. 
2. Maladjusted people are people who adjust ___. 
3. A transatlantic flight goes ___ the Atlantic. 
etc. 
[Virginia French Allen. Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. Oxford University Press, 1983.] 
Asking students to recognize prefixes, roots, and suffixes is safer than supplying the word parts and asking 
the students to produce the words. Unless the production type of exercise is carefully controlled, the 
students may end up inventing nonexistent words. For example, on the analogy of "biology-biologist," 
ition may be equally troublesome: "suspicious of," "mad at," "thankful for," "loyal to," 
simply used to hearing the 
o
Wi
plenty of practice in hearing and seeing the 
combinations of words before you call upon them to 
col
ad
practiced, you can do a consolidation exercise in which students have to recall the proper combinations. 
Here is part of one such exercise on adverb plus verb: 
Lin
be
is o
thought of another one, that a second sentence states the result of an action or 
condition 
the
mp
words in signaling relationships between sentences. In the following sample exercise, the 
"anthropology-anthropologist," and dozens of similar pairs a student might invent a new word "theologist." 
Collocation exercises teach commonly occurring combinations of words. Some of these combinations are 
quite arbitrary, and for that reason are difficult to remember. Take for example the set combinations of verb 
plus preposition: "depend on," "consist of," "succeed in," "profit from," and hundreds of others. Combinations 
of adjective plus prepos
"disgusted with," etc. Another type of collocation consists of adjective plus noun: "calculated risk," 
"considered judgment," "voluntary retirement." Combinations such as these may not be obligatory, in the 
sense that a given noun absolutely requires a particular adjective. Rather, we are
tw words used together in certain contexts. 
th collocations it is especially important to give your students
produce the combinations themselves. Because many 
locations are arbitrary, a student would have to be very lucky to hit on the correct verb plus preposition or 
jective plus noun without any previous practice. Once a number of collocations of one type have been 
How many ways can a person drive? (carefully, carelessly, dangerously. . .) 
How many ways can a person talk? (softly, loudly, excitedly. . .) 
How many ways can a person eat? (slowly, quickly, hungrily. . .) 
[Adapted from Michael Wallace. Teaching Vocabulary. Heinemann Educational Books, 1982.] 
k words (also called sentence linkers, conjunctions, and conjunctive adverbs) signal thought relationships 
tween clauses or sentences. By interpreting the link words, a reader knows that the thought of one clause 
ffered in contrast to the 
described in the first, and so on. The most effective exercises for the practice of link words show 
m occurring in short texts. Given a discourse context, the learner can more readily appreciate the 
ortance of link
i
student cannot select the appropriate link work without understanding the logical relationship between the 
linked clauses or sentences. 
Directions: Read the following text and select the most appropriate link words from the lists given below: 
A color consultant from Toronto explained to the Inter-Society Color Council meeting in New York an 
ingenious scheme which a client company had conceived for increasing the sale of potato peelers. He 
began by pointing out a puzzling fact. 1 potato peelers "never wear out," enough are sold in two years in 
his country to put one in every home. What happens to them? He gave this answer. "Investigation 
revealed that they get thrown away with the potato peelings." One of his colleagues, he added, had then 
come up with a dazzling plan for helping along this throw-away process. He proposed that their company 
paint their peelers "as much like a potato peeling as possible." 2 , a potato colored peeler wouldn't have 
much eye appeal on the sales counter. They decided to solve that by displaying the peeler on a colorful 
card. Once the housewife got the peeler home and removed the bright card, the chances that she would 
lose the peeler were excellent. . . 
1 (a) because
2 (a) in addition 

---

(b) although
(b) for example 
(c) for example
(c) however 
(d) since
(d) thus 
[Adapted from Francoise Grellet. Developing Reading Skills. Cambridge University Press, 1981.]