Vocabulary List
1. Affluent
o Meaning: Having a great deal of wealth, money, or material possessions;
prosperous.
o Synonyms: Wealthy, prosperous, rich, opulent
o Antonyms: Poor, impoverished, destitute
2. Candour (or Candor)
o Meaning: The quality of being open, honest, and sincere in speech or expression.
o Synonyms: Honesty, openness, frankness, sincerity
o Antonyms: Deceit, dishonesty, insincerity
3. Cosmic
o Meaning: Relating to the universe, especially as distinct from Earth; vast or
immense in scale.
o Synonyms: Universal, celestial, astronomical, galactic
o Antonyms: Earthly, terrestrial, insignificant
4. Deteriorate
o Meaning: To become progressively worse in condition or quality.
o Synonyms: Decline, worsen, degrade, decay
o Antonyms: Improve, enhance, recover, strengthen
5. Elicit
o Meaning: To draw out a response, answer, or fact from someone, often through
questioning.
o Synonyms: Evoke, draw out, extract, provoke
o Antonyms: Suppress, stifle, withhold
6. Futile
o Meaning: Incapable of producing any useful result; pointless or ineffective.
o Synonyms: Useless, pointless, vain, ineffective
o Antonyms: Effective, productive, useful
7. Incumbent
o Meaning: Necessary as a duty or responsibility; currently holding an official
position.
o Synonyms: Obligatory, mandatory, current, in office
o Antonyms: Optional, nonessential, future
8. Indelible
o Meaning: Unable to be removed, erased, or forgotten; permanent.
o Synonyms: Permanent, unforgettable, enduring, lasting
o Antonyms: Erasable, temporary, forgettable
9. Indigenous
o Meaning: Originating or occurring naturally in a specific place; native.
o Synonyms: Native, aboriginal, endemic, original
o
Antonyms: Foreign, alien, non-native
10. Ingenuity
o Meaning: The quality of being clever, inventive, or resourceful in solving
problems.
o Synonyms: Creativity, inventiveness, resourcefulness, cleverness
o Antonyms: Ineptness, unoriginality, incompetence
11. Intrinsic
o Meaning: Belonging naturally; essential or inherent to something’s nature.
o Synonyms: Inherent, essential, innate, fundamental
o Antonyms: Extrinsic, external, nonessential
12. Lucrative
o Meaning: Producing a large profit or financial gain.
o Synonyms: Profitable, gainful, rewarding, money-making
o Antonyms: Unprofitable, loss-making, unproductive
13. Oblivious
o Meaning: Not aware of or concerned about what is happening around one.
o Synonyms: Unaware, unmindful, inattentive, heedless
o Antonyms: Aware, alert, conscious
14. Oust
o Meaning: To remove or expel someone from a position or place of authority.
o Synonyms: Expel, remove, eject, overthrow
o Antonyms: Retain, keep, welcome
15. Prevalent
o Meaning: Widespread or commonly occurring in a particular place or time.
o Synonyms: Common, widespread, prevailing, ubiquitous
o Antonyms: Rare, unusual, uncommon
16. Spurious
o Meaning: Not being what it appears to be; false or fake.
o Synonyms: False, fake, counterfeit, deceptive
o Antonyms: Genuine, authentic, legitimate
17. Undulate
o Meaning: To move with a smooth, wave-like motion.
o Synonyms: Wave, ripple, oscillate, fluctuate
o Antonyms: Steady, flat, still
18. Vague
o Meaning: Not clearly expressed, defined, or understood; lacking specificity.
o Synonyms: Unclear, ambiguous, indistinct, indefinite
o Antonyms: Clear, precise, definite
19. Feasible
o
o
o
Meaning: Capable of being done, achieved, or put into practice; possible to do
easily or conveniently.
Synonyms: Possible, achievable, practical, workable
Antonyms: Impossible, impractical, unworkable
20. Valid
o
o
o
Meaning: Based on logic or fact; legally or officially acceptable; reasonable and
sound.
Synonyms: Legitimate, reasonable, credible, lawful
Antonyms: Invalid, illegitimate, unreasonable, unsound
A root word is the most basic form of a word that cannot be further divided into
meaningful segments. Root words are used to form new words by adding letters at the
beginning (i.e., a prefix) and/or the end (iie. a suffix)
A suffix is a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word. Suffixes are commonly
used to show the part of speech of a word.
For example, adding "ion" to the verb "act" gives us "action," the noun form of the word.
A prefix is a letter or a group of letters that we add to the beginning of a word. Prefixes
change the meanings of words.
For example, the prefix un- (or u-n) can mean "not," "remove," or "opposite." Adding un- to the
word "happy" gives you the word "unhappy," which means not happy.
Practice (Example of how instructions could be worded).
Rewrite each of the following sentences, replacing the underlined word with a single word
that uses a prefix or suffix or both. You may want to change the word order in some cases.
Cooperating with workers with whom you are employed makes work more enjoyable.
Do you think his act of betrayal can be forgiven?
Tessanne Chin’s performance of “Bridge over Troubled Water” was one that will always be
remembered.
The eyewitness showed a state of being willing to cooperate with the police investigators.
The journalist spelled incorrectly the senator’s name. misspelled
Punctuation Marks
Understanding their use in writing
Brief overview of punctuation’s role in writing:
 Helps clarify meaning.
 Adds emphasis and tone.
 Provides structure to sentences.
Dashes
Definition:
A dash (–) is used to indicate a break in thought, set off a parenthetical element, or emphasize
information.
Types of Dashes:
 En Dash (–):
Used to indicate a range of numbers or dates (e.g., 1990–2000, 10:00 AM–5:00 PM).
 Em Dash (—):
Used to create emphasis, separate clauses, or indicate a change in thought (e.g., "She
loved him—despite everything").
Examples:
The meeting will take place from 3:00–4:00 PM.
She was finally able to make a decision—after much deliberation.
Apostrophes
Definition:
An apostrophe (') is used to indicate possession or form contractions.
Uses of Apostrophes:
 Possession:
 For singular nouns: The cat’s toy (one cat, one toy).
 For plural nouns: The cats’ toys (multiple cats, multiple toys).

Contractions:
 To show missing letters in contractions: don’t (do not), I’m (I am).

Common Mistakes:
 Its vs. It’s:
Its = possessive (The dog chased its tail).
Quotation Marks
Definition:
Quotation marks (" ") are used to enclose direct speech, quotations, or titles of short works.
Uses of Quotation Marks:
 Direct Speech or Dialogue:
He said, "I will be late today."

Quoting a Source:
As Shakespeare wrote, "To be, or not to be, that is the question."

Titles of Short Works:
"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a famous short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
Punctuation Placement with Quotation Marks:
Periods and commas go inside the quotation marks.
Colons, semicolons, and question marks go outside unless they are part of the quoted material.
Commas
Basic Rules for Using Commas
Separating Items in a List
Use commas to separate three or more items in a series.
Example: I bought apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes.
Before Coordinating Conjunctions (FANBOYS)
Use a comma before conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) when they join independent
clauses.
Example: I wanted to go to the beach, but it started raining.
Commas with Introductory Elements
Introductory Words or Phrases
Use a comma after introductory words, phrases, or clauses that precede the main part of the
sentence.
Examples:
1. However, I don’t think that’s a good idea.
2. After the meeting, we went for coffee.
3. Introductory Adverbial Phrases
4. Example: In the morning, we will discuss the new project.
SUMMARY
Dashes: Used for breaks, interruptions, and emphasis.
Apostrophes: Indicate possession and contractions.
Quotation Marks: Enclose direct speech, quotations, or short titles.
Hyphen



Use a hyphen at the end of a line to divide a word where there is not enough space for the
whole word.
Use a hyphen to indicate a word spelled out letter by letter.
Use a hyphen to join two or more words to form compound adjectives that precede a
noun.
Use a hyphen to avoid awkward doubling of vowels.
1. Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun:
a one-way street
chocolate-covered peanuts
well-known author
However, when compound modifiers come after a noun, they are not hyphenated:
The peanuts were chocolate covered.
The author was well known.
2. Use a hyphen with compound numbers:
forty-six
sixty-three
Our much-loved teacher was sixty-three years old.
3. Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters:
re-sign a petition (vs. resign from a job)
semi-independent (but semiconscious)
shell-like (but childlike)
4. Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, all-; with the suffix elect; between a prefix and a capitalized word; and with figures or letters:
ex-husband
anti-American
self-assured
T-shirt
mid-September
pre-Civil War
mid-1980s
all-inclusive
mayor-elect
5. Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line if necessary, and make the break
only between syllables:
pref-er-ence
sell-ing
in-di-vid-u-al-ist
6. For line breaks, divide already-hyphenated words only at the hyphen:
massproduced
selfconscious
7. For line breaks in words ending in -ing, if a single final consonant in the root
word is doubled before the suffix, hyphenate between the consonants; otherwise,
hyphenate at the suffix itself:
plan-ning