IELTS Advice: 'difficult' words and how to learn vocabulary

Note: I'm re-posting this lesson because people keep asking me about 'difficult' words.

Here's a useful question from a student who asked about "difficult" words and how to learn new vocabulary:

Hi Simon. Reading your blog and studying your ebook, I’ve noticed your English is perfect, but you don’t use difficult words. Also, regarding the process of learning new words, some teachers say that we should write them on cards and write the adjective, noun, verb associated with the new word. Do you think this is a good idea?

Here's my answer:

I don't believe in the idea of a "difficult word" - any individual word can be learnt easily. What is difficult is using words together in phrases. So, I tell my students not to write down individual words, but to investigate how words work in real contexts. Instead of writing single words on cards, I'd write phrases or even sentences in a notebook. It's definitely a good idea to look for associated nouns, verbs and adjectives, but always try to find examples of how those words are used (just search for them on the Internet). Remember: it's easy to understand a word, but it's not so easy to use it in a range of full sentence contexts.

Comments

[Khasan]

Hi Simon. You are right. I myself practise it a lot of time. I just keep reading and collect words with words before and after. It is a good strategy. Usually students collect words but they cannot use it properly.

[Hakan]

hi simon
I just read in order to learn words
what do you think of my technique? sufficient?

[Dote]

Hi Simon. I don't know how to do task 1 writting with maps or process. can you help me?? In the maps, i don't know how to read and write down the changes. With the process, there are many words that i don't understand their meanings. And the overviews are dificult to write with process and maps. Help me please. Thank you

[M'ambo]

@Dote
http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2017/03/ielts-writing-task-1-life-cycle-answer.html#comments

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2017/09/ielts-writing-task-1-passive-for-processes.html#comments

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2017/09/ielts-writing-task-1-silkworm-life-cycle-answer.html#comments

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2018/06/ielts-writing-task-1-map-introduction-and-overview.html#comments

See "writing task 1" in the left hand sidebar

[Oley]

Thank you very much for your practical top tips.They mean a lot to me.

[Tae]

It is a very interesting topic. I struggle to use new words in my speaking or writing. I always force me to use those new words, however, it takes a long time to use a word in a right sentence. For example, when I learnt “ what so ever”, I could not use it in my conversation for a while. It took me to use the word for more than three months:(

[Wanda]

Tae

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=no+*+whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%2Cno+*+whatsoever&year_start=1960&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Cno%20%2A%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bno%20relation%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20doubt%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20reason%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20interest%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20sense%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20intention%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20attention%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20evidence%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20idea%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20effect%20whatsoever%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2Cno%20%2A%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bno%20doubt%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20relation%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20evidence%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20reason%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20effect%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20interest%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20connection%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20intention%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20difference%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bno%20sense%20whatsoever%3B%2Cc0

[Jen]

Thank you so much! ^^

[John]

Good morning Sir

May I ask one question?

ex) Introduction

1. People have diverse opinions on advertisements. Some people insist that it is (a) negative development, while I believe that it is (a) positive advancement. In this essay,
❗️I will elaborate on the issue and suggest my opinion.

2. People have diverse opinions on advertisements. Some people insist that it is (a) negative development, while I believe that it is (a) positive advancement. In this essay,

❗️I elaborate the issue and suggest my opinion.

3. People have diverse opinions on advertisements. Some people insist that it is negative development, while I believe that it is positive advancement. In this essay,
❗️I will elaborate the issue and suggest my opinion.

What is the difference between 1 and 2?

1, 2 and 3 are all correct?

Please reply. Thank you.

[Fruzsi]

John: answered elsewhere

[Trang]

Hi Simon,
I want to ask a question if you don't mind.
Is using "difficult academic words (and phrases)" really better than "easy words or phrases"?