Learning English

Catherine
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary. I'm Catherine...

Finn
And I'm Finn, hello.

Catherine
Today's programme is all about lexical sets.

Finn
That's right: lexical sets help us to learn words by grouping them together by topic or word type. So, more on that later, but first, here's Dave. He's talking about a flood that happened in his home town recently, and here's a question to answer while you listen: what happened to all of Dave's possessions?

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Dave
Well, we had so much rain: it said on the news we got a month's rainfall in just one day! The water level rose so high that the river burst its banks and water poured into everyone's houses. It's terrible - my house was flooded, all my things were completely soaked and the carpets are still waterlogged.

Catherine
Oh, dear. Dave.

Finn
Yes. We asked you what happened to Dave's possessions...

Catherine
And he said all his things were completely soaked - they were covered in water and now they're all wet and damaged.

Finn
Dave also used a few different words to talk about the flood and its effects. He talked about the rain and rainfall - that's a way to describe the water that falls as rain over a period of time…

Catherine
And he talked about water level, that's the height of the water in rivers and lakes. And Dave said it got very high.

Finn
It did. And that's what caused the floods. Now, floods, water level, water, rainfall and rain - these are all on the topic of rain and floods.

Catherine
And they're also all the same type of word - they're all nouns. So we can group these words into a lexical set.

Finn
That's right: a lexical set is a group of words which are all about the same topic, and which all belong to the same part of speech - they're all nouns or verbs or adjectives.

Catherine
So, to make a lexical set for activities on a beach holiday, for example, you might think of...

Finn
...swimming, sunbathing, and surfing. What do you like doing on a beach holiday, Catherine?

Catherine
Me - I like sunbathing and eating ice cream. And swimming, sunbathing, eating ice cream, and surfing are all gerunds, that's nouns made from -ing verbs.

Finn
Exactly, so: same topic, same word type: that's a lexical set! Lots of people find it useful to learn words in groups like this. They seem to stick in your mind more easily.

Catherine
That's right and by learning words in lexical sets, you'll also have more words to choose from when you're talking about a topic. Let's hear Dave again and see if you can spot another lexical set:

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...my house was flooded, all my things were completely soaked and the carpets are still waterlogged.

Catherine
Did you get it? Dave said his house was flooded - full of water; all his things were soaked - completely wet; and his carpets still have lots of water in them - they are waterlogged.

Finn
The words flooded, soaked and waterlogged are all adjectives here, and they're all about flooding, so -

Catherine
- there's our next lexical set!

Finn
There it is!

IDENT
You're listening to BBC Learning English.

Catherine
And we're talking about lexical sets: groups of words related to the same topic that come from the same part of speech, like nouns, verbs, adjectives, gerunds.

Finn
That's right, and it's time for a quiz.

Catherine
Aha! My favourite. Right: I'll say three words and you decide if they make a lexical set or not. Finn will tell you the answers. Ready? Number one. Tea, coffee, water. Lexical set or not?

Finn
Well, they're all drinks - so the same topic - and they're all nouns, so they're a lexical set.

Catherine
They are. Another one: swimming, cleaning, sunbathing.

Finn
And that's not a lexical set. They are all gerunds, but the topic seems to be 'holiday activities' like swimming and sunbathing - and cleaning doesn't really fit with that group. Not on my holidays, anyway...

Catherine
Not on mine, either. So, well done if you got those right at home. And we've just got time for a quick vocabulary tip. Finn?

Finn
OK, right, here we go: find a friend, and play a game of 'lexical set tennis'. It goes like this. You choose a topic, like sport, and then choose a word group like nouns - and then you take it in turns to say words in the set. Alright Catherine: shall we try this?

Catherine
Yes, come on then...

Finn
The topic is sport and I'll start with football.

Catherine
Rugby.

Finn
Boxing.

Catherine
Basketball.

Finn
Err. Err. Oh no! There's more about this at bbclearningenglish.com. Join us again for more 6 Minute Vocabulary. And I've got another one.

Catherine
Come on then.

Finn
Golf...