Learning vocabulary items through meaningful chunks of words

Here are a few steps which have proved useful in enriching our vocabulary:

1. Get a good dictionary. To be useful, the dictionary should, when you consult it about a particular vocabulary item, give you illustrative sentences showing its usage. If you prefer, you can use an English-Chinese version of the dictionary.
2. Among the illustrative sentences given in the dictionary, select one or two which you find particularly relevant/ useful/ clear to you.
3. From within a sentence you have selected, identify a chunk of words – the shortest part of the sentence capturing the usage of the vocabulary item.

A few illustrative sentences extracted from a dictionary on the usage of succeed, success and successful are quoted in column 1 below. I have added shorter (and hence easier to remember) sentences in column 2.

Sentences selected from dictionary	My simplified chunks of words
She doesn't have the ruthlessness required *to succeed in business.*	I want *to succeed in business*.
He had hoped *to succeed as a violinist*.	I want *to succeed as a teacher*.
The party was *a big success*.	*My project was a big success*.
They *were successful in winning* the contract.	*I was* successful in getting an A in my project.

The simplified chunks of words will readily remind us of the following key grammatical points relating to the usage of the words:

- to succeed in something
- to succeed as a (teacher)
- a success
- to be successful in doing something

With good English proficiency, you can readily generate other expressions with succeed, success and successful to suit a particular situation.