Active vs Passive English Vocabulary And How You Can Make More Vocabulary Active

Hello, this is Jack Askew from tofluency.com

And in this video, we're going to talk about active

vs passive vocabulary, and how you can use this difference

to increase your English knowledge so

keep watching...

So let's start with the definition

Passive vocabulary is this: Words that you understand

when you are reading or listening but can't use when writing or speaking.

So, these are the words you understand, but you can't use.

On the other hand, active vocabulary

is this: words that you can use when speaking or writing

So, you understand them and you can use them

when you are using your English. Now...

the majority of English learners find writing

more difficult than reading, and speaking

more difficult than listening. The good news

about this is: this is natural

and it's what you want to have. And it's what native English speakers have too.

Native speakers can understand more than they can use

in every day conversation, for example,

I love watching Dr. House and I can understand

most of what he says when they're talking about

medical situations but

I can't use this type of vocabulary in an active way

when I'm speaking. So, the number of words that you understand

will always be bigger than the number of words that you can use

during conversation. But as I said, that's normal

But what can you do to increase your

active English vocabulary. Firstly,

what I recommend doing is thinking about the type of vocabulary

that's important to you; the type of vocabulary that's really going to help

you

when you're using your English, for example...

if you work in finance and you need to talk to people

in English in this industry then

you should focus on learning financial terms and vocabulary

because this is what's going to help you when you have conversations

related to what you're doing. So, after thinking about the types of vocabulary

that you want to make active

then use it; when you use it

in conversation

, in writing in, in anything that you do you

when using English then you're going to make this vocabulary

active. There are also things you can do like repeating after native speakers

or using flashcards and software so that you get the repetition you need

to remember the vocabulary and make it active. But remember...

not all passive vocabulary needs to be

active on what he make active is dependent

on how you are going to use English so

thanks for watching and I'll see you next time