Mastering Advanced Vocabulary and Essential Grammar Phrases

Essential Vocabulary: Synonyms and Antonyms

• Acquisitive — SYN: greedy, avaricious, retentive, grasping | ANT: altruistic, unretentive
• Arrogate — SYN: to claim without right, commandeer, usurp | ANT: renounce, abdicate, abandon, relinquish
• Banal — SYN: stale | ANT: original, new, inspired
• Belabor — SYN: overwork, harp on the same point again and again
• Carping — SYN: nit-picking, caviling | ANT: approving, uncritical
• Coherent — SYN: connected, unified, consistent, cohesive | ANT: muddled, chaotic, disjointed
• Congeal — SYN: harden, solidify, coagulate | ANT: liquefy, soften
• Emulate — SYN: copy, mimic
• Encomium — SYN: praise, commendation | ANT: criticism
• Eschew — SYN: to avoid, steer clear of, forgo | ANT: embrace, adopt
• Germane — SYN: relevant, relative | ANT: irrelevant, extraneous, inappropriate
• Insatiable — SYN: unquenchable, unsatisfied, voracious
• Intransigent — SYN: refusing to compromise, unyielding, obdurate | ANT: lukewarm, halfhearted, yielding
• Invidious — SYN: malicious, spiteful, prejudicial, pejorative | ANT: flattering, ameliorative, magnanimous
• Largesse — SYN: liberality, bounty, munificence | ANT: stinginess, miserliness, niggardliness
• Reconnaissance — SYN: a survey for military purposes, exploration, scouting expedition
• Substantiate — SYN: confirm, validate, authenticate, verify | ANT: refute, disprove, invalidate
• Taciturn — SYN: tight-lipped, uncommunicative, laconic | ANT: garrulous, loquacious, prolix, verbose
• Temporize — SYN: dillydally, trying to stall, hedge
• Tenable — SYN: defensible, justifiable, maintainable | ANT: indefensible, unjustifiable

Grammar Reference: Phrases and Usages

Verbal Phrases

• Gerund: (Noun ending in -ing) (about, for, in, of, on, at, by, with)
• Participial: Adjective: modifies the noun; Adverb: modifies the verb/clause
• Infinitive: To + Verb

Appositive and Appositive Phrases

• Essential: Identifies which specific noun you mean. Removing it changes the sentence's meaning. (No commas)
• Non-Essential: Adds extra details about an already specific noun. Removing it leaves the core sentence intact. (Use commas)

Prepositional Phrases

• Adjective Phrase: Modifies a noun or pronoun. (Which one? What kind?)
• Adverb Phrase: Modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb. (When? Where? How? To what extent?)