6 Minute Vocabulary - Lexical sets

This is a download from BBC Learning English to find out more , visit our website , six minutes from BBC Learning English . Hello and welcome to Six Minute Vocabulary . I'm Catherine , and I'm . Hello . Today's program is all about lexical sets . 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 hometown recently . And here's a question to answer while you listen . What happened to all of Dave's possessions ? 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 and . Oh , dear Dave . Yes . We asked you what happened to Dave's possessions , and he said all his things were completely soaked . They were covered in water and now they're all wet and damaged . Dave also used a few different words to talk about the flood and its effects . He talks about the rain and rainfall . Now , that's a way to describe the water that falls as rain over a period of time . And he talked about water level . That's the height of the water in rivers and lakes . And Dave said it got very high . 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 . And they are also all the same type of word . They're all nouns . So we can group these words into a lexical set . 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 . So to make a lexical set for activities on a beach holiday , for example , you might think of swimming , sunbathing and surfing . But what do you like doing on a beach holiday ? . I like sunbathing and eating ice cream . Oh yes . Yeah , yeah . And lovely . And swimming , sunbathing , eating ice cream and surfing are all . That's made from verbs . 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 . That's right . And by learning words and 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 . My house was flooded , all my things were completely soaked and the carpets are still waterlogged . 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 . The words flooded , soaked and waterlogged are all adjectives here , and they're all about flooding . So there's our next lexicons that there it is . You're listening to BBC Learning English , 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 . That's right . And it's time for a quiz . My favorite . Right . I'll say three words and you decide if they make a lexical set or not . And then we'll tell you the answers . Ready ? Number one , tea , coffee , water , lexical set or not ? Well , they're all drinks , so the same topic and they're all nouns . So there are lexical set . They are another one , swimming , cleaning , sunbathing . And that's not a lexical set . They're all . But the topic seems to be holiday activities like swimming and sunbathing and cleaning doesn't really fit with that group . Not on not on my holidays anyway , either . So well . If you got those right at home . And we've just got time for a quick vocabulary tip thing . OK , right here you 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 . All right , , should we try this ? Yeah . Yeah , common . The topic is sport . And I'll start with football , rugby and boxing . Basketball ? Uh oh , no . This is more about this at ABC Learning English dot com . Join us again soon for more six minute vocabulary . And I've got another one . Come on then . Golf .