To the student
This book has been written to help you learn new vocabulary. You already know hundreds of English words, but to speak and write English in normal situations you need at least 1-2,000 words. In this book, there are around 1,250 new words and phrases for you to learn. You will find them on the left-hand page of each unit. Every new word or phrase is used in a sentence, or in a conversation, or has a picture with it, or has some explanation of what it means. On the right-hand page there are exercises and other activities to help you practise using the words and to help you to remember them. The book has been written so that you can use it yourself, without a teacher. You can do the units in any order you like, but we believe it is a good idea if you do Units 1 and 2 first, as they will help you to work with the rest of the book in the best possible way.
The key at the end of the book is for you to check your answers to the exercises after you do them. The key sometimes has more than one answer. This is because often there is not just one correct way of saying something. The key also has possible answers for most of the exercises which are open-ended, or where you are asked to talk about yourself.
The index at the end of the book has all the important words and phrases from the left- hand pages. The index also tells you how to pronounce words. There is a table of phonetic symbols to help you understand the pronunciation on page 157. You should also have a dictionary with you  when you use the book. This is because sometimes you may want to check the meaning of something, or find a word in your own language to help you remember the English word. Sometimes, you will also need a dictionary for the exercises; we tell you when this is so.To learn a lot of  vocabulary, you have to do two things: 
1 Study each unit of the book carefully and do all the exercises. Check your answers in the key. Repeat the units after a month, and then again after three months, and see how much you have learnt and how much you have forgotten. Repeating work is very important.
2 Develop ways of your own to study and learn new words and phrases which are not in this book. For example, every time you see or hear an interesting phrase, write it in a notebook, and write who said it or wrote it, and in what situation, as well as what it means. Here is an interesting example:
ready: (man at the door of a theatre, to all the people waiting) 'Have your tickets ready please!' = have your ticket in your hand.
Making notes of the situations words are used in will help you to remember them and to use them at the right moment.
We hope you like this book. When you have finished it, you can go to the next book in the series, English Vocabulary in Use: pre-intermediate and intermediate, and after that, to the higher level, English Vocabulary in Use: upper-intermediate and advanced.
4 English Vocabulary in Use (elementary)

To the teacher
This book can be used in class or as a self-study book. It is intended to take learners from a very basic level of vocabulary to a level where they can use around 2,000 words and phrases. The vocabulary has been chosen for its usefulness in everyday situations, and the authors consulted a written and spoken corpus of present-day English to help them decide on the words and phrases to be included. The new vocabulary (on average 20-25 items per unit) is presented with illustrations and explanations on the left-hand page, and there are exercises and activities on the right-hand page. There is a key and an index with pronunciation for all the key vocabulary.The book focuses not just on single words, but on useful phrases and collocations. For example, difficult teaching points such as the difference between do and make, are dealt with through collocation (we  do our homework, but we make mistakes), and useful phrases (e.g. come along, in the unit on come) are presented.The book is organised around everyday topics, but also has units devoted to core verbs such as get and bring/take, as well as units concerned with ways of learning  vocabulary. Typical errors are indicated where appropriate, and the most typical meanings and uses are focused on for each key item. The units in the book can be used in any order you like, but we would advise doing the initial units on learning vocabulary (Units 1 and 2) first, as these lay  the foundations for the rest of the book.The right-hand pages offer a variety of different types of activities, some traditional ones such as gap-filling, but also more open-ended ones and personalised activities which enable learners to talk about their own lives. Although the activities and  exercises are designed for self-study, they can be easily adapted for pair-work, group-work or whole-class activities in the usual way. The key sometimes gives alternative answers to the exercises, and also usually gives possible model answers for the more personalised ones.When the  learners have worked through a group of units, it is a good idea to repeat some of the work (for example, the exercises) and to expand on the meaning and use of key words and phrases by extra discussion in class, and find other examples of the key items in other texts and situations. This  can be done at intervals of one to three months after first working on a unit. This is important, since it is usually the case that a learner needs five to seven exposures to a word or phrase before they can really know it, and no single book can do enough to ensure that words are always learnt first time.When your students have finished all the units in this book, they will be ready to move on to the two higher level books in this series: English Vocabulary in Use: pre-intermediate and intermediate, by Stuart Redman, and after that, to the higher level, English Vocabulary in Use:  upper-intermediate and advanced, by the same authors as this book.

We hope you enjoy using the book.