... vocabu- lary and spelling—are essential. A good vocabulary increases your ability to understand reading material and to express yourself in speaking and in writing. Without a broad vocabulary, ... compared. A couple of obvi- ous examples of antonym pairs are happy and sad, good and bad, and love and hate. Denotation and Connotation The denotation of a word is its dictionary definition, ... manageable, and often more recogniza- ble parts. This will be especially helpful in Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7, when you are working with Vocabulary Lists that teach you about prefixes, suffixes, and roots....