 Hello dear learner friends, I am Pallavi Gugoy of Krishnakanta Handik State Open University. Welcome to today's program on English vocabulary and phrases and idioms, which is a part of the first semester Bachelor of Arts in English from the course titled Foundation Course in English. This short video also welcomes and addresses anyone who is inquisitive to know about the course as well as eager to gain a brief idea on what the course has to offer on the specified topics. To provide you a comprehensive idea, the Foundation Course in English is designed in a way that addresses the needs of the learners on various aspects of grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, reading as well as writing skills. Thereby, it aims to encourage you towards strengthening your overall language skills and steering your self-confidence. Coming to the first topic on English vocabulary, like to say, Rome was not built in a day. It takes a very long time to build one's vocabulary and to build on one's word stock. The best way to get started is to get hold of your dictionary every day and jotting down a few words. Say five to ten words and then refer to a thesaurus to see how these words are used in the sentence form. Do remember speaking and writing correct English complement each other and working on your diction will subsequently improve both your reading and writing skills. Some of the important vocabulary items are number one, synonyms and antonyms, number two, one word expressions, number three, words used as different classes, and number four, phrasal verbs, the details of which is offered in the Foundation Course. You may not necessarily enter a spelling bee contest but the best part of working daily on your vocabulary is that using a dictionary also enables you to improve your spellings if that happens to be a weak point. Slowly but surely, if you do work on your vocabulary, you will experience a marked improvement in your everyday interactions and even writing skills as well. And what is more, you will surprise yourself with a rush of confidence in every way. If you happen to be a writing enthusiast or harbor a desire to be a profession speaker, building your vocabulary will also add that extra edge and advantage to your set of language skills. Moving on to the aspect of phrases and idioms, like all languages and culture, the English language has a rich stock of idiomatic expressions. The apt or appropriate use of phrases and idioms will certainly add a dash of sparkle to your regular expressions. Phrases and idioms also add a tinge of wit or a dash of humor to your expressions. Now, here is the catch. There are two central features underlying an idiom, such as, number one, the meaning of an idiomatic expression cannot be deduced or extracted by examining individual words in a particular expression, which implies that you will have to have a broad idea of the various kinds of phrases and idiomatic expressions, their meanings as well as their usage. Number two, these expressions are fixed both grammatically and structurally or in other words, they are universal in a way. In addition to this, an interesting point about these expressions is that a word can enter an n number of constructions. To cite a quick example, a word like hand can enter into as many as 92 idiomatic expressions in combinations like free hand, upper hand, hand in glove, catch red-handed, etc. There are thus an n number of phrases and idioms in the English language that gives you the right expression in the right capsule. With this, we come to the end of this video. I hope that I have been able to run you through these two important topics of English vocabulary and phrases and idioms in order to provide you with a brief idea on what it has to offer. Also, I hope I have been able to infuse you with a new sense of curiosity and a desire to explore more with regard to our course. Let learning be a joy and a lifelong process. I wish you all the best and heartily thank you, dear learner friends.