eng6-V8· Vocabulary· ~13 min

Nature & Weather

Words for nature, the weather and the environment.

In this lesson, you will learn words about nature and the weather. Nature is everything around us like forests, rivers, mountains and oceans. You will also learn words for different kinds of weather like sunny, rainy or windy. Finally, you will learn some words about how we can help our planet.

Key terms

nature — all the plants, animals, mountains, rivers, seas and other things in the world that people did not make
forest — a big area of land with many trees
weather — the condition of the air outside at a particular time, for example if it is sunny, rainy, windy or cold
pollution — dirty or harmful things in the air, water or land, often made by cars, factories or rubbish
recycle — to use old paper, glass, plastic or other things again to make new things instead of throwing them away
planet — a big round object that moves around a star; Earth is the planet we live on
Places in Nature
WordMeaning
foresta big area with many trees
mountaina very high area of land
riverwater that moves across land to the sea
lakea big area of water with land all around it
oceana very big area of salt water
deserta very dry place with a lot of sand
islanda piece of land with water all around it
valleya low area of land between mountains
waterfallwater that falls down from a high place
hilla small high place, smaller than a mountain

Common words for places in nature and what they mean.

Types of Weather
WordMeaning
sunnythe sun is shining, no clouds
rainywater is falling from the sky
windythere is a lot of moving air
cloudythe sky is full of clouds
snowywhite cold flakes fall from the sky
foggythick cloud near the ground, hard to see
stormyvery heavy rain with strong wind
hotthe temperature is very high
coldthe temperature is very low
warmthe temperature is nice, not hot and not cold

Common words to describe the weather.

✎How to match a word with its meaning
  1. 1Read the word: Look at the word you need to know. Example: the word 'forest'.
  2. 2Think about what it means: A forest is a big outdoor place with many, many trees growing together.
  3. 3Read all the choices: Read all four answers carefully. Do not pick the first one you see.
  4. 4Choose the best match: Pick the answer that means the same thing. 'A place with many trees' is the best answer for 'forest'.
🚫Common mistake

Do not say 'It is wind today' when you mean the weather is windy. You must say 'It is windy today.' Wind is the thing (noun); windy is the weather (adjective).

💡Note

Weather words almost always come after 'It is...' in a sentence. For example: 'It is sunny.' 'It is cold.' 'It is rainy.' You can also say 'The weather is sunny.'

⚠️Caution

Be careful with 'clean' and 'litter'. Both of these words can be verbs AND nouns. 'Clean' as an adjective means 'not dirty'. 'Clean' as a verb means 'to make something not dirty'. 'Litter' as a verb means 'to throw rubbish on the ground'. 'Litter' as a noun means 'rubbish on the ground'.

Rules

  1. 1Weather words like sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy, snowy, foggy and stormy all end with '-y'. They describe what the weather is like.
  2. 2Some nature words are places (forest, mountain, river, lake, ocean, desert, island). Other nature words are living things (tree, plant, flower, animal).
  3. 3The word 'clean' can be an adjective (not dirty) or a verb (to make something not dirty). Look at the sentence to know which one.
  4. 4Do not confuse 'wind' (the noun — moving air) with 'windy' (the adjective — weather with a lot of wind).
  5. 5'Pollution' is an uncountable noun. You cannot say 'a pollution' or 'pollutions'.
  6. 6Words like protect, recycle and clean are positive actions. Words like litter and pollute are negative actions.

Practice

10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard

10 random questions per test

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