eng8-V6· Vocabulary· ~13 min

Change-makers

Words for people who make a difference and their achievements.

A 'change-maker' is someone who makes the world better. This lesson teaches words about people like volunteers and activists, actions like charity and protest, and qualities like being brave or determined. You will learn who these people are, what they do, and how we describe them.

Key terms

volunteer — a person who does work without being paid because they want to help
activist — a person who takes action to bring social or political change
role model — a person who others admire and try to copy because of their good qualities
charity — an organisation that collects money and help for people who need it
campaign — a planned set of activities to reach a goal, often for social or political change
inspire — to give someone the feeling that they want to do something good or creative
Word Groups — People, Actions, and Qualities
People & RolesSociety & ActionsAchievement Qualities
volunteercharitybrave
activistcampaigndetermined
leaderdonationgenerous
role modelcommunity—
herocause—
—protest—

Grouping the vocabulary helps you remember which words name people, which name actions, and which describe qualities.

✎Using Context to Guess Meaning
  1. 1Read the sentence: 'The volunteer spent every Saturday helping at the animal shelter without taking any money.'
  2. 2Find the clues: The words 'without taking any money' tell you that a volunteer works for free.
  3. 3Check your guess: So a volunteer is someone who gives their time to help others and does not get paid.
🚫Common mistake

Don't confuse 'brave' with 'strong'. Brave means you face danger or fear with courage. Strong means you have physical power. A small child can be brave.

💡Note

'Protest' works as both a noun and a verb. As a noun: 'They joined the protest.' As a verb: 'They decided to protest against the new law.'

⚠️Caution

Some words change their form when they become nouns. For example: inspire (verb) → inspiration (noun); achieve (verb) → achievement (noun).

Rules

  1. 1Words like volunteer, activist, and leader name people — they answer the question 'who?'.
  2. 2Words like charity, campaign, and donation name actions or things — they answer the question 'what?'.
  3. 3Brave, determined, and generous are adjectives — they describe what kind of person someone is.
  4. 4Many of these words can work as more than one part of speech: 'protest' can be a noun (a protest) or a verb (to protest).
  5. 5Some words go together naturally: you 'support a cause', 'join a campaign', or 'make a donation'.
  6. 6Don't confuse 'brave' (showing courage) with 'strong' (having physical power) — a person can be brave without being strong.

Practice

10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard

10 random questions per test

EasyMediumHardMixed