How do you feel about your vocabulary? Do you wish it were broader? That you had more words at your disposal in order to express your thoughts, feelings, and ideas more explicitly?
For me, a wide vocabulary is like having a nice, full wardrobe. With only a few pieces in your wardrobe, you are very limited as to how you can express yourself through your styles, but the more pieces you have, the more nuanced your styles becomes. Such is the same with vocabulary.
Given that I'm a bit of a word nerd, I'm going to share with you some of my tips and tricks for learning new vocabulary so that you can get out there and express yourself with more pizzazz.
Tips and Tricks For Building Vocabulary
- Read. A lot. Preferably something more high-brow than US Weekly. This tip is something I learned while I was in college, but not because of anything I was doing expressly for schoolwork. During those days, my favorite books to read for fun were some of the classics- think Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, and Charles Dickens, with some L.M. Montgomery and J.R.R. Tolkein thrown in. I had several of my French and Art History teachers ask me if I was a literature major because of the way that I wrote. I was always baffled, until they explained that I had a very literary style in my papers. I realized that the kind of leisure reading I pursued led to a greater vocabulary and it affected my writing. So, if you want to write better, read better!
- When you read, take note of unfamiliar words. True story: when I read The Three Musketeers, the translation that I read had a plethora of new-to-me words. I underlined every word that I did not understand, and put tabs in the book so that when I put the book down, I could pick up a dictionary and look up the new words. That was back in the time before smartphones- now I just use the dictionary on my iPhone while I'm reading, though taking notes would help with memory.
- Use a study guide. Yeah, it's a little nerdy, but if you make a point of building your vocabulary with purpose, then a study guide is a very useful tool. Years ago, I studied for the GRE and I went through the top 250 words that was provided in my Kaplan guide. I highlighted every word that I could not define and made flashcards. A few times each day, I reviewed my flashcards, eliminating words as I mastered their definitions. Nerdy, but incredibly effective.
- Use smartphone Apps. There are quite a few vocabulary-building apps out there, some geared specifically towards SAT and GRE takers, and some that are games. For the cut and dry flashcard-style app, GRE Vocabulary Flashcards is a decent free app, and works a bit like my study method above. For something a bit more fun and entertaining, I like Vocabador, which is only 2 bucks. There are two aspects to Vocabador- the study portion, and the game portion. The premise here is that you are a wrestler (you get to pick a name and a mask!), and you choose your level of study- lightweight, middle weight, and heavy weight. The study guide is excellent- you get words, definitions, sentences, synonyms, and antonyms. When you're ready you can enter the ring and test your knowledge of vocabulary- and you get to choose your opponent!
Some Related Links
This article about building vocab by reading, and this article with some tips and words you should be using more often.
Do you have any vocab-building tips or tricks? I would love to hear form you in the comments below!
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