VOCABULARY

What does this word mean?



It is defined as a set of familiar words within a person's language or a stock of words used by or known to particular people or groups of persons.

Why is it so vital to learn vocabulary ?

A good range of vocabulary is very important to effectively convey ideas, opinions and thoughts without having to repeat the same words over and over for want of a better word.

Contrary to what people believe, the idea behind using a fine set of words to describe something is not to confuse or perplex people using fancy and complicated words !! They actually help put across ideas in an impressive manner.

How articulate you are and the impression you make on others is largely attributed to the wide range of vocabulary that you use among other things. 

Story-tellers and narrators weave magic with their words creating a fantasy and casting a spell on the young readers. The power of words can wrench your hearts in sorrow or leave an eerie silence forcing you time and again to peer over your shoulders as if the devil himself was there behind you.

When we speak, we use different tones and expressions to convey different emotions. Similarly different vocabulary is used to convey different situations and there are a whole set of words used commonly for every activity. We shall look into the same as we move along this lesson.

So, is learning vocabulary exclusively for the intellects ?? Not at all. In fact anyone can acquire an impressive range of words and what's more, it is very interesting. 

TIPS TO SHARPEN YOUR VOCABULARY





 Invest in a good dictionary ( Oxfords Dictionary).

1. READ, READ AND READ !!!!

When we read a book and stumble upon a new word, there is a good chance that you can guess the meaning of the words simply by understanding the summary of the sentence. 

Now that your curiosity has sufficiently been aroused, check out the meaning of the word in your dictionary. The beauty of your exercise is that by looking up one new word, you will most certainly learn a couple of new words because the dictionary inevitably provides synonyms ( 'words with similar meanings', there will be numerous examples of these later on in this lesson). You will learn to accurately pronounce it, of course if you are unfamiliar with phonetics then this could be confusing. But never lose heart, there isn't anyone who does not own a phone with a google app. You can alternatively learn through that.

Reading the daily newspaper is probably the quickest way to learn smart words. They are usually worded in a simple yet smart manner keeping in mind the readers' level of language.

2. NOW THAT THE FIRST HURDLE IS DONE WITH, DON'T LET IT REST THERE !!

I would suggest a book be kept exclusively for new vocabulary. Write the word down, say it over and over again to get a feel of it. Now frame a sentence with it and always connect it to situations in everyday life. Most importantly, get someone to correct it for you because a word can have many small nuances which cannot always be used in all sentences. Write a couple of more sentences and make sure you read them everyday several times. It is widely believed that for the human mind to accept something, it needs to be repeated at least 8-9 times. So until the word becomes a part of your vocabulary and you master it, keep memorizing it. Please do remember to frame sentences to situations that you can relate to in your day to day life. This will greatly contribute towards committing it to your permanent memory. 

Let me cite an example:

Lets say you come across the word " procrastination" ( quite a mouthfull !!) in a book.
The dictionary would say it means "to postpone actions for a later time".
I am sure that you must have come across people who do that all the time or probably its something you do yourself. 

Sentence:
" I tend to procrastinate which has landed me in deep trouble with my mother at home many a times". 

Well, you aren't going to forget this sentence quickly because it is so YOU!! 

Another piece of advice ------ try never to use common usages such as good ( use a synonym instead such as exceptional, extraordinary, excellent etc). Do look up the synonyms for everyday usages at the end of the lesson. Use each one in a sentence. Like I mentioned earlier in the lesson, synonyms are not exact meanings but close meanings so you need to differentiate that with original sentences and depending upon the meaning you could use it as a replacement. 

3. LEARN AT LEAST 10 NEW WORDS A DAY

Let not your quest to learn vocab building be a tiresome ordeal. Every activity has its own unique vocabulary or jargon as it is called. So pick out activities you enjoy doing and find out vocabulary related to it. You may be surprised to find that you actually enjoy it !!

There are plenty of vocabulary building books or you can surf the net. The sky is the limit !

Please do remember that not everyone has the same level of reading. So find your personal reading level as also the vocabulary and gradually move up to more advanced words. 

I do hope you found this lesson helpful. I can say with some conviction that you ( kids out there) have been able to understand and learn new words from this lesson, which means you are now richer by that many words !! Let this be a start. 

Will catch up with you in my next chapter on more words !!

Remember, 

"Without grammar, very little can be conveyed.
       Without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed."