HOW TO ENRICH YOUR VOCABULARY Words, written or spoken, are thoughts. You need vocabulary to express your thoughts or to understand those of others. You can express your thoughts without grammar but you cannot do so without words. Even illiterate persons appreciate the importance of vocabulary though their concept of vocabulary may not be so “rich” as the literate persons perceive it.
When you speak or write, the listener/reader is
impressed by the richness and skilful use of your vocabulary and knowingly or
unknowingly judges your capabilities. The other way, rich vocabulary helps you
to effortlessly comprehend the thoughts expressed no sooner they strike to the
mind. Rich vocabulary is very important “to understand” or “to be understood”. Given
the equal professional knowledge amongst the peers, a better vocabulary stand
an individual in good stead. These few words should be enough to change the
perception of the persons who underestimate the importance of a rich vocabulary.
Needless to state that a rich vocabulary is a valuable asset for success.
It cannot be gainsaid that formal education, one’s mother
tongue, medium of instructions in school and college education plays vital role
in building up vocabulary but these do not guarantee a good vocabulary. What
guarantees a good vocabulary is one’s consistent effort irrespective of the
factors mentioned before. Nobody has missed the bus. Building up a rich
vocabulary is a quest, full of consistent efforts. Not only that, lexical
wealth of complacent persons would diminish with passage of time if they do not
nurture it.
Tips to enrich the vocabulary:
(1) BUY A GOOD DICTIONARY:
Computer and Mobile have wonderful lexical capabilities
with lots of convenience. However, they cannot substitute a good dictionary for
an avid “pupil” of vocabulary. Buy a good dictionary published by a reputed
publisher and use it.
(2) READ:
Research has proved that reading, with an eye on
improving vocabulary, is an important tool to enrich word power. This equally
applies for mother tongue or “second language”. For all round development of vocabulary, read
on variety of subjects from various sources e.g. news papers, magazines,
fictions, non-fictions, etc.
(3) JOT DOWN IN A DIARY:
As soon as you come across an unknown word, try to
infer the meaning of the word from the context in which it is used and then refer
to the dictionary and jot down the word with its meaning in a diary. Prepare the diary with a separate page for
each alphabetic letter – like a telephone diary. This helps avoid duplication
and easy reference in future.
(4) LOOK INTO
ETYMOLOGY:
While looking for
the meaning (definition) of an unknown word in the dictionary look into the
etymology of the word. Good dictionaries narrate how the word is originated
with its root, suffix, prefix, plural, verb forms, etc after giving the meaning
of the word. This helps to relate the unknown word with the cognate words and
memorize them. The etymology of most of the words have interesting tale-tell
story reinforcing the meaning in your memory.
(5) USE OF A NEW WORD
LEARNT:
Find out how you
can use the new word learnt in place of the words you are presently using.
Whenever, possible use the new words and see yourself how they make your
expression more effective.
(6) DEVISE MNEMONICS:
Mnemonics are
tricks to help remember the word, particularly when it is ticklish or confusing
with its cognates. These tricks serve the purposes best when they are
self-devised. Many nouns have irregular plural e.g. goose, plural geese and
many such others. When singular and plural are confusing (e.g. foot - feet,
goose – geese) a simple mnemonics to member which is singular and which is
plural is: one has an o in its spelling so the noun with an o is singular
because number one has an o. Depending upon your resourcefulness, you can
devise mnemonics based on rhyme, logic, spelling, pronunciation, relation,
events, celebrities, etc.
(7) BUY A THESAURAS:
If you love
dictionary, you would also love thesaurus. Unlike dictionaries, they provide
synonyms, antonyms, etc. While a dictionary defines a word, a thesaurus gives a
choice of words for each entry. A thesaurus is helpful for selection of exact
words that convey the message in a better way. This helps appreciate and differentiate “subtle shades” of meaning of different words
apparently conveying similar message e.g. the verbs to kill, to murder, to
assassinate, to execute, etc suggest that one person causes death of an another
one but each verb has specific meaning and context.
(8) BUY BOOKS ON
VOCABULARY / WORD POWER:
Such books are
also helpful in enriching your vocabulary. In some such books, the words are
listed with its meaning. Remembering them and using them in right context makes
it bit difficult as they are in a listing format, not used in a contextual
text. While in some books, the words are grouped “concept wise” and used in
text (some time in an amusing anecdote) explaining the meaning. Such a presentation is very helpful in
sustaining our interest in reading such books.
(9) USE ELECTRONIC SERVICES:
TV, INTERNET, EMAIL AND SOCIAL MEDIA:
Information
Technology has made ocean of knowledge available with just few clicks away.
Sign up “A Word a day in your inbox” email, Play Word Games and Quizzes, Get
Lost in Crossword puzzles. Challenge yourself with vocabulary test and evaluate
how much your efforts have paid. Watching TV programmes (news, fictions, movies
etc) with subtitles of the audio is also useful for developing the vocabulary. While
watching, jot down the difficult words and explore them after the programme is
over.
(10) STUDY ROOTS,
PREFIXES, SUFFIXES:
Learn roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Many words in the
English language are derived from Latin or Greek roots. Many words are derived
from the same root. Concomitantly, if you know the root, you can easily
understand and remember the meaning of the word derived from that root. Greek
root hydro (water) has given: Hydrogen, Hydrophobia, hydroponic, hydrotherapy, hydraulics,
hydroplane, dehydrate, hydrosphere, etc. Knowledge of roots coupled with the
knowledge of suffixes and prefixes are crucial for building up a rich
vocabulary. Scientific and technological words are mainly coined from Greek or
Latin roots with suggestive suffixes or prefixes.
It is found that most of the persons are facing
embarrassing situations during each stage of life for want of a sufficient vocabulary.
Rather than equipping ourselves, we find out some soft option – consult a
friend or colleague, refer to dictionary, surf the internet, knowingly tolerate
the linguistic errors, etc. Now stop it. It is never late to mend.
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