Vocabulary Building

The average person learns most of the 30 000-40 000 words whose meaning he or she recognizes by hearing or reading them in context or simply absorbing them without conscious effort. The best way to a good vocabulary, therefore, is to read a great deal and to participate in a lot of good talk. There are relatively few words that we learn permanently by purposefully referring to dictionaries or keeping word lists. However, even those extra few are of value and no one will make a mistake by working on developing a larger vocabulary. Here are some suggestions of how to do it.

Read plenty of good books. When you come across a new word, or a new meaning of an old word, stop and see if you can understand it from its context (the words around it). If you can't, and if you can manage it without interrupting the thought of the book too much, look it up in a dictionary or ask somebody and then repeat its meaning to yourself a couple of times. If you are really conscientious, write down the word and its meaning in a personal vocabulary list—preferably using it in a sentence. (You can use the blank lined pages at the end of each section of this book for your list, or you can keep a special vocabulary notebook.) Go over the list from time to time. Further, try to use a new word in writing or conversation a few times over the next several days.

Listen to good talk and be alert to new words you hear or to new meanings of words you already know. Then treat them just as you do new words you read.

Learn and be alert to parts of words: prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Knowing them enables you to make intelligent guesses about the meanings of words.

If you are studying a foreign language, be alert for words in that language which relate to words in English. English has inherited or borrowed much of its vocabulary of 500 000-600 000 words from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and German.