Grammar - Vocabulary 2

The 5 Easy Steps to Building Your Vocabulary

There are a lot of good strategies for building your vocabulary — learning the meaning of suffixes, prefixes, and roots of words, going through word lists and making flash cards for the words you don’t know, and signing up for a daily “Word of the Day” email from a website like Merriam-Webster.com, to name a few.

But since I personally find it hard to motivate myself to study etymology, considered my flash card days over when I left law school, and know I wouldn’t open my Word of the Day email consistently (despite a pang of guilt each time), let me share my favorite vocabulary-building method. It’s a simple and classic one that helps you build your vocabulary gradually and naturally – without too much extra exertion. While it’s been around a long time, I first discovered it through one of those old cheesy, but wise, instructional films that I love:

The slow but earnest Mr. Willis tries to advocate for the building of a park, but has trouble expressing himself. In fact, the lady on the left was heard to mutter, “Whatcha talkin’ about Willis?”

1. Read. Reading is the single biggest thing you can do to increase your vocabulary (and of course it offers a whole host of other benefits as well). Without specifically trying to study vocabulary, you encounter tons of new words, the meaning of which you can often glean from the context in which the word is situated (although you shouldn’t rely exclusively on context – see below). Reading offers not just an awareness of words, but a real feel for them.

Mr. Willis takes up reading to boost his vocabulary — checking out books on everything from home decorating to his printing business.

The broader and more challenging your reading selections, the beefier your working vocabulary will become. Strive to read both nonfiction and fiction. Instead of only browsing content-aggregator sites, read entire articles in high-caliber newspaper like The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, and magazines like The Atlantic. Also dip into periodicals on different kinds of subjects like The Smithsonian or Scientific American. 

2. Listen. You can also pick up new words from the people you talk with and listen to. This is, after all, exactly how you learned words back when you were a toddler. Our son Gus is always picking up new words from things we say, trying to figure out the context, and then trying them out himself (it’s excellent motivation to curb your cursing!). Sometimes he gets it right, sometimes he gets it wrong – often to comedic effect.

Of course, the effectiveness of this listen-to-learn method depends on who you surround yourself with. Challenge yourself by associating with well-educated people, watching interesting lectures, and taking the harder classes in school, even if doing so makes you uncomfortable. Iron sharpens iron, and the vocabulary of those with keens minds will rub off on you.

Mr. Willis begins to jot down words he hears and reads that he doesn’t know the meaning of.

3. Write down words you read and hear that you don’t know. Reading and listening are the ways you expose yourself to new words. Once someone uses a word you’re unfamiliar with, or you come across a new word while reading, write it down in a pocket notebook (or your smartphone).

Mr. Willis transfers his new word list to a special vocabulary notebook.

4. Look up the word in a dictionary and write down its meaning in a vocabulary notebook. Whenever you hear or read a new word, you should always stop and try to figure out its meaning from the context in which it is given. But a word can have multiple meanings and shades of meaning, the author or speaker could possibly have used the word incorrectly, and even if you do guess the right meaning, you may quickly forget it. So don’t stop there. Once you get a chance, look up the new word you wrote down in your pocket notebook in a dictionary (new dictionary apps make doing this possible on the go), and then write it and its definition in a larger notebook dedicated to learning new vocabulary. Keep the definition short and put it in your own words – you don’t really understand something if you can’t explain it yourself.

You can customize yours with some cool stickers.

It’s also important to jot down the pronunciation of the word – not with fancy symbols, but phonetically in a way you will understand. For example, for the word “oblique,” you could write its pronunciation as “oh-bleek.” What’s great about the advent of online dictionaries is that they often have a button to click to hear the word being spoken aloud. Knowing how to correctly pronounce a word is crucial – dropping big words into conversation, but saying them incorrectly is worse than not saying the words at all. Once you’ve written down the proper pronunciation, say the word aloud several times.

You might also write down some of the word’s synonyms, and even draw a picture that can help you remember its meaning.

5. Use the new word several times in conversation as soon as you can. This will really help sear the word into your mind.

Mr. Willis redoes his presentation, this time dropping in words like “vacillate” and “ultimatum” and the crowd goes wild. Way to go Mr. Willis!