How may one enhance his vocabulary?

[chiwawa626]

How may one enhance his vocabulary??

 

[warcleric]

conversation with real people *gasp*

 

[isekii]

read a lot of books..

 

[Azraele]

Read, and I don't mean see spot run books.

 

[DAM]

reading! grab the wallstreet journal, time magazine, or a nice thick book and read like there is not tomorrow.



also, perhaps you should learnd a new word from the dictionary everyday and try to use it in everyday life.




dam()

 

[pulpp]

read a dictionary

 

[GasX]

There is a book called ~Word Power Made Easy.

It is very helpful in this department. Reading and learning other romance languages help too.

And don't read Robin Cook and Tom Clancy. Read the classics.

 

[Carbo]

Apague su ordenador y lea un poco de literatura. Cuando usted viene a una palabra que usted no comprende, abra el diccionario.

 

[chiwawa626]

Any good books to start with?

 

[Cyberian]

War & Peace

 

[BlueApple]

Attempt using a thesaurus.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Add a few lines of bullshit. Most polititions know how. No wait. Thats embellishment not enhancement. Oh well.

 

[hans007]

easiest way is to read books and if you come to a word you dont know , actually look it up instead of figuring it out from context. you will be able to remember it more easily and be more likely to actually use the word

 

[rpzero]

Are you trying to improve your verbal score on the SAT score or something?

When I took my 1st SAT my verbal score was average. My vocabulary really wasn't that good. But then I just started reading a lot of books, good books. Good books are the classics, such as Great Expectations, Tale of 2 Cities, War and Peace. Basically, books written by old well known authors are good. You'll find a lot of words in there that you don't know. Whenever I saw a word I didn't know, I wrote it down and looked it up later. This way, I was able to build my vocabulary tremendously. The next time I took the SAT again, it was no surprise that the verbal section all of a sudden was hella easy coz I knew almost all the words, thanks to my reading. I'm proud to say that I improved my verbal score by 200 points (from 530 - 720).

So, I think basically if you make an effort to encounter words you don't know, and then looking them up later, you will build up your vocabulary. Reading books is better than reading a dictionary. You will see the word used in it's appropriate context if it's in a story. And who the hell wants to read a dictionary???

 

[Rage187]

"Think and Grow Rich"

Napolean Hill

This book changed my life..

Another great book

"The Celestine Phrophecy"

 

[Doomsday]

Read the dictionary...however boring...really boring...very boring it may be, it would help. If you don't like the dictionary, you could read a thesourus (excuse my spelling), that would help you realate new words to words you already know...also very very boring. Or you could also just read, not comics, but actual books and novels...in some cases also very very boring. You could also try vocabulary enhancing tapes that you listen to at night while you're asleep...added perk, it will put you asleep faster because it's very very boreing.

 

[Mapidus]

You just have to make constant use of any new words your hear or see. Like many things if you don't use it you lose it.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Reading.. I've learned so many words through books. And if the word really interests me such as masochism, then you never forget it
-- mrcodedude

 

[Hamburgerpimp]

This Website works for me, works so good, I'm busy as a bee.

 

[DannyLove]

read.

danny~!

 

[DannyLove]

<< Apague su ordenador y lea un poco de literatura. Cuando usted viene a una palabra que usted no comprende, abra el diccionario. >>

y si eso no sirbe, yo recomiendo que garas ayuda con un majestro de ingles

damn my spanish is rusty

danny~!

 

[HansHurt]

Yea, read The Classics. Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Tolstoy, Gogol, Erasmus, La Rochefoucald , Hardy, Schopenhauer, and so on..and on.... throw some Walt Whitman in there, and you'll be in good shape


Read these at your age(?), and it can have a real influence on you.


EDIT - Has anyone else read Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol? I am wondering b/c when I read that I was so involved in the story, then found out it was just the tip of the iceberg in his master work. Unfortunately, a priest whose care he was under destroyed all copies of the unpublished work :| I actually got really mad about that.

 

[Carbo]

I'll recommend one book, not necessarily for its value to improving your vocabulary, but because it is simply a great book that brought a generation to the starting blocks: On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. Read it and have fun.

 

[syzygy]

develop a fondness for reading and words. become a scrabble player. absorb
all these wierd words, most of which you will never find an application for,
just to be amazed at the diversity and complexity of the english language.
you need to cultivate a feeling, baby

 

[linuxboy]

be around smart people and read a lot. Also, you can develop lists and learn one word per day.