Thursday, May 29, 2008

How To-9: How to Enrich Your English Language Vocabulary


from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Read this article to learn how you can enrich your English vocabulary in just a few weeks.

Steps

  1. Love words. You have to really want to learn new vocabulary if you're going to succeed.
  2. Look up words you don't know whenever you encounter them. After encountering and looking up a word several times, you should eventually be able to remember its definition.
  3. There are many computer programs and websites that have ways of giving you a short "Word of the Day" list with new words every day. Try going to www.dictionary.com. Scroll down and click on "Get the Word of the Day e-mail". If you enter all of the required information, you will get a new e-mail every day with a word, its definition, and an example usage sentence.
  4. Get a personalized Google homepage and click on "Add Content". Search for "word of the day" in the search box, and pick some of the content choices that you'd like to have on your homepage. The author recommends Merriam-Webster (www.m-w.com), Dictionary.com, and Wordsmith.org. When you log on to your homepage, there will be a list of new words every day.
  5. Read. Read all genres of books. When you come across a word you don't know, read the sentences around the word and try to figure out what it means from the context. Check your guess with a dictionary. This doesn't mean you should start reading medical textbooks or other books with lots of new words on every page. Set aside time each day to sit down with your book. Enjoy yourself!
  6. Play word games with friends. Try Boggle, Scrabble, or Catch-Phrase. There are so many great games out there to teach you new words. If a friend comes up with a word that you don't know, ask them what it means.
  7. Use the words you learn when you're talking to people or writing letters or e-mail. Using your new vocabulary is not only fun, but a great way to remember all these new words. Try to use at least three new words a day when communicating with anyone.
  8. Learn roots, prefixes, and suffixes. Many words in the English language come from Latin or Greek words. When you combine these Latin or Greek words, you get new words in English. For example: astro ("astron" meaning "star") + logy (logos meaning "speech") = astrology (meaning "telling of the stars"). Buy an etymological dictionary (meaning "a dictionary of word origins").
  9. If you learn any romance language (eg: French, Spanish, Italian), or Latin or Ancient Greek, these will help you immensely with improving your vocabulary, especially the two ancient languages here because so many complicated English words are derived from words that are simple and commonly used in them.
  10. Find a friend who speaks English. It's good to practice using your new words. With a web connection, your conversation partner does not need to live near you. You can email, chat, and even phone each other using your computers. A friend who understands that you are learning can help you practice, use new words in your conversations, and offer you advice. Since talking to a friend is fun, it won't feel like work! If your friend wants to learn your language, too, it will be easier for both of you to understand each other's mistakes.
  11. Listen to the radio, watch television, or find a podcast that you like in English, and practice understanding the language when spoken, too.

Tips

  • Have fun with words. Try all of the ideas listed above, but don't think that you have to do all of them to expand your vocabulary. Pick the ones that you like the most or are most convenient for you.
  • Learning more words should be exciting and interesting. It shouldn't seem like an English lesson. If you feel stressed out or under pressure, you're being too hard on yourself. This doesn't have to be a daily routine, just something to do when you have time.
  • Don't be afraid to make mistakes. English is a very difficult, irregular language, and even native speakers have trouble sometimes.

Warnings

  • Note that some words might have different meaning depending on the context. Learn more about how to use the new words that you learn.
  • Avoid using a new word - especially in business correspondence - if you are still not certain about its meaning and how to correctly use it. Sometimes, this might confuse your audience.

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Enrich Your English Language Vocabulary. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

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