How to Gain a Better Vocabulary

Do you have a big vocabulary? Or do you just use the same few words over and over again?

Most of us use just a few thousand words on a regular basis. In the English language, there are thousands and thousands of words. How many of them have you discovered? How many more words are just waiting for you to find them and use them?

There are several reasons why it’s a good idea to improve your vocabulary. For one thing, you will sound more intelligent if you can properly use a lot of words. Having a good vocabulary can help you become a more successful student, a better teacher or public speaker. A good vocabulary can even signal to others that you are someone who should be promoted to a better position in your workplace.

A good vocabulary can improve your ability to communicate with others, and it will also help other people to communicate with you. When you know the meanings of a lot of words, other people don’t have to "dumb down" what they say so that you can understand it. They will be able to communicate with you at an advanced level, knowing that you understand what they are trying to say.

By learning new vocabulary, you also learn new concepts. This can help to stimulate your brain cells to make new connections and increase your overall intelligence.

So, how can you go about improving your ability to use words effectively? Increasing your vocabulary doesn’t have to be a chore, but you do have to make it a priority to improve your word power.

If you decide to add just two words a day to your vocabulary, at the end of a year, you will have added over 700 new words! In ten years, you could add over 7,000 new words!

Think of how your communications skills would improve with such a big addition to your vocabulary! Think of how impressive you could be! Intelligent people will seek out your company.

So, how do you go about adding two new words a day to your vocabulary? One easy way is to simply watch for the new words you encounter every day. In the course of listening to the radio, watching television, or reading, you may encounter several new words every day that you don’t fully understand.

If you aren’t coming across any new words in your reading or when watching television, you may be guilty of not giving your brain cells any challenging work. Try reading something a little bit more challenging, or make a point of watching some interesting documentaries. Or, you could simply spend time with someone who uses a big vocabulary when they are speaking.

Every time you come across a word you don’t know, you can either ask somebody to explain the meaning of the word, or you could make a note of it, and look up the meaning later in a dictionary.

While you are looking at a dictionary, take a peek at one or two of
the other words on the page. You might enjoy learning the meaning of some of them too.

As soon as you have learned the meaning of a new word, take a few moments to fix the meaning in your mind. You can do this by creating a sentence that uses this new word and repeat the sentence out loud. Or you can write out a sentence that uses the new word.

Eventually, all those new words will build up and become a powerful force. When you have a big vocabulary, you will understand many more facts and concepts, and you will be able to express yourself much more clearly.

This article was written by Royane Real, author of the book "How You Can Be Smarter".

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