When writing articles for your blog or blog, you need to have not only a wide imagination and know the rules of grammar, but also a large vocabulary.
When the texts are varied and contain unusual words, reading them is much more interesting.
We all expand our vocabulary through our work, hobbies and communication. The best way learning new words is reading books.
Words that expand vocabulary
Having read many different articles on how to expand your vocabulary, you can draw one conclusion - the authors advise constantly referring to dictionaries, as soon as you manage to find an unusual word.
We decided to take a different route and present you with a selection of words. You can use them when writing articles, this will highlight your professionalism:
Aberration is a distortion of the truth.
Ambivalent – ambiguous or ambivalent.
Ambitious – vain and arrogant.
Apogee is the limit or highest point.
Ataraxia - equanimity and peace of mind.
Glossophobia is the fear of public speaking.
Graphomania is an attraction to composing works among those who do not know how to do so.
Deviant is the name given to a person who does not conform to the norm.
Deprivation is a feeling of unmet needs.
Destructive - destructive.
Dysania is a condition that makes it difficult to get up in the morning.
Penance is a punishment.
Catharsis is when a creature changes due to experiences.
Collision – conflict (collision).
Latent means hidden.
Legitimate means legal.
Lemniscate is the sign of infinity.
Logorrhea is empty talk.
Mercantile - selfish and calculating.
Mimicry means imitation.
Mondegrin - incomprehensible words in songs.
Obelus is a sign of division.
Orthodox means unyielding.
Paresthesia - goosebumps, tingling in the extremities.
Parity – equivalence.
Perdimonocle - the devil knows what (some kind of nonsense).
Petrichor is the smell of earth after rain.
Pragmatic is a synonym for practical.
Preventive – warning.
A layman is a novice in his field.
Proforma is a formality.
Sentence - notation, moral teaching.
A trench is a holding element on a belt.
Ferrule is the metal on pencils that holds the eraser in place.
Freak - a person distinguished by extravagant appearance.
Frisson - goosebumps (for example, while listening to your favorite song.
Frustration is a feeling of disappointment in life.
Eglet - the tip of the laces.
Exalted - inspired or delighted.
Equivocations are ambiguous hints.
The different words can be listed endlessly, as there are many of them. It is unlikely that you will be able to learn them right away, so you need to approach expanding your vocabulary gradually.
Alternatively, you can install the “Word of the Day” application on your mobile device and learn new words:
Filling your materials in original words, you will only attract increased attention to them, but will also show how smart you are. In conclusion, we recommend using where interesting words are also found.
Approximately half a million words. The average vocabulary of one person is 3,000 words, which means that expressive capabilities are quite limited. The more words you know, the more means you have for realizing thoughts in speech, the more pleasant and easier it is to talk with you. The following methods can be used to expand your vocabulary.
Communicate more - engage in word exchange with different people. You can learn a lot of new words from your interlocutor, especially if he is a representative of a different generation, a different profession, or has hobbies that are different from yours. In addition, in a conversation you may hear words from your passive vocabulary, remember them and actively use them. And don’t be afraid to ask if you don’t know a word! Believe me, a person’s desire to understand another helps to find a common language.
Read aloud. When reading “to oneself”, only visual analyzers are involved in perception. When the auditory ones are also involved, you remember new words more firmly.
Do a detailed one on fresh tracks. While the text you read has not yet faded into your memory, there is a chance to pronounce the rare words that you encountered in it. The child can be asked to close to the text the topic from homework. If he is unfamiliar with some words, explain their meaning. This kind of vocabulary work will benefit both of you.
Each word in the Russian language has a synonymous series, consisting on average of 5-6 words (synonyms are words that are close in meaning). Take any text you have written and try to replace the words in it with ones that are similar in meaning, but so that the content does not change and is understandable. If you find it difficult to find words, consult a dictionary of synonyms.
Memorize poetry. This will not only allow you to show sophistication at the right moment, but will also help you master many of the elegant and graceful words that are characteristic only of poetic speech. They are not suitable for everyday use and gather dust in the back of your memory, but this way you can at least get used to their sound in your head. You will see, you will be interested.
Write down a dozen new words and try to write a story with them. Words most often have no connection with each other, and weaving them into a meaningful text will be fun. This will help not only remember new words, but also introduce some of the passive vocabulary into the active vocabulary.
Replenishing your vocabulary is an indispensable condition for successfully mastering a foreign language. Here are a few effective ways memorizing foreign words.
Cards
Write words on multi-colored cards on both sides: on one side - a foreign word, and on the back - its translation and example of use (it is more convenient to remember words in context, that is, together with nearby words). It's a good idea to use cards of different colors to sort by parts of speech. Since the cards are not fixed, you will not remember the words in sequence and can always mix them up. They are small and compact, you can work with them even on the road.
Stickers
Place stickers with names on various objects in your room or apartment. They will constantly catch your eye, remember quickly.
As you know, first there was the Word. Obviously, since then there have been many more words, thanks to which we today can read and write, formulate our thoughts and achieve maximum accuracy in conveying their meaning to others. Although from time to time you have to admit that words fail. How often do you say the phrase “I simply have no words!”? And not only because emotions are really stronger than any formulations. It’s just that sometimes ordinary and familiar words really aren’t enough. And then you have no choice but to increase your vocabulary.
Or at least expand your vocabulary in accordance with the new tasks that have arisen before you and require a richer, more developed language. Whatever it is - new job, the need to speak in front of a large audience, or simply the desire for self-improvement - it is possible and necessary to develop your vocabulary. We will share with you effective ways to improve your vocabulary, without unnecessary words (pardon the pun, but there is no way to expand your vocabulary without this).
A large vocabulary, or how to expand your vocabulary
The science of language uses a fancy term for vocabulary: lexicon. And this name better conveys the essence of the concept, because the lexicon is not just an “archive”, a random accumulation of vocabulary units, but the totality of all the words that a person owns, a social group uses, or a language has. A clarification is immediately required here: owning and using are not always the same thing, including in relation to words. Therefore, the lexicon, or vocabulary, is characterized by the form:
- Active vocabulary- the number of words that you use constantly, every day, in communication with loved ones, colleagues and everyone around you, and also hear on TV and around you and can be used at any time without thinking about them specifically. An active vocabulary is embodied in your speech and writing, messages in in social networks and so on. The main sign of an active vocabulary is the passivity with which you use it, that is, the lack of the need to make an effort to choose a word specifically or remember its meaning.
- Passive vocabulary- these are all the words you know, including those whose meaning you understand when you encounter them in oral or written sources, but never (or extremely rarely) use in your speech. Of course, the passive vocabulary is much (even several times) larger than the active one. If desired and/or necessary, you can strain your memory and extract passive words from it. But in everyday practice, this is an unused “archive”, and in this sense, the definition of “reserve” suits it perfectly.
- External vocabulary– this concept is used, as a rule, in psycholinguistics to designate words unknown to a specific person that relate to specific branches of knowledge. These words will not be understood by a person if he hears them or encounters them in the text. Such a “blind spot”, in the zone of which there are, as a rule, narrow professionalisms, special terms, neologisms, fanciful archaisms, etc.
The vocabulary of erudite people can range from 30,000 to 50,000 words. Obviously, only a small part of them relates to the active stock, which is used for everyday communication with others. The remaining words can be considered a passive reserve, which scholars use only when communicating with similar intellectuals or when reading complex literature. At the same time, their passive vocabulary for most average people will be an external lexicon, that is, simply unknown.
How to expand your vocabulary
The sphere of activity, social circle and lifestyle leave an imprint, but even despite them, anyone can increase their vocabulary. Even now, having read the article to these lines, you could replenish your vocabulary with lexemes (words) that were new to you. And you can continue to expand your vocabulary by adopting time-tested and recommended by philologists vocabulary development exercises:
- Communication- oral and written. Vocabulary is essentially a tool that you use for a specific purpose (to voice your thoughts, desires and conclusions). Any skill is enhanced by active use and vice versa. This means that to develop your vocabulary you need to use it as much as possible. By communicating, you increase your vocabulary through two techniques. Firstly, you adopt new words from your interlocutors. Secondly, you try to choose words for more precise formulations, thereby transferring them from your passive vocabulary to an active one. We can say that vocabulary grows in proportion to your social circle. Therefore, do not limit the list of interlocutors and try to include different, dissimilar people. Talk with fellow travelers on transport, sales consultants, colleagues, neighbors, comrades in the gym and driving courses, correspond on forums and social network pages.
- Reading. A book (as well as a newspaper, magazine, online media, and even an advertisement on a poster stand) is an inexhaustible source of information. Depending on your tasks, choose classic fiction, popular science or specialized literature and devote at least an hour to reading every day. To improve your vocabulary faster and more effectively, read aloud. Pronouncing words helps you remember better. It is even more useful for the development of vocabulary to read dictionaries directly. At your service is an explanatory dictionary, a dictionary of synonyms, a dictionary of rare words, a spelling dictionary and many other specialized reference books.
- Hearing. If you don't have time to read books or chat for no particular purpose, you can increase your vocabulary by listening to audiobooks and songs. In this case, the text is perceived by ear, but you do not see the words in front of you. This method is ideal for auditory people. You can find almost any book in audio format, from historical novels to collections of aphorisms. Record it in your player and listen to it on the way to work, in traffic jams and/or before bed.
- Memorization. In order not only to replenish your vocabulary, but also to bring most of it into an active state, words need to not only be recognized, but also memorized. The best way to remember something is to repeat it in person. Retell the texts you read and/or heard, as close to the text as possible, trying to preserve the author’s style and manner of presentation. Memorize poems, song lyrics, and definitions of special terms. This is one of the most effective methods to expand vocabulary, used even in school education.
- Studying of foreign language. Vocabulary cannot and should not be limited to one language - learn foreign ones. For example, the Russian language consists of approximately half a million words, English – 250,000 words, Japanese – more than 50,000 words. The more new languages you learn, the more connections you make between them and the easier it is for you to recall them from memory at the right time.
- Keeping a diary. Let's say that for some objective or subjective reason you cannot afford language courses, you do not have time to read and the desire to actively correspond. Then write for yourself. This is not the fastest and most effective, but still a working way to increase your vocabulary. The expansion of the vocabulary occurs due to the need to formulate all those thoughts that usually remain in the form of emotions and impulses. To transfer them to paper, you will have to find the right words, and this will probably require a passive vocabulary.
- Linguistic games. To increase vocabulary, many exciting techniques have been invented: for example, crosswords, charades or other puzzles. While solving them, you even involuntarily become interested in new words and their meanings. In public speaking courses, you can receive special tasks for developing vocabulary or find them in textbooks. This includes composing an essay from words of one part of speech (only from nouns, only from verbs, etc.), and an attempt to use words starting with one specific letter, and many other exercises that develop the vocabulary and knead the convolutions.
Living in a society in which communication is an integral part, every day we are faced with the need to talk with other people. We like to talk with people whose vocabulary is rich and colorful - it encourages us to expand our own vocabulary. Beautiful and rich speech will help in any field of activity: in school - to get an excellent grade, and in work it contributes to career advancement. The Russian language has a considerable vocabulary that can enrich the everyday speech of any adult.
Lexicon or vocabulary is a set of words that a particular person knows. There are two types of vocabulary: active and passive.
An active vocabulary contains words that a person regularly uses in everyday speech and writing. Passive vocabulary includes words that a person learns by reading or listening, but does not use them himself. For most people, it is several times more active.
According to research, the Russian literary language has about 500 thousand roots and dozens of words derived from them. According to V.I. Dahl's explanatory dictionary - about 200 thousand words. The most common are about 30 thousand, and the highest frequency is just over 6 thousand words.
What to do first
Most resort to unnecessary words when thought does not keep up with speech.
- pronouns are just like him;
- particles - yes, well, sort of, perhaps, like this;
- introductory words - in short, so to speak, listen, in fact, you understand, in general, let’s say, probably, in general, etc.
Learn to replace familiar words and phrases with a pause, short or long. Pausing while you speak will allow your interlocutors to absorb what you have already said.
You don’t have to completely get rid of unnecessary words; it’s enough to eliminate about 90% of your vocabulary. The rest will help you maintain an informal conversation with friends or colleagues.
How to properly replenish your vocabulary
There is no single the right way How to increase your vocabulary - it is individual for each person. Some people like to read paper books, others like to watch educational videos or listen to audio versions of interesting publications. For intensive development, use several options simultaneously. Main - devote at least 10-15 minutes to studying every day.
Talk more to smart people
Communication skills help in many things, including expanding your personal vocabulary. However, not every conversation can enrich you. Try to talk with smart and educated people from different fields of activity.
We unconsciously copy the manners and speech of people who have been close to us for a long time. So be aware of your surroundings if you want to expand your vocabulary.
Use audio materials
If you don't have enough time to watch videos or read books, use their audio options. Nowadays it is easy to find resources containing audio collections of famous printed publications. Replace the usual listening to music on the way to work or home, while playing sports, with an interesting lecture or story. The basic rule for choosing audio material- it must be of high quality, the lecturer’s speech is clear and understandable, and the material itself is useful for development.
Watching your favorite TV series does not enrich you in any way; in most cases, on the contrary, slang and unnecessary words appear in your vocabulary. Try to watch science programs (Discovery, BBC), speeches successful people and educational videos (TED). Avoid mediocre films, programs, TV shows or reduce their viewing to a minimum.
Use unfamiliar words
The words you learn need to be used. Read explanatory dictionaries and try to replace familiar phrases with something new. Gradually, your brain will get used to the update and will itself look for ways to replace unnecessary words.
Explore foreign languages- this develops mental abilities and increases vocabulary.
In addition, there are many words and expressions that are present only in a certain language. Using vocabulary that is unfamiliar to you stimulates your brain to further develop.
read books
Reading books is the oldest and most proven way to enrich speech. Read a variety of literature, avoiding books like pulp novels. In each genre, you can find several authors whose writing style is pleasant to you, and whose works contain clever words and phrases. Try to read every day. In this way, you can easily master a medium-thick publication in 1-2 weeks; in a year it will be about 20-40 books, plus an extensive stock of new words.
Read aloud
Try to read out loud, this way you will more carefully perceive the incoming information. Reading aloud allows you to catch inaccuracies in speech (“swallowing” endings), realize your speech mistakes, and tune your voice to clearly present the material. By reading aloud, we “kill two birds with one stone” - we enrich our speech with new expressions and correct errors in our own pronunciation.
Solve crosswords
Crossword puzzle is a great exercise for brain development. This could be a page from the morning newspaper, a collection of crossword puzzles, or a smartphone app. Through simple entertainment, we simultaneously learn new information, develop analytical skills and expand our vocabulary.
Learn poetry
Memorizing texts comprehensively develops the brain. Unlike the option of reading a book, poetry makes it easy to memorize not only individual words, but entire phrases and phrases. In the process of memorization, we train our memory and activate most of the processes of brain activity. Poems teach us to express ourselves competently, to clearly express our thoughts, using a variety of lexical expressions.
Take up writing
Try to write a story or a whole book, not necessarily for publication, just for yourself. If you are ready to share your creations, start a blog. As you write, you will learn something new.
By studying speech transferred to paper, we can more easily see our own mistakes.
If all of the above is impossible for you, use simple notes. Even such a small thing can gradually correct your vocabulary.
Learn a new word or words every day
The basic rule of any training is daily practice. If you miss one or more days, this will not significantly reduce your results, but if you study occasionally, you can’t expect much progress. Even if you study only one word a day, in a year your vocabulary will be replenished by more than 300 words, which will significantly change your everyday speech for the better.Games for vocabulary development
The most popular representative among games that develop vocabulary is Scrabble. This board game has been known and loved all over the world for many decades. Today, many online options and phone applications have been created based on it, so you can play and study anywhere. It is advisable to play in a company, but it will be no less interesting to come up with new words yourself.
To expand your child’s vocabulary, use the technique of describing objects. During the game, ask the children to describe in detail everything that is around them. The most interesting thing is to play on the street, while moving, when new objects appear to be described.
If you want to increase your child’s vocabulary, download the applications “Young Erudite”, “ First words for children», « Riddles for children».
The game “I See” will be interesting at any age. Invite your child to choose any object in his field of vision and try to describe it so that you can guess what it is about. Then switch roles. The game forces the brain to look for new words to describe objects or phenomena, increasing vocabulary.
For the development of young children, use the exercise “How to say more.” Name the word, and then ask the child to find synonyms, while helping him, since children draw new information primarily from their parents.
Sources
- Asmolov A.G. Principles of organizing human memory: Educational and methodological manual.-M., 1985.
- Aine, C. J., Sanfratello, L., Adair, J. C., Knoefel, J. E., Caprihan, A., & Stephen, J. M. (2011). Development and decline of memory functions in normal, pathological and healthy successful aging. Brain Topography, 24, 323-339.
- Granovskaya R.M. Perception and memory models. -JL, 1975.
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Words are the building blocks of language and one of the key factors determining the level of education, profession and social status. Therefore, you should always take care to increase your vocabulary. Nevertheless, for many people, the vocabulary is replenished in this way: new words fly into one ear and fly out the other. It's not that we don't strive to expand our vocabulary. Rather, we rarely get the chance to use it, or worse, we forget to use it, only to end up back where we started. Below are a few proven tactics to overcome these difficulties, learn new words faster, recall them more effectively, and remember them forever. So, here are some great ways to improve your vocabulary. Although the scientific community is still debating some aspects of learning, there is a consensus on how memories are formed and reinforced in our brains. The basic idea behind spaced repetition is that memories begin to fade soon after they are formed and disappear forever. With each repetition, the “span” of the memory grows and grows until it eventually extends throughout your entire life. This is why spaced repetition of what you have learned is so important for effective learning. Whether you use paper flashcards to review words or use software on your phone or computer, the benefit of spaced repetition is that you don't waste time recalling vocabulary that's still fresh in your head. Most students use flashcards to memorize words, constantly adding to their number, and then reviewing them first every day, then every week, until they give up completely. Not surprising, considering how unwieldy a pile of flashcards becomes after a few study sessions. The spaced repetition algorithm, based on past experience, predicts the moment when the memory is about to fade, and then reminds you at that optimal moment. Theoretically, if you use this method regularly every day, you shouldn't see a word more than 4-5 times before it enters your long-term memory! You've probably heard stories about car accident survivors who can remember every little detail in the seconds before the accident. It is also difficult to forget the words that touched us to the core. This effect can be very helpful when learning vocabulary when combined with the previous tip. Instead of agreeing to a boring sentence like “The photo is on the table,” try something like “The photo of my wife fell off the table when I got the call.” Add this sentence to your spaced repetition algorithm and you will never forget the words “photo”, “table” or “wife” in your life! Try to come up with new vocabulary related to people, places, or important events in your life that you know. Just be careful not to overuse the imagery so you don't end up getting emotionally hurt every time you have to use one of those words. Research shows that the vast majority of words are learned in context. This quality cannot be overstated, since learning in the context of situations and utterances has enormous benefits for all three aspects of vocabulary acquisition: learning, recall and memorization. This means that you should never include words in your vocabulary that are taken out of context. Think of words as pieces of a puzzle—in isolation, they don't make any sense. But once you put even a couple of pieces together, more meaningful context emerges. There are many ways to introduce context into your vocabulary, the easiest way to learn words is in sentences. This has the added benefit of introducing you to several words at once and clarifying their meaning, which is not always obvious from a simple dictionary translation. In addition to sentences, you can learn words through stories, songs, or just everyday situations. For example, instead of learning weather words, look at the online weather forecast and try to imagine a conversation about next week's weather and how it will affect the fishing trip you've been looking forward to. Finally, you can also place words around you using sticky notes. You may have tried this method with nouns, but there's no reason to stop there! Just stick a label with the word “white” on the refrigerator, “wall” on the clock, and “mine” on the laptop. Reading gives you the opportunity to repeat the same words over and over again, causing you to emotional response, when you identify with the main character... everything you need to effectively build your vocabulary. Thus, reading is one of the most effective ways increase your vocabulary. Despite the existing stereotype of bookworms as boring and asocial people, studies have repeatedly confirmed that the language of a reader is much more expressive compared to other people. As you read, pay close attention to words you don't know, but don't try to absorb everything immediately, otherwise you won't be able to appreciate the story and end up losing interest. Instead, highlight words that seem particularly useful or central to the story, and then try to figure out their meaning from context before learning their true meaning. Be sure to read materials on various topics. The language will vary greatly depending on whether you are reading fiction, a glamor magazine or the daily press. If your book is also available in audio form, you should listen to each chapter before or after reading it. Before you can use any of the above learning methods, you will need a word list. Ideally, most of this vocabulary should consist of everyday words gleaned from reading, songs, movies, or elevator conversations. You need to supplement them with more abstract words to make them easier to remember. A language should be learned in such a way that you can use it in any situation. This is accomplished by remembering in context, making emotional associations to words, and generally using words as building blocks to create something larger from individual pieces of information. In most languages, it is enough to learn only 1000 basic words to understand 90% of the spoken language, and even the first 250 most common words allow you to have a good conversation. On our own word games may not be enough, but it's funny and easy way increase the speed of vocabulary memorization, as well as pick up a random new word from your peers. Languages like Japanese or Chinese are unfortunately not well suited for this type of board game, but by searching the app store on your mobile device, you can find at least a few game options tailored for learning phonics and writing. If you don't want to spend money on Board games or prefer to meet friends for coffee or hikes, you can try playing a word game instead. Some of the best old games of this kind include: "Cities" (answer with a word starting with the last letter of the previous one), "Associations" (quickly say the first word that comes to mind after hearing the previous word), and "Metaphors" (come up with metaphors for things that you see around you). You can try any learning method you want, but you'll only really make rapid progress when you start to truly appreciate the language. For its expressiveness, inner beauty, subtle differences between seemingly identical words and phrases. Do you feel poor in your vocabulary? Open a dictionary and try using synonyms. Notice the template phrase? Try to find the root, prefix and suffix of a word and find out another way to use it. Instead of learning words as meaningless syllables, discover their etymology. More than half of the words come from other languages, and the richest Japanese vocabulary comes from Chinese. Learning the origins of the words you use can be very effective in strengthening the connections in your brain and hinting at the meanings of words you encounter in the future. If you know that "ortho" means "straight", you can quickly guess the meaning of difficult words such as "orthodontist" (a doctor who straightens teeth) or "spelling" ( The right way writing). Besides the practical benefits, etymology can also be incredibly fun! Did you know that the word dim sum (“little dumplings from Hong Kong) means “to touch the heart” or “ broken heart"? There are countless legends explaining the hidden meaning of the word.1. Use a spaced repetition algorithm
2. Make the vocabulary personal and emotional.
Neuroscientists experimented by showing subjects for a split second different words and sentences, while scanning their brain activity. Not surprisingly, activity increased whenever subjects were exposed to personal and emotionally significant information.
This results in a triple benefit. A very visual, emotionally impressive story is formed around the words.
3. To increase your vocabulary, learn it in context.
4. Expand your vocabulary by regularly reading different sources
5. Make a new dictionary from a list of frequently used words
Therefore it is not surprising that best source Vocabulary consists of lists of words most often used in everyday speech. This method is especially good for independent language learners.
If you learn just 10 new words a day, it will take you less than a month of study to become fluent.6. Play with the words you are learning
Crosswords and Scrabble are very useful if you are starting to learn Arabic or Indo-European languages. "Boggle" is also very fun game, adapted for several languages using the Latin alphabet. Game of "Quiddler" - good way expand your vocabulary, but unfortunately only exists in English.
7. Value language
