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A good vocabulary can work greatly to your advantage, whether you are trying to become more persuasive or to convey your ideas more clearly and precisely. The power of words cannot be overestimated, as they are the primary means of communication. ‘With words, you relate to people, communicate your feelings and thoughts to them, influence them, persuade them, control them. In short, through words you shape your own destiny. For your words are your personality; your vocabulary is you,’ (Funk, W & Lewis, N 1991, p. 5).

There are different techniques to improve vocabulary, from traditional methods that rely heavily on books and paper work, to modern methods that utilise computers and the Internet. The following focuses on a few of the methods you can use to build your vocabulary.

Always try to learn words in context and along with an example. This helps you to better understand the meaning of the word, and to better retain the word in memory. Also try to find the different derivatives of the word and their usage. Davis, F B (1944, p. 186) lists knowledge of word meanings as one of the skills basic to comprehension reading.

Reading a lot of books and articles, especially quality material, is a good way to improve your vocabulary. You are likely to encounter new words, and you will usually have the leisure to find out the meaning and more information about the word from other sources. Furthermore, you will be seeing a word in one of its contexts.

Reading from a diversity of topics is advisable. It generally keeps your reading material interesting by adding variety to it. It also widens your vocabulary to be applied to diverse audiences and situations in real life, rather than keeping it confined to a specific subject and a narrower target audience.

Improving vocabulary is an ongoing process that starts from childhood and continues throughout the course of your life. So you should not consider, at any point, that you don’t need to learn vocabulary anymore. The more the words you have at your disposal, the more your command of the language, always.

Always try to make a conscious effort to expand your vocabulary. Although this happens organically during your everyday life, such knowledge is limited, and will only place your vocabulary at an average or below average level. The more the time and effort you spend in expanding your vocabulary, the more you will stand out among your colleagues and friends.

To improve vocabulary, practice and use the words you learn in real life. You should keep using new words you learn in your conversations, and your written correspondence, whether it be an important official document or a simple mail or blog entry. This helps you achieve the real reason you learned the words for, in the first place, as well as ensures that you don’t forget them or their usage.

REFERENCES

Davis, F B 1944, ‘Fundamental Factors of Comprehension in Reading,’ Psychometrika, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 185-197.

Funk, W & Lewis, N 1991, 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary, Revised edn, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY.