How Does One Enhance One’s Vocabulary?

Vocabulary is like a tripod stand. The three legs that hold the tripod of vocabulary upright are a) existing words b) new words c)retention of both. The more you use the words you know the better you remember them. So keep exercising those words whether in speech or in writing. New words will broaden your vocabulary skills. Keep a journal of the new words you learn with their meaning. Try making sentences with them. It does seem like high school home work but that’s how we learnt the words we know, by building sentences with them. There is nothing more powerful than the written word. There are fun ways of learning new words too. Games like Scrabble where you build words with the letters you have pulled out not only tests your spelling but also your knowledge of words. Word quizzes are a very good way of learning new words. You can play it with family or friends. Each one picks seven words that they are familiar with. You put these words on individual chits and put them in a box. Then you keep picking up words from the box and each one writes the meaning of the word and uses it in a sentence. This way you become more aware of the extent of both your active and passive vocabulary. Its a fun game. We used to play it on Saturday after dinner and the winner of the game got to decide what we would eat for dinner on Sunday. It is a fun way of sharing your knowledge with others. Another game that tests one’s vocabulary is jumbled words. You scramble the letters of a word and next to it you write the meaning of the word. This game does not just test your spelling it tests your vocabulary as well.

Lets do a few exercises in word building.