Vocabulary : How to Expand It

It is the word which impresses. The quality of words used in one’s speech or writing shows the quality of the user. Larger the vocabulary, more comfortable you are in expressing yourself. It is a moot point how many words one needs to learn. It is certainly not possible to master and learn by rote the entire dictionary, however the scholar a person is. As we move on from one class to another and one book to another, we tend to learn new words while forgetting those falling in nonuse. Words falling in nonuse no more remain in our active vocabulary. Of course, the best way to build one’s vocabulary remains to broaden one’s intellectual horizons. The more you read, listen and speak; the more words you know about. An interest and a delight in words and the ideas they convey will bring about attentive listening and wide and thorough reading. It can give impetus to frequent use of the dictionary, memorisation of selected vocabulary lists, and the study of the origin and development of words (etymology).

A person has three kinds of vocabularies at his command — speaking, writing and reading. Of them, the reading vocabulary contains the largest number of words. As we read extensively, all three vocabularies will expand, but at surprisingly different rates. The reading vocabulary increases the fastest. Only relatively few words will seep down into the speaking and writing vocabularies. We recognise any number of words when we see them in print, but they are neither on the tips of our tongues nor on the points of our pens for use when they can be most suitably used. At times we keep looking for words which are suitable for a particular occasion, but fail to recollect it. The problem of expanding vocabulary relates to speaking and writing. The recently learnt words can become our friends only when we bring them into use — constant use. The best way to master a word is to use it in sentences of your own, both in speaking and writing. Of course, be sure that the newly acquired word is being correctly used. You can be sure of a word’s correct usage with the help of a dictionary or seeing it being used by scholars and writers. All doubts and misconceptions about the words must be solved, so that you do not become a laughing stock of others. And a piece of advice — Do not rely on the example given by the dictionary for its usage alone, use it in a sentence of your own — and repeatedly.