Best way to expand vocabulary?

[Beat]

What have you found to be the best way to expand your vocabulary? I hear just reading a lot does well. Are there any books aimed at this that work?

[6sticks]

A dictionary.

[heart]

Reader's Digest used to have a pretty good monthly vocabulary quiz in it. If someone did those diligently, vocabulary would rise. Otherwise just read higher level stuff like philosophy, history or classical literature would do it.

[reason]

A dictionary.A thesaurus is more useful than a dictionary for expanding your vacabulary.

[Jack Flak]

From experience: Read books by smart, eccentric people. I'm drawing a blank as to whether Thoreau has a great vocabulary, but that's the kind of author I'm referring to.

[heart]

Reader's Digest vocab quiz. (http://www.rd.com/nwpc/openPracticeQuestions.do)

Hawthrone and Poe are good too.

[Beat]

A dictionary.

Aye Cap'n Obvious!

[Jae Rae]

You could subscribe to a vocab-building site, like Word-a-Day. Get a study guide for the SAT or GRE. These are designed specifically for vocab-building. Browse your library or bookstore for books of obscure words, troublesome words, etc. Bill Bryson and William Safire are both excellent.

Magazines with celebrated authors are also good - New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Esquire. John Updike loves words.

[substitute]

Actually I wouldn't recommend just reading dictionaries or spending your coffee break with a thesaurus cos then it'd just be a case of memorizing stuff and it's be so dull and boring you'd not only quickly lose interest but also retain less than you'd like to.

Experience tells me that learning new words by coming across them repeatedly in context is much more effective. So there's reading more, true, but you've also gotta use the words to keep them in there, to turn passive into active vocabulary - words you know into words you use. You remember the ones you use much more.

Spending time around people with bigger vocabularies means you can freely use your 'big words' without being accused of doing it to sound clever or impress people or make them feel stupid (as people with big vocabs often get accused of doing). It also means you learn more words from them and they from you.

Failing that, try watching documentaries or movies that are more sorta high-brow. Together with the reading that should provide enough input both visually and aurally. But really the biggest leaps are made when you can use the words yourself in both writing and speech.

[Beat]

Roger!

[Edahn]

Buy a couple vocab building books and switch off between them. Memory storage works better when you elaborate on the information you're fed. So, make associations, think about them, whatever it takes. Using the words in real life at the risk of sounding stupid is, I'd say, the most important factor. It's fun too. Make it as fun as you can, otherwise it'll get stale. When it slows down, change it up somehow.

[htb]

A thesaurus is more useful than a dictionary for expanding your vocabulary.Actually, Merriam-Webster's synonymic families (e.g., here (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evident) and here (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/estimate)) have been essential to my understanding of language and subtle but decisive nuances in meaning.

Make flash cards from folded post-it notes. Slip them in your pocket and memorize them.

[disregard]

Read.

[Falcarius]

What have you found to be the best way to expand your vocabulary? Listen to your grandma and grandpa.

Trust me, if they are anything like mine then half of their words don't exist any more.

[cafe]

Do you need it for a test?

[Colors]

Pick a random word a day and try and use it in conversation. :D

[Nocapszy]

Read.

Yeah...

I can't believe there's even a question.

Until we can plug ourselves into computers like they can do in the matrix, the axiom is, read to expand vocab.

[Samuel De Mazarin]

SIGN UP FOR ANU GARG'S "Word.A.Day" e-mail list! It's fantastic... great definitions, always a couple of examples of the word in use... massive archives in case you want to look at more... sometimes they'll have themes for the week, like "portmanteau words" or "Ancient Greek"... even if you do know the word, their breakdown of the etymology will often furnish you with a lot of new information that adds to your understanding of a word which you thought you knew a lot about before... for instance, where do "juggernaut", "taboo", and "hocus pocus" come from? (they're all from completely different sources)

A.Word.A.Day Home Page : Word of the day, vocabulary, wordpower, words, language, quote, quotes, quotation, quotations, english, dictionary, lexicon, logophile, wordsmith, vocabulaire, vocabulario (http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html)


__________________

Read... okay... read... but read what?!?!??!! You may not be into certain 19th-century authors... so there are others who'll expand your vocabulary while making you interested in finding out exactly what the hell they're talking about when they use words like "marmoreal" or "nacreous" or "nictitating".

For a great 20th-century novel, read William Styron's "Sophie's Choice"... high-brow vocabulary... and while being literary he's also very hardcore... it's just a well-written book, worth reading entirely for its own sake.

There are others but I sincerely doubt you're going to run to a bookstore and read all ten of my recommendations, so I'll leave you with Sophie's Choice...

_______________________

Oh, it should be obvious, but when you read, you should be noting these words down (either in a separate exercise book or on some of the blank pages at the end of the book you're reading)... if you're into the story and don't want to stop every time you need to look a word up (though in the age of Google it hardly takes 20 seconds), then when you write down the word, note the page number too...

[6sticks]

Well I don't know about you lot but reading a dictionary cover to cover worked for me. But that's just how I trundle.

[Samuel De Mazarin]

Well I don't know about you lot but reading a dictionary cover to cover worked for me. But that's just how I trundle.

Reading a dictionary cover-to-cover is fine for getting the bare minimum... but words have histories which can't be discovered even through a tome as august and brilliant as the OED (and I know you haven't read the OED cover-to-cover)... you need to read them in action...

It's like trying to understand people by reading psychology manuals instead of interacting with them on a daily basis...

[6sticks]

I don't care about the history of a word, just what it means.

[Samuel De Mazarin]

I don't care about the history of a word, just what it means.

The meaning of a word is its history of use.

[Magic Poriferan]

You are actually making fun of Catholics whenever you say Hocus Pocus.

[Samuel De Mazarin]

You are actually making fun of Catholics whenever you say Hocus Pocus.

good call... "hoc est enim corpus meum" ==> "hoc est corpus" ==> "hocus pocus"... though to be fair the Catholic laity probably came up with it...

I don't buy most of the other etymological stories... OED, from what I recall, said it came from local magicians' saying something like "hax pax" when doing tricks, but that itself must have come from the liturgy, so it amounts to the same thing.

[edcoaching]

One of my friends this summer read with a dictionary in hand, writing down the new words he wanted to remember in a novel. Well, at least the ones he found interesting and wanted to use again.

[Victor]

The meaning of a word is its history of use.

This is very true, particularly for English.

As English has been borrowing words from other languages for a very long time.

And each English word has its own history. And the history of an English word can be deciphered in part from its spelling.

From this point of view it is unfortunate that Noah Webster, the great American lexicographer, was a deeply committed political revolutionary and so quite naturally, and with the best of intentions, tried to revolutionise English.

He was extraordinarily successful and created American English with its own spelling.

This had the effect of casting American English partially adrift from English.

And so we have the quite humourous saying of your President that French has no word for entrepreneur.

And of course in the larger sphere all revolutionaries overthrow history and want to start again. We saw this, for instance, in Cambodia where the revolutionaries started again from Year Zero, with disastrous results.

Noah Webster was only partially successful but he did cut American English from its history. And you can see this in America today which is more focused on the future than the past.

And if we don't know where we have been, we move into the future somewhat blind.

However American English has enormous energy as does America as whole, and we all benefit from this.

And although French may have no word for entrepreneur, America is full of the most wonderful entrepreneurs.

[Samuel De Mazarin]

^ This was probably one of your best posts ever, Victor.

EVEN though I don't agree with everything here... since for me American English was not essentially different simply due to Webster... it really came into its own with distinctively American advertising, pulp comics, cinema, television, musical forms like blues, jazz, rock, and today, rap and hip-hop...

[Victor]

^ This was probably one of your best posts ever, Victor.

EVEN though I don't agree with everything here... since for me American English was not essentially different simply due to Webster... it really came into its own with distinctively American advertising, pulp comics, cinema, television, musical forms like blues, jazz, rock, and today, rap and hip-hop...

You are quite right - American English has a vitality all of its own.

But I would like to confess to you, providing you don't tell anyone.

For quite a long time I had an antipathy to American English and I refused to read American literature. And I would rail against Americanisms. But eventually it blew my mind.

And I further confess that I am tempted to imitate my American cousins. But I can't quite do it. Perhaps it is because I never fell in love with Jazz. Or perhaps it is just that I lack the energy.

Nevertheless I have found an alternative in the Noosphere where I write, as you see, Telegraphic Prose.

And I am even thinking of leaving text behind and speaking to you by video in the Noosphere.

But so far I haven't found the rhythms to do this or the tone or even the words.

So I have been struck dumb not only by American English but also by the Noosphere.

[colmena]

.

Find the purpose of your communication and then work backwards.

Ted, yours seems to be to unlock others' Ni whilst exercising your own.


I still think Charlie Chaplin is pretty far up there in terms of efficiency of communication.


Religious scripture hasn't done badly.

.

[Victor]

Ted, yours seems to be to unlock others' Ni whilst exercising your own.


This is a very nice thing to say.

Ted.

[Samuel De Mazarin]

You are quite right - American English has a vitality all of its own.

But I would like to confess to you, providing you don't tell anyone.

For quite a long time I had an antipathy to American English and I refused to read American literature. And I would rail against Americanisms. But eventually it blew my mind.

And I further confess that I am tempted to imitate my American cousins. But I can't quite do it. Perhaps it is because I never fell in love with Jazz. Or perhaps it is just that I lack the energy.

Nevertheless I have found an alternative in the Noosphere where I write, as you see, Telegraphic Prose.

And I am even thinking of leaving words behind and speaking to you by video in the Noosphere.

But so far I haven't found the rhythms to do this or the tone or even the words.

So I have been struck dumb not only by American English but also by the Noosphere.

Not quite struck dumb... but the telegraphic prose isn't a bad style... clipped and bulleted... very modern... very internet friendly, as long as it doesn't exceed a page or two per section.

But the days of the binary opposition between American and British Englishes are long over... even within those two categories there are numerous groupings... American surfer-Southern drawl-Boston Brahmin-Brooklyn brawl and BBC-Brixton-Cockney-Brit Reggaeton etc...

Now in addition to those we have a whole slew of Latino and Indian (real Indian)-influenced Englishes...

[colmena]

This is a very nice thing to say.

Ted.

I don't try. I do.

:)

[Oberon]

Read, but don't read crap.

Read Gore Vidal novels. Read Scientific American. Read New Yorker. (Okay, New Yorker may be crap, but it's fairly erudite crap.) Subscribe to at least one peer-reviewed publication. If you want to focus on a particular discipline, order a journal from that discipline.

Avoid People magazine at all costs, and turn off the d@mn TV.

[Victor]

Not quite struck dumb... but the telegraphic prose isn't a bad style... clipped and bulleted... very modern... very internet friendly, as long as it doesn't exceed a page or two per section.

But the days of the binary opposition between American and British Englishes are long over... even within those two categories there are numerous groupings... American surfer-Southern drawl-Boston Brahmin-Brooklyn brawl and BBC-Brixton-Cockney-Brit Reggaeton etc...

Now in addition to those we have a whole slew of Latino and Indian (real Indian)-influenced Englishes...

It's funny, I have coffee every morning in Green Square. And sometimes there is an American sitting nearby. Usually they are American Marines - I can tell by the very short haircut and their delightful politeness. And naturally I speak to them and quite naturally call them Yankees. But I get a quizzical look, particularly from the Black Marines. And then I try to save the situation by explaining that all Americans, black or white, rich or poor even male or female are all, to me, Yankees. And then they explain to me what, "a Yankee", really is. But the distinction is lost on me. To me your Americanness seems to override all other distinctions.

Of course you can distinguish one from the other just as I can distinguish the class of an Englishman by his accent.

[heart]

I am too lazy to read if someone already said this, but a good way is to pick something you find interesting, a favorite book or article and then make yourself paraphrase a paragraph or two a day, use a good thesaurus to come up with a variety of alternative words.

[heart]

It's funny, I have coffee every morning in Green Square. And sometimes there is an American sitting nearby. Usually they are American Marines - I can tell by the very short haircut and their delightful politeness. And naturally I speak to them and quite naturally call them Yankees. But I get a quizzical look, particularly from the Black Marines. And then I try to save the situation by explaining that all Americans, black or white, rich or poor even male or female are all, to me, Yankees. And then they explain to me what, "a Yankee", really is. But the distinction is lost on me. To me your Americanness seems to override all other distinctions.

Of course you can distinguish one from the other just as I can distinguish the class of an Englishman by his accent.

I take it you've never run into any real Delieverance style rednecks and called them "Yankees" lol. :happy2:

And I would rail against Americanisms. But eventually it blew my mind.

Understate much?


But yeah, sympathy on the Jazz thing. I'm not wild about pure Jazz either.
Maybe get yourself some Freestyle and Funk to listen to.

...

[Nocapszy]

Well I don't know about you lot but reading a dictionary cover to cover worked for me. But that's just how I trundle.

Apparently not.

[Victor]

Well I don't know about you lot but reading a dictionary cover to cover worked for me. But that's just how I trundle.

Apparently not.

Learning is an interesting problem - and here we are interested in learning vocabulary.

And usually we have a problem because we are asking the wrong question.

And here we have the wrong question written in bold type above us, that is, "What is the best way to expand vocabulary?".

This is simply a trap - as long as we keep asking this question, we will have a problem - as long as we keep trying to learn individual words, we will remain word poor.

In fact we learn new words by first of all, falling in love with them, and then understanding them and finally assimilating them into our gestalt - that is, by assimilating them into our whole understanding - into our whole world view.

So we don't learn individual words for their own sake, but we learn individual words to increase our understanding.

So the wrong question is, "What is the best way to expand our vocabulary?", and the better question is, "What is the better way to increase our understanding?".

The wrong question is answered by the Readers' Digest in its section of, "Increase your word power". Or the wrong question is answered by reading the dictionary.

The wrong question gives the wrong answers - garbage in, garbage out. And the better question gives the better answers.

So how can we increase our understanding?

We can increase our understanding by reading books that are just slightly beyond us - just as we become better tennis players by playing with someone who is slightly better than us.

And as our understanding grows, so will our vocabulary.

[dnivera]

Word games are fun, like Yahoo Word Racer, Scramble, or anagrams. You'll learn a lot of useless, obscure 3-letter words.

Uhh....to learn real words, read a newspaper like the New York Times or any magazine - start with a hobby mag or general interest one like Wired. I get the occasional chuckle from the witty writing in mags like Esquire, unexpectedly.

[Eileen]

What have you found to be the best way to expand your vocabulary? I hear just reading a lot does well. Are there any books aimed at this that work?

Nah, just read stuff that challenges you intellectually. The vocabulary will probably be there too.

As you do that, if you want extra vocabulary development, I'd suggest studying up on greek/latin word elements. That's a good way to attack words.

I also have a really geeky GRE/SAT vocab flashcard formula, but I don't think that's what you're asking, and I don't want to flash everybody with my dorky teacherness.

[Victor]

Nah, just read stuff that challenges you intellectually. The vocabulary will probably be there too.


This is exactly right.

But I would very much like to see more of your dorky teacherliness.

[Little Linguist]

Actually I wouldn't recommend just reading dictionaries or spending your coffee break with a thesaurus cos then it'd just be a case of memorizing stuff and it's be so dull and boring you'd not only quickly lose interest but also retain less than you'd like to.

Experience tells me that learning new words by coming across them repeatedly in context is much more effective. So there's reading more, true, but you've also gotta use the words to keep them in there, to turn passive into active vocabulary - words you know into words you use. You remember the ones you use much more.

Spending time around people with bigger vocabularies means you can freely use your 'big words' without being accused of doing it to sound clever or impress people or make them feel stupid (as people with big vocabs often get accused of doing). It also means you learn more words from them and they from you.

Failing that, try watching documentaries or movies that are more sorta high-brow. Together with the reading that should provide enough input both visually and aurally. But really the biggest leaps are made when you can use the words yourself in both writing and speech.

Absolutely!!! If you just see a bunch of words and do not know how to use them, it is deadly.

I come across this problem all the time with my students. (I am an English teacher). In an attempt to increase their vocabulary, they will sit there with a dictionary or electronic translator. I COULD SCREAM!!!! These things are only good IF you are ALREADY familiar with the words and just need to check. Otherwise, they are the devil in disguise.

:devil: <---THAT!!! looks like that --->:cool:

My suggestion, whether it is a foreign language or a native language, is to expose yourself to many different kinds of literature (scientific, historical, literary, religious, technical, philosophical, etc.) - basically whatever floats your boat - and read the words IN CONTEXT.

BUT that is not all. Then TRY to use the words ON YOUR OWN in an ACTIVE way - to see if you are using them correctly. Then get a trusted friend who is (nearly) perfect in the language to correct the sentences. Once you are sure you are using them correctly, try to incorporate them into your SPEECH. Then you can avoid embarrassing mistakes like:

"He made a really mute point."

"She was always so loud and bolsterous - it made me not want to talk to her!!!"

"The task was totally untolerable. Damn it - why couldn't it have been more enjoyable????"

"They are totally unresponsible - I mean, couldn't they do their share once in a while?"

"We are really too aggressive onto them; we should have been nicer."

Soooo, if you get a trusted friend to read this, you can see the mistakes and avoid making them in the future.

:-))) That's my advice.

Oh, right, and another thing: A good way is also to speak to people who have an excellent command of the language. Then you also get exposed to words in a natural context. This is a good method for those who do not like to read allll that much. It's even better if it is a trusted friend because then you can ask the person if you have questions about words without embarrassing yourself. I mean: I'm pretty brazen - I will ask questions about words in pretty much any language, even my own, if I am not familiar with them. But some people are a little more reserved; then, it is better to ask a friend.

Once you speak about certain things over and over again, the vocabulary becomes clear.

A dictionary should be used ONLY if you want to look a word up really quickly. However, it should not be used as a bible to sit down and try to memorize vocab. (YUCK!!! Reminds me of the SAT!!!!!! *barf*)

[Victor]

Absolutely!!! If you just see a bunch of words and do not know how to use them, it is deadly.

I come across this problem all the time with my students. (I am an English teacher). In an attempt to increase their vocabulary, they will sit there with a dictionary or electronic translator. I COULD SCREAM!!!! These things are only good IF you are ALREADY familiar with the words and just need to check. Otherwise, they are the devil in disguise.

:devil: <---THAT!!! looks like that --->:cool:

My suggestion, whether it is a foreign language or a native language, is to expose yourself to many different kinds of literature (scientific, historical, literary, religious, technical, philosophical, etc.) - basically whatever floats your boat - and read the words IN CONTEXT.

BUT that is not all. Then TRY to use the words ON YOUR OWN in an ACTIVE way - to see if you are using them correctly. Then get a trusted friend who is (nearly) perfect in the language to correct the sentences. Once you are sure you are using them correctly, try to incorporate them into your SPEECH. Then you can avoid embarrassing mistakes like:

"He made a really mute point."

"She was always so loud and bolsterous - it made me not want to talk to her!!!"

"The task was totally untolerable. Damn it - why couldn't it have been more enjoyable????"

"They are totally unresponsible - I mean, couldn't they do their share once in a while?"

"We are really too aggressive onto them; we should have been nicer."

Soooo, if you get a trusted friend to read this, you can see the mistakes and avoid making them in the future.

:-))) That's my advice.

Oh, right, and another thing: A good way is also to speak to people who have an excellent command of the language. Then you also get exposed to words in a natural context. This is a good method for those who do not like to read allll that much. It's even better if it is a trusted friend because then you can ask the person if you have questions about words without embarrassing yourself. I mean: I'm pretty brazen - I will ask questions about words in pretty much any language, even my own, if I am not familiar with them. But some people are a little more reserved; then, it is better to ask a friend.

Once you speak about certain things over and over again, the vocabulary becomes clear.

A dictionary should be used ONLY if you want to look a word up really quickly. However, it should not be used as a bible to sit down and try to memorize vocab. (YUCK!!! Reminds me of the SAT!!!!!! *barf*)

We all learn to speak our language at home, naturally and intuitively.

And we learn a relatively large vocabulary when we are very little.

But we are taken out of our home and sent to a State Institution with specially trained staff to learn to read and write.

Almost no one learns to read and write at home, but everyone learns to speak our language at home.

So we learn to speak our language intuitively but we learn to read and write counter-intuitively.

There are tremendous stresses placed on us to learn to read and write and naturally we seek to relieve these stresses by returning to the natural intuitive world of baby-hood.

And so we are attracted to intuitive cults like MBTI. Where the history of MBTI is not taught, where jargon is used to induce conformity of thought and to befuddle the mind, and dissent is met with sheer nastiness.

This explains why literacy and the printing press gave rise to the Enlightenment in the Eighteenth Century.

It also explains the reaction of the Romantic Movement against the Enlightenment.

It explains why religion reacted against the Enlightenment by declaring it a heresy.

It also explains the reaction of the New Age Movement against the Enlightenment.

And MBTI is part of the New Age Movement.

So how bizarre to be asked how to improve your vocabulary on MBTI, when MBTI is itself a reaction against literacy, against the Enlightenment and against the counter-intuitive.

But MBTI is in good company, as Islam is also opposed to the Enlightenment.

But all this is too hard to try and understand. Better to bury your nose in the dictionary - it has a wonderful cast of characters and a riveting plot and will simply explain the whole world to you.

I recommend Noah Webster's Dictionary.

[Night]

Soften your expectations on dusty concepts like grammar and singular word definition.


I can knife a thought into you without worrying about verb confusion. Or, I can amphitheater an opinion.

Breathe more. Let your fingertips exhale.

[Victor]

Soften your expectations on dusty concepts like grammar and singular word definition.


I can knife a thought into you without worrying about verb confusion. Or, I can amphitheater an opinion.

Breathe more. Let your fingertips exhale.

Fan-bloody-tastic!

[Samuel De Mazarin]

. . . .
My suggestion, whether it is a foreign language or a native language, is to expose yourself to many different kinds of literature (scientific, historical, literary, religious, technical, philosophical, etc.) - basically whatever floats your boat - and read the words IN CONTEXT.

. . . .

BUT that is not all. Then TRY to use the words ON YOUR OWN in an ACTIVE way - to see if you are using them correctly. Then get a trusted friend who is (nearly) perfect in the language to correct the sentences. Once you are sure you are using them correctly, try to incorporate them into your SPEECH. . . . .


I am totally in agreement with this first (quoted) paragraph. Try to diversify your reading... unless you're reading extremely experimental writers, focusing on even high-brow literature won't expand your vocabulary beyond a certain range... for instance, I was reading a book on agriculture and I learned the wonderful words: "biotope" and "biocenosis". Looking back at my former self, the one unsullied by such terms of ecology, I feel like I was incomplete somehow.

:)

Oh, and yes... do use the words... otherwise, even if you've a good memory, they'll languish and become artifacts of study and not 'living potentialities' of your expression.

As for Night... yes... 'waving' can mean two very different things... ;)

[millerm277]

Read, a lot, and figure out words that you don't know. (Some people can do that from looking around in the sentence, others need a dictionary) I read a lot of long books at a young age (Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and such around 6th grade), and as a result, gained a very good vocabulary. I don't see why it wouldn't work the same way at an older age.

That was all it took for me to ace every "vocabulary" type test that came my way throughout middle/high school, and to get in the 700s on the english/reading portion of the SAT's.

[Ellpell]

FreeRice (http://freerice.com/)

[Little Linguist]

We all learn to speak our language at home, naturally and intuitively.

And we learn a relatively large vocabulary when we are very little.

But we are taken out of our home and sent to a State Institution with specially trained staff to learn to read and write.

Almost no one learns to read and write at home, but everyone learns to speak our language at home.

So we learn to speak our language intuitively but we learn to read and write counter-intuitively.

There are tremendous stresses placed on us to learn to read and write and naturally we seek to relieve these stresses by returning to the natural intuitive world of baby-hood.

And so we are attracted to intuitive cults like MBTI. Where the history of MBTI is not taught, where jargon is used to induce conformity of thought and to befuddle the mind, and dissent is met with sheer nastiness.

This explains why literacy and the printing press gave rise to the Enlightenment in the Eighteenth Century.

It also explains the reaction of the Romantic Movement against the Enlightenment.

It explains why religion reacted against the Enlightenment by declaring it a heresy.

It also explains the reaction of the New Age Movement against the Enlightenment.

And MBTI is part of the New Age Movement.

So how bizarre to be asked how to improve your vocabulary on MBTI, when MBTI is itself a reaction against literacy, against the Enlightenment and against the counter-intuitive.

But MBTI is in good company, as Islam is also opposed to the Enlightenment.

But all this is too hard to try and understand. Better to bury your nose in the dictionary - it has a wonderful cast of characters and a riveting plot and will simply explain the whole world to you.

I recommend Noah Webster's Dictionary.

Way to let your Ne out for a test drive!!! :D Luv it!

I am totally in agreement with this first (quoted) paragraph. Try to diversify your reading... unless you're reading extremely experimental writers, focusing on even high-brow literature won't expand your vocabulary beyond a certain range... for instance, I was reading a book on agriculture and I learned the wonderful words: "biotope" and "biocenosis". Looking back at my former self, the one unsullied by such terms of ecology, I feel like I was incomplete somehow.

:)

Oh, and yes... do use the words... otherwise, even if you've a good memory, they'll languish and become artifacts of study and not 'living potentialities' of your expression.

As for Night... yes... 'waving' can mean two very different things... ;)

Thanks for your support.

Read, a lot, and figure out words that you don't know. (Some people can do that from looking around in the sentence, others need a dictionary) I read a lot of long books at a young age (Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and such around 6th grade), and as a result, gained a very good vocabulary. I don't see why it wouldn't work the same way at an older age.

That was all it took for me to ace every "vocabulary" type test that came my way throughout middle/high school, and to get in the 700s on the english/reading portion of the SAT's.

Agreed.