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  1. Laurus

    Laurus Disappointed Idealist Contributor

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    How do you learn vocab?

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by Laurus, Oct 5, 2017.

    When you see a word you don't know, what steps do you take to learn it? Are you one of the lucky few that learns a word the first time you lay eyes on its definition, or do you have a method?

    I ask because vocab is a massive weakness of mine. I have about 20 tabs open on my phone of words I don't know that I want to know, and looking at them repeatedly doesn't seem to do the trick.

    That's why I'm asking you fine folks.
     
  2. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Read. Read read read. When a word comes up a few dozen times, in context, it will implant itself in your brain. Sure, if you have no idea what the word means even in context you can look it up, but don't bother with actively memorizing.

    I think that my vocabulary is pretty extensive, and I never, not once, not for a moment, actively tried to increase it. I just read, constantly.

    You can develop very fine writing skills with a limited vocabulary. So write with what you have, and read read read, and your vocabulary will grow naturally.

    Edited to add: The other advantage of getting a word in context is...well, context. You see how it's used, you get the nuances of meaning. You're more prepared to use it in a conventional way, and also since you know the conventional way, you're more prepared to be just a little but surprising with it.
     
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  3. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    Same as @ChickenFreak . I do also have a word of the day thing through the Dictionary App on my tablet, but it's kind of rare that it gives me one I either don't already know, or that would be useful in any of the writing I do. If I do find a word I don't know, I'll usually look it up and then if it seems to fill a hole in my vocabulary, then I'll work with it for a bit. Try to work it onto my vocabulary or do some writing exercises with it. If after a bit of doing this I find it still useful and it doesn't constantly confuse people, I'll keep it. If not, then I drop it into the pile of unused words that I only mostly remember the meaning of when reading college papers whose author very obviously just discovered what a thesaurus is.
     
  4. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    Well, I took this SAT vocab prep thing in school. I think that helped a fair bit - I remember the day that 'cadaver' came up on the multiple choice quiz and thought, "Cadaver ... huh ... yeah, that sounds like a dance." Got the results back and never forgot that one :D I also studied Latin for a little while when I was a youngun, and always had an interest in Greek mythology and constellations and medical terms, so I have a pretty good little pool of a lot of the root words English is built on. And, yeah, just read a lot. Infer from context.

    I don't too often encounter a word I don't know, but the same rule applies now as did back then: look it up (except then it was 'in the paper dictionary' and now it's 'ask the internet'). If you're already doing that and it's not doing the trick, all that comes to mind for me would be to design yourself quizzes. Pop ten of those words and their definitions on a study sheet, glare at them every day, and once a week glare at a list of just the words and see if you get'em right. It worked for teenage Izzy. I understand that that method might not appeal to an adult, but I can't say it wouldn't for me, because I loved it then and I'm still a massive fucking nerd. I mean, I keep a list of my favorite words and it has almost sixty entries, you wanna see?

    Now I think about it, there might've also been a thing where I have to work X number of vocab words into that week's writing assignment(s), too. Maybe give that a shot. Making your brain work a word into a short story or essay of some sort might make you more prone to remembering it.

    I also wonder how much it matters, to be honest. In fairness I don't know what your vocab's really like, and I don't know what kind of vocab you want to be able to write with, but even as someone who loves big words, I don't find myself using them that much in writing. I know the word 'luminiferous', sure, but if I saw it in a book I'd most likely think, "Jesus, just say it's bright, stop trying to impress me." Again, not to say that fancy words don't have their place, especially in certain styles - just not sure a sparkly vocabulary is that big of a help.
     
  5. Laurus

    Laurus Disappointed Idealist Contributor

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    I consider it to be pretty mediocre. Just today, while reading, I had to look up tableau, curvet, and miscue. As far as the vocab I want, I'd like an efficient vocabulary. A lexicon that allows me to convey more information in fewer words is a priority. I don't know when I'd ever use "curvet," but I'd prefer to use it over explaining that "the horse jumped on its hind legs." Not to mention that the word seems to have a pretty specific definition of "leaping gracefully or energetically," and I'd generally prefer to use a verb over a series of verbs and adverbs to describe such action.

    Maybe you're all right and I don't need a fancy vocab. @ChickenFreak Reading has helped, though right now, I have to squeeze in reading time when I can rather than pick it up at leisure. @The Dapper Hooligan I often find words that seem to fill a hole in my vocab, though perhaps it's my fault for having such high expectations of myself. I'm not looking to dazzle readers -- I'm looking to have the right word for the right situation as often as possible. @izzybot I actually have fresh pack of index cards I could use to study, though I really like the idea of trying to work them into a story. Could be a really interesting prompt to pull out 3 random new vocab words and try to spin a story around them such that they're all used appropriately and effectively. What I think I'll do is implement all your advices. Read more, do some exercises and make sure I don't sound like a thesaurus newb, then actually apply the words in a story. And also make a list of my favorites just like izzy, cause that actually sounds pretty fun.

    Edit: Thank you for all the advice
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2017
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  6. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    Well, if it makes you feel better, tableau, curvet and miscue are fairly esoteric words to begin with. While I agree with you that using one verb is generally preferred to using a string of verbs, if you and a bunch of English professors are the only people that know what that word means, you really don't gain much by using it. Chances are a reader will be confused and while they might look one of these words one or two times in a novel, if this happens to often, your reader is just going to decide it's too much work and give up. A nonpareil knowledge of nouns doesn't give you leave to run terpsichore through your brobdingnagian lexicon at the expense of pellucidity.
     
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  7. Laurus

    Laurus Disappointed Idealist Contributor

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    Then I suppose I'm expecting far too much of myself an ought to be more conscientious of the larger context that these words show up in. Like, 1930's words versus more modern words. Clarity over all, got it.
     
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  8. Bill Chester

    Bill Chester Active Member

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    There is an old standby that has survived decades: Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary by Norman Lewis and Wilfred Funk. Your friends will enjoy your practicing new words on them. :)
     
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  9. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    I'm going to agree with @ChickenFreak and @The Dapper Hooligan - I have a fairly extensive vocabulary (when my husband and I started dating he jokes that he needed to carry a dictionary and thesaurus on him so he could converse with me) and it mostly comes from reading. Not just fiction books, but non-fiction, articles, even blog posts sometimes. If I don't recognize a word and can't glean the meaning from context I always look it up.

    One of the things I've found with having a big vocabulary is that depending on the character I sometimes have to dial myself back substantially. If my character is established as not being very smart, I have to remind myself that they would never know or use this word or that word, and look for a simpler way to say what they need to say to move the scene along.
     
  10. Laurus

    Laurus Disappointed Idealist Contributor

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    Double-edged sword, huh? That makes sense.

    Here's a question for those still following this thread:
    When you attempt to infer meaning of a word you don't know from the context, do you look it up to confirm, or keep reading through if what you've inferred makes enough sense?
     
  11. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    That's a good point. Having a larger vocab can really help you tailor a voice, but you do have to be careful with it, too. My last project had two pov characters: one who was a bit of a yokel but a poetic type, the other more educated but super literal and straightforward. One would use this word, yes, but never in this context, and other would have that context but not the specific word. I found myself having to go for the thesaurus just because I'd get fixated on one style of phrasing and not be able to get out of it :rolleyes:

    eta:
    If I'm confident I've got the general idea, at least, I usually move on because I don't want to stop reading unless I have to.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2017
  12. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    It depends - if I'm really into the scene I'm reading sometimes I prefer not to break my focus away from the story. But if it's just kind of meandering along I'll usually look it up just to make sure I'm not missing a subtlety.
     
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  13. Shadowfax

    Shadowfax Contributor Contributor

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    I've come across tableau, curvet and miscue before; "a curvetting horse"...it's only from this thread that I've learned that it's a horse (or an ice-skater, e.g.) performing a series of jumps on its hind legs. From the context, I understood well enough that it's a horse doing something, just what wasn't important, so I bashed on.
     
  14. Damien Loveshaft

    Damien Loveshaft Active Member

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    I just keep reading difficult works, I've played Magic: the Gathering since I was 5 so I picked up a lot of vocab there and I also read a little decadent lit. from time to time. One should also seek to become proficient with deconstructing words and inferring meaning from that. It's a skill I developed from also dealing with a lot of made up words... like Necropotence. It isn't a real word per say, but I know what it means because necro=death, potence=power. It seems to imply deriving power from dying a common theme in Magic also known as playing suicide black. I think that strategy works a lot better to start out than rote memorization.
     
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  15. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    I stop and look it up right away, as I come to it, on my preferred dictionary website.

    If I think it won't stick, I write it down on a scratch pad several times. I have that weird kind of photographic memory that's activated by writing. If anything, it's the spelling that doesn't stick, which auto correct helps immensely.
     
  16. Seven Crowns

    Seven Crowns Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    I do some of those quiz sites online. They're fun. Sometimes I get story ideas from them. I think it's just from sending my mind elsewhere, even if just for a word. I start to imagine who would say such a thing, and stories come to mind.

    Kindles are a godsend for new words too. I always highlight new words in mine, or I guess I should say words used in new ways, which is really what's interesting to me. The absolutely best ones aren't the long words, but the little two-syllable words put to new use. When writing, IMO, you want to use a vocabulary with a little depth and a lot of breadth. (Depending on character, narrator, authorial voice, tone, genre . . . as always.) And its those little words that everyone knows but don't use every day that are pure gold.

    I have a bunch of theories about which words you can get away with. They have to do with grade-scale, rarity, syllable count, context, adjoining qualifiers, complexity of the surrounding style/grammar, complex densities, the word's flavor, even country of origin. And of course all of this depends on character, narrator . . . etc. from above. So nothing's that cut and dry. You just pull every word you can into you and use it in the right place. Something like "an imbroglio of teens" is usually not (almost never) as good as "a loose rabble of teens," and there's a real reason for it (at least in my mind), and it might even need to be "a gang of teens" depending on the paragraph. But still, you want options. Sometimes you need an unusual word to put in place because the text is demanding one.
     

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