Most people don’t realize that the words we speak and write every day have a profound impact on how we experience life. The English language is a rich and diverse lexicon, but it’s also very difficult to master.

If you’re never able to find the right word or phrase, it can be frustrating, embarrassing, and even detrimental to your professional development with a crunch word whizzle. Luckily for us, there are 8 key tips that can help you master your vocabulary:

1) Define your ‘go-to’ word list ahead of time 

This will allow you to refer to it quickly, and significantly help you become a more efficient writer. Skim through it often (weekly, ideally) and reference it in your writing when you don’t know what to say or write about. It is so that in a moment of need you know what you will say when someone asks a question. Take the time to write down at least 20 words you want to be able to use regularly.

2) Read more often 

This is one of the best ways to build your vocabulary. Always have at least one book on the go, and read as often as you can. You’ll learn a lot of useful phrases and words that you can use in everyday situations. Even if it’s just a paragraph at a time, reading as much as possible will help you expand your vocabulary and improve your understanding. If you want to become a master of the English language you need to read at least one book a month. The more you read, the faster your vocabulary expands.

3) Listen to audiobooks while driving or commuting 

This is a great way to expand your vocabulary. Audiobooks ensure you are exposed to more words and phrases than if you just read while sitting at home. You will be surprised how much easier it is to memorize certain key phrases when they’re presented in a sentence rather than plain text. You can even set your audiobook up on repeat so that there is an endless stream of words that you can pause and rewind at any point in time.

4) Create a vocabulary file

Every day, for five minutes, write down a new word or phrase you want to learn. When you learn the word or phrase that day, add it to your file for future use. This only takes a few minutes to do, but can save you hours of frustration. You can find Word2vec.io, which takes the average rate of how many times each word is used in a given book and turns it into an easy to use vocabulary file that you can print or bookmark.

5) Use flashcards  to help memorize new words

I have found that flashcards are the most effective way to memorize new words. I use them daily and they have helped me expand my vocabulary to over 50,000 words. It only takes about 30 minutes a day to work on your vocabulary. The act of looking at words on your computer screen every day will help you recall them more easily. On top of this, you can create flashcards with spaced repetition software that will more automatically teach new words as they pop up on your computer screen over time. This process is called mnemonics . 

6) Use the correct word in a sentence

Incorrect use of the word can be a huge stumbling block when trying to recall words. For example, consider the sentence “I had a quick conversation with the man in front of me. ” If you use ‘man’ you will have a hard time recalling the word ‘quick. ’ So when you write this sentence down you should use the word ‘person’ instead. It is better to use a few words incorrectly than use many words correctly. This way you have room to grow as time goes on.

7) Play spelling games  at least 1 hour per day

This will not only sharpen your spelling skills but also help you to better recall how certain letters are used in a word as well. The more you play, the better you’ll get. You can find tools like WordCram that allow you to play along with your friends and family and see who gets the highest score. This will reinforce your newly learned vocabulary and give your brain something to chew on during your daily commute or lunch break. 

8) Read the dictionary cover-to-cover at least once per year. 

I guarantee your vocabulary will expand to new horizons. If you don’t understand a word, use a tool like Wordnik.com or your favorite browser to look it up and find out what it means. You’ll be surprised with how many words are used in everyday conversations and how much easier it is to pick up on them when you know what they mean.

Conclusion:

If you practice these 8 tips for improving your vocabulary, you will start to see your English fluency improve dramatically as time goes on.

This will help you memorize new words as well as help you better understand which words are similar to each other. This process will also stimulate your brain and give it mental exercises that it can use to expand your vocabulary even further.

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