How to Increase & Improve Your Word Power

Want to become a vocabulary veteran? Ready to lengthen your lexicon? Well, you've come to the right hub!! Becoming a master of words will help improve your writing skills, so start training now! Be relentless in your efforts, word ninjas!!!

Here are a dozen simple strategies for volumizing your vocabulary:

The more you read exceptional writing, the more words you will learn. Therefore, make reading a daily routine. But, don't a just read for pleasure...read for mastery! Always make sure to use your dictionary detective skills when you find words that you've never seen before!

Whenever you encounter a word you don't know, investigate!! Words are everywhere, so the opportunities for learning new terms is endless! Invest in a dictionary and put it to good use!!

Multiply your word options by using a thesaurus. Don't just say the sunset looks nice. Instead, declare that it is beautiful, fantastic, wonderful, awe-inspiring, enchanting, stupendous, and spectacular!!

Keep a paper and pen handy the next time you're watching something on TV. Write down words that you don't know and use context clues to guess their definitions. Then, during commercials, you can see if you were right by looking up the words in the dictionary. If you're watching with family members and/or friends, make a game out of it by betting on whose guessed definition is correct. Also, switch it up every now and then by watching different types of programs. This will ensure that you'll get a wide variety of words to play with!

Read outside of your comfort zone. If you like novels, try poetry or plays. If you crave magazines, pick up a comic book or pamphlet. Check out the book store at your local university for some good deals on used textbooks. Also, try reading through the sections of the newspaper that you would usually ignore. Intake of content-specific jargon will expose you to words you would never have encountered otherwise.

Don't just read the newspaper- tackle the crossword too!! It takes phenomenal word skills to complete a crossword puzzles, so reward yourself when you do! You can also find crossword puzzle books in the magazine section at your favorite grocery store. They come in all different themes and difficulty levels, so it's easy to find the perfect puzzle for you!

Study the origins of words as well as prefixes and suffixes. Knowing these common roots will help you to infer the meanings of the new words that you come across. Making connections between words with the same roots will help you to better understand language patterns.

Choose a word of the day (today, my word is "nefarious") and reward yourself every time you use it throughout the day. Make sure you tell people what your word of the day means so you pass on the smarts. Otherwise, you're just plain nefarious!!

Learning a second language can help you become more competent in your native tongue (as translation takes expertise.) Choose a language that has always intrigued you and practice, practice, practice!!!

Games like Scrabble, Bananagrams, Appleletters, Pairs in Pears, Boggle, Upwords, Balderdash, and Scattergories are great for increasing word power. Get your friends and family involved for some fun competition. Who will be crowned the ultimate word ninja??

Don't just learn new words, use them in everyday conversation. By sharing the knowledge you gain, you help to spread the art of articulation around the globe. Don't worry about sounding "too smart" because passing on knowledge is the greatest gift of all!!! As long as you're not condescending, people will appreciate it!

That's right, have some fun and play a video game or two! Believe it or not, many video games require lots of reading and utilize an extensive vocabulary (esp. those that include walk-throughs, game guides, and/or supplemental materials.)

Scribblenauts...

Scribblenauts video games force you to use your lexicon power (nouns & adjectives) to complete objectives. Use synonyms to solve puzzles in multiple ways and unlock the gold star for each level. Do you have what it takes to be a Scribblenaut?