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March 29, 2024, 11:36:44 am

Author Topic: Limited Vocabulary  (Read 1258 times)  Share 

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3D waffle

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Limited Vocabulary
« on: July 21, 2018, 12:50:10 pm »
0
Hello,
My vocabulary is very limited, especially when I'm trying to sound intelligent in essay's....how can I improve and grow my vocabulary without forgetting new words within a day of learning them?

Help is much appreciated...
« Last Edit: July 22, 2018, 07:27:26 pm by 3D waffle »

OZLexico

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Re: Limited Vocabulary
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2018, 01:51:22 pm »
+3
Hopefully you are used to using a thesaurus, but I agree it can be hard to incorporate new vocabulary into your writing. Some people would describe this as "active" or "passive" vocabulary - you are aware of other vocabulary choices but you don't necessarily take the opportunities to use them frequently enough. Perhaps a good place to start could be your class notes - re-reading them and adjusting your word choices could filter these newer terms into your note-taking, then when it comes to extended writing or assessment tasks you've got those new words in your notes ready to use in an essay. This might help move your "passive" vocabulary into the "active" category. Most people would probably recommend that you also do lots of reading - like newspaper articles to get the exposure to how particular vocabulary can be used/understand the context.   

Bri MT

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Re: Limited Vocabulary
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2018, 03:50:17 pm »
+2
Hello,
My vocabulary is very limited, especially when I'm trying to sound intelligent in essay's....how can I improve and grow my vocabulary without forgetting new words within a day of learning them?

Help is much appreciated...

I think of this in terms of 2 main components:
1. Exposure - you have to know the word exists
2. Retention - you need to remember the word and how to use it.

For exposure there are a range of resources that can help you,  eg. The English section here on atarnotes, newspaper articles, books, websites such as freerice.com

For retention,  practice is likely to be needed.  Here are some ideas: create an accountability thread on AN where you teach us __ new words a week/day, create flashcards ( I think they work best when used on an app so they're easy to access),  have time set aside each week to write out glossary definitions.

I hope some of these ideas work for you :)

S200

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Re: Limited Vocabulary
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2018, 04:22:04 pm »
+1
Hello,
My vocabulary is very limited, especially when I'm trying to sound intelligent in essay's....how can I improve and grow my vocabulary without forgetting new words within a day of learning them?

Help is much appreciated...
I have found it beneficial to use a word a lot on the day that I discover it.
It also helps if you are looking for specific words (say for an essay plan) to add any potential words just randomly on the plan. I remember once that I had an essay plan that had 5 dot points for ideas, and the rest of the A4 page was just synonyms for different words!
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3D waffle

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Re: Limited Vocabulary
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2018, 05:23:14 pm »
+2
Thanks for your help everybody! I'll try all the new ideas...I've actually started a thread on accountability and motivation about learning new words, so thank you miniturtle! :)