Vocabulary, the magic word that attracts many swarming bees to the classroom is going to crumble and kneel down before you, just like the 6 pack Abs on the hero makes the villains fall on the face, if you just try to understand this.
I knew a friend in school who used to memorize 10 words from dictionary each day with the aim to improve vocabulary. I am getting 'Memorize 10000 words' advertisement on the way to my class, every alternate day, as I am walking through an alley full of competitive examination coaching centers.
My own Institution has a wonderful Anglo-Indian teacher Mr David Williams who astonish and amaze us by juggling with the words. He has his peculiar word maps which connects different sets of words and helps us to memorize lot of words in a go.
I always had wondered how to improve my vocabulary since I was praised for choosing the words in an invitation for my father's colleague. I prepared an Invitation for a Legal Seminar, and choose some classical words like 'edification' instead of 'education', and everyone was impressed. I observed the power of vocabulary and wanted to memorize words from that day. I devised many plans, alas none worked.
Later I came into this industry of education and found out some interesting and charming words hidden in elementary school textbooks which we had studied in childhood. The first word I remembered from NCERT Text books was 'vicissitude'. I read it in book early in the morning, liked the word and went to the class. The class was by a veteran teacher who was as old as the oceans and was too much obsessed with his powers, and never minded our yawns. I wrote a poem in a piece of paper about boring class and passed it to the friends. It had the word 'vicissitude'. Since that day I remember that word like a part of my life I never can forget.
Now I have the key to learning vocabulary. My Idea is very simple. Find a word in a context from where you elicit its meaning, Confirm it from dictionary, use the word in a poem or sentence, and once more say that word to someone, on the same day again.
You may not study 10000 words per day. But You can study 20-30 words per day, and even if you study only 5-10 words per day I think it will be great.
Start Your Exercise: Find the words which you don't know in this passage, and work on it. I shall come up with more words later.
swarm (swôrm)n.
1. A large number of insects or other small organisms, especially when in motion.
2. An aggregation of persons or animals, especially when in turmoil or moving in mass: A swarm of friends congratulated him.
al·ley 1 (l) n. pl. al·leys
1. A narrow street or passageway between or behind city buildings.
vi·cis·si·tude/vəˈsisəˌt(y)o͞od/ Noun:
A change of circumstances or fortune
