Although people build their vocabularies at a very rapid rate from infancy through elementary school, thereafter they begin to slow down with equal rapidity, often coming to a virtual halt after high school. This is unfortunate on two counts: what a better vocabulary could contribute to one's private life as well as career, and what it must contribute to one's competence in dealing with the printed word in college and beyond.

        On a personal level, a good vocabulary is important in sharpening one's perception. Thought and perception, to become fully conscious, must be formulated in words. Thus the more words one has to make fine distinctions among one's own observations or feelings and among things in the world, the more one can become a fully aware and perceptive human being. Not surprisingly, some psychological research studies have validated the hypothesis that vocabulary and mental acuity are interrelated.

        A good vocabulary is important not only for more precision in thought but also in one's daily affairs, the actions one must perform both on and off the job in ordinary living. Basically, people can relate to other people (loved ones, friends, co-workers, society at large) and the rest of the external world (nature) in only two ways: physically and verbally. Obviously, the first way is limited, since one can only do a restrained amount of grabbing people or objects in order to try to manage them before one finds oneself restrained, either in a straightjacket or handcuffs. So the main way people must come to terms (in more than one sense) with others and the surrounding world is verbally. The importance of one's word power on the job as well as in one's personal life is well illustrated by a finding (cited in several of the vocabulary building books at the end of section 6.5) by Dr. Johnson O'Connor, director of the Human Engineering Laboratory, an organization whose purpose is testing various kinds of aptitudes. Dr. O'Connor established a definite correlation between rising in business and size of vocabulary, discovering that executives consistently had large than average vocabularies. According to Dr. O'Connor:

        An extensive knowledge of the exact meanings of English words accompanies outstanding success in this country more often than any other single characteristic which the Human Engineering Laboratory has been able to isolate and measure. Why do large vocabularies characterize executives and possibly outstanding men and women in other fields? The final answer seems to be that words are the instruments by means of which men and women grasp the thoughts of others and with which they do much of their own thinking. They are the tools of thought.

        Naturally, such tools are required to master the written forms of the language in reading and writing. Both in college and later, one needs to both understand and remember what one has read. Frequently reading comprehension, and thus retention, are faulty because of a reader's less than adequate vocabulary. Without the words, the reader doesn't fully or clearly understand what he or she has read, inevitably failing to retain material not comprehended in the first place. Nor are such problems confined to college textbooks or literary works. Here, for example, is a list of words and standard abbreviations culled from a single issue of Time magazine (March 29, 1976):
 
 

orthographic	lithe
whimsical	lissome	virtuosity	skipjacks	brusquely	imploring	noblesse oblige
headlands	feisty	bohemian	phlegmatic	stoic	eclectic	paroxysm
sartorial	ebullience	citadels	moors	agaves	fauna	staid
Cloud-cuckoo-land	Fabianism	pyrotechnics	donnish	don	expressionism	gargantuan
idyl	gnomic	doctrinaire	neo-impressionist	hapless	pragmatist	vermilion
claret	erg	brazen	voluble	Arcadian	poseurs	acumen
avant-garde	gratuitous	surrealism	cudgels	mandarin(s)	impressionist	plagiarism
affable	tart	apostate	Fauvism	pathos	burr	dissonant
expunge	flatware	idyllic	capitulation	Cubism	latent	avuncular
spectral	histrionic	travail	gullet	excoriation	anathema	gourmand
S.J.	bowdlerized	acrimonious	reflexive	chattels	fusillade	antipathy
schussing	agronomy	tendentious	ancillary	fallow	maunderings	macabre
urbane	facetious	potable	canny	shillelagh	R. and D.	implacabale
emporium	epithet	demagoguery	restaurateur	genre	magnanimous	libation
aerie	Holy of Holies	sepulchral	populist	feckless	ratiocination	gregarious
paradigm	bellicose	quid pro quo	arrondissement	Armageddon	restive	anomalous
abrogate	rubato	winsome	debacle	triplet	strident	emirates

This 121-word list from one issue of Time magazine is not an isolated instance of ordinary reading matter requiring a solid vocabulary. Maxwell Nurnberg and Morris Rosenblum in their book All About Words present a comparable list of 111 words selected from just the sports pages (!) of the newspaper over a two-year period, including the following: "unwonted," "truculence," "caparisoned," "innocuous," "impunity," sine qua non, "vitriolic," "eschewed," "abjure," "assiduously," "desultory," "diffident," "execrable," "imprecation," "moribund," "penchant," "rancor," "sinecure," and "abstruse."

        The often-repeated definition by the famous eighteenth-century British author Jonathan Swift of good writing as "proper words in proper places," implies that a good vocabulary is as necessary for writing as it is for reading. One can hardly choose the proper word to express oneself unless one has a choice; and that means having several words to select from, which will come from building a good vocabulary. Furthermore, a student who has trouble generating satisfactory length in impromptu essays reveals another important writing byproduct of vocabulary. With a poor vocabulary, the free flow of ideas and pen is blocked and dribbles out, slowly; with a good vocabulary, it will be helped to flow, unimpeded, more quickly.

        Since the English language has an estimated one million words, and the well-educated high school graduate has (according to the vocabulary building books cited at the end of this chapter) a stock of about fifty thousand, words to begin building your vocabulary bombard you from a variety of oral and written sources every day. The odds, after all, are twenty to one that you'll hear or read a new word or a familiar one used with one of its less familiar meanings. What you need to do is to remember to look up "aplomb" or an acquaintance's obviously metallurgical use of the word "run" in his mention of "run metal." All you need is a good collegiate desk dictionary (one with 150,000 or more entries and 1500 or more full-size pages), a thumb, and a modicum of curiosity or the desire to improve yourself.

        Make all your college textbooks serve double duty, not only conveying the information of their particular subject but also fortifying your vocabulary. When you encounter a new word, a familiar one used with a meaning new to you, or a word whose meaning you are hazy about, follow this procedure:

1. Underline the word lightly in pencil.

2. Try for ten or fifteen seconds to figure out its meaning from context: how it's used, the words around it, the topic being discussed.

3. Go on to finish whatever you are reading. Don't let vocabulary building interfere with reading assignments by continually halting them while you look up various words.

4. After finishing your reading, go back to each word underlined and look it up in your collegiate desk dictionary, chaecking the pronunciation of the word first and sounding it out aloud several times. You'll need this acoustic peg to "hang" the meaning of the word on, in order to remember it later.

5. Look over the various meanings of the word and choose the one most applicable in the passage the word occurs in.

6. Look over the etymology of the word to see if this will help you remember the word's meaning.

7. Write the word down, the page number of the book on which it occurs, and the meaning. This process will make all textbooks into vocabulary building books, so that you will be accomplishing several goals at once: studying assigned material, better comprehending it, and improving your vocabulary.

8. Buy a couple of packs of three-by-five cards, cut each card in half, and make vocabulary flashcards for yourself. Such flashcards, a great aid to learning in any subject, are commercially available, at a very high cost, but you can make your own for just sixty-nine cents per two hundred cards. Making your own cards will further repeat the words and meanings into your memory, and having the cards is a great tension- or stress-reducer during the day when you are forced to wait in some kind of line or forced into some kind of delay. The stress caused by such delays is physically as well as psychologically injurious, and it is usually aggravated by having nothing to do during the waiting. You can and should have something productive to do for the inevitable time-losing delays every day, so you will be helping yourself psychologically, physically, and educationally by making and using flashcards.

9. Try to use the word in conversation or in writing (or both) in the next day or two.

        Building your vocabulary is primarily a function of reading, so you should read well-written books and articles, of the kind selected for your essay anthology in English 1101 (which has some, but usually not all, of the vocabulary words of each selection already listed for you). Reading a well-written news magazine like Time (remember the 121 words from a single issue) or Newsweek will help build your vocabulary and keep you abreast of current events--which are often the focus of assigned impromptu writing topics, including those of the Regents' Examination, essay portion. Furthermore, whatever your interest areas or major, good writers have written books you would enjoy, whether in sports (Roger Angell, Jeff Greenfield), nature and animals (Rachel Carson, Konrad Lorenz, Desmond Morris), movies (Pauline Kael), the minority experience (James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Richard Rodriguez), medicine and biology (Richard Selzer, Lewis Thomas), business and economics (John Kenneth Galbraith, Peter F. Drucker), science (Loren Eiseley, Carl Sagan), history (Barbara Tuchman, Arthur M. Schlesinger), or education (Jacques Barzun, Gilbert Highet, John Holt). Ask your instructor or librarian for further recommendations.

        Finally, besides studying the material on word choice and vocabulary in your composition handbook and essay anthology, as well as looking up the words in the selections of your essay anthology and in all material in the composition handbook (in all the text's discussions and all its exercises), you might find very helpful one of the following inexpensive paperbacks on vocabulary building (listed alphabetically by author): Peter Funk, It Pays to Increase Your Word Power (Bantam); Roger B. Goodman and David Lewin, New Ways to Greater Word Power (Dell); Wilfred Funk, Six Weeks to Words of Power (Pocket Books); Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis, Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary (Pocket Books); Norman Lewis, Instant Word Power (Signet); Norman Lewis, Word Power Made Easy (Pocket Books); Maxwell Nurnberg and Morris Rosenblum, All About Words (Signet); Maxwell Nurnberg and Morris Rosenblum, How to Build a Better Vocabulary (Popular Library); Edward L. Tucker, Vocabulary Power! (Bantam); and Arthur Waldhorn and Arthur Zeiger, Word Mastery Made Simple (Doubleday). All these books are entertainingly written and are designed for busy people, whose time for any one activity is limited because of demands from several others.
 
 

Bromberg, Murray, and Cedric Gale. Vocabulary Success . Paperback: 250 pages ; large format ; Barrons Educational Series; ; 3rd edition ( 1998); ISBN: 0764103113

Bromberg, Murray, and Cedric Gale. Building an Effective Vocabulary. 1966; 2nd ed. Woodbury, NY: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1977. [pb; 250 os pages; has list at the end, "1,400 Words Every College Student Ought to Know" (245-50; 5 columns, small type; doesn't include all items in the book).]

Bromberg, Murray, and Melvin Gordon. 1100 Words You Need to Know. Woodbury, NY: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1971. [pb; 252 os pages; complete multi-column index, small type, 250-52.]

Bromberg, Murray, and Julius Liebb. Words With a Flair. Woodbury, NY: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1979. [pb; 600 words; 218 os pages; complete list, four columns, small type, 216-218.]

Bromberg, Murray and, Julius Liebb (Contributor). 601 Words You Need to Know to Pass Your Exam (Barron's 601 Words You Need to Know to Pass Your Exam, 3rd Ed); Paperback: 256 pages ; large format; Barrons Educational Series; 3rd edition ( 1997); ISBN: 0812096452

Carnevale, Linda. Hot Words for the Sat I (Hot Words for the Sat). Paperback: 200 pages ; Barrons Educational Series; ( 2001); ISBN: 0764118757

Carris, Joan Davenport. Peterson's Success With Words (Success With Words, 3rd Ed); Paperback: 390 pages ; large format; Petersons Guides; 3rd edition ( 1998); ISBN: 0768900492

Cavalier, Richard, John Haskell (Editor). Practical Word Power. Paperback: 249 pages ; large format; iUniverse.com; ( 2000); ISBN: 0595130488

Cornog, Mary Wood. Webster's New Explorer Vocabulary Skill Builder. Hardcover: 576 pages ; Federal Street Pr; ( 2000) ; ISBN: 1892859122

Cornog, Mary Wood. Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1994. [558 pp.; index of all words, 545-58. "Thorough discussion of 1,000 words, and an introduction to almost 2,000 more."]

De Vitis, A. A., and J. R. Warner. Words in Context: A Vocabulary Builder. 1961; 2nd ed. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts/Meredith Publishing Company, 1966. [pb; 333 pp.; textbook; has readings as well as other exercises.]

DeVries, Mary Ann The New American Three-Step Vocabulary Builder: How to Supercharge Your Vocublary in Just Minutes a Day. Paperback: 384 pages ; Signet; ( 1998) ; ASIN: 0451192680

Diederich, Paul B., Sydell Terris Carlton Vocabulary for College: Vanguard Edition With Analogies; Paperback: ; Hbj School; ( 1989); ISBN: 0153296879

Elster, Charles Harri(g)nton, Verbal Advantage: 10 Steps to an Impressive Vocabulary ; Paperback: 496 pages ; Random House Reference ; ( 2000) ; ISBN: 0375709320

Ehrlich, Ida. Instant Vocabulary. New York: Washington Square Press - Simon and Schuster, 1968. [pb; 568 pp.; emphasis on word roots.]

Evans, Bergen. The Word-A-Day Vocabulary Builder. New York: Random House, 1962. [hb; 216 pp.]

Feinstein, George. Programed College Vocabulary 3600. 1969; 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979. [pb; 327 pp.; textbook.]

Feinstein, George W. Programed College Vocabulary (6th Edition). Paperback: 337 pages ; Prentice Hall; ; 6th edition ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0130282685

Funk, Peter. It Pays to Increase Your Word Power. 1968; rpt. New York: Bantam Books, 1970. [pb; 193 pp.; complete list/index, 189-93; 300 words.]

Funk, Peter, and Barry Tarshis. Word Memory Power in 30 Days. New York: Laurel Books - Dell Publishing Company, 1981. [pb; 287 pp; list/index at the end.]

Funk, Wilfred. Six Weeks to Words of Power. New York: Pocket Books - Simon and Schuster, 1955. [pb; 278 pp; list/index at the end.]

Funk, Wilfred, and Norman Lewis. Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary. Rev. Ed. 1941; New York: Pocket Books - Simon and Schuster, 1971. [pb; 244 pp;/ list/index at the end.]

Goodman, Roger, and David Lewin. New Ways to Greater Word Power. New York: Laurel Editions - Dell Publishing Company, 1955, 1960. [pb; 191 pp; list/index at the end.]

Gruber, Edward. 2300 Steps to Word Power: Programmed Learning Without a Machine. New York: Arc Books, 1963. [pb; 235 pp.]

Hart, Archibald. Twelve Ways to Build a Vocabulary. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1939, 1967. [pb; 183 pp.]

Hennings, Dorothy Grant Vocabulary Growth: Strategies for College Word Study ; Paperback: 309 pages ; Prentice Hall College Div; ; ( 2000); ISBN: 0130223263

Hiers, John, James Williams, and Albert Jacobs. Today's Language: A Vocabulary Workbook. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1981. [pb; textbook; 354 pp; list: 323-330.]

Hopper, Jane N., Jo Ann Carter-Wells The Language of Learning: Vocabulary for College Success ; Paperback: 401 pages ; Wadsworth Pub Co; ; 2nd edition ( 1994) ; ISBN: 0534213847

Keen, Dennis Developing Vocabulary Skills ; Paperback: 224 pages ; large format ; Heinle & Heinle Pub; ; 2nd edition ( 1994) ; ISBN: 0838446728

Kensler, Chris Sat Verbal Velocity ; Paperback: 128 pages ; Kaplan; ( 2000) ; ISBN: 0684872773

Kolby, Jeff Vocabulary 4000 : The 4000 Words Essential for an Educated Vocabulary ; Paperback: 160 pages ; Nova Pr; ; Revised edition ( 2000) ; ISBN: 1889057150

Lee, Donald. Harbrace Vocabulary Guide. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1956. [pb; 122 os pp.]

Levine, Harold, Norman Levine (Contributor), Robert T. Levine (Contributor) The Joy of Vocabulary ; Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages ; Signet; 2nd edition ( 1997); ISBN: 0451193962

Lewis, Norman. Rapid Vocabulary Builder. 1951; rpt. New York: Macfadden Books, 1964. [pb; 190 pp.]

Lewis, Norman. Word Power Made Easy: The Complete Handbook for Building a Superior Vocabulary. Expanded and Revised Ed. 1949; New York: Pocket Books - Simon and Schuster, 1978. [pb; 528 pp.]

Lewis, Norman. Instant Word Power. New York: Signet Books - New American Library, 1981. [pb; 386 pp; list/index at the end.]

Lewis, Norman. Power with Words. 2nd ed. 1943; New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1964. [pb; 261 pp; omnibus volume about grammar, usage, spelling, etc., as well as vocabulary building.]

Lichtenstein, Ellen Arco 10 Minute Guide to Building Your Vocabulary (10 Minute Guides) ; Paperback: 144 pages ; Hungry Minds, Inc; ; ( 1997) ; ASIN: 0028611586

Maker, Janet, and Minnette Lenier. Keys to a Powerful Vocabulary: Level 1. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. [pb; textbook; 235 os pp; list/index at the end; diagnostic pretest; has instructor's manual.]

McFedries, Paul The Complete Idiot's Guide to a Smart Vocabulary (Complete Idiot's Guide To...) ; Paperback: 384 pages ; Alpha Books; ; 1st edition ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0028639979

McWhorter, Kathleen T. Vocabulary Simplified: Strategies for Building Your College Vocabulary ; Paperback: 128 pages ; large format ; Longman; ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0321087267

Meyers Judith N. Practical Vocabulary ; Hardcover: 208 pages ; large format ; LearningExpress; ; 1 edition ( 1998) ; ISBN: 157685082X

Mohr, Carole, Sherrie L. Nist, Donald J. Goodman Improving Vocabulary Skills ; Paperback: 192 pages ; large format ; Townsend Press; ; 2nd edition ( 1996) ; ISBN: 0944210333

Morris, William. Your Heritage of Words: How to Increase Your Vocabulary Instantly. New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1970. [pb; 182 pp.]

Morris, William. It's Easy to Increase Your Vocabulary. Rev. ed. 1957; New York: Penguin Books, 1975. [pb; 245 pp; index at the end.]

Morsberger, Robert. How to Improve Your Verbal Skills. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1962. [pb; 332 pp.]

Nash, Tom, Princeton Language Institute, Philip Lief Group. 10 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary ; Paperback: 205 pages ; Warner Books; ; ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0446676691

Nist, Sherrie L., Michele L. Simpson Developing Vocabulary for College Thinking ; Paperback: 272 pages ; Allyn & Bacon; ; 1 edition ( 2000) ; ISBN: 020532326X

Nist, Sherrie L., Carole Mohr. Advancing Vocabulary Skills. Paperback: 198 pages ; Townsend Press; ; 3rd edition ( 2002) ; ISBN: 0944210147

Nurnberg, Maxwell. Word Play. New York: Laurel Editions - Dell Publishing Company, 1971. [pb; 132 pp.]

Nurnberg, Maxwell, and Morris Rosenblum. All About Words: An Adult Approach to Vocabulary Building. New York: Signet Books - New American Library, 1968. [pb; 416 pp; non-comprehensive index at the end.]

Nurnberg, Maxwell, and Morris Rosenblum. How to Build a Better Vocabulary. Rev. ed. 1949; New York: Popular Library, 1961. [pb; 382 pp; non-comprehensive index at the end.]

Olsen, Amy E. Academic Vocabulary ; Paperback: 224 pages ; large format ; Longman; ; 1st edition ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0321055004

Olsen, Amy E., Patti C. Biley. Active Vocabulary: General and Academic Words ; Paperback: 224 pages ; large format ; Longman; ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0321054989

Perry, Devern J. College Vocabulary Building: Text ; Paperback: 266 pages ; large format ; South-Western Educational ; Publishing; 10th edition ( 1998) ; ISBN:

Radke, Frieda. Word Resources. Rev. ed. 1955; New York: Odyssey Press, 1961. [pb; textbook; 225 os pp; has instructor's manual.]

Random House. Random House Webster's Build Your Power Vocabulary. Paperback: 352 pages ; Random House Reference ; ( 1998) ; ISBN: 0375702474

Reader's Digest Editors. Word Power: An Anthology of Articles and Tests. New York: Berkley Books, 1980. [pb; 245 pp; index/list at the end.]

Richek, Margaret Ann The World of Words: Vocabulary for College Students ; Paperback ; Houghton Mifflin College; ; ( 2000) ; ISBN: 061809735X

Romine, Jack S., Henry Ehrlich Quick Vocabulary Power : A Self-Teaching Guide ; Paperback: 242 pages ; John Wiley & Sons; ; 2nd edition ( 1995) ; ISBN: 0471050083

Rozakis, Laurie E. Vocabulary for Dummies ; Paperback: 338 pages ; John Wiley & Sons; ; 1st edition ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0764553933

Rubin, Dorothy. Gaining Word Power. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997. [pb; textbook, with perforated pp; 398 os pp; index/list at the end.]

Schiavone, James. Seven Keys to a Richer Vocabulary. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1964/1969. [pb; 96 pp.]

Shepherd, James F. Rsvp the College Reading Study and Vocabulary Program ; Paperback ; Houghton Mifflin College; ( 1996) ; ISBN: 0395854873

Smith, R. Kent Building Vocabulary for College ; Hardcover: 401 pages ; Houghton Mifflin College; ; 5th edition ( 2002) ; ISBN:

Smith, R. Kent. Building Vocabulary for College. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company, 1986. [pb; textbook, with perforated pp; 404 os pp; non-comprehensive index at the end; has instructor's manual.]

Stewart, Mark Alan Words for Smart Test Takers (Arco Academic Test Preparation Series) ; Paperback: 304 pages ; Arco Pub; ; 2nd edition ( 2001) ; ISBN: 0768907152

Tucker, Edward. Vocabulary Power! New York: Bantam Books, 1968. [pb; 149 pp; has index/list at the end.]

Waldhorn, Arthur, and Arthur Zeiger. Word Mastery Made Simple. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1957. [pb; 192 os pp.]