Note: If you are really serious about improving your vocabulary, we highly recommend you check out the popular Ultimate Vocabulary Builder

HOW TO EXPAND VOCABULARY BY READING

Ask any well-spoken person and they will tell you that the best way to improve your language skills is through reading. Reading is particularly useful as a long term strategy if you want to expand vocabulary. When you read you expose yourself to new words and their usages. A good reading habit also greatly increases your reading speed over time and makes you a more cultured and knowledgeable person. Here’s how you can use reading to increase your vocabulary:

1. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

If you already read the Sports pages every morning, chances are you are only going to see a certain category of words and level of vocabulary. If you truly want to improve, you will need to try your hand at more challenging material. For example you could learn to speed read. Or you could start reading an old English classic like Great Expectations or Sense and Sensibility. And if you are a housewife, the recipe book will only teach you so many words. Expand your horizons by taking a go at trade magazines or scientific manuals.

2. BUY A DICTIONARY

While this should be a pretty obvious pre-requisite, a lot of people don’t own a dictionary. If you are one of them, it’s time to make a change. For your reading habit to truly prosper, it’s essential that you have a dictionary you can look up unfamiliar words in.

3. KEEP A PEN NEARBY

Always have a pen or pencil handy when you read. That way, whenever you come across a difficult or unfamiliar word you could underline it and look it up in the dictionary later. Before you find out what it means for sure, take a guess at what it could mean (by using the context it was used in) and then see if you were right.

4. CHOOSE MATERIAL THAT INTERESTS YOU

You don’t want to be put off reading before you even really get into it so try to read books and articles that interest you. If you have absolutely no interest in politics, the current affairs section will seem like a good challenge but it’s not worth it if it only ends up in discouraging you. When you want to expand vocabulary, you should take it nice and slow and gradually work your way up.

5. FOCUS ON YOUR OBJECTIVES

If you want to increase vocabulary of a specific kind, it will be a good idea to stick to material that is directly based on it. For instance, if you want to know more business jargon, trade and financial magazines are ideal reading material for you. And if you want to be more tech savvy, a subscription to PC magazine would be a smart choice. By utilizing all these tips, your reading sessions will not only become a learning experience but also an enjoyable one!