These are some methods for improving and building vocabulary as you grow in your language skills. Do you want to know, how to improve word power? Read the 6 tips below.

 

1. Choose a specific theme for building vocabulary

When building vocabulary, you can guide yourself by focusing on a specific theme for the words you’re learning. Pick a context or a specific topic -- say, sports, or words associated with feelings -- then study words related to that topic.

 

Words describing emotions is an interesting choice, for instance, as it includes words like enthusiastic and excited. The category of sports words, on the other hand, includes exciting words like throw, spin, or marathon.

 

You could also study “travelling around town” words like sidewalk, intersection, or pavement; or words related to everyday life, like foods available at the supermarket. You could even study words about school work!

 

Whatever theme you pick, create stories in your mind and speak them aloud using words related to that theme.

 

2. Tips for easily memorizing your words 

When you have settled on vocabulary words, write them down or print them out. Carry the list with you always. In the pauses of your busy day—when you're sitting on the bus, in the dentist's office, during commercials—take out the paper and review your vocabulary words until you feel comfortable that you would recognize (and be able to use) these words the next time you see them. Use sticky notes and put them on computers, on cupboards, and other places you’re likely to see them, as a reminder.

 

Try jumbling the letters of your vocabulary words up, then unscrambling them to form the word again. Work with the words until you are very comfortable using them in sentences on your own.

 

Remembering the words is very important! How do we do this? Try to associate each word with a picture or some other representation in your mind. This will help you remind yourself of the word’s meaning. You don’t have to actually draw or see this picture -- you can use your imagination to create suitable images!

 

It’s also important to not try to learn more than 7-10 new words in a day. Generally, it’s safer to aim for 5-6 words a day for better retention. This, of course, depends on how much time you have each day for studying vocabulary.

 

3. Read whatever you’re interested in

Pick out something you want to read in your target language. As you read, underline the words you don’t understand. Then you should write them down within a sentence so you can see how each word fits into the sentence. Repeat the words until you are very familiar with them.

 

4. Make sure you learn new forms of new words

Some words have many different forms, like silent (adjective), silently (adverb) and silence (noun). Practice forming sentences which the different forms of these words, and try to use as many forms of the words in sentences as possible.

 

A good way to combine this practice with your grammar learning is by thinking about each word and identifying which part of speech it is. Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective, or an adverb? It can help you to understand how those different parts of speech are formed. For instance, you can make a plural noun by adding an s, or an adverb by adding ly.

 

For example: beauty is a noun, beautify is a verb, and beautiful is an adjective. Use them in sentences differently.

 

5. Listen attentively to all conversations

Whether it’s the news in English, a movie, or a class lecture, pay attention to what’s being said! Make note of the words that you didn’t understand.

 

6. Always keep a dictionary at hand

When you find an unfamiliar word, refer to the dictionary for an explanation. Browse through words and make them your friends. Which ever new words you hear and read, mark them in the dictionary. Keep a tab of the number of words that you have mastered. Keep a goal for a week, for a month and so on. 

 

When you meet your first goal -- and for each subsequent goal you complete -- treat yourself! Go out and celebrate, because you’re learning vocabulary! these are some of the rules which i follow, you also try if you don't know how to improve word power.

 

Happy learning!

 

Hero Image by Akshay Hallur (CC BY-ND 2.0)