HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR VOCABULARY

 Improve Vocabulary Tips

How to improve your vocabulary 

Improving your vocabulary can be a fun and rewarding process that can help you better express your thoughts and ideas, understand complex texts, and even increase your cultural knowledge. Here are some tips that can help you expand your vocabulary:

Read widely: Reading books, articles, and other texts can expose you to new words and phrases, and help you learn the context in which they are used.

Keep a vocabulary notebook: Write down new words that you come across and look up their definitions. Try to use the words in a sentence or two to help you remember them better.

Use flashcards: Create flashcards with a word on one side and its definition on the other. Use them to test yourself and reinforce your memory.

Play word games: Crossword puzzles, word search, and other word games can be a fun way to improve your vocabulary.

Watch educational programs: Educational programs such as TED Talks, news broadcasts, and documentaries can expose you to new vocabulary and help you understand it in context.

Use a thesaurus and a dictionary: When you encounter a word you don't know, look it up in a dictionary and thesaurus to get a better understanding of its meanings and synonyms.

Learn roots and prefixes: Understanding the roots and prefixes of words can help you deduce the meaning of new words, even if you've never seen them before.

Remember, expanding your vocabulary is a gradual process, and it's important to be patient with yourself and have fun with it.

INTERESTING FACTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

English is a West Germanic language that originated in England and is now the most widely spoken language in the world.

The English language has over 170,000 words, and new words are being added to the language all the time.

The first English dictionary, A Table Alphabeticall, was written by schoolmaster Robert Cawdrey in 1604.

The most commonly used letter in the English alphabet is "e", and "q" is the least used.

English is the official language in over 50 countries and is also used as a second language by many people around the world.

English has borrowed words from many other languages, including Latin, French, Greek, Spanish, and many more.

The Oxford English Dictionary contains over 170,000 words, but the average person uses only a small fraction of them in their daily life.

English pronunciation has changed greatly over time and continues to evolve, with some words becoming more or less distinct and new sounds being introduced.

Shakespeare is one of the most famous English-language writers and is known for his plays and poems, which have had a lasting impact on the English language.

The study of the English language, including its history, structure, and usage, is known as English linguistics.

SOBRIQUETS

What are Sobriquets?  Well,nick names given to places or persons are sobriquets.some interesting sobriquets for places are

Roof of the world - pamirs

Spice garden of India - kerala

World,s lonliest island - Tristan da cunha

White city - Belgrade

Sugar bowl of the world - cuba

Land of the rising sun - Japan

Land of the midnight sun - Norway

City of the golden gate - San Francisco

Land of white elephants - Thailand

Pink city - Jaipur

City of Skyscrapers -  New York

Land of Maple leaves -  Canada

Some sobriquets for people are

 Mahatma - Mohan das karam chand Gandhi

Saint of gutters   -Mother Teresa

Panditji   - Jawaharlal Nehru

Kaviguri - Rabindranath Tagore

Bard of Avon - Shakespeare

Lady of the lamp - Florence Nightangle

ALL ABOUT NOUNS

Nouns are the first thing we learn in grammar. The grade 2 child also knows that NOUNS are naming words. They are the names of person places, animals and thing.

Let us find out some more of the nouns in detail.
Firstly nouns can be classified into two categories

Some examples - London, Sunday, Eiffel Tower, George,
Mount Everest etc.

Some examples of Common nouns are book, table, bird, river, city etc.

Some Collective Nouns are

ABSTRACT  NOUNS

These are the names of ideas,qualities and feeling
eg.happiness, truth,honest etc

MATERIAL NOUN

These are  the names of materials that make things. eg. Brick,cement,cloth etc.

 Nouns have four genders
Masculine gender shows a male eg. boy,man
Feminine gender shows a female eg. girl,woman.
Common gender shows both a male and female eg.baby
Neuter gender shows non-living things like a chair,table, pen etc.

Find out the meaning of this trending word _ FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION

FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION

Recently when I came across this word it was very difficult for me to pronounce this word. I looked up the Oxford dictionary and found that this word really exists  - and it meant  " the action or habit of estimating something as useless "

This 29-letter tongue-twisting  word is trending in India. This word was used by a politician in his tweet to announce his book "  The paradoxical Prime Minister. "

LEARNING ADJECTIVES

Adjectives

Let's refresh a bit of grammar . Today  I chose a very simple topic - and that is adjectives .

We all know that describing  words are called  Adjectives. 

They tell us the qualities of nouns and pronouns. 

We compare qualities  of people  and things using adjectives. 

Adjectives  have three degrees,  Positive,  Comparitive and Superlative  degrees. 

How do we use these degrees let me tell you-

* When we  state  the  qualities  of a person or a thing,  we use the positive  degree. 

*When we make comparison between  two persons or things we use the Comparative  degree. 

*When we make comparison  among more than two persons or things,  we use the Superlative   degree.

Let's see these words

  

Hot is  in the positive degree  ,while hotter is comparative degree  and  hottest  is in the superlative  degree.  So is with the other adjectives .

Some  words have irregular  comparative  and Superlative  degrees,  let look at these words too -

 Late   later  latest(shows time)

             latter  last(shows position)

Old      older      Oldest

             elder      eldest

 far      farther    farthest

(shows distance)

              further  furthest. 

Sometimes we use adjectives  wrongly.  We do not  need two comparatives or two  superlatives.

For eg.

Incorrect           correct

more better       better

more brighter    brighter

most deepest.     deepest

more greener     greener





   

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TECHNO -PREFIXES

 

New affixes  appear in English all the time, largely  due to rapidly changing technology. 

For example,  the prefix  e - (meaning electronic ")  was created to form words such as

e - mail,
e-book
e-commerce
e-paper
e-newsletter
e-text
e -chat
e-file e-statement
e-zone,
e-learning
e-reader
e-waste
e-business
e-procurement   and so on. 

Similarly the prefix  cyber ,which refers to information  technology, is used  in the words, cyber -space
 cyber-cafe
 cyber-care
 cyber-card,
 cybernetic
 cybernated
 cyberpunk
 cybercast and so on.