10 Simple ways to improve your English Vocabulary ~ Velvet Bytes

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

29 June

10 Simple ways to improve your English Vocabulary

Being a blogger means Iam always on a look out for ways to improve my writing, vocabolary and grammer along with sparking off creative cells to present content innovatively.

Living in a city like Bengaluru has helped me have very english because you can survive with just english in here, you dont really need to know kannada or hindi. I still read some blogs or stories and find words which I have never heard of before let alone knowing their meanings. Reading more literary works is the best way to improve your vocabulary but here are more ways I use to explore new words .

Read a LOT

An avid reader has the best vocabulary, so start reading today. Read some classics like charles dickens, shakespear or even dan brown. I actually more interested in vocabulary after reading Manish Guptas English Bites which presents a fun way to explore and remember new words. In todays digital times reading is considered boring but if you are reading things which interest you it can be super fun
*Read books you can't put down
*Read ooks you want to read again and again
*Read books by authors that change the way you think

Indulge in writing

The best way to put the words you have learnt to test is by writing. You can write a short story, a blog post , tweet or just comment away on blogs, youtube videos, forums even facebook.

Watch documentaries

If you want to improve you spoken english you need to pay attention to pronunciations too, so i suggest you try watching documentaries . i have found that documentaries from channels like BBC has some amazing treasure of words and good quality english. If documentaries bore you try podcasts or even english songs and pay attention to lyrics

Get a Kindle

If you really are serious about improving your ocabulary I suggest you use Amazon Kindle to read because kindle has dictionary which you can access anytime while reading right from the page you are on. No need to look up for meanings elsewhere, underline or anything like that.

Discuss, Converse and interact

Conversing with people with similar interest in english can be amazing for you vocabulary. If you are not comfortable with verbal discussions start of with written ones on forums . there are gaming forums, TV forums, gossip blogs or any other space online related to your area of interest or hobbies. Then gradually hangout with people who interact in english which can help you use new words you have discovered and learn new ones too.

Learn a new word everyday

Try adding one new word to you vocabulary everyday . You can subscribe to word a day services on internet who will then send you a new word and meaning everyday to your email, whatsapp or sms. Words smith is one such service . Or better still get the Dictionary.com andorid app or vocabology for iphone.

Play word games

Word games like scrabble are a great way to discover new words and their meanings. You can even try solving crosswords or unjumble words in newspapers. This method works best for kids.

Try Root word approach

I have realized that tracing the root of a word or analysing it helps remember the word better.
Take for example words like Benevolent, Beneficent, Benefactor in all these words Bene is common, which in Latin means "well".

Install the Magoosh Vocabularychrome extention

this is an amazing ebrowser extension for people who really want to expand their vocabulary. When you you open a new tab, a new word pops up with its meaning and usage. You can try using some of these words when you type on your laptop, reply to mails or comment on facebook . Over time this extension can really improve your english skills.

Use flashcards:

This is another popular way to improve vocabulary. People tend to remeber images better than written words so this method works nicely. Use picture flashcards from sites like flashcardmonkey.