The biggest hurdle in communicating effectively and confidently in English is good ‘active vocabulary’. Active Vocabulary constitutes of those words which we actively or confidently use in our day to day conversation or writings. On the other hand, there is ‘passive vocabulary’ – words we are familiar with but are not sure when and how to use them.
So, I think, the first step towards a better vocabulary is to work on your passive vocabulary and then regularly using those words so that they become a part your active vocabulary.
The following are tips on how to increase your passive vocabulary and turn it into active vocabulary:
(a) Read, read and read:
Reading is the most effective way of increasing your vocabulary. Newspapers, magazines, novels, story books are a rich source of new words. Whenever you come across new words write them down in a separate note book. Look them up in a dictionary. Make sentences using those words and try to use them in your day to day conversations.
(b) Looking up words in dictionary:
Whenever you look up a word in a dictionary find out its word class whether it’s a noun, an adjective or a verb and also what are its other forms. Lets take the example of the word familiar . ‘familiar’ is an adjective, ‘to familiarize’ is a verb and ‘familiarity’ is a noun. Every part of speech has its own specific place in a sentence. So, if you know the different forms of a word you will be able to use it more effectively.
(c) Watch and Listen:
Programmes in English on television and radio are another source of words. They also provide us with the context so the words can easily be understood and mimicked in our day to day conversations.
The idea is that the more you use new words in your day to day conversations the better your active vocabulary becomes. So start off today and never be ashamed of making mistakes. Not knowing a language is not a crime. Its just a hurdle. You need to overcome it. Nothing more nothing less.
Written by Madhukar Dhiman. http://www.rosemounts.org/
