: How to expand my vocabulary? I wanted to write something for a long time. But what I think is, in writing the choice of words plays a very significant role. From where I can learn this thing?
I wanted to write something for a long time. But what I think is, in writing the choice of words plays a very significant role. From where I can learn this thing?
I think I don't have enough words in my active vocabulary to write what I feel or want to write.
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@Bethany377
Spoken Language, or parlance, is usually a set of common words, phrases and intonations used by a group bound by certain unique qualities. If those binding qualities are a technical job, you might call that Jargon. But, every group gets it's own unique parlance from the unsophisticated group of four year olds to the jaded angst-ridden teenager all the way up to the rusting courts of elders.
Read books, yes. Write things, yes. Read thesaurus's yes.
But, to truly use the right words you have to understand the people who would use such words. If you want to write floury purple prose, read a lot of "literature." If you want window-pane prose where your characters speak authentically, then study people. Talk with them, and more importantly listen.
There are great libraries of the spoken word now, but you've got to listen and pay attention and parlance will change depending on who is speaking. If you know who your narrator is, then you'll also know which domain they're speaking from.
Improving your vocabulary is not just about ingesting large quantities of words, but also understanding how they are used. The definition matters, but the connotation often matters more. You can pick up some of this by reading, but you'll be playing telephone with someone in the past. If all you do is read and write, you'll ultimately miss the evolution or commit the mistakes of who you're ingesting. There are entire turns of phrases that are unique to literature that has been written based off of what was learned by consuming other literature. Eventually these games of telephone only make sense to those who are initiated into the genre; at some point, you have to go back to the well of the spoken word and re-ground yourself.
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@Frith254
Just read and read. And try to write something if you learn new words . Read and write regularly would be the best option to improve vocabulary.
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@Kaufman555
I keep a "Big Word Dictionary" to expand my vocabulary. Whenever I come across a fancy new word, I write it down. Every now and then I revisit this dictionary and see, if I could insert some of these words into my own writing.
One way to hunt down those beautiful new words, as others have pointed out, is to read.
Additionally it doesn't hurt to browse the English language and usage stack Exchange.
Another great resource is the Merriam Webster Website.
They publish a word of the day every day, and usually those are real diamonds.
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@Sims2267584
One way to expand your vocabulary (in my opinion it's kinda plain) you could just read a 1 or 2 pages of the dictionary a day, OR you can just read some good books. Books that got really famous. For example the hunger games. Since it has lots of action going on, there is a lot of description describing what is happening. That, you can learn lots of descriptive words. Read read read and write write write. Reading and writing will help you expand your vocabulary.
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@Sent2472441
The only thing you can do is to read and write, but reading will help the most. In order to learn something, you need to keep it in your head. Say you're learning piano. You need to keep learning new songs, each one getting challenger so that you learn more, and remember it.
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@Rambettina586
A few further tips:
Be careful not to overuse obscure synonyms for common words. It can be a lot more distracting than using the common word. The most important way to expand your vocabulary is to learn words that convey things you couldn't before. The second most important is to ensure you don't confuse words that sound or look similar.
If you get synonyms from a thesaurus, look up the original words and suggested synonyms in a dictionary, as often the meanings are subtly different, and you'll either choose not to use the synonyms or reword the sentences to make uses of them proper.
If you're convinced two words are genuinely interchangeable in terms of meaning and obscurity, take into account rhyme, rhythm and other measures of suitability. For example, words with a lot of Ss help make a character or setting seem more unsettling because of the association with snakes. Steven Pinker has noted that "pulchritudinous" means beautiful but sounds more like it means something insulting, which makes it almost always unsuitable. (Still, a character could use the word in an effort to compliment that backfires, which may speak volumes.)
There are contexts where a limited vocabulary is worthwhile or even necessary, such as in a child's narrative or when a character addresses someone young or uneducated, or because of a character's background or setting (be mindful of how dissimilar dialogue should be from one's narration), or if your intended audience is young.
Some authors are famous for making a limited vocabulary work, such as Ernest Hemingway. Read such people to see what they do. Plus, ironically, you might just learn a new word from them anyway, or at least learn to use a word you never would have thought to.
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@Angie602
You didn't mention what you wanted to write.
Do you want to write a novel? Is it fiction, sci-fi, horror, comedy, satire?
Do you want to write a poem? Is it a sonnet, an ode, a haiku? Is it freeform?
Do you want to write a paper? Is it for school? Is it to be published in a journal? Does it cover matters pertaining to physics, engineering, biology, chemistry?
Do you want to write a screenplay? TV, movie, theater, or other?
Do you want to write lyrics? Is it a love song, or an anti-war ballad? Is it jazz, rock, pop, grunge? Do you want it to rhyme?
What you want to write should influence your research material. If I wanted to write a sci-fi novel, I'd start with reading some Card, some Asimov, some Heinlein, and some Herbert*. If I wanted to write technical papers, I'd find the peer-reviewed journals of the field and read their works.
IMPORTANT
This is not to say that there isn't any crossover. Just because a word is used in a Michael Crichton novel doesn't mean that it doesn't belong in a technical paper.
Researching what's popular and what YOU like in your chosen field, in addition to any other fields in which you're interested, might make your search more fruitful.
Finally, to piggy-back off another answer, "Lorenzo went to the place" might be the precise phrase you need; the images that appear in my mind are
1) Someone struggling to unsuccessfully remember the details of Lorenzo's activities, perhaps due to intoxication or fatigue.
2) Communicating with a preoccupied teenager.
3) 1940s gangster trying to convey information to another party fully aware of what "the place" is and why Lorenzo is going there while trying to remain discreet.
Just because something, at first glance, sounds overly flowery or overly simple doesn't mean that it's wrong.
*The mention of these specific authors does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of their suitability to serve as inspiration to influence the lexicon of an aspiring writer, but simply reflects their popularity and/or the prolific nature of their work(s).
OR
Just 'cause I mentioned these folks in my example right here don't mean that they be the best persons to read when yer tryin' to brush up on yer book-learnin'; it just means that some folks think their stuff be perty special.
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@LarsenBagley300
Also, write, write, write.
As you write a new word in appropriate context, you are putting it into your working vocabulary.
Don't discount a thesaurus.
There are some online.
You have ideas, and you can articulate your ideas. Let's say you have a character that needs to go to a particular place. You might have a good idea in your mind of what that place is, but perhaps you are struggling to find the right words.
"Lorenzo went to the place."
But that's too simplistic. How did he go? Where? He drove. To the lake. But you want something more precise, or slightly less simplistic. Here's where a thesaurus can come in handy.
Look up synonyms for drive online (just type 'drive synonym' into google.). If you actually do this - you'll see a ton of information about the word 'drive', and you will come away not only with an alternative word for drive but also a much wider understanding of all the ways the word can be used, and its roots (etymology).
From that exercise, let's use 'motored.'
Now, look up synonyms for 'lake.' (Same exercise as above.) I see a word I haven't used before - 'tarn.' It means a small mountain lake (defined on google.).
"Lorenzo motored to the tarn."
^^That's a very different image than the first one.
Through this exercise you can expand your vocabulary and also increase your facility with the words you already know.
The only caveat I'd add here is to avoid using fancy words if you don't need them.
Don't say "he motored to the tarn' just because it sounds unusual. The point is to find the right word and the best word, and to practice using words.
As you read, and practice writing, it all gets stronger and better, like peddling a two-wheeled conveyance.
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@Pierce369
Read, read, read, read. The only way to learn words is to ingest them, to feed on them. The only place where to look is books.
Read a lot of different authors, styles, genres, ages. The more words and expressions you put in your head, the more you can use them in your writing.
Every time I wrote something, I realized I was heavily influenced by the things I was reading at a time. Back in high school, when studying the italian romantic age, I started speaking like those 19th century guys, because I was reading so much of them!
While writing is mostly a matter of practice, you need fuel to do it well, and that is taken from other authors.
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