A lot has been said and written about how to increase vocabulary. Most educated people think about this regularly, even if their activities are not directly related to rhetoric or public speaking. The Russian language, rich and beautiful, allows people who speak it to express their thoughts expressively, elegantly and in a variety of ways. Good knowledge of the native language is a serious advantage in work, relationships, in any communications with others.
How to replenish your vocabulary, what methods and activities will be most effective? Let's try to figure it out.
Varieties of the lexicon
When we think about how to expand vocabulary, it is important to understand that, first of all, we are talking about increasing active vocabulary.
Active vocabulary - these are the words that we use in everyday life, communicating with friends, relatives, colleagues. We pronounce them easily and naturally, they are firmly embedded in speech and writing. We don't need much effort to find the right word.
Passive vocabulary is words whose meaning is generally clear and known to us, but we practically do not use them. Perhaps this is inappropriate in our social circle, or there are some other reasons. Then, in order to remember a word, we have to make some effort.
External vocabulary is highly specialized terms, the meaning of which we do not fully know. Usually these are words that are used in a professional environment, among a small circle of people.
As a rule, most people have a very limited active vocabulary: it's good if a hundredth of the total volume is used in speech. Therefore, when the question arises of how to replenish your vocabulary, this means that you first need to replenish the stock of constantly used words.
Learning to speak again
What do we do when we share our experiences with friends or call support and can’t find the right name or accurately describe our emotions or feelings?
But we agreed that we would think about how to increase the vocabulary, right? Then we begin to develop awareness:
The recipe, in fact, is very simple: to learn how to speak beautifully, you need to ... speak. This is true. Learn to speak face-to-face. Tell stories, plots of books or films, news or impressions. Try to use new words that you haven't used before. Include them in your life consciously.
- Write letters
Written speech will also help to solve the problem of how to increase the number of words used. Write letters. Post on forums or social media. Try writing articles or essays. Keep a diary.
Carefully select words and phrases, look for synonyms - practice and practice is important in this matter.
- Make a speech
Public speaking and responsible conversations help to enrich speech very well. Make a sketch on paper in advance. Practice, look for different options that most accurately and fully reflect your point of view. If you have to speak in front of a large audience, make your speech bright and rich, rather than dull and unemotional.
- learn poetry
Learn by heart verses, retell texts. It is important not only to tell the text, but to do it as close as possible to the style of the author, paying attention to new words and phraseological units. Tell emotionally, with expression, then it will be easier to remember new words.
- Constantly replenish your active and passive vocabulary: both are important. Listen to audiobooks, solve crossword puzzles, watch useful educational programs and communicate with educated and developed people.
- To better remember a new word or turn of speech, create a vivid image, visualize it inside yourself. Words are well remembered in conjunction with others, in sentences, and not on their own.
- Write down your favorite quotes and expressions. Use them in your speech. The main thing is that it should be appropriate.
- Do not use slang words and swear words: approach the issue creatively, look for colorful bright replacements.
- Don't fill short-term memory with useless information.
- Learn a foreign language. Any. Oddly enough, this allows you to simultaneously replenish the active and passive vocabulary of the native language, too.
How to activate passive typing
Our passive vocabulary is constantly replenished. Basically, this happens in two cases: while we are listening and while we are reading. So its filling begins in childhood itself. Purposefully memorizing words does not make much sense: they will remain passive.
- Choose synonyms for words
Very well helps to activate the passive stock selection of synonyms. There is a whole series of interesting games when some phenomenon or object needs to be described in words, excluding the use of familiar and frequently used words from the list. You can arrange such games in a friendly company or work out alone.
It is useful to make lists of synonyms. For example, a dictionary of feelings. Write down all the feelings you know in a column and try to write as many synonyms for them as possible next to them. Of course, it is important not only to write them, but also to use them in your spoken and written speech.
- Make up stories
Another useful and entertaining exercise: we compose a story using only nouns. Or verbs. Or - the most difficult - adjectives. Remember? "Night. The outside. Flashlight. Pharmacy". How can you continue?
Other options are also here: compose a story where words begin with each letter of the alphabet in order. Or all words with only one letter. It is important that the story is connected.
