How to Expand Your Vocabulary in 6 Steps The Princeton Review
Hi, everyone.
I’m Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief at The Princeton Review.
Learning new vocabulary words is important—for all sorts of reasons.
A large vocabulary enables you to write and speak more concisely and clearly.
You can always find the perfect word to convey what you mean—and you don’t need to use
5 words when you have one that is just right.
Why say something like “walked slowly and without purpose” when you can capture all
that with one word—”ambled”?
No need to say “anticipated and made unnecessary” because you know the word “obviated.”
You can say what you mean, mean what you say—and always have the perfect word at the ready.
A large vocabulary also turns out to be a great asset on standardized tests like the
SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, and GMAT—among others.
These exams directly or indirectly test your vocab knowledge.
A large vocabulary will help you achieve success in school, too.
You’ll write better papers and fare better on exams.
And above all else, a large vocabulary can make you a fun person to converse with and
be around.
I won’t belabor this point further: I think we can all agree that it is good to build
a large lexicon.
But how do you do it?
The best way is to make your vocabulary-learning part of your everyday life.
And there are 6 very specific ways you can do that.
First: If you’re reading something and you see a word you don’t know, look it up right
then and there.
You’re likely to find that you see that word cropping up in all sorts of places once
you know it.
You actually see more of the world when you know more words.
It’s a pretty cool phenomenon.
Quick housekeeping note here: If you’re prepping for a standardized test, don’t
stop in the middle of practicing to look up a word.
Instead, practice what you’ll do on the real test, according to your prep plan, and
then look up any unfamiliar words when you review your work.)
Second: Speaking of reading: Read!
Read, read, read, my friends.
There is no better way to grow your vocabulary than to be a consumer of the written word.
What should you read?
Any old thing!
If you’re prepping for a standardized test, you can always find bibliographic information
about the works that are excerpted in the passages—you could track down the original
sources and read those.
Beyond that, you should read material that’s fun and, ideally, slightly above your current
reading level.
That way you’ll stay engaged and build both your reading and vocabulary skills.
But I want to emphasize the fun part: If you dread reading, you won’t want to do it.
If you love what you’re reading, you’ll keep going back.
The most important thing you can do is to keep reading.
Third: Practice saying words out loud.
Online dictionaries will have an option for you to hear the word, or you can use the pronunciation
guide in your dictionary.
Once you learn a new word, incorporate it into your speech.
Try to make a point of using each new word that you learn in a real-world, everyday context.
Fourth: While you’re learning new words, keep a running list!
Keep records of them in an app, on flashcards, or in a notepad, and refer to that periodically
to make sure you’re keeping your new acquisitions in your regular rotation.
Fifth: Use your imagination to create mental images for new words.
We have a whole video about mnemonic devices that can help you train your brain to acquire
new knowledge—check that out for specific tips on how to use visualizations to broaden
your vocabulary.
Sixth: Look for common root words.
If you’ve studied Latin, this will be especially easy, but even if you haven’t, you’ll
be able to do this.
Here’s an example—let’s think of words that start with the letters “B-E-N-E”
— like benefit, benefactor, benediction.
Those are all positive words, and that’s because “bene” means well.
Keep that in mind when you’re inferring the meaning of an unfamiliar word based on
its construction and context.
If you do those 6 things, you will expand your vocabulary—and you’ll probably have
a lot of fun in the process, too.
If you find that you’re a word nerd who loves learning new vocabulary, then check
out our “Vocabulary Builder” videos right here on YouTube.
Speaking of which, remember to subscribe to our channel for more intel about academics,
exams, college, and test-prep livestreams.
Thanks so much for watching.
See you here next time.