Verbal Success Vocabulary® eCourse
LESSON 6 OF 7

Hello and Welcome Back!

In your last lesson, you learned how to properly document words in your vocabulary journal. Documenting words in your vocabulary journal is the best way to ensure you capture and assimilate every new word you read or hear each day.

In this sixth lesson, you will learn how to fully assimilate and absorb new words into your active vocabulary. This lesson is your longest, so it may take you more than one day to complete.

In this Lesson You will Learn the following:

• How to convert your vocabulary journal entries into lessons
• How to use context to discern the meaning of new words
• How to make a word’s definition personally meaningful to you
• How to anticipate opportunities to use new words
• How to permanently assimilate new words into your active vocabulary
• Memory tricks and techniques for learning difficult and hard to remember words

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In this lesson, we are going to learn how to permanently assimilate words from your vocabulary journal into your active vocabulary. We are going to review all major techniques that have proven effective in helping people to permanently remember new words. There is no one best technique, except (or just) the one that works best for you.

The starting point is your vocabulary journal. If you have been doing a good job of listening for and seeking out new vocabulary words, then each week you should have a list of new words. When you first begin this process, you will likely hear or see a lot of new words. Initially, it could be as many as 10 per day. But once you are doing this for some time, your vocabulary will grow and you will be familiar with many more words, so it will actually be more difficult for you to identify new words.

You should set aside some time each week to sit down and review the new words that you have documented in your vocabulary journal. Try to schedule a set day and time each week to do this-it should take about 15 minutes to an hour, depending on how many new words you have entered into your vocabulary journal.

When reviewing your vocabulary journal entries, the first thing you should do is see if you can deduce the meaning of the word from context. When trying to deduce a word’s meaning from context, look for contextual clues:

Here are three examples of contextual clues:

1. Definition/Explanation Clues

This is when a word’s meaning is explained immediately following its use.

Example:

“Etymology, which is the study of the origin of words, is used by many teachers to help students to better understand a word’s meaning and proper usage.”

Here, the word “etymology” was immediately defined as being “the study of the origin of words.”

2. Restatement/Synonym Clues

This is when a more challenging word or phrase is clarified in more simple language.

Example:

“Jack was upset about being scolded when his mother admonished him for getting bad grades in school.”

Because we know that Jack was scolded, we can deduce that “admonish” most likely means to disapprove or to scold.

3. Contrast/Antonym Clues

This is when a word or phrase is clarified by the presentation of the opposite meaning somewhere close to its use. Look for signal words when applying context clues.

Example:

“Eric thought the team’s efforts on the project would prove futile, but John believed that there was hope the project could still be successfully launched on schedule.”

The signal word but tells the reader that an opposite, contrasting thought is about to be introduced. Consequently, saying that a project is “futile” must indicate the opposite of believing the project would be a successfully launched on schedule; therefore, we can deduce that “futile” means unsuccessful or ineffective.

Once you have tried to deduce the word’s meaning from context, state aloud what you think the definition of the word is. Most of the time, your definition will be accurate, but be careful--in some instances context can be misleading. A great example of this is with the word peruse.

If you were to encounter the word peruse for the first time, there is a good chance you would improperly deduce its meaning from context. Let me use “peruse” in a sentence:

“I perused through your memo this morning and it looks good.”

Now, most people would immediately deduce that peruse has to do with reading and from this example they can make two deductions: One, “I carefully read through your memo,” or two, “I did a cursory review of the memo--I just skimmed through it.”

Unfortunately, the word peruse is often mistakenly thought to mean “to skim through.” Peruse actually means “examine or consider with attention and in detail.” Because the word peruse has been mistakenly interpreted from context so many times, the incorrect definition, “to skim,” is now used more often than the correct definition, “examine or consider with attention and in detail.”

The “peruse” example illustrates the importance of looking up the definition of a word to confirm its meaning. When looking up word definitions, I highly recommend you use the website OneLook (www.onelook.com). OneLook provides word definitions from multiple sources. When using OneLook, you will notice that dictionaries often define words differently. It’s best to use a couple sources when looking up the meaning of a word to get the most thorough understanding of its meaning.

The next step is to make new words personally meaningful to you. There are two ways to do this. First, you will want to define each word in your own words. The reason you want to do this is because the word doesn’t really become yours until you can define it in your own words, and it will make it much easier to remember the definition if it’s in your own words. Once you can define a word using your own definition, then you truly understand the word’s meaning.

The second thing you need to do to personalize the word is to create a personalized example. The best way of creating a personalized example is to think about recent conversations you have had or envision conversations in the future. It could be a conversation with your spouse or a friend, it could be a discussion with a colleague or a client at work. Try to think of any conversation or discussion you have had where you could have used this word and then create a sentence with the word. Or better yet, try to envision a future conversation or discussion that you will have where you could use this word.

Now, in order to pull this all together and master the words you have entered in your Vocabulary Journal, you are going to create flashcards. On one side of the flash card you will write the new word. On the other side, you will have your own personal definition (remember: it has to be in your own words). In addition to the definition, you will also need to write one or more personal sentence examples with the word-in the context of conversations you can foresee yourself having in the future.

As mentioned earlier, you will need to set aside time each week to transcribe words from your vocabulary journal to your flash cards. Again, we highly recommend that you select a set day and time each week to do this so that it becomes a regular part of your routine. You’ll also want to make studying your flash cards a regular part of your week. Or, better yet, take just a few minutes each day to study your new Power Words.

When studying new words, test your recall of the word’s definition and the sentence example you created for the word. Now, envision yourself using this word in the future. It’s very important that you try your best to use each new word. Tip: if you want to make digital flash cards, I suggest you consider Virtual Flash Cards (www.virtualflashcards.com). Virtual Flash Cards offers a shareware program that you can download for free. You can download a fully functioning version of the program for less than $25.

Research has shown that you have to use a word as many as three times to make it a permanent part of your active vocabulary, so try to use the word as soon as possible. Lets begin...

When reviewing your flashcards each week, look back on the week to see if you used one of your new words. If you used one of your new words, you can then move that card to your “mastered” word file. If you haven’t used a word, think about why you haven’t used it yet. Is it because you simply haven’t had the right opportunity, or is it because you are just not comfortable using the word? Or finally, was it because you were just not able to remember the word and its meaning? It’s very important that you identify the reason you have not used a new word.

If the right scenario hasn’t occurred, that’s okay; eventually it will and you will use the word and add it to your “mastered” word file.

If you are not quite comfortable with the word, it is most likely because you are not confident that you are using the word in the correct context. So I suggest you go online and visit one of your favorite newspapers-New York Times, Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times etc. Each of the online versions of these papers has a search box that will enable you to search recent articles. If you enter a word which you are not completely comfortable using, you will see a listing of articles that include that word. Use the search feature in your browser and it will take you to that word in the article. This will provide you with additional contextual examples. Review these examples to gain a better understanding of how this word is used. Once you gain a better understanding of how this word is correctly used, you will be much more confident using the word.

Finally, if you are having problems remembering a word and/or its meaning, there are some proven techniques designed to help you remember vocabulary words for ever:

The first vocabulary learning technique that we are going to review is mnemonics (pronounced: nu-mah-nik). A mnemonic is a device or a trick that helps you remember something. Most of us, at some point, have used some type of mnemonic to help us remember information for a test. For example, if you were asked to remember all of the Great Lakes, two common mnemonics are the use of the acronym “HOMES” and the sentence “She Made Him Eat Onions.” Each letter in the word “HOMES” as well as the first letter of each word in the sentence “She Made Him Eat Onions” represents the first letter of each of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).

The trick to making a mnemonic work for you is visualization. For example, with the word HOMES, you might visualize thousands of homes on the Great Lakes. You may even imagine some homes sinking in the lakes to make the mnemonic more dramatic and memorable. Make it is as crazy, funny, or dramatic as possible. The crazier the image, the more likely you are to remember it and the more likely it will help you remember whatever it is you are trying to recall.

Mnemonics can also help you to quickly remember the meaning of new words. Here is an example of a mnemonic that helps you learn the meaning of the word Opulence. Opulence is excessive wealth and luxury. Opulence, and its adjective form, opulent, are sometimes used negatively to describe not only wealth and luxury, but too much of these things. For a memory trick (mnemonic), note that opulent sounds like “opal fence.” Now, consider how opulent an “opal fence” would be--a fence made of opal (a rare expensive stone) would be the definition of opulence--wealth, luxury, and excess.

In summary: If you really want a mnemonic to work, you need to be creative and visualize something crazy or funny that will be very easy to remember. When creating mnemonics, you will often find that just doing this will help you to remember the meaning of a word, even if you are not able to create a mnemonic for a word, simply trying to think of one will often help you remember the word.

Another great way of learning new words is through etymology. Etymology is the history or origin of words. If you study the origin of a root word and commit it to memory, you will then be able to more easily remember whole groups of words. Also, by learning the etymology of a word, you better understand the word’s essence and origin, which can also help expedite learning.

One of my favorite root words is my name: Greg. The root word greg comes from the Latin word grex and greg, which means “a heard or a flock.” Most words derived from the root word greg have to do with groups, which for the most part makes greg a very positive word. Today, I am going to show you how to permanently remember the root word greg and its family of words.

If you have attended one of my seminars, you know that I like being with groups of people. Because of this, I believe I was aptly named Greg. Remember: the Latin root greg means “flock or heard,” in essence, “group.” Let’s look at some other words that were derived from the Latin root greg. Are you familiar with the word gregarious?

Gregarious is an adjective used to describe someone who is attracted to groups--someone who is outgoing and sociable. My name is Greg and I am gregarious-I love being in social situations and conversing with groups of people.

Are you familiar with the word aggregate? Aggregate is a noun, an adjective, and a verb. As a verb, aggregate means “to combine or gather.” Think: gathering and combining a heard or group. As a noun, aggregate means “a total, a collection or an entire sum.” Think: the aggregate (total) sum of a heard or group.

Are you familiar with the word congregation? It combines the prefix con-, “together,” and the root word greg. A congregation is a group of people coming together to worship. A Pastor is the spiritual “Sheppard” of his or her “flock” or congregation.

Most words derived from the root greg are positive words, the only exception being segregation, which combines the prefix se- “separate, apart” and means “separate groups.”

Tip: if you have Internet access, you can use the Online Etymology Dictionary located at www.etymonline.com. This site enables you to research the etymology for many words. You can also link to this site from Onelook.com.

If you find yourself unable to create a mnemonic for a word and the etymology of the word is not helping you remember its meaning, there is another technique that requires a little more work but is a foolproof method for learning new words. It combines repetition learning with contextual learning. It is my own vocabulary learning method that I call contextual repetition.

Repetition has long been a proven learning method. The science behind repetition learning is called sensorama. The science behind sensorama states that repetition helps create new neural connections. By creating new neural connections you stimulate more regions of the brain to focus on the same material, which will enhance learning. It is important that you repeat material aloud. The reason this is important is because saying words aloud uses the mouth, tongue, vocal cords, hearing, seeing, and feeling. This multi-sensory exercise provides greater stimulation for the brain and enhances learning even further�

Research has found that the number of repetitions needed to maximize recall is 25. If you are having trouble with a word, I recommend the following contextual repetition exercise:

• Say the word aloud 25 times
• Say the word and its definition aloud 25 times
• Say the word and your usage example for the word aloud 25 times

In Summary

In summary, the following is what you should do in order to fully assimilate all of the words you are documenting in your vocabulary journal:

• First, you should create flash cards to personalize each word. You will need to write down a definition in your own words and then create a usage example that you envision yourself using some time in the future.
• Next, review your cards each week and assess which words you have used and which words you have not yet used. If you used a word, you can file your card in the “mastered” word pile. If you haven’t used a word, then you need to determine why. If it’s because you haven’t had the right opportunity, that’s fine, as the opportunity will come. If you are not comfortable with the word, you may need to see or hear the word used a couple more times before you feel truly comfortable with the word. (Visit a newspaper wesbsite and search the word. This will give you numerous contextual examples for the word.)
• Finally, if you are having difficulty remembering a new word, devise a mnemonic trick to help you remember the word or study the word’s etymology to gain a better feel for the world. And finally, if none of the above is working, use my contextual repetition system to fully assimilate the word into your active vocabulary.

In Conclusion

This concludes your sixth lesson. Congratulations, you have almost completed the Verbal Success program. You have one lesson to go! In your last lesson we are going to pull it all together and show you how improving your vocabulary will help YOU create SUCCESS!

I look forward to continuing your vocabulary advancement!

Sincerely, Greg Ragland

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