Ever wonder why building a good vocabulary is so important and which are the best books to improve vocabulary? Vocabulary is one of the most important tools to facilitate communication. Because vocabulary is so important, it is wise to increase the size of your vocabulary whenever you can. Aside from being able to communicate your thoughts and ideas to others, college entrance exams and graduate school entrance exams test your vocabulary as a measure of your language skills in English. The size of your vocabulary is also a good indicator of your comprehension ability when reading new material. Finally, as students from other countries are learning English as a second language, they need to build their vocabulary.
The dictionary is one of the best books to improve vocabulary. One way to increase your vocabulary is to open the dictionary and begin to read and memorize words. Though this method is simple and inexpensive, simply reading the dictionary and memorizing words is not always fun or effective.
Another alternate way to increase your vocabulary is to read voraciously. By increasing the amount you read, you will increase the size of your vocabulary. A number of books on the market can help you increase your vocabulary.
Best Books To Improve Vocabulary
- One of the leading books on the market is called Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis, which has been in publication since 1949. The book assesses your current vocabulary and then advises you on areas you need to build your vocabulary. It also covers the etymology of words and teaches the reader how to use the root of words to decipher the meaning of new words based on the root of the word. Each chapter ends in a quiz so you can discern how well you are learning. This book was required reading in many English classes in the 1950s.
- Merrium-Webster Inc is the oldest producer of dictionaries in America. The company dates back to the time of Noah Webster. They have the largest database of over 6.5 million words. Their book, Webster's New Explorer Vocabulary Skill Builder, is designed to teach you about 200 Greek and Latin root words from which the most common English words in use today are derived. By understanding the root words, you will be able to understand the meaning of new words you come across. The book is organized into units that examine a root. There are quizzes after every two roots and periodic tests that cover the last sever to eight roots. This gives you a chance to reinforce the learning that you are doing. The back of the book contains the answers to the quizzes and tests so you can check yourself. This book can be an excellent resource for those students studying for the SAT and ACT entrance exams to college.
- Build Your Vocabulary Skills: A Quick and Easy Method by John LaCarna rates 4.5 stars on the Amazon review scale. This book teaches the reader to remember the meanings to words using a mnemonic technique that is tremendously powerful. By using a key and link sentence for each word, you will be able to remember the meaning of hundreds or thousands of new words. Over 1400 new vocabulary words are introduced with their keys and link sentences. Based on this technique, your reading comprehension and vocabulary size should increase dramatically. Because most standardized tests including the SAT and ACT have a significant verbal portion, your scores should show a marked increase. Intelligence tests also have verbal evaluation portions that will be helped by this technique. You shouldn't be surprised if your IQ scores rise as well. The author is a social worker in Louisiana with a background in psychology and journalism.
These are some of the most useful books for building a person's vocabulary. Many other books are available on the market. Your selection should be based on which one you feel most comfortable with and which one matches your personal learning style. Regardless of which book you select, you can start increasing your conversational skills and reading comprehension today.