Vocabulary: First guess, then see
Hi,
My vocabulary? All I can say is that I wish it were stronger, wider and deeper. While reading newspapers and magazines, I do get stuck, more often than I would like to, with words who suddenly appear like Greek. And when I face such a "faceless" word, normally, my next move is to pick up my dictionary or go to dictionary.com Web site. After checking the meaning, though I continue reading, it's not the end of the problem. These new, difficult words turn out to be quite slippery. Before I get a firm grip over them, they often slip out of my memory. What to do?
Recently, I came up with a new way of tackling this problem. What I do is that every time I come across a meaningless (for me!) word, I first try to guess its meaning. Even if I have no clue at all, I still come up with my best guess, knowing well it could be dead wrong. Only after making a guess, I look up for its meaning in the dictionary. I find this new approach interesting for three reasons:
1. My retention has improved. I no longer forget new words so easily like I used to earlier. Though I read the word precocious several days back, I still remember it refers to children who develop particular abilities at an age earlier than usual.
2. I have found that guessing is not always off the mark. Sometimes, perhaps 20-30% times, I find it hits the bull's eye. So when I came across the word certitude, I felt it seemed to do something with certain and indeed it turned out to be true: Certitude means feeling of certainty, lack of doubt.
3. The best thing is that it has become a kind of fun to guess and then check how far or how close I am to the real meaning. It gives a feeling of thrill and mystery. Now, instead of feeling disappointed with such difficult words or trying to avoid them, I look forward such encounters.
Try it! It's funny!
Atul
http://atulmathur.com
My vocabulary? All I can say is that I wish it were stronger, wider and deeper. While reading newspapers and magazines, I do get stuck, more often than I would like to, with words who suddenly appear like Greek. And when I face such a "faceless" word, normally, my next move is to pick up my dictionary or go to dictionary.com Web site. After checking the meaning, though I continue reading, it's not the end of the problem. These new, difficult words turn out to be quite slippery. Before I get a firm grip over them, they often slip out of my memory. What to do?
Recently, I came up with a new way of tackling this problem. What I do is that every time I come across a meaningless (for me!) word, I first try to guess its meaning. Even if I have no clue at all, I still come up with my best guess, knowing well it could be dead wrong. Only after making a guess, I look up for its meaning in the dictionary. I find this new approach interesting for three reasons:
1. My retention has improved. I no longer forget new words so easily like I used to earlier. Though I read the word precocious several days back, I still remember it refers to children who develop particular abilities at an age earlier than usual.
2. I have found that guessing is not always off the mark. Sometimes, perhaps 20-30% times, I find it hits the bull's eye. So when I came across the word certitude, I felt it seemed to do something with certain and indeed it turned out to be true: Certitude means feeling of certainty, lack of doubt.
3. The best thing is that it has become a kind of fun to guess and then check how far or how close I am to the real meaning. It gives a feeling of thrill and mystery. Now, instead of feeling disappointed with such difficult words or trying to avoid them, I look forward such encounters.
Try it! It's funny!
Atul
http://atulmathur.com
posted by Atul Mathur | 1:22 AM
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