Expanding the vocabulary of Russian words. How to expand your vocabulary. Take reading outside of your comfort zone

Undoubtedly, a rich vocabulary is an indicator of a person’s high intellectual development. If you have a beautiful speech, then in the modern world you will be perceived as a person with good education and culture, a creative person. People who have an extensive vocabulary, as a rule, command more respect in society than those who cannot “string together a few words.” Even if you have already left childhood, this does not mean that you are unable to enrich your speech - this is possible at any age.

Surely you know that reading books is useful for many reasons. This process can help improve memory, diction, and, of course, can have a positive impact on the quality of your vocabulary. Start with those writers whose work is close and understandable to you. Over time, move on to more complex works. Pay attention to text that contains interesting expressions that you would like to remember and use later. Re-read these hearing expressions - this way you will remember them better. The most interesting of them can be written down in a separate notebook.

Expand your vocabulary when communicating with smart people

If you want to expand your vocabulary with interesting adverbs or just clever words, then, of course, you should not neglect communicating with intellectuals. If you notice that the speech of the people around you is very poor, then, of course, you should understand that you will not learn the necessary skills from communicating with them. Moreover, you yourself may lose your acquired vocabulary.

Don't be afraid to appear stupid by starting to communicate with people who know a lot of interesting information - this is one of the most effective ways to increase your intellectual level, and it would be unwise not to take advantage of it.

Improve your speech and vocabulary by learning new words

When you hear or notice a new word while reading, under no circumstances try to “skip” it - look up the definition in the dictionary. In addition, it is important to note for yourself in what particular turn of speech this word is used. After that, try to mentally replace it with a suitable synonym. Subsequently, having fully understood the meaning of a previously unfamiliar word, you will be able to add it to your vocabulary. To make it easier to remember, try to visualize it in your mind, adding images related to this word. Let the picture in your imagination be as rich as possible.

For our time, the speech of the mid-twentieth century can be called the standard - it is as close as possible to modern, but has not yet absorbed various jargons and barbarisms that appeared later. Therefore, it is advisable to give preference to literature predominantly from this period. The most effective books will be Russian and English classics.

It is also worth noting that there are special books that help with speech development. Let's name some of them. First of all, pay attention to “The Mastery of Broadcast Performance” by B. D. Gaimakova. First of all, the book will be of interest to people who plan to work in television and radio. However, this work will be useful for everyone else. Includes three parts that tell about the rules of public speaking, technique and culture of speech.

We advise you not to ignore N. Gal’s book “The Living and the Dead Word.” The author is a famous translator, but her work will be of interest not only to her colleagues. The work will help you find your own style, avoiding the “dead” language.

Learn a new word every day

If you enrich your vocabulary with a new word every day, then, of course, after some time you will be able to show off your new knowledge very effectively. There are many applications and sites on the Internet that offer to learn new words. There are also communities with this focus on VK. It's important to remember that you don't just need to learn unfamiliar words - they should be used in everyday life. Learn a new concept in the evening, and the next day try to apply it in a conversation with someone. This way, memorization will be much more effective.

When you hear an unfamiliar word, be sure to Google its meaning.

As soon as you hear a word whose meaning is unknown to you or is rather vague for you, remember it. To be sure, you can write it down on a piece of paper. Subsequently, at the first opportunity, look up the meaning of this word on the Internet.

Read aloud, retell, learn poems

Reading aloud, as well as memorizing poetry, is doubly useful. This way, you not only develop your memory, but also learn vocabulary and syntax. In Russian, the order of words in a sentence can be called quite free, but not everyone uses this freedom to the fullest. Almost every one of us has familiar syntactic constructions at the ready, thereby limiting our lexical range. If you have a task to expand this range, then you should use a creative approach when constructing phrases. For example, if you are used to using the phrase “I want,” then try replacing it with others - “I wish,” “I would like,” and the like. Of course, reading certain works will help you easily replace previously chosen phrases.

However, often, when we start reading, we become immersed in the plot, practically not focusing on the vocabulary. As a result, the linguistic abundance of a work often passes us by. To avoid this, use this psychological trick: read books that the author wrote in the first person. When you study them slowly and thoughtfully, ready-made phrases will be stored in your memory, which you can later use when talking about yourself.

Replace simple words with complex ones that broaden your horizons

Try to use more complex words in your speech, replacing with them the simple words that you are used to using previously. To do this, look for synonyms for any words that you regularly use. This way you will significantly enrich and diversify your vocabulary. Do not treat this task as something very difficult and requiring serious energy expenditure - this is a natural process that can continue until the end of your life.

Solve crosswords

Solving crosswords is not just fun, but also a great way to improve your vocabulary. Do not neglect this opportunity on vacation, at home, on the road. Pay attention to crossword puzzles that are published in well-known, well-established publications.

Listen to audiobooks

If you spend a lot of time driving and have little free time to read works of fiction and study dictionaries, then start listening to audiobooks. This technique is also useful for those people who better perceive information by ear. Don’t even doubt that if you while away the time in a traffic jam while listening to a good audiobook, these minutes will do you good.

Watch the video

Sometimes, vocabulary enrichment can occur while watching a variety of videos. We are talking about all kinds of quizzes, intellectual talk shows, and documentary projects. Also, do not discount special courses that help expand your vocabulary. This way, you can not only have a good time, but also benefit your own self-development. Of course, it is important to distinguish materials that are worthwhile from those that you do not need. For example, if you see in a television program that the time is approaching for the next youth reality show or stupid action movie of the 90s with the corresponding translation, then it is better to devote time to something else, because such viewing will not only not bring you any benefit, but can also harm .

Notes method

Perhaps you are faced with the fact that it is very difficult for you to remember new terms. In this situation, the already mentioned “notes method” will help. Get a pack of stickers, then write a new word on one side of a piece of paper and its meaning on the other. Now put stickers around the apartment. Now “difficult” words will constantly catch your eye, and you will be able to re-read their meanings again and again until they are fully assimilated and included in your usual vocabulary.

Write

You will quickly learn to use new expressions correctly if you take up writing. To do this, of course, you don’t have to be a writer - just set aside at least half an hour a day to write some short text. This could be a simple statement of your own thoughts on one issue or another.

For example, you can write what you dream about, what people you dislike, what you can admire in another person, and the like. You can even write a multi-page article on a topic that interests you. Having started writing any text, you will have some time to think about your thoughts, thanks to which you will have the opportunity to learn how to correctly use new phrases, laconically inserting them into the text in the right place. Writing is definitely a creative activity that activates your mental potential. Naturally, this trains the brain wonderfully, allowing you to remember words that you practically never used in speech before.

Sometimes emotions overwhelm you so much that instead of a thousand necessary phrases, you say a short one: “Words are not enough.” The fact is that the brain does not have time to generate enough images that can be quickly and easily translated into verbal form. Linguists believe that one of the reasons why this happens is the lack of words. Today we’ll talk about how to increase your vocabulary in communication and shine in any dialogue.

After clearing your speech, begin to expand your vocabulary for communication.

Method 1: Synonyms in comments

Many sources recommend reading a dictionary of synonyms. The idea is interesting, but not suitable for expanding vocabulary. Mechanical reading adds to your passiveness, which does not help in any way to support the conversation. The brain will not be able to reproduce the learned word at the right time.

The easiest way to practice is to practice. If you are a member of groups on social networks, make it a rule to leave 10–15 long comments per day. Actively use synonyms and unusual phrases in them. Soon you will easily use these words in conversation.

Method 2: Books and reviews

Read more books: the focus is not important, the main thing is that the author has pure literary language.

Basic conditions of this method:

Read aloud 15 pages a day - engage your visual and auditory memory.
Retell what you read after 2–4 hours.
Write a review on a piece of paper - train your kinesthetic memory.

Every day you will remember 5-7 new words.

Method 3: Crosswords

Solving crossword puzzles helps develop concentration. It is as effective as yoga used for the same purpose. More details in this

To expand your vocabulary, solve one crossword puzzle per week with 30 items. The time breakdown is determined individually: you can solve the entire crossword puzzle at once or leisurely savor it every day.

Method 4: Freestyle

The famous Russian rapper Noize MC advises an excellent exercise to help free your mind and understand how many new words have appeared in your active vocabulary. The exercise is simple: start every morning by writing down your stream of thoughts. Take 3 sheets of paper and write everything that comes to mind. Don't try to artificially evoke thoughts or refine the recording. Do not use commas, periods, dashes. Just write the words. Afterwards, take a break, drink Glycine D3 and go about your daily business.

It is no coincidence that we mentioned Glycine D3. Taken in the morning, it provides energy for the whole day. Helps you concentrate and complete daily tasks with 100% efficiency.

After 4-5 hours, set aside time to morning freestyle analysis. Circle the words you learned recently. Now, when you perform the “Commenting” exercise described in the first method, eliminate these words and replace them with new ones. If they appeared in the stream of consciousness, it means they are fixed enough to shine in any dialogue.

All methods are aimed at quickly increasing vocabulary in communication. Use them constantly, and in six months you won’t recognize your speech. Have a good day!

As you know, first there was the Word. Obviously, since then there have been many more words, thanks to which we today can read and write, formulate our thoughts and achieve maximum accuracy in conveying their meaning to others. Although from time to time you have to admit that words fail. How often do you say the phrase “I simply have no words!”? And not only because emotions are really stronger than any formulations. It’s just that sometimes ordinary and familiar words really aren’t enough. And then you have no choice but to increase your vocabulary.

Or at least expand your vocabulary in accordance with the new tasks that have arisen before you and require a richer, more developed language. Whatever it is - a new job, the need to speak in front of a large audience, or just a desire for self-improvement - it is possible and necessary to develop your vocabulary. We will share with you effective ways to improve your vocabulary, without unnecessary words (pardon the pun, but there is no way to expand your vocabulary without this).

A large vocabulary, or how to expand your vocabulary
The science of language uses a fancy term for vocabulary: lexicon. And this name better conveys the essence of the concept, because the lexicon is not just an “archive”, a random accumulation of vocabulary units, but the totality of all the words that a person owns, a social group uses, or a language has. A clarification is immediately required here: owning and using are not always the same thing, including in relation to words. Therefore, the lexicon, or vocabulary, is characterized by the form:

Active vocabulary- the number of words that you use constantly, every day, in communication with loved ones, colleagues and everyone around you, and also hear on TV and around you and can be used at any time without thinking about them specifically. Active vocabulary translates into your speaking and writing, social media posts, and more. The main sign of an active vocabulary is the passivity with which you use it, that is, the absence of the need to make an effort to choose a word specifically or remember its meaning.
Passive vocabulary- these are all the words you know, including those whose meaning you understand when you encounter them in oral or written sources, but never (or extremely rarely) use in your speech. Of course, the passive vocabulary is much (even several times) larger than the active one. If desired and/or necessary, you can strain your memory and extract passive words from it. But in everyday practice, this is an unused “archive”, and in this sense, the definition of “stock” suits it perfectly.
External vocabulary– this concept is used, as a rule, in psycholinguistics to designate words unknown to a specific person that relate to specific branches of knowledge. These words will not be understood by a person if he hears them or encounters them in the text. Such a “blind spot”, in the zone of which there are, as a rule, narrow professionalisms, special terms, neologisms, pretentious archaisms, etc.

The boundaries between different types of vocabulary are unsteady, blurred and constantly fluctuating in one direction or another. As a person matures and develops intellectually, his vocabulary increases: if a first-grader on average uses about 2,000 words (active vocabulary), then by the time he graduates, this number increases to about 5,000 words, and he simply doesn’t need more for everyday life. The lion's share falls on active vocabulary. Holders of a higher education diploma expand their vocabulary to approximately 10,000 words, but among them a much larger part already belongs to the passive vocabulary, used only occasionally, on occasion.

The vocabulary of erudite people can range from 30,000 to 50,000 words. Obviously, only a small part of them belongs to the active reserve, which is used for everyday communication with others. The remaining words can be considered a passive reserve, which scholars use only when communicating with similar intellectuals or when reading complex literature. At the same time, their passive vocabulary for most average people will be an external lexicon, that is, simply unknown.

How to expand your vocabulary
The sphere of activity, social circle and lifestyle leave an imprint, but even despite them, anyone can increase their vocabulary. Even now, having read the article to these lines, you could replenish your vocabulary with lexemes (words) that were new to you. And you can continue to expand your vocabulary by adopting time-tested and recommended by philologists vocabulary development exercises:

Communication- oral and written. Vocabulary is essentially a tool that you use for a specific purpose (to voice your thoughts, desires and conclusions). Any skill is enhanced by active use and vice versa. This means that to develop your vocabulary you need to use it as much as possible. By communicating, you increase your vocabulary through two techniques. Firstly, you adopt new words from your interlocutors. Secondly, you try to choose words for more precise formulations, thereby transferring them from your passive vocabulary to an active one. We can say that vocabulary grows in proportion to your social circle. Therefore, do not limit the list of interlocutors and try to include different, dissimilar people. Talk with fellow travelers on transport, sales consultants, colleagues, neighbors, comrades in the gym and driving courses, correspond on forums and social network pages.
Reading. A book (as well as a newspaper, magazine, online media, and even an advertisement on a poster stand) is an inexhaustible source of information. Depending on your tasks, choose classic fiction, popular science or specialized literature and devote at least an hour to reading every day. To improve your vocabulary faster and more effectively, read aloud. Pronouncing words helps you remember better. It is even more useful for the development of vocabulary to read dictionaries directly. At your service is an explanatory dictionary, a dictionary of synonyms, a dictionary of rare words, a spelling dictionary and many other specialized reference books.
Hearing. If you don't have time to read books or chat for no particular purpose, you can increase your vocabulary by listening to audiobooks and songs. In this case, the text is perceived by ear, but you do not see the words in front of you. This method is ideal for auditory people. You can find almost any book in audio format, from historical novels to collections of aphorisms. Record it in your player and listen to it on the way to work, in traffic jams and/or before bed.
Memorization. In order not only to replenish your vocabulary, but also to bring most of it into an active state, words need to not only be recognized, but also memorized. The best way to remember something is to repeat it in person. Retell the texts you read and/or heard, as close to the text as possible, trying to preserve the author’s style and manner of presentation. Memorize poems, song lyrics, and definitions of special terms. This is one of the most effective methods to expand vocabulary, used even in school education.
Studying of foreign language. Vocabulary cannot and should not be limited to one language - learn foreign ones. For example, the Russian language consists of approximately half a million words, English – 250,000 words, Japanese – more than 50,000 words. The more new languages you learn, the more connections you make between them and the easier it is for you to recall them from memory at the right time.
Keeping a diary. Let's say that for some objective or subjective reason you cannot afford language courses, you do not have time to read and the desire to actively correspond. Then write for yourself. This is not the fastest and most effective, but still a working way to increase your vocabulary. The expansion of the vocabulary occurs due to the need to formulate all those thoughts that usually remain in the form of emotions and impulses. To transfer them to paper, you will have to find the right words, and this will probably require a passive vocabulary.
Linguistic games. Many exciting techniques have been invented to increase vocabulary: for example, crosswords, charades or other puzzles. While solving them, you even involuntarily become interested in new words and their meanings. In public speaking courses, you can receive special tasks for developing vocabulary or find them in textbooks. This includes composing an essay from words of one part of speech (only from nouns, only from verbs, etc.), and an attempt to use words starting with one specific letter, and many other exercises that develop the vocabulary and knead the convolutions.

A prerequisite for improving your vocabulary is active and conscious action in this direction. Your speech is like a part of the body that requires constant training to develop. If you ignore and skip unfamiliar words, then they simply will not have a chance to get into your vocabulary. Therefore, there is only one way to constantly increase your vocabulary: when you encounter an unfamiliar expression or word, be sure to find out its meaning. Use dictionaries, the Internet, and ask other people for this. And then the reputation of Ellochka the cannibal will not threaten you, which is what we sincerely wish! M Many people are preoccupied with searching for an ingenious way to expand their vocabulary that solves all problems in one fell swoop. The methods for remembering new words described in this article may not claim to be a magic wand, but they still work. One of these methods will gradually drive you crazy, the other will at times leave your interlocutor perplexed, and if you use the third, then not a single trip on public transport will be complete without sidelong glances from fellow travelers. Where to stop?
Axioms

There are two types of vocabulary: active and passive. Active are the words that we use ourselves in speech and writing. Passive - words that we recognize from reading and listening, but do not use ourselves. Passive vocabulary is usually several times larger than active vocabulary. Learned words of a foreign language fall into the passive vocabulary, and they become active after you repeatedly use them in speech or writing.

How many words do you need to know?
A native speaker with a university education has a passive vocabulary of 17-18 thousand words. To pass the FCE, you need to know about 5,000 words. In everyday speech, no more than 700 words are usually used. Which of these marks to aim for is up to you.

How many words can you learn per day (week, month)?
I have never been able to qualitatively learn more than 15-20 words a day. By quality I mean the ability to remember the meaning of a new word when it comes across it in a text a month or two after memorizing it. It is optimal, in my opinion, to learn 10-15 new words on weekdays and repeat them on weekends.

Where can I get new words?
* You should not take new words from a list of the most frequently used words, a dictionary index, or a similar monotonous list of words. Such words will fly into one ear and out the other;
*instead, pay attention to new words when reading, watching movies or listening to audiobooks/radio shows. If some unfamiliar word occurs frequently, then it should be put in the queue;
* skip the archaic and stilted vocabulary that abounds in unadapted English classics and editors' columns in newspapers such as The Guardian and The Times. Meeting such words in real life is unlikely;
* pay attention to phrases with words that you already know. The English language is rich in phrases with such seemingly innocent and long-learned verbs as turn, be and go.

Ways to learn new words

I have tried all the methods listed below on myself. They are listed in chronological order rather than in order of increasing effectiveness.

1. Flash cards
Flashcards are one of the most popular ways to learn new words. You buy a block of notes, write the word on one side, and the translation and an example illustrating the use of the word on the other. The color block is better than usual: you can write different parts of speech on cards of different colors. You put the cards in a pile, take them with you on public transport/to lectures/wherever, and turn them over with the side with the word facing up, trying to remember what each of them means. If you can’t remember, turn the card over and re-read the translation and example again.
The good thing about this method is that the cards can be folded in any order: this is not a list of words, where the sequence of words will be remembered rather than their meanings; You can always take the stack from the last week/month/year and repeat the old new words. Cards with particularly difficult words to remember can be put in a separate pile and sorted through more often than usual. Some people ostentatiously tear up the cards after they memorize a word.
2. Treasure hunt (working with a dictionary)
Dictionaries, especially monolingual ones, are more interesting than any detective story. You can get into the dictionary with the intention of looking up the meaning of one word, and as a result, turn through the pages for an hour, getting to know new words. On the page of the word you are looking for, there will probably be a word that you have already come across before, but were too lazy to get a dictionary for it: it’s time to finally find out what it means. In the example, another unfamiliar word was encountered - forward, behind it. And so on until you get tired of it. An impressive percentage of new words can end up in the passive vocabulary after a simple glance through the dictionary.
3. Language games
Play with words: crosswords, bullshit, Scrabble and even a banal word search will help you enrich your vocabulary.
4. Let's label everything!
One day I discovered that I didn’t know the names of the simplest things in my home: from the desk drawer to the toilet seat. I had a few hours to spare, a stack of white paper, bright yellow sticky notes, and a black marker. I set to work, sticking pieces of paper with English words on almost everything I found in the apartment: only the household members escaped this fate, and only because they ran fast. Over the next few days, my gaze was invariably captured by a couple dozen words and full-size illustrations of their meanings; After a week, the marked environment began to drive me crazy, and I took off all the stickers, after making sure that I remembered all the words.
5. Stories
Another well-known method of memorizing words. Take ten new words, write them down on a piece of paper, and make up a coherent story in English with them. It helps not only to remember new words, but also to transfer old ones from the passive vocabulary to the active one. The disadvantage of this method: the words are usually from such different areas that it is not possible to connect them in one paragraph. Or just lazy.
6. Laziness is the engine of progress
And by the way about her. Laziness is a key element in the way I've been learning new words lately. The method is very simple: when I read something on the Internet and come across an unfamiliar word in a sentence, I copy the entire sentence into a text file. It looks like this:

The thing worth tapping last night was the ineffable "Monkey."

Since no-one"s seen a policeman there for a good fifteen years, he can probably do it with complete impunity as well.

Then, when there are 10-15 such passages, I look up the meanings of the words in the dictionary, writing them down in a notebook one at a time, as soon as I have learned the meaning of the word, put it into context and mentally select the Russian equivalent for it (I use monolingual, i.e. e., English-English dictionary). I don’t write down the translation of the word, but I write down any additional information: part of the word, prepositions with which it is used, if it is a noun, then whether it is countable or not, etc. Then, in public transport or in line at the supermarket, I flip through the pages of my notebook, stopping at each word, remembering what each means and in what context I met it. If I can’t remember a word, then I have to open the file again, take out the dictionary... All this is extremely tedious, so I remember 90-95% of the words the first time. Simply because I’m too lazy to open the dictionary again.
7. What I see is what I sing
This is a way to replenish active vocabulary, and is available only to those who manage to practice live. The scheme is simple: when your interlocutor uses a word that is unfamiliar to you, and you either guess what it means or ask him again, try to use this word yourself in the next few minutes. If the interlocutor’s face does not turn into a mask of horror, then the word is used correctly. Continue in this manner until sunset.

Tips to follow

The well-known Ellochka from the novel “12 Chairs” easily got by with thirty words of Russian, but, apparently, she never achieved much success in life. How many words do we need to know in English to communicate on everyday and professional topics? According to researchers, about 40 words are the minimum required for 50% of understanding and speaking in everyday speech situations, 400 words should be enough for 90% of cases, and 1000 words will provide you with 95% of successful communication. Native speakers use on average from 3,000 to 20,000 words, this depends on the level of education of each individual and the typical situations in which he has to communicate. Practice shows that for English learners it is enough to master 1500-2000 words to feel confident in a conversation. As for professional terms, they usually do not cause difficulties, because in most cases they are international vocabulary. But the most important thing is to understand that words should not just be written out on beautiful cards and hung throughout the house, they should become your working tools. Let's see what steps will help you firmly grasp the necessary vocabulary, that is, the vocabulary.

1. Read carefully and draw conclusions

Whatever you read—fiction, stock market news, or a gardening blog—pay attention to how words are used and what combinations they make. Highlight, write down, copy what seems useful to you. For example, here is an excerpt from the article “How to Become an Early Riser” (by Steve Pavlina):

It seems there are two main schools of thought about sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same times every day. It’s like having an alarm clock on both ends - you try to sleep the same hours each night. This seems practical for living in modern society. We need predictability in our schedules. And we need to ensure adequate rest.

How can we analyze what we read?

“It seems” - it seems, apparently. We just use it as an introductory word.
“This seems practical” - it seems practical. We understand that after “seems” an adjective is used, and now we can speak by analogy: “This seems interesting”, “This seems stupid”, “Your ideas seem nice”.
"Predictability" - predictability. If we know that “predict” means to predict and “ability” means ability, then we can calculate the meaning of this word.

2. Watch the video with and without subtitles

The same work can be done when watching your favorite movies, TV series and TV shows. If you use subtitles, it will be more convenient for you to write down the phrase you like; if not, then train your auditory perception, pause and repeat after the speaker. We can recommend an excellent resource that provides the opportunity to watch TV series in the original with super-useful subtitles: when you hover over a word, a Russian translation appears. Saves a lot of time and improves memorization.

3. Sing your favorite songs

We have already discussed how songs can help us learn English. Expanding your vocabulary is one of the tasks where songs can be used especially successfully. It is always much easier to remember what you like and what is associated with positive emotions. On the Internet you can find a lot of sites with song lyrics, for example:

Listening to your favorite songs and singing along with the performers, you learn entire phrases easily and with pleasure.

4. Take cues from celebrities

Type in the search something like “Brad Pitt interview” or “chat show with celebrities” and you will get a lot of material for independent work. As you read or listen to excerpts from the interviews, you will likely notice that certain words are used more often. For example, “amazing” is a very popular adjective to express delight:

“You look amazing!”
“The film was amazing!”
"It was an amazing experience."

5. Mastering typical phrases for standard situations

If you like to travel, you will probably need a set of certain phrases and expressions that you may need at the airport, at customs, at a hotel, in a store, etc. As you know, such conversations are not particularly varied, so for greater confidence, you can learn several mini-dialogues on the necessary topics. Various Internet resources will help you with this, where audio recordings and texts are collected, as well as assignments for them. For example, you can start from this site

6. We study words by topic

It is much easier to remember new words that are related in meaning. If, for example, you are studying the topic "Food", you just need to learn the names of different products, ready-made dishes, adjectives to describe them, etc. By discussing assignments with your teacher, you will be able to activate these words, i.e. transfer from a passive stock to a set of “working tools”. Studying will be more effective if you use different types of memory: look at pictures, listen to pronunciation and repeat yourself. Use, for example, this resource, which will help you do all of the above and learn new words with ease.

7. Use dictionaries

In our age of information technology, paper dictionaries are no longer popular, and even schoolchildren readily use their online versions. Starting from the Pre-Intermediate level, it is recommended to use the so-called “English-English dictionaries”, that is, not to translate unfamiliar words, but to look for their definitions in English. In addition, dictionaries can provide you with a supply of synonyms, antonyms and idioms that include a given word. According to Wikipedia, the following dictionaries are the most useful and reliable sources of information:

8. Play word games

Crosswords, gallows, Scrabble and other games can also help you enrich your speech because they help you remember the spelling of words you know in a fun way. In addition, many word games can be played in a fun company, combining business with pleasure: learning English with friendly communication. Tip for the curious: try playing Scrabble with an open dictionary.

9. We arm ourselves with devices and gadgets

It takes a long time to write words on cards, there is no time to make sentences, but we always have smartphones, iPhones and other devices at hand. When you have a free minute, you can start learning new words, and you don’t need to carry any pieces of paper, printouts, or textbooks with you. If you don’t know which application to choose, use advice from British Council experts.

10. Use it or lose it!

The most important thing in mastering vocabulary is to use it in your speech. Passive vocabulary is good for reading and listening, that is, for recognizing words. To speak and write, we need to learn to retrieve words from memory very quickly, and this can only be achieved with practice. According to researchers, for a word to become active in speech, it must be used in various contexts about 17 times. Therefore, before class, set yourself the task of speaking more than the teacher and be sure to use new words.

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