Invest in a good dictionary, and develop your vocabulary

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If you wish to develop your vocabulary you must be prepared for hard work, daily practice and application. At 16, I decided to increase my vocabulary using Norman Lewis’ book 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary . I have never regretted it. You too can use Lewis’ book though it focuses on difficult words. A modern-day dictionary will serve the purpose at this stage.

Dictionaries today provide a lot of information around a word. Let us analyse the entry below from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English :

ac‧quire /əˈkwaɪə $ əˈkwaɪr/ verb [transitive]

1.

formal to obtain something by buying it or being given it

Manning hoped to acquire valuable works of art as cheaply as possible.

The council acquired the land using a compulsory purchase order.

2. to get or gain something

The college acquired a reputation for very high standards.

Breaking it down

First, it has given the pronunciation both British where (/r/ is silent ) and the American ($) pronunciation where (/r/ is pronounced. The pronunciation has been transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which is an internationally accepted system of transcribing pronunciation in all languages. It is based on sounds and not spellings.

The key to IPA is provided in the introductory pages of the dictionary and is very easy to master. The phonetic alphabets, especially the vowels, are quite similar to vowels in Hindi. There is a short /i/ and a long /i:/, short /u/ and long /u:/ ( two dots as in a colon represent a longer sound) and so on. Barring a few consonants, the rest are similar to the letters of the English alphabet.

Second, the entry demonstrates the placement of the accent or emphasis when uttering a word. In /ac’quire/, the accent or stress is placed before /‘k/. The accent may change with the grammatical category for example, noun — /employ’ee/ to verb — /’employ/.

Third, the dictionary has provided multiple meanings of /ac’quire/ and used three ordinary use sentences to convey the distinction in meaning. Knowing the meaning of a word without its context is of little use. Popular dictionaries like Longman’s and Oxford English Dictionary provide you examples with every word.

Fourth, it tells us if a word is countable or uncountable, used for scientific writing or legal, whether it is used in formal situations as in the above entry (F) or if it is informal, colloquial (used only in speech) or slang. It further provides us with knowledge of the grammatical category to be used. Here /’to/ is used only in one sentence. Such input makes our understanding of a word complete.

Avoid learning words at random from the dictionary. You will not master them or use them. Create a system where you focus on frequently used words that you do not understand. Convert your passive (recognised) vocabulary into active vocabulary by using it regularly. Commit to a target and stick to it. Learn, practice, apply the newly–learnt words and develop a vast vocabulary.

Vocabulary development is an ongoing process. Once you learn to love the process you will grow your vocabulary exponentially. Invest in one good dictionary even if it is a bit costly. It is going to be your friend for life.

The writer is former professor of English, IIT Bombay. vineykirpal@gmail.com