Vocabulary time

Erudite…

Having or showing great knowledge or learning (Oxford Languages)

“Vocabulary is critical to a child’s success for these reasons:

• Vocabulary growth is directly related to school achievement

• The size of a child’s vocabulary in kindergarten predicts the ability to learn to read

• Vocabulary helps children to think and learn about the world

• Expanding a child’s knowledge of words provides unlimited access to new information” — JCFS Chicago

So as your speaking to your baby/toddler quantity of words is more important than quality; hence, your baby’s  first word will probably be “dada.” My first word was “Debba” since my sister is named Deborah. Studies show that the more a toddler hears a word, the more it will enter his/her vocabulary. This will help increase the number of words your child can say.

There will be other times in your life when having a strong vocabulary is important like the SATs/ACT, job interview and/or writing your PhD dissertation. The English language is among the most voluminous of all languages, and this means that you’ll never run out of vocabulary words to learn and use. All forms of the written word—from fiction to journalism to essay writing to poetry—benefit from a strong vocabulary. To that end, the time you spend improving your vocabulary skills is actually time invested in your writing skills”— Masterclass I was told to read the New York Times to improve my vocabulary for the SATs. And I did (I still do by getting the Sunday New York Timex). Some other ways to improve your vocabulary is to read more, play word games and look up the definition of words you don’t know. My friend, Ellen, gave me a Columbia Desk Reference Dictionary for my HS graduation and I still have it and use it. Although now and days, you can just google a word like I did above for “erudite.”

Buyer beware…

“We’d all like to sound as smart as we can, as often as we can. Using big, “five-dollar words” (as my 5th grade teacher once called them) seems like an obvious way to achieve this—but, as recent research shows, it’s almost guaranteed to backfire. It turns out that trying too hard to sound smart by using big, scholarly sounding words actually makes you sound dumber.” — Brendon Spektor, Reader’s Digest So in your next conversation, cover letter or term paper be sure to limit your smarty-pants words to sound erudite.

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To this end, I am giving you all a vocabulary quiz. Here’s the link. It is multiple choice. No cheating— honor system. All 10 out 0f 10 right entries received by Thanksgiving, will be entered into a RAFFLE to win a digital subscription to SUCCESS MAGAZINE. One entry per email address. Feel free to share with your friends.