I was thinking recently that I would really like to work on expanding my vocabulary. Which led me to wonder, just how many unique words do I normally use when writing?( Read more... )
I took an on-line test recently which said that I likely knew on the order of 24,000 different word families. I don't use all those words in my writing, but I know them.
I like to learn new vocabulary when I'm digging into a new field of study, and rarely a new word will lead me on a journey through the field in whose lexicon it lies, but words for the sake of words... not any more, I don't have the time.
Merriam-Webster has a Word of the day which can be a nice way to pick up random words.
I have a Merriam-Webster Unabridged subscription. I particularly like it for the etymology information, the audio guides (most of which are available free) and the different search capabilities. If I want to see the words that end with "quary" a quick search brings me back antiquary and reliquary, and then I'm off on a dictionary walk, and suddenly I'm learning about the Chamorro, a people of the Mariana islands, and the screw pines there, and now I'm on Wikipedia, learning about that... I've got to go back to work.
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I like to learn new vocabulary when I'm digging into a new field of study, and rarely a new word will lead me on a journey through the field in whose lexicon it lies, but words for the sake of words... not any more, I don't have the time.
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I have a Merriam-Webster Unabridged subscription. I particularly like it for the etymology information, the audio guides (most of which are available free) and the different search capabilities. If I want to see the words that end with "quary" a quick search brings me back antiquary and reliquary, and then I'm off on a dictionary walk, and suddenly I'm learning about the Chamorro, a people of the Mariana islands, and the screw pines there, and now I'm on Wikipedia, learning about that... I've got to go back to work.
Reply
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