1100 Words You Need to Know [Paperback]

 

 

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Read Read Read! Think books are for geeks only? If you think you have no reason to read, think harder. You like staring at the sun? Maybe there're audio books out there that share your interest in that pastime. You like staring at ants building dirt mounds--damn right there's books out there on that too! "I like to read, but my limited vocab inhibits me from reading anything with substance, so I just watch TV." I hear ya buddy, that's why I picked up the book " Barron's 1100 Words You Need To Know." Besides the fact that reading and writing skills are absolutely necessary in my college career, both of which depends directly on my vocab, I hated the fact that every damn thing with substance that I read, I had to look every other word up in the dictionary. So I said," hmmk, only 15 minutes of my day and I drastically improve my vocabulary huh?" UH UH, just another one of those magic pills that supposedly make you lose weight, increase sex drive, decrease age, and boost your IQ(!). If you don't want to build your vocab naturally (by doing a whole lot of reading), be prepared to grease up and work hard. "Work??!?Oh My God did you just say work?!!?" Well sir, building your vocab depends on one of the two things: How much you actually use the word, or how ingrained it is in your past knowledge. And since you probably won't be using the majority of those tasty words that allow you to read comfortably anything with substance in your daily life, e.g., while ordering fast food, your best bet is to find ways to ingrain those damned words. What do I mean by ingrain? I mean you have to connect the words to anything that you know that has a relation to it! Simple? Not. The best way to to connect words with what your past knowledge is to fit it into context--read sentences using the words! This won't be hard, since the book's "panorama of words" has sentences for each word in the book. This is lacking, however. If you can somehow draw the multiple meanings words often have from the 2 sentences and a definition composed of just two or three words, then this is the book for ya. If you also shun learning synonyms, you've got your book right here. However, if you truly want to make drastic improvements to your vocab, you best look up the multiple meanings of words from a dictionary, find the synonyms and compare the nuances, and make at least 2 sentences for each word. Then again, you might be Mr./Ms. Super Tenacious( In "1100 words," it says tenacious means "touch, stubborn." Guess you would never think it also meant "Capable of absorbing and retaining a large store of info and of recalling details accurately" eh? both meanings are rich, but you only get one from our book here). If you are, then i'm sure you can retain words easily just doing the mediocre exercises in this book. If your like everyone else, however, you'll probably end up making flash cards to facilitate learning. Now, if you follow the steps I listed to compensate for the books shortfalls, your probably talking about 4x the amount of time recommended on the front cover to learn these words sufficiently." But everything worthwhile takes time to accomplish." Ya, but we can also be EFFICIENT! That hour to compensate for our book "Barron's 1100 words You Need To Know" can be cut in half. Now, you have 30 EXTRA minutes to stare at the sun!( plz ppl don't stare at the sun; I've tried it b4 and I totally got sun burns=]. Or! You can just get a book that provides full definitions for words AND SYNONYMS AND SENTENCES WITH THE WORDS! I've gotten called "Word Power Made Easy," by Norman Lewish, and already it's superior to "1100 words something something." "Word Power Made Easy" focuses on the etymology (history) of words, which is a gr8 way to expand your overall knowledge AND your VOCAB and your ability to discern the meanings of WORDS YOU DON'T KNOW. Sound to good to be true? Learning the etymology of word groups can help you make vast improvements to your vocab, but it has its limits, like everything else(Besides me. Hehe, just pulling your yankee doodle/ette). If you also want to eschew everything I mentioned above, you should also look at a book called "Verbal Advantage: 10 Steps to an Impressive Vocabulary" by Charles Harrinton Elster. "Verbal Advantage" lists the Synonyms, the nuances, and a clear definition of all the words! You must check it out on this site. But listen, take it from this nascent omniscient reader, the best way to increase your vocab DRASTICALLY is to read something that you really enjoy and has plenty of tasty words. What did it for me was Joyce Carol Oates's "Marya: a Life." Even though when I read it, I really didn't learn the vocab, I've picked up another one of her books called "What I live For," and ever since then, my vocab has been bling blinging. When I go to the english tutoring center at my college, the tutors are like "You have a mature vocabulary." I usually just coolly reply "I'd graduated from Princeton" or something very unclose to that. But really, there is indisputable evidence that you learn quickest when you enjoy learning. And take it from me, most words Ms. Oates uses in her book that I look up, I retain with the slightest of effort. So i've laid down the options you must take, the last being the wisest to take. And remember, audio books are expensive!"Marya: A life" by Joyce Carol Oates

I would say this is one of the best books in the market. You learn 5 words a day with context taken from newspapers and books.There are exercises at the end of each day and at the end of each week.Like this they make up 1100 words.15 minutes a day is what we need to spend on this book. This is all we all need. Another good book is The Wizard Of OZ Vocabulary Builder.

This book teaches you the best vocabulary appearing almost in any academic paper. The vocabulary is also very helpful for the verbal part of GRE.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent idea, BUT
I recently purchased the 2000 edition to use with my college-bound students who need more vocabulary work, as, for many of them, English is not their first language. Read more

Published on Nov 8 2000

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