Have you ever completed the Word Power feature in Reader’s Digest? I’m not much interested in such games – I don’t even do crosswords! – but I am committed to increasing my own vocabulary. Why? Because if I know more words, I’ll be able to read more fluently. But even more important, I’ll be able to write better. Knowing lots of words allows me – and you — to be more precise in writing. In my word-of-the-week feature I share a word with you that I’ve discovered in my own reading.
Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: penumbra. By the time I hit grade 11, I’d mostly opted out of maths and sciences and, instead, focused on literature and social studies. Still, I knew what a […]
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Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: boffin. I lost interest in most popular music around 1979 when I graduated from university. I didn’t lose interest in all music, mind you. But as I aged,
Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: empirical. Of course I know the meaning of the word empirical. One of the foundations of science, empirical evidence refers to knowledge that is acquired through observation or experimentation.
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Reading time: Just over 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: paresis. I almost tried to write today’s post in rhyming couplets. This is because my word of the week comes from the marvellous rhyming novel Love, Dishonour, Marry,
Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: helter-skelter… I’ve known the meaning of the adverb and adjective helter-skelter for at least 45 years. It means something done in a haphazard manner or with undue haste or confusion.
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Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: palaver. I had never heard of the bestselling novel The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared until I saw my 20-year-old daughter wandering around the house with
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: kowtow. Shortly after getting my Netflix subscription (only so I could watch the dark but fantastic show House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey), I discovered the lighter joys of
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Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: karoshi. Before I met my husband, 27 years ago, I was a self-diagnosed workaholic. My husband’s relaxed, easy-going manner helped me lighten up a lot, even though I continue to work
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: ekphrasis. When I saw the noun ekphrasis, I had no idea what it meant. But by the sound of it, I knew it was Greek. I encountered it in a
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: odalisque. A story in the January 2014 Vanity Fair magazine, headlined “Frieze until numbness sets in,” and written by A.A. Gill, focused on the Fall 2013 London Art Fair.
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