learn a new word each week

making progress! i have signed up for the word-a-day email service offered by merriam-webster dictionary: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl

i have a new year’s resolution to improve my vocabulary. in looking for a book or site to help me with this, i found a vocabulary site that gave the following good suggestion:

“using some durable piece of paper—white construction paper or the insides of the ripped-off covers of old notebooks—begin to write down words in small but readable script that you discover in your reading that you can’t define. read journals and newspapers that challenge you in terms of vocabulary. pursue words actively and become alert to words that you simply overlooked in the past. write down the words in one column; then, later, when you have a dictionary at your disposal, write down a common definition of the word; in a third column, write a brief sentence using the word, underlined.

carry this paper or cardboard with you always. in the pauses of your busy day—when you’re sitting on the bus, in the dentist’s office, during commercials—take out the paper and review your vocabulary words until you feel comfortable that you would recognize (and be able to use) these words the next time you see them. the amazing thing is that you will see the words again—even “nefarious miscreants,” and probably sooner than you thought. in fact, you might well discover that the words you’ve written down are rather common. What’s happening is not that, all of a sudden, people are using words you never saw before, but that you are now reading and using words that you had previously ignored.”