Better Vocabulary in 30 Minutes a Day (Better English Series) 1st (first) by Schwager, Edie (1999) Paperback

by Edith Schwager

Would you like to find new, exciting words to use in your speech and writing? Would you like to be a fascinating conversationalist? Would you like to be a Scrabble expert?Better Vocabulary In 30 Minutes a Day offers a lively and entertaining method for adding a more impressive list of words to your everyday speech, and for learning how to use them effortlessly and accurately. Besides giving definitions, this invaluable guide also provides root meanings and elements of words so you can increase your vocabulary base by thousands of exciting new words and use them with aplomb in sentences.Sprinkled throughout the book are fascinating stories about words and their origins. Even if you can't spare 30 minutes a day to learn to speak and write eloquently, Better Vocabulary In 30 Minutes a Day allows you to customize your learning to take as little as five minutes a day. That's a small commitment for the lifelong benefit of speaking and writing better!Like its companion guides in the Better English Series, this book is just what you need for confident, clear writing and speaking!

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback Bunko

First published June 30, 1996

Reviews

[Kayla Kendall]

Born from my newfound interest in etymology, I decided to listen to this book and it did not disappoint. The following are some of my favorite words and their origins:

Ebullient - (Latin ex - out, buillire - to boil) cheerful, full of energy

Dolorous - (Latin dolor - pain, grief) - expressing great sorrow, distress

Enervate - (Latin e - out, nervus - nerve) - take energy away

Euphonious - (Latin eu - good sweet, phonus - sound) pleasing to the ear

Fiat - (Latin for ‘let it be done’ from fieri - to become) a command

Foible - (from French word feeble -weakest part of a sword) flaw

Impecunious - (Latin im - not, pecunia - money) poor, penniless

Insouciant - showing casual lack of concern

Iota (9th and smallest letter of the Greek alphabet) - very small amount

Kaleidoscope - (Greek kalos -beauty, eidos - form, scopion -view) of infinite variety

Laconic - (derives from Laconia -an Ancient Greek district where Sparta was the capital, when the king of Macedonia threatened them by saying “if I enter Laconia I will raise it to the ground” the Spartans laconically replied…. “if”.) concise, terse (aka George from Seinfeld)

Logorrhea - (Greek logo -words, rhea -flow) excessive talkativeness

Octothorp - #

Panacea - (Greek pan - all, alkos - remedy) -cure all

Perquisite - benefits, long for ‘perks’

Pixel - picture element

Scintillate - to sparkle

Megabuck - a million dollars

And some quotes I enjoyed using the defined words!

“Youth should be malleable, middle age should confident, and old age should be malleable once again.”

“Life is just a concatenation of ephemeralities”

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble connecting with the narrative. Since the object of this exercise is to improve my vocabulary, connecting with the narrative and remembering key facts is critical. The author intersperses the narrative with historical facts, but the new facts stepped on (erased) what I learned previously rather than reinforced it. It didn't flow well. I had to stop. Waste of my time.

Instead, I recommend Dr. Ann Curzan's series on vocabulary, specifically: The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins. I loved it.

[Chip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yawn. I have the audio version of this book. I would recommend it, if you have a difficult time falling asleep. He has long pauses, so that you can repeat the word, no doubt, but the narrator basically reads the dictionary to you. Re-shelving it after 45 minutes. Perhaps personal reading would be better. ;) Don't drive with this on like I did. LOL

[Cavak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as advanced as I hoped it would be, but it is a handy guide for eighth-grade level words. The alphabetical organization, sentence examples, and word root origins were useful.

Absolutely recommend in printed form since it is meant to be a quick reference book. The audiobook is the equivalent of someone reading multiple dictionaries: educational but drawling. Might be good for people having trouble going to sleep though.

[M.S.V.V.Sesharao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normal