The Words You Should Know

by David Olsen

Lots of people need a quick and authoritative way to identify and define the most troublesome common words. The usual approach- stalling for time until you can grasp the context of what the person has just said-has its limits. If only there were a list, not of every word (after all, reading dictionaries is no one's idea of fun) but of the right words, the ones that are used frequently but don't quite register when you come across them. The Words You Should Know features straightforward, succinct definitions and sentence examples of over 1200 tough-but-common words. It's the kind of book that can get you out of a jam, improve your performance at school, and help advance your career. And that's no hyperbole, rigmarole, or embellishment.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Language, Self Help, Dictionaries, Teaching, Communication

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1997

Reviews

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a word nerd,.... this was pretty verbose. No,... not at all actually. It's compendious. Loved it. Good resource for those interested in maintaining and growing vocabulary.
Most of the words were not new to me, but I have used sophisticated vocabulary as a graduate student, so I may have brought that bias. It's worth looking at.

[Jason Freng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent thrift store find. At least a few times I had to reach for my phone when it used a word in a definition that isn't very common and they chose not to include it as a separate word for some reason (tact, haughty, supple, bellicose).

Some of my favorite words that I singled out for a deeper dive were: alacrity, ersatz, halcyon, jejune, picayune, & vociferous.

[Meghal Sivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its better to buy a dictionary. Instead of this, read "Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis.

[Bob Prophet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thumb through this book occasionally and should probably do so more often.

[Tajma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply written and extremely useful

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really simple and handy. I loved going through this book.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I totally nerded out with this book.