Use the Right Word

As Mark Twain once quipped, "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

When you are sick to your stomach, are you nauseated or nauseous? If you say "nauseous," you're telling people that you are making them sick to their stomachs. Oops!

Is everytime one word or two? It's always two words. But what about everyone? Check out this website for the answer: Common Errors in English: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors

Bookmark this terrific website, and you'll never use the wrong word again.

Improve Your Vocabulary

Using the right word is important; learning new words is also important. Having a good vocabulary gives you credibility and authority. Knowing what a word means and how to correctly pronounce it is the mark of a professional.

• Read. Reading is one of the best ways to improve your vocabulary.
• Get a good dictionary and use it. Look up every word you don’t recognize.
• Spend one hour a week browsing through the dictionary and set a goal to learn the meaning at least 20 new words each week. Use them in your conversation the following week. Put the words, their meaning, and pronunciation on a 3x5 index card and carry the cards with you.
• Practice the words when you have pockets of time.
  Each week, buy one newspaper from a different area of the country. If you live on the West coast, buy a Florida paper. Try to identify how that newspaper uses words. Is it different from the newspaper you are used to? If so, what’s different?
• Each month, read one magazine you have never read before to expand your vocabulary in new areas.
• Do crossword puzzles and word games.
• Ask someone you trust to correct you when you misuse or mispronounce a word.
• Play Scrabble® with someone who has a better vocabulary than you.
• Use a thesaurus to learn words with similar and opposite meanings.
• Buy and use a book designed to help you improve your vocabulary.