I Read, But I Don't Learn!

by Anthony

I Read, But I Don't Learn!

Do you keep a personal dictionary? Probably not. What kind of geek keeps a personal dictionary? The smart kind, that’s what kind.

 

When reading, especially for college and career, you might encounter words you’ve never seen before. It happens. What you don’t want to do, though, is blow right through those words without understanding what they mean. You also don’t want to look the word up, understand the sentence you’re reading, and forget the word ten seconds later.

 

Instead, try grabbing a notebook and designating a section as your own personal dictionary. Then, write down the word you are having trouble with. Using a standard dictionary (like Webster’s) or your good friend the Internet, find a definition of the word that allows you to understand the word and how it’s used. Write that and maybe even an example sentence in your personal dictionary-notebook, and move on!

 

Now, you can organize your personal dictionary however you want. Here is an example of how one of my entries might look.

 

Defenestrate (verb; dee-fen-eh-straight): From the Latin “fenestra,” meaning “window,” where “de” means “out”

                            -So, defenestrate, to throw someone or something out the window.

                            -Also, to remove or dismiss, as from a political position.

Ex: At the party, Joe was getting rowdy and had blocked the entrance to the front door with a huge couch, so I, not having another exit to throw him out of, simply defenestrated him.

 

See how even a word as unusual, complicated, and downright awesome as “defenestrate” can suddenly make a lot of sense? And now you will remember it and can use it in your daily speech to impress all your friends! Because that’s what it’s all about.  Keep that and other unfamiliar words in your own personal dictionary and watch your vocabulary develop beyond your wildest dreams!