When I was in 8th grade, my English teacher, Ms. Giles, made us use a book titled 1100 Words You Need to Know to improve our spelling and vocabulary. That book was full of PSAT and SAT beauties, like “perspicacious,” “innocuous”, and “erudite,” and each week, we added five more gems to our knowledge base.
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| An old, but well used dictionary in my house |
Ms. Giles taught vocabulary and the rules of grammar with intimidating and uncompromising exactness. I still remember the time she praised me in front of the class for a persuasive essay I had written, but ridiculed me for a basic, and unfortunately repeated, error in my writing.
“How can a reader take you seriously when you mistake ‘loose’ for ‘lose’ more than once in the essay?” she demanded as she waved my paper in front of me. Although my face burned with humiliation that day, I know now that Ms. Giles gave me a strong foundation for my word nerd tendencies (an obsession with proper grammar and a fascination with word etymology). Wherever you are now Ms. Giles, thank you.
Twenty something years later, when I’m reading and I come across a word that I know I should recognize, I feel the need to look it up and educate myself. (Do you ever feel that way too, or is this a word nerd issue?) This year, I’m going to nurture that urge to learn, and I’m going to drag you along with me on the road to improved vocabulary!
The first Friday of every month you’ll find a “Word Nerd Workout” post that features a few of those SAT type words that we need to know, usually from the novels in the 2012 Reading List. And since we learn best by doing, I’ll also suggest exercises for you to use those vocabulary words in small, creative ways. For reference, I’ll keep a running list of the Word Nerd Vocabulary in a separate page on the blog. You’ll find the tab at the top of the home page.
So, let’s get started!
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| a samovar |
I’m currently reading my book club’s January selection, Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah. The narrative repeatedly refers to a mysterious thing called a “samovar” in the kitchen. Now that I’ve looked it up, I know that it comes from a Russian word and that it’s an urn with a spigot at the bottom used (especially in Russia) to boil water for tea.
Also, on p. 179 of the same novel, it says, “The house was preternaturally silent, as if it too, were waiting.” Preternaturally means “exceeding what is natural or regular” or “extraordinary” from the Latin praeter naturam (beyond nature).
Ready to exercise? Try to use one of those words in your own sentence. Here’s mine:
- Watson marveled at how Holmes could preternaturally detect subtle clues at the scene of a crime.
Now it’s your turn. Click on the comments button below and add your own sentence, or other vocabulary words, or your general feedback on the idea of a Word Nerd Workout. Thank you so much for joining in!
And please, feel free to direct high school students preparing for the SATs to my blog!
For my dad, who wanted to contribute but had technical difficulties:
gerrymander: to divide a territory into political units to give special advantages to one group. It comes from Elbridge Gerry + salamander- the shape of an election district formed during Gerry’s governorship of Massachusetts
I have a word!!!! We were watching a movie called “Midnight in Paris” (which I would recommend, it’s very historical: about a writer who meets all these other famous writers: amazing!), and a word came up that none of us knew: pedantic. Well, being a word nerd myself, I had to look it up, and here it is!
Pedantic: to be excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning.
Sentence: Paul’s pedantic ways grew tiresome, as no one can be an expert on everything.
Great word and definition. Related to pedagogue (teacher)and pedagogy (teaching). And I know a certain Paul that fits that sentence perfectly! 🙂 I’ll add it too the list.
Lynne, what a wonderful example! I see that you, like Susan, also like to write NON FICTION. Way to practice that vocab!
The school board meeting attendees did not have to be preternaturally perceptive to pick up on the blatent hostility towards soccer. (Ha Ha)
Thanks Kristen; Ms. Giles is hard to forget. Yes, the circular path of life is very interesting. I’ll have to remember that as my kids are going through college and choosing careers! But I’ve got time. I’m not sure if the book is still in print; I have found something similar at Mindware and will include it in a later post!
Your recollection of the past astounds me, but clearly it was a breakthrough moment for you as you have rediscovered your true passion (besides motherhood and soccer:))Writing! Isn’t interesting the circular path that life travels. I love the post. Is that book in print? Annika would like it.
I’m glad you like the idea, thanks! Michaela is welcome to add words anytime! That’s an interesting tid bit about your step mother.
I love this idea! Michaela will too as she constantly is sharing new words she has discovered. She has lists in her head of her favorites! My step mother actually has a samovar. Her family fled Russia just prior to WWII.
Excellent Susan! Thanks for getting us started! Anyone else?
Ok, I LOVE this idea (and I know who I want to edit my stuff, and it’s not Ms. Giles). I’m a word nerd myself (and crossword lover), so this is fun:
The preternatural habits of identical twins astound researchers.
(Sorry, you know I’m a non-fiction writer)