In my quest to improve my vocabulary, I’ve been reading the book “Grow your vocabulary: by learning the roots of English words” by Robert Schleifer. I tried different book on root words first, but it went way too deep into the archaic history of language with lots of “guessing” about the origins of words from languages sold ancient that there are no written or oral records from them.
Schleifer’s book, on the other hand, has been perfect. He presents a root, like “-agog”, reviews its meaning and origin, and then provides several uses of the root (eg. demagogue, pedagogue, synagogue.) He also gives a synopsis of how the word was used in greek, latin or old English. Finally, he lists a few dozen words that use the root as exercises to increase your vocabulary.
Each day during lunch, I learn a new root and spend about 20 minutes practicing. In a week, I’ve learned more words than I did in 4 years of high school and 3 years of college. It’s been a lot of fun.
I will be sprinkling these words into my posts, as appropriate.
If you’re like me, you might need to look them up.