Online Educational Games and Worksheets
ArticlesStudy Tips: Vocabulary
A Look Into Reading For Vocabulary Building

Expanding your vocabulary

Reading for the sake of reading has many simultaneous advantages, one of which is that you'll constantly come across unknown words that you will (ideally) want to learn. Reading can be a potentially unlimited source of new vocabulary. Keep a notepad at hand for jotting down unknown words and phrases you will later look up.

Polishing up old and newly-learned vocabulary

Reading offers countless possibilities for coming across words of not so frequent usage. Seeing new and old words occurring in high-quality writing will allow you to expand your existing knowledge of how a word can be used.
In addition, reading is rather valuable in putting into a framework everything new you learn. Reading a new word in context you are in fact in front of additional information no dictionary can ever provide you with, like how a word behaves differently when adjacent to certain other words, or how it's meaning changes when used in a slang phrase and so on.

Getting into the habit of asking questions

The more you read, the more questions you'll have, which will encourage you to read further and deeper into something. In this manner, your vocabulary will expand in both depth and width. Keeping your interest in reading active means having an inexhaustible resource of new words to learn. Read whatever sparks your interest and that you find pleasurable, in order to make reading a vital part of your life.

Using reference software

Increasing your vocabulary through reading is obviously a valuable activity. However, with the help of a good vocabulary improvement software system, you can drastically boost the learning process. Software is always a worthwhile investment because of the support it gives you in your study program. These modern tools can considerably enhance and accelerate the process of reading and by extension, vocabulary building.

Making it all work together

Don't forget that there's a strong connection between reading and vocabulary building. An extensive vocabulary will make the activity of reading more enjoyable, and the more words you are aware of, the more likely you are to have a pleasant, uninterrupted reading experience.
Reading and vocabulary building are complimentary: the one reinforces the other. Unfortunately, it works the other way as well - if you don't have a good vocabulary, you probably won't enjoy reading and so won't do as much reading, and your vocabulary will not improve. Make sure you stay on the positive side of this relationship, and read your way to a better vocabulary today.