Step 1: Improve Your Vocabulary
A good writer has a good vocabulary — one that is both broad and deep — because a good vocabulary is essential to clarity, power, and precision. If you have a large stock of words, you can choose the most effective word. As the rhyme goes, "The more words you know, the easier your words will flow."
See how your vocabulary compares with other people's word knowledge by taking a quick vocabulary test from the Popular Science magazine. Then come back here to see how you can improve your vocabulary ...
Improving your vocabulary can come from incidental learning from context, direct learning, or a combination of these.
The best incidental learning comes from reading good books and associating with people who have a good spoken vocabulary and written vocabulary.
Direct techniques include looking in a dictionary for unfamiliar words. Another direct technique is to record definitions of new words in a notebook, which you review whenever you get spare time — at lunch, on the train to work, or whenever. You should try to learn at least one new word a day.
These days, the quickest and easiest form of direct vocabulary learning is through vocabulary-building software. We've tried, tested, and reviewed the popular vocabulary-learning software called Ultimate Vocabulary from software engineer Marc Slater. We thoroughly recommend Ultimate Vocabulary as the best value-for-money vocabulary-building program on the market.