Ultimate Vocabulary – Vocabulary Building Software

Improve Your Vocabulary: Always Use the Right Word (Pt. 1)

March 1, 2010

In English, many words have similar spelling and pronunciation, but different meanings. Knowing which word to use will mark you as an expert English speaker, and will give your written communication a professional polish that will be quickly recognized by your current and future employers. The Ultimate Vocabulary program helps you target many of these potentially troublesome words. In this series of posts, we’ll look at twelve pairs of words that are frequently misused.

Adverse v. Averse

While both of these are adjectives that have a negative connotation, they differ in more than their spelling. Adverse is used to describe something that creates an opposing, contrary, or negative influence on a situation, and on your interests related to that situation.

The decline of the dollar has had an adverse impact on United States exports.
Though the heavy fog created adverse conditions for the race, the yachts set sail at dawn.

Averse is the word used to describe your feeling of distaste or disinclination about that situation. A synonym is “unwilling.”

Due to the decline in the dollar, banks are averse to lending money to new export companies.
The captain was averse to sailing in the fog, and waited until it burned off before entering the race.

Complement v. Compliment

After putting in so much work on improving your vocabulary, we’re sure that you will receive many compliments on your language skills. A compliment is an expression of admiration or praise. To compliment someone is to say something nice to and/or about them.

Helen received many compliments from her coworkers on her new hairstyle.
That was a delicious meal – my compliments to the chef!

While receiving a compliment may fill you with a good feeling, it’s probably not something that makes your life complete. Complement means something that completes or makes whole. This word is also used as an expression indicating a state of completeness.

The slight bitterness of the coffee is the perfect complement to the sweetness of the cake.
Before our trek, the guide made sure we had our full complement of emergency supplies.

Unexceptionable v. Unexceptional

These two words, though they look very similar, have nearly opposite meanings. Unexceptional means average, standard, usual – nothing special, in other words. It’s not necessarily a negative word, but it’s not usually used as a compliment, either.

Steven’s performance was unexceptional; the judges did not advance him to the next round.
I find the food at that restaurant unexceptional, and not worth the prices they charge.

Unexceptionable, on the other hand, is a very complimentary word indeed. This adjective is used to describe something that is beyond criticism or reproach, that cannot be complained about because it has no flaws.

The senator was elected by a wide margin due to his unexceptionable ethics and conduct.
In Victorian times, a woman was required to have unexceptionable manners, in public and in private.

In the next post, we’ll look at three more word pairs: eminent/imminent, flaunt/flout, and council/counsel.

Vocabulary Study: Words and Phrases from Shakespeare

February 25, 2010

All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. (As You Like It)

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a prolific author and playwright who revolutionized English theatre and whose works are known and quoted around the world. Many common English phrases come from his plays. You’ve probably heard at least one of these:

“as luck would have it” (Merry Wives of Windsor)
“give the devil his due” (King Henry IV Part I)
“it’s all Greek to me” (Julius Caesar)
“that’s neither here nor there” (Othello)
“wear my heart upon my sleeve” (Othello)

Many of the words in common use in English today were first noted in Shakespeare’s works. It’s not certain whether he invented the words or not, but he’s usually given the credit for coining the words, if no other citations are found. Here are some of the words attributed to Shakespeare’s genius:

sanctimonious – acting as if you have better morals than other people even though you do not

Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the ten commandments, but scraped one out of the table. (Measure for Measure)

Lucio describes a pirate who carries a copy of the Bible with him so that all can see how devout he is, but in secret he crossed out the commandment (“thou shalt not steal”) that he constantly breaks.

dauntless – not afraid or intimidated

‘Tis much he dares; and, to that dauntless temper of his mind, he hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor to act in safety. (Macbeth)

Macbeth says that while Banquo is not afraid of anything, he’s wise enough to not take foolish chances.

inauspicious – unlucky, unfavorable, ill-omened

O, here will I set up my everlasting rest, and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh. (Romeo and Juliet)

Romeo is about to kill himself, and is happy to leave a life in which he has been unlucky in love and fortune.

Read, Listen, and Learn

Shakespeare’s writing is rich in vocabulary and imagery, and reading his plays will help you develop your own creative writing and speaking style. You might come across archaic words (ones that are no longer commonly used), but you’ll find more words that are useful than not. Remember, you’ll learn more quickly if you use more than one learning method, so after you read a play, look for a local theatre production of it, or rent one of the many videos available – the BBC did a complete series of the plays, and in the last few years there have been quite a few movies that use the original scripts. Try your hand at acting, and get a group of friends together to read the play aloud. And have fun with your new …

“Words, words, words.” (Hamlet)

Vocabulary Study: How Words Evolve (2)

February 24, 2010

In the previous post, we talked about the process of officially adding new words to the venerable Oxford English Dictionary, a process that can take years, even though many new words enter the common spoken language every day as a natural process of language change, or to keep up with changes in society, or perhaps just because people like to play with language and invent new ways of saying things.

Compounding Words

One way of inventing a new word is to take two or more words and put them together. This process is called compounding. Notice that in compound words, the new word may mean something completely different, with no relation to either of the original words:

greenhouse – a place to nurture plants (not “a house that is painted green”)
blackboard – a chalkboard or slate (while most are black, some are grey or green)
wetsuit – a scuba diver’s outfit (not “a suit that got wet”)

A variation of compounding is called blending. In this process, the two words are combined by dropping parts of both words before putting them together. A new word in the OED for 2009 was celebutante, created by blending the words “celebrity” and “debutante” to make a word that describes a famous person who is also part of the wealthy fashionable society class. Some other examples of blending are brunch (breakfast + lunch), telethon (telephone + marathon), smog (smoke + fog), and infomercial (information + commercial).

Redefinition

The virtual world – computers, software applications, the internet, chat rooms, etc. – is changing even more rapidly than the real world, and new terminology is introduced on a regular basis. Quite often, these words are new definitions of existing words that have been adapted to describe new phenomena. As early as 1998, the OED had added a new definition of “spam” – no longer just a canned meat product, spam is now also defined as “irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of newsgroups or users.”

In 2009, a new definition of the word zombie was added to the OED. Rather than referring only to a flesh-eating monster from a horror film, it now also means a computer that has been remotely taken over by a hacker, and used to flood another computer system (usually belonging to a bank or other high-profile organization) with so many requests (so much spam!) that the system shuts down.

When you come across a word that’s new to you, take a look at its structure and see if you can identify how it was formed. Do you see a prefix or a suffix added to a root word? Is it a combination of two other words? The Ultimate Vocabulary program provides information on many word origins – and you can always google it!

Vocabulary Study: How Words Evolve (1)

February 23, 2010

Every year, new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the definitive reference for English vocabulary for over a century. These words might be slang terms that have become commonly used, additional definitions for existing words, or entirely new words that have been created to keep up with our ever-changing world. The process of getting a word accepted for inclusion takes time. For example, you’ve probably heard someone say “I’ll google that when I get home” – meaning “I’ll use the Google search engine to look that up on line.” Google (the product) became available in 1998; google (the verb) was added to the OED in 2006.

However, new words are created and used daily by people all over the English-speaking world, whether those words are officially part of the English language or not. English is a very flexible language, and there are many ways to create a new word. Here are four examples of ways new words are created:

by adding a suffix
by adding a prefix
by compounding two or more words together
by creating new definitions of, or uses for, existing words

Adding a Suffix

A suffix is one or more letters (as a group, these are called an affix) added to the end of a word (called the root) to make a new word that has a meaning that can be related back to the original root word.

The word aerobicized was added to the OED in 2009 as an adjective meaning “made fit or in shape due to aerobic exercise.” This word was created by adding the suffix -ize (meaning “to make”) to the word aerobic. Other examples of words created using this suffix include harmonize (to make harmonic), emphasize (to make emphatic), and modernize (to make modern).

Adding a Prefix

A prefix is an affix that is put on the beginning of a word to create a new word.

The OED added the word upskill in 2009 as a verb meaning “to teach someone new skills” – that is, to “up” their skill level. The prefix up- is used as a prefix in many words, including upscale, upstream, and uphold, all with the sense of directing something upwards. Another common prefix is re- (meaning “again”) as demonstrated in the words reprint, redo, and reload.

In the next post, we’ll look at two more methods of creating new English words: compounding and redefinition.

Vocabulary Study: Context and Comprehension

February 21, 2010

Studying new vocabulary isn’t just about memorizing lists of definitions, it’s about learning how to recognize and understand words depending on their context in a sentence. Many of the exams that contain English comprehension tests will ask you to read a paragraph or a sentence and define one of the words, requiring you to read the whole phrase and pick out the meaning of the specific word as it has been used in that phrase.

We’ve created this short quiz to help you prepare for the type of vocabulary exercises you may be asked to complete on tests such as the SAT and GRE. Pick the correct answer for each before scrolling down to the explanation section.

1. “Many indigenous species are in danger of becoming extinct, as their rainforest habitat shrinks.”

The word “indigenous” means: (a) abundant; (b) native to the region; (c) migratory.

2. “Ecologists have tried to establish sanctuaries for these animals and plants to live in,
but face pressure from logging and mining companies who want to develop the land.”

The word “sanctuaries” means: (a) protected zones; (b) charities; (c) escape routes.

3. “Because of the loss of valuable plant life, unique animals and birds, and the impact
on the environment, rainforest destruction has a detrimental impact on the planet as a whole.”

The word “detrimental” means: (a) positive; (b) unpredictable; (c) damaging.

If you didn’t know what the target vocabulary words meant, how did you choose your answers? If you looked at the entire sentence, you might have been able to deduce the correct meaning.

In question 1, you can eliminate option (a) because if a species is near extinction, there aren’t many of them left, and that’s the opposite of “abundant.” A migratory species moves from one area to another, and in this sentence we’re talking about a specific location (the rainforest) so option (c) is out. Option (b) is the answer. “Indigenous” does mean “native to the region,” but in addition, that definition makes the most sense in context. If a species of animal lives in one habitat, and that habitat is shrinking, it will be harder for that species to survive.

In question 2, you can eliminate options (b) and (c) because an animal can’t “live in” either a charity or an escape route. A sanctuary is a protected zone.

Finally, if you read the sentence in question 3, you would have noticed the negative words “loss” and “destruction.” That eliminates option (a) immediately – two wrongs don’t make a right. The sentence starts with the word “because” which implies a certain conclusion, so option (b) doesn’t fit. That leaves option (c). “Detrimental” means damaging or having a negative impact.

If you come across a word that you don’t know, try to determine its meaning by its context in the sentence before you look it up. By connecting context to definition, you’ll remember the word more easily, and feel more confident using it in the future.

Let’s Talk About the Weather

February 20, 2010

It’s commonly held that talking about the weather is what you do in really dull conversations, when you can’t think of anything else to say but feel like you have to keep the conversation going. Whether you’re in an elevator with your new CEO, waiting for a mutual friend with someone you’ve never met before, or trying to make out-of-town clients comfortable until your manager is ready to meet with them, it’s always easy to comment on the weather outside – and everyone has an opinion on the weather.

In fact, talking about the weather is a good way to practice your English conversation. Here are three ways you can use the weather to improve your speaking skills:

practice using idioms, metaphors, and similes
increase your vocabulary with weather-specific terminology
expand your use of descriptive words

Idioms, Metaphors, and Similes

In the last post, we talked about common English idioms, and explained that the words in such an expression aren’t to be taken literally. So when you hear the idiom “it’s raining cats and dogs” don’t rush outside looking for a shower of Schnauzers or puddles of Persians – this phrase just means that it’s raining very heavily.

A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is described as if it is equivalent to another, but like an idiom, it’s not a literal expression. When you say “the snow is a white blanket covering the street” you don’t really mean that a huge blanket has been knitted together out of snowflakes and spread out over the pavement.

Similes describe things by comparing them to something else using the words like or as. You might say “the sun was shining like a spotlight on my face” or “the wind is blowing as noisily as an airplane engine.”

Terminology

If you’ve been following the news about global climate change, you might have heard that carbon sequestration is being proposed to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by trapping it and storing it under the ocean. The word sequester comes from the Latin sequestrare, meaning “to place in safekeeping.” Trees naturally sequester carbon dioxide, and emit oxygen. This oxygen emission (release, flow, discharge) is what allows people and all the other animals to breathe and live.

There are many terms specific to meteorology (the study of weather processes and weather forecasting), including names for specific types of clouds. A cumulus cloud is a low-hanging cloud with a flat base and a rounded, heaped-up surface. In Latin, cumulus means “heap.”

Descriptive Words

Don’t just say that it’s raining – say that it’s pouring down in sheets. If the sun is shining, say that it’s shining brightly. When the wind is blowing, describe it as blowing wildly, or gusting, or howling. Use a conversation about weather as an opportunity to get creative with language.

Keep practicing, and when you’re talking about weather, people will find it a fascinating topic!

When is a Cat Not a Cat? Understanding Idioms

February 18, 2010

One of the things that marks a native speaker of a language is their ability to use idioms. An idiom is a figure of speech, one whose meaning in the context of a conversation may have little relationship to the actual words used. For example, if your friend in Paris says Je suis dans mon assiette she’s saying that she feels comfortable and at ease – not that she is “in my plate,” which is the literal translation. If your friend in Madrid doesn’t believe something you’ve told him, he might say a otro perro con ese hueso (give this bone to another dog) though no actual dogs or bones are involved. And if your friend in Tokyo tells you that she wants to borrow a cat’s paw (neko no te mo karitai) she doesn’t really want a cat, she’s just very busy with a lot to do, and could use some help. Here are some common English idioms:

walking on eggshells
Meaning: being very careful when you’re interacting with someone, especially by watching what you say
Example: The boss has been in such a bad mood, we’re all walking on eggshells when he’s around.

under the weather
Meaning: feeling ill or sick
Example: I don’t know what’s wrong with me; I’ve been feeling under the weather ever since January.

to push the envelope
Meaning: to go beyond the boundaries of what has been done in the past, to do something in a new and innovative way
Example: The new marketing manager really wants to push the envelope with this year’s ad campaigns.

on cloud nine
Meaning: very happy
Example: She’s been on cloud nine every since she got the acceptance letter from MIT.

let the cat out of the bag
Meaning: to reveal something that was a secret, whether accidentally or on purpose
Example: Paul’s birthday party was supposed to be a surprise, but Jane let the cat out of the bag when she accidentally sent the invitation to his e-mail address.

grab the bull by the horns
Meaning: to tackle a problem head-on, in person, without hesitation
Example: We’ve heard rumors that there might be layoffs, and at the next company meeting I’m going to grab the bull by the horns and ask the CEO to tell us if there will be staff cuts.

Learning vocabulary isn’t just about memorizing the definitions of difficult words, it’s also about getting familiar with the creative ways that common words are used. Remember, when working on improving your English vocabulary, there’s more than one way to skin a cat!*

* It’s possible to succeed at something by using several different methods

Linguamne Latinam Loqueris?

February 16, 2010

For a thousand years, the center of Western civilization was Rome. At one point, the Roman Empire stretched from the British Isles to northern Egypt, and all roads truly led to Rome, connecting peoples of many cultures and languages under Roman rule. The official language of Rome was Latin, and even after the fall of the Roman Empire, Latin remained the language used in official proceedings, particularly in the church, in law, in medicine, and in the sciences. Up until the late 19th century, it was common for schools and universities to require the study of Latin, and even today, anyone who wants a career as a doctor, a lawyer, or a scientist needs to have at least a familiarity with Latin, since much of the terminology of those fields remains in the original Latin.

Many words in English have Latin derivation – that is, they are derived from, or have their origins in, a Latin word. For example, the word derivation comes from the Latin word derivare, meaning “from the source”. There are also many Latin words and phrases that remain in the English language unchanged from the days of Julius Caesar. In fact, you may have used them yourself, without realizing the fact that you’re speaking Latin like Lucullus. Here are some common Latin phrases used in everyday English conversation:

terra firma (TEHR-ah FIR-ma): “solid land”
Definition: the ground, the earth
Example: After that turbulent airplane flight, I’m glad to be back on terra firma!

ad nauseam (ad NAW-zee-uhm): “to the point of nausea”
Definition: when something goes on or is repeated until you’re sick of it
Example: Over the holidays, the local radio station played “White Christmas” ad nauseam.

non sequitur (nawn SEH-kwih-ter): “it does not follow”
Definition: a remark or comment in a conversation that has no relationship to what was said before
Example: “And that’s how I met my future husband. How did you meet your wife?” “I like pie.”

curriculum vitae (kur-IH-kyu-luhm VEE-tay): “course of life”
Definition: your qualifications, experience, awards received, and job history (a résumé, but in more detail)
Example: To help you get the best job, be sure to list your professional certifications on your curriculum vitae.

et cetera (et SET-er-ah): “and the rest”
Definition: used to shorten a long list, usually abbreviated as “etc.”
Example: The charity shop sells clothes (socks, shirts, etc.) and old books for a good price.

per diem (per DEE-em): “by day”
Definition: in business, the dollar amount an employee can spend each day as part of his or her travel expenses
Example: The sales budget allows for a $100 per diem in Seattle, and a $150 per diem in Hong Kong.

status quo (STAT-us KWOH): “the state in which”
Definition: what currently exists, or the situation as it presently stands
Example: If we can’t lower the world’s population, we should at least try to maintain the status quo and work towards zero population growth.

What other common Latin phrases do you know? The list goes on ad infinitum!

Vocabulary for Success: The Legal Profession

February 13, 2010

People find the legal profession attractive for many reasons: the chance to help people, an interest in law and governance, or a wish to be part of the judicial system and promote fair and equitable enforcement of rules and regulations. Whether you’re planning on applying for law school or studying to be a paralegal, it’s important to know the vocabulary used in the legal field.

There are two main categories of legal vocabulary: words in Latin, and words in English (which are usually derived from Latin). In this post, we’ll concentrate on some of the common legal terms in English that you should know:

litigation
precedent
allegation
deposition

In general, the role of the court is to settle disputes. The word litigation comes from the Latin litigare, meaning “to quarrel or dispute”. A litigant is someone involved in a lawsuit. A person who frequently takes people to court can be described as litigious.

In settling disputes, or cases, and making decisions and rulings, a judge will refer to precedent. A precedent is a decision made in a similar case, where the situation was essentially the same as in the dispute being considered. Precedent means “the thing that came before,” and shares the same Latin root as the word precede, meaning “to go before, in front of.”

When judges gather information about a case, they listen to the allegations of the parties as each litigant describes their side of the situation. The verb allege and the noun allegation come from the Latin word allegare, meaning to name, produce, or bring forth something.

If the allegations are not made in person, they may be read in court from the litigant’s deposition. A deposition is the sworn testimony and allegations made by a person under oath, and the transcript of a deposition sometimes becomes part of the court record. The verb depose describes the act of taking this testimony.

A solid knowledge of legal terminology will help you when you’re studying for your LSAT, preparing for your bar exam, or applying for a job as a legal assistant at a law office. To learn more, visit your city or county courthouse (in person or on line). Most court systems have handouts available that give definitions of common legal terms and concepts, in order to help people who have business with the court. The Ultimate Vocabulary system also provides definitions and usage examples for many legal terms. Check it out today!

Vocabulary for Success: The Technology Industry

February 11, 2010

As we mentioned in the last post, the computer and technology industry continues to develop at a rapid pace. The changes that have occurred since the first room-sized vacuum-tube-powered calculating machines of the 1950s are almost impossible to imagine. An inexpensive digital watch today has more functions than many of the early computers which, innovative for their time, are now completely obsolete. In such a rapidly-changing industry, it’s important to keep up to date on as much of the terminology as you can. Here are four words that are common terms in the technology industry:

binary
kilobyte
algorithm
component

The prefix bi- appears in many common words: bipedal (two feet), bicycle (two wheels), biennial (two years). Binary means “two parts” and in computer terminology usually refers to the binary language that is the basis for much of a computer’s function, where only the number one and the number zero are used, in increasingly complex combinations. A binary switch is one with only two possible settings, on or off. When binary digits are grouped in a series of eight, they become a byte.

The prefix kilo- means “one thousand” and so we would expect that a kilobyte would be one thousand bytes. However, since the binary system works by using powers of two in calculations (2¹ = 2, 2² = 4, 2³ = 8, 2⁴ = 16, etc.) and no power of two exactly equals 1,000, in common usage a kilobyte is equal to 1,024 bytes, which is the closest power of two (2¹⁰).

Computers perform their functions according to their programs, which are a series of yes/no binary decision points that form an algorithm. An algorithm is a set of instructions that tell the computer how to perform a certain function, by providing a list of all of the situations the computer could encounter during that process, and providing a list of all of the choices the computer could make in each situation. When the programmer has failed to anticipate a situation, or to provide a possible choice, the computer program will often “crash” as it has no instructions on what to do next.

An algorithm is only one component of the functioning of a computer, so if your laptop crashes, it might not be the programmer’s fault. A “component” is a piece or part of something bigger, but still something that can be handled or considered on its own. For example, if your computer starts overheating, it could be due to a broken fan (necessary to cool down the CPU, or central processing unit). You can remove this component, and replace it with a new one, without changing the function of the computer as a whole.

We hope that the Ultimate Vocabulary program will become a component of your daily vocabulary study, and help lead you to success in your chosen career!