eReflect is proud to have its Ultimate Vocabulary™ software featured and reviewed by Cathy Duffy Reviews, which offers a detailed analysis of the vocabulary builder’s benefits and features.

Cathy Duffy Reviews has published a comprehensive assessment of Ultimate Vocabulary™ and eReflect, the designer of Ultimate Vocabulary™, is pleased to have its vocabulary building program among Cathy Duffy’s approved products.

The vocabulary software review  by Ms. Duffy offers a thorough analysis of the program’s features and benefits and provides a perspective that highlights the potential users that are most likely to benefit from using Ultimate Vocabulary™ to build their lexicon.

“While it has word lists for younger students,” the reviewer notes, “it is likely to be more useful with older students. . . . I think that fourth or fifth grade would be an ideal point at which to begin using the program. It should be great for high school students as well as for older students needing to brush up vocabulary skills for graduate-level exams and for adults who just want to develop a stronger vocabulary.”

The reviewer goes through the wide range of activities and lessons the program offers, stressing that Ultimate Vocabulary™ offers an exhaustive vocabulary database of over 142,647 words which makes it suitable for even the most advanced vocabulary learners. Cathy Duffy also emphasizes the program’s suitability for students studying for the SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL and other high-stake exams, as well as for non-native speakers of English who want to expand their vocabulary.

According to Duffy, what makes the program so advanced and superior to other vocabulary building programs is the sheer range of activities users can practice with. As she notes:

“The number of activities available for studying each group of words and the huge number of word lists are what sets this program apart from others.”

As she informs her readers, when a user purchases the cloud-based online program, they don’t need Internet access to start their practice, as the program is available online and for a three-year period for up to five accounts and on several devices.

eReflect and the development team behind the system wish to thank Cathy Duffy Reviews for this honest and impartial review of the “improve your vocabulary” program that is Ultimate Vocabulary™.

The way a language is used in real life eventually leads to how the language is recorded and described in dictionaries and grammar books. Like all other languages, English changes as the world of English speakers change, and new words come into being as others are forgotten. You’re much more likely to hear or see the word redonkulous today than you are the word ruricolous, for example. Pronunciation of words also changes, as well as the way the words are spelled (toune is now spelled town, and as the BBC noted a few years ago, “Not only is housewifery no longer pronounced huzzifry, it is almost entirely obsolete as a word.”) And the way the words are used changes over time as well; the word luxury originally meant “sinful self-indulgence, debauchery” and was not a complementary term at all!

While pronunciation, spelling, and usage are fairly common changes, what’s not common is the creation of a word from a symbol. Of course, letters themselves are symbols, but we’re referring to things like punctuation marks. A good example of this is the use of the word “period” to mean “full stop, that’s all, that’s how it’s going to be.” Instead of just using a “silent period” at the end of a normal sentence, you can articulate the mark to add emphasis, like this: “You can check out three books or two DVDs, period.” English professor Anne Curzan recently noticed the appearance of another vocalized punctuation mark: the slash (/).

It’s not unusual to see a slashed used in written form to make a connection between words or phrases that are separate but related, as in the common grouping of and/or. However, you don’t say “and slash or” because it’s understood that the slash is there (a “silent slash” if you will). What Curzan wrote about in The Chronicle of Higher Education is the increasing use of /slash as a word that is spoken out loud, or written out in a sentence as a word instead of a punctuation mark. You can read Curzan’s article here.

“Slash” isn’t really a new word for the English language, but this new use for the word is an interesting development in modern English. We’ll have to wait and see if the Oxford English Dictionary adds this new definition in the future, making it “officially” English slash not just slang any more.

Online chatters, gaming geekers, cellphone conversationalists, and pretty much anyone under the age of 25 all have one message for people complaining about the destruction of the English language via text speak: KTHXBAI. Rather than being the electronic virus that weakens children’s abilities to learn, read, and spell English words correctly, it’s now seen as more of a dialect of English, or even a second language, one that incorporates symbols as well as letters. While it’s possible that in some cases school papers are turned in with abbreviations found in text messages, rather than properly-spelled English words, as the years go by studies are finding that in general texting has no negative impact on overall literacy.

In fact, as John McWhorter, professor of linguistics at Columbia University, said in a recent talk on the subject, being able to switch between standard English and its more abbreviated form is almost like being bilingual. As many research studies have found, when children are bilingual, they have better overall mental skills. When you look at it in this light, it’s actually a good thing that children – and adults – are using this second “language” to communicate. As McWhorter says, in his experience as a professor, students aren’t handing in test papers filled with words like l8r or 4get or 2day, even though they might be using those abbreviated spellings in the text messages they’re sending out right before they take those tests. This flexibility in language use shows that they’ve got flexible and agile brains, something that will help them academically in any field, not just English.

In addition, he points out, abbreviations and slang have always been part of language, English included. Some words like sonar and AWOL started out as simple acronyms, but are now recognized as standard English words. It’s impossible to say what text speak terms might make it into the OED in the future, but McWhorter and other linguists are now saying that we should look at texting as part of the ongoing evolution of the English language, and not as an aberration that is destroying spelling and vocabulary skills.

You can hear Professor McWhorter’s TED talk on text speak here.

Cross-posted on the Ultimate Spelling blog.

If you had the chance to upgrade your vocabulary skills and your job skills at the same time, would you take it? Well, who wouldn’t want to improve their ability to compete and communicate in today’s employment market! Best of all, this method of vocabulary building won’t add any more time to your regular study program – thanks to modern technology, and the flexible features built into eReflect’s newest product, Ultimate Typing.

If you’re wondering how learning to touch type can help build vocabulary, keep reading, because there are more connections between the two than you might think. The first connection is the most basic: when you’re typing, you’re typing words. The more words you know, the easier they are to type, because you won’t have to stop and wonder if the word is spelled or used correctly. If you’re doing transcription and typing what someone else has dictated, your ability to catch and correct mistakes in vocabulary will make you a more valuable employee; it’s often the secretary who has the final responsibility of making sure business correspondence goes out error-free.

The fact that Ultimate Typing allows you to import any text to use in its exercises makes another important connection, because it means that when you’re practicing your typing skills to improve your speed and accuracy, you can use the vocabulary lists you’re studying. You can even import the words with their definitions, so that when you’re typing you’re also reading and absorbing the vocabulary information you need. If that isn’t a time-saver, we don’t know what is!

The third connection between vocabulary and typing has to do with speed. As you’ll learn when you go through the Ultimate Typing program, touch typing begins with your ability to memorize the placement of letter keys and train your brain to control your fingers so that they hit those keys automatically, without conscious effort. When you have an excellent vocabulary, it means you’ve also memorized the way words are spelled, and you don’t have to consciously think about it. Having both the spelling and the key combinations come automatically to your fingertips means that you’re able to type much faster, and your accuracy will be greater as well.

Adding this powerful tool to your vocabulary-building kit can only improve your chances of success! To learn more about Ultimate Typing, and how you can double or even triple your typing speed, visit the Ultimate Typing website.

In a previous post, we discussed whether or not animals can learn to communicate using the English language. Humans evolved to develop language as a form of communication, but there’s still an argument as to whether animals have a “language” or whether it’s just a combination of instinct, learned behavior, and pattern recognition. There’s no doubt that animals communicate, just a question of whether it’s a language, from our human perspective. As humans, we’re used to thinking about ourselves as operating on a higher order, able to use our brains for things that are more complicated, and to create and enjoy things like art and music. It’s what sets us apart from “mere animals” after all – or is it?

Many people may not know this, but there are animals and birds who live just as long as most human beings, or even longer. Since we generally equate age with wisdom, it’s logical to think that these creatures could accumulate just as much knowledge as we can, though perhaps from a different perspective. With sixty years to learn something, whether it’s how to paint or how to play a musical instrument, we assume that any person who spends that time on the task will succeed. So why wouldn’t an elephant?

There are many elephants who paint, and now there’s one who seems to enjoy music as well. Scientists and philosophers are continuing an ongoing debate as to how humans developed music; was it initially another form of communication, or something just for fun, or simply imitating the sounds they heard around them? Without a definitive way to communicate with the harmonica-playing elephant, there’s no way to find out if her music is deliberate or random, if it has a message or is just noise. But when we look at a painting or listen to music, that communicates something to us as the viewer or listener. If you saw a painting done by an elephant, but thought that a human had painted it, would you look at it in a different way? Perhaps we need to keep our ears open – and our minds as well – to consider that music, art, and communication isn’t just for humans. Perhaps one day we’ll learn the language of the elephants … if they don’t learn ours first.

Dancing isn’t just for people, either!

The 2011 World Scrabble Championship was held last week in Warsaw, Poland, and New Zealand native and two-time WSC winner Nigel Richards came out on top after playing words like insular, omnified, zenaidas, parodies, and angriest. This tournament, which has been held every other year since 1991, brings the top players from around the world to compete during five intense days of increasingly nerve-wracking challenges. While the top prize is only about $20,000 (US) some competitors spend the entire two years between events memorizing words, practicing placement strategies, and playing word-scramble and anagram games to help them quickly see the words hidden in a rack of tiles. They also compete in local and regional tournaments, and get a ranking assigned to them based on their scores and results.

The 2004 documentary “Word Wars” (inspired by the book “Word Freak” by Stefan Fatsis) follows four of the dedicated Scrabble players as they prepare for the 2002 US National Championship. These four men have essentially memorized dictionaries; they carry vocabulary flash cards with them, work crossword puzzles daily, and take “brain-enhancing” supplements to power them through the pre-tournament schedule. It’s a fascinating movie about talent, obsession, and vocabulary.

You’ll get an extra dose of vocabulary improvements when you watch the movie, because words and definitions used in the games pop up on the screen at regular intervals. If you can’t find a copy of the film, look for Fatsis’ book in the library, or look for a local Scrabble club. You can observe these “word warriors” in person, and might even be inspired to join the game yourself.

You might also be interested in the World Memory Championship – click here to find out more.

We might be getting ahead of ourselves with two words instead of one, but we hope that by giving you a bigger taste of the wonderful world of English vocabulary today, you’ll find you have a tendency to want even more information about useful and powerful words you can use to improve your English vocabulary. To give you an example of how useful these words are, let’s rewrite that sentence:

We might be precipitate in offering two words instead of one, but we hope that showing you how many interesting words there are to learn will give you a predilection towards increasing the time you spend on your vocabulary study.

In this example sentence, we’ve used the adjectival form of precipitate, meaning “done in haste or without prior thought.” When you use this word as a verb, it means “to cause to happen suddenly or unexpectedly.” The word comes from the Latin verb praecipitare (“to fall”) and was first used in the 16th century in England to describe the chemical reaction in which bits of solid matter suddenly form from a liquid and fall to the bottom of a container. The speed of this chemical process, as well as the action of the solids in solution, led to both senses of the word. We commonly use the word precipitation to refer to rain or sleet falling from the sky.

Predilection refers to a preference for or tendency towards something. If you have a predilection for salty foods rather than sweet, you’ll probably choose to snack from the bowl of pretzels at a party instead of the one filled with candy. This noun comes from another Latin verb, diligere (“to choose”), along with the prefix pre- (“before”). Your predilection is the thing you choose before anything else.

Notice that although both English words begin with the letters pre, only the second word actually contains a true prefix meaning “before.” If you didn’t know the meaning of the word precipitate and came across it while reading, you might be searching for a definition that had the sense of “before (something)” to figure out the meaning of the sentence or passage as a whole, and you’d probably end up being very confused. Taking the time to do a little research into a word’s etymology will help you understand its meaning, and improve your ability to quickly add new words to your vocabulary.

Over the last year, we’ve introduced you to dozens of interesting and useful words, such as propitious and cognizant and lassitude. We’re sure that in your own study and reading you’ve come across many more that you’ve added to your working vocabulary, giving you even more resources and skill to interact with your co-workers, clients, and supervisors, and improving your ability to read and comprehend texts and documents at all levels of difficulty.

Perhaps there’s one word that you particularly remember seeing in many places, or one that struck you as extremely useful. The editors at Merriam-Webster tagged austerity as their 2010 Word of the Year, based on the number of times their on-line users looked up the word. With all of the economic downturns around the world, it’s not surprising that this word appeared in many publications, arousing readers’ curiosity. Austerity is a noun that refers to strictly curtailed spending, on an individual or governmental basis, where money is only spent on things that are absolutely necessary. The related word austere is an adjective meaning “severe, stark, plain,” giving you an idea of the sort of budget and lifestyle an austerity program might produce.

The New Oxford American Dictionary editors chose refudiate as their 2010 Word of the Year, although many other language-oriented organizations don’t even recognize this as a real word. However, like many English words, this blend of refute (to disprove) and repudiate (to disown or reject) may in time become a standard dictionary entry. After all, brunch and simulcast and retrofit are now all commonly accepted as English words; each of them also began as a new blend of old words, gradually working its way into the English language.

The American Dialect Society will announce their 2010 Word of the Year in early January. Some early entries include skyaking (skydiving while in a kayak – really! – the goal of course being a water landing), fracking (using a technique called hydraulic fracturing to mine natural gas), and hashtag (a topic marker used on Twitter, e.g. #ultimatevocab).

What’s your 2010 Word of the Year?

Do you hear that loud buzzing sound in the background? It’s a chorus of vuvuzelas, announcing the fact that the Oxford Dictionary of English has added 2,000 new words to its official roster of English vocabulary in current use with its publication of the ODE Third Edition. After all the “buzz” about the vuvuzela (a large plastic trumpet-shaped horn) at this year’s World Cup, it’s not surprising that this word tops our list of new words from the ODE.

The stereotypical male has a hard time expressing his emotions, but with the ODE’s approval of the word bromance, he might find this a bit easier. It defines bromance as a close (but not sexual) relationship between two men. A “brotherly romance” like this is depicted in the Hollywood movies “I Love You, Man” and “Superbad.”

You might want to add a turducken to your holiday menu this year. A turducken is a rather complicated dish that consists of a whole deboned chicken that has been wrapped in a whole deboned duck, which in turn has been stuffed into the body cavity of a whole deboned turkey. Often a bread-based stuffing is added inside the chicken and between the layers of each bird. Once this pile of poultry has been assembled, it’s roasted in the oven and carved (to great fanfare, no doubt) at table.

If you need a recipe, you can use your netbook to look one up on the internet. A netbook is a small computer that’s much lighter than the average laptop because it has a stripped-down system that’s designed primarily to only use web-based applications.

Most recipe sites are free, but you might have to subscribe to some of them, like the gourmet-geared site “Cook’s Illustrated.” Those recipes are protected by a paywall – a web page that you can’t get past until you pay the subscription price.

Sit back, chillax, and enjoy these new additions to your vocabulary!

Note: The “Oxford Dictionary of English” (ODE) is a one-volume listing of words that are in current use in English, and was first published in 1998; the third volume was published in August 2010. The official Oxford English Dictionary (OED), begun in 1888, was first published in multi-volume format in 1928 and is a comprehensive listing of the English language; the current publication (second edition) is 20 volumes. As of August 2010, the editors have reached the letter “R” in their review of the eventual third edition.

Breaking news – we are planning to release a new version of Ultimate Spelling Software before the year’s end. The software will be a major upgrade and will include many new features requested by customers.

We are dedicated to our users and therefore an upgrade will be available to existing users at a very low cost (to cover the cost of delivery and support).

Ultimate Spelling is already arguably the most advanced, effective, and comprehensive spelling software available. However, new version will be unprecedented and will usher in a new era of computer aided spelling improvement.