Beyond Words
I want to introduce you to a new weekly feature that will be appearing on Reading In White Bear Lake. I am excited to add this weekly feature to my blog. Beyond Words is a weekly feature that will build your vocabulary. I find that since I am no longer in the academic world, I don’t take the time to learn new words. If I do learn them, I quickly forget them. I read voraciously, but find that I will skip over words that I am not familiar with. Well, not anymore, Beyond Words will feature those words each week that I would normally skip right over. I will post words that I come across in my weekly reading that I was previously unfamiliar with or unsure of their meaning.
Why?? A wise mentor of mine once told me, “make the dictionary your friend”. She believed that one true determination of level of success was your vocabulary. A integral part of success is the ability to effectively communicate. The other reason this idea has popped into my head is my children. They both have great vocabularies beyond their years, but my youngest frequently asks me, “What does this word mean?” I sometimes find it difficult to communicate the definition of a word I know in a manner he will understand. This feature will give me practice in doing that. This year my youngest has an amazing third grade teacher. He uses vocabulary words at times that make me take a second listen!
Remember…..you are never to old to learn!! I love learning and reading, what better combination could there be.
The gift of using words best comes from knowing words
as intimately as you know your own family.
Lloyd Edwin Smith
New words to me this week:
Avaricious – (adj.) greedy of gain : excessively acquisitive especially in seeking to hoard riches
Listen to the audio pronunciation
Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards (did not mark the page as I encountered this word before I can up with the idea for this feature!)
Insular – (adj.) characteristic of an isolated people; especially: being, having, or reflecting a narrow provincial viewpoint
Listen to the audio of pronunciation
page 278, Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
“His work had fallen out favor and he will not adopt the popular artistic fads, and so he was insular even before this loss.”
I hope you enjoy the addition of this feature to Reading In White Bear Lake. I plan on adding a Mr. Linky or a similar application so you can share you newly discovered words with us each week as well. I hope you will participate!
Happy Reading!
Still testing.............
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