Have you ever completed the Word Power feature in Reader’s Digest? I’m not much interested in such games – I don’t even do crosswords! – but I am committed to increasing my own vocabulary. Why? Because if I know more words, I’ll be able to read more fluently. But even more important, I’ll be able to write better. Knowing lots of words allows me – and you — to be more precise in writing. In my word-of-the-week feature I share a word with you that I’ve discovered in my own reading.
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: batholith I read the book The Mountain Story by Canadian novelist Lori Lansens for one reason: Another novel of hers, The Girls, sits near […]
What’s a batholith? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: spline… Today’s word of the week comes not from my reading but from my husband. Yesterday we happened to be talking about a
Reading time: About 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: roiling … I attended college at the very end of the 1970s. The place my children now attend — my own alma mater — seems vastly
What does ‘roiling’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: porcine… I don’t know that I’ve ever used the word porcine, but when my colleague John Friesen emailed me about it, I knew
What does ‘porcine’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Just over 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: forfend… I don’t think I had ever encountered the word forfend before reading a delightfully snarky Gail Collins column in the May
What does the word ‘forfend’ mean? Read More »
Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: morganatic…. A Ukrainian-born Russian-registered cossack who became the lover of Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky was also rumoured to be something I’d never heard of:
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: perspicacity…. I’ve heard the word perspicacity since I was a child. I’ve probably even used it. But I could no longer remember what
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: limning. My colleague John Friesen is a voracious reader. I can tell by the wide variety of texts he sends me, usually
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: nocebo… I usually enjoy reading Seth Godin’s blog. I find it entertaining, interesting and frequently provocative. But it’s always written in plain English,
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Reading time: Less than 1 minute Increase your vocabulary and you’ll make your writing much more precise. That’s why I provide a word of the week. Today’s word: epergene… I view myself as a serious cook and entertainer, but I had never come across the word epergne until I read Patricia
What’s an “epergne”? Read More »