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Articles about Vocabulary
Greetings from Portland, Oregon, where the American Dialect Society is holding its annual conference. On Thursday, in my capacity as chair of the society's New Words Committee, I presided over the nominating session for various categories in our Word of the Year selection.
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Under the HoodThe science of vocabulary building
Want to Set a Word Learning Goal for 2015? We Can Help.
Here's how we make your learning stick.
It's that time of year -- when you vow to do better in all things and yet, even as you solemnly swear, you know most of us will abandon our resolutions early on in the coming year. The good news? You're here on Vocabulary.com, which is designed to transform your current resolution into a word learning habit that affects the way you speak, read, write, and think. Here's how we make your resolution stick.
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It's time once again for the annual look back at the noteworthy words of the past year. Did you indulge in any manspreading or Columbusing this year? Were you concerned about dark money or plastigomerate? Here's a veritable vortex of words that rose to prominence in 2014.
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We have all seen this tired loop of "instruction": distribute word list, have students look up words, ask students to use the words in original sentences. While encouraging usage is never a bad idea, it's not realistic to expect students to pivot from definition to usage without guidance. We suggest ditching (or at least delaying) the idea of originality and instead asking students to model their sentences on usage examples written by those people who are especially skilled with using words: professional writers.
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Tasty MorselsGood stuff from Vocabulary.com
"Nice" or "Not Nice": Which are You?
A vocabularian's personality quiz
Before the highly overused nice slips off your tongue one more time, check out some more specific options at your disposal.
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Word CountWriters Talk About Writing
How Did "Quantum" Come to Mean "Really Big"?
That sense of its meaning is actually fairly new.
Verizon offers "Even faster FiOS Quantum Internet" speeds. Duracell has a new Quantum alkaline battery. James Bond had his Quantum of Solace. Any number of companies have "quantum" in their names as well. The implication is that "quantum" is something big and powerful, with a hint of science behind it.
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Here's the latest in our series of quick tips on usage and style shared by Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl. Mignon points out a common confusion that might leave you star-crossed.
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