Do You Really need a Good Vocabulary?

When it comes to the English Language, there comes the question of one's Vocabulary.






English, being the "lingua Franca" of the world, freely derives upon words from other languages, example , Latin, Greek and so many others, that it has evolved into possessing a massive vocabulary in its present state.
First off, What is Vocabulary?



The Simplest definition for vocabulary is:

Vocabulary is the set of words a person is familiar with, in any language.


Its apparent that a person's extent of vocabulary indicates the level of proficiency a person has with relation to a language.
More the vocabulary, more the person's command of the language.

The Language, we're discussing at the moment, is English.

There are majority of people who use the Internet. English speaking people, Non English Speaking People, People who are proficient in English, and so many other categories.

Now the Interesting point you have to keep in mind when it comes to English Vocabulary is that, a person who has English as his mother tongue, might have lesser vocabulary than a non native speaker of the Language!

That is the beauty of English. Though the Native English speakers have a natural form of accented English, The correct Accents associated with English, it is possible for non native speakers with a better vocabulary to get to know English more than them.

What does it matter, if you have a better vocabulary than others?

You can express yourself in a much, much better way than you ever imagined.

How so?

Languages exist only as a means for people to communicate.

The More words you know of in a language, will help you in expressing how you feel more easily, and more effectively!

For Example, lets consider two persons. They're taking up an examination, which evaluates the person's confidence level. Its for a spokesperson job.

One person has an excellent command over English. He knows a lot of words.

The other person, though he can speak fluent English, has only a limited choice of words, for he isn't that well versed with English.

They're asked to write a single line, describing their confidence level.

The person with a good vocabulary writes:

I'm never the bombastic person, always the suave, slick yet serenely foresighted to formulate the apparition of the best possible outcome of any precarious predicament.

The person with a limited vocabulary writes:

I'm a calm guy, I always take things the way they come, and try to turn them to my side.



Now, who among the two, creates a better Impression?

Obviously its the guy with the better vocabulary.

This does not mean that those who are fluent in English yet endowed with a limited vocabulary are looked down upon. Its just that those with a better vocabulary always fare better.

The primary difference is that there will be a better awareness in the person with a better vocabulary, a quicker response to any situation that arises and needs a quick use of persuasion to be done.



But, there are instances where a person who speaks simple, yet understandable English fares much better than a person with a masterful command over English.

But, if you ever take it to task, to work on your vocabulary, you can at any time Impress anyone, or take hold of a situation that involves verbal persuasion, and can turn it to your advantage, with a better choice of words right?

Think :)

Have an opinion concerning the above Discussion? Feel free to drop a comment below, Your opinion is valued very much!

How to present answers

Having discussed about bettering your grades obtained in the previous posts, its time we looked upon a very important step in the process of any examination : Presenting your answers.

No matter how impressive your answers are, believe me, you'll never get the grades you deserve if your presentation is shabby.

For, the Examiner is also a person, he should also be able to read your answers quickly yet he should also be impressed by the presentation you have provided to the answers.

A Good Presentation makes a good first Impression for the Examiner to provide you with more grades.

The First Answer

A lot of attention should be directed by you towards providing the best possible presentation for the very first answer in the evaluation sheet.
It Should be Neat, without any overwriting, legible, to the point, and should be written with a language that's simple yet classy.

You should also be careful in Choosing which question you're attempting to answer first.

It is not possible to provide an excellent answer to a question you barely know the answer to, is it?

So make sure the question you pick is one that you have read thoroughly about.

Proceed to answer the question, make sure its presented in a tidy manner and that the important points are underlined. Its okay if you spend five minutes or a little more towards answering the first question, to maximize the impression it creates, then you can proceed answering the other questions.

By presenting the first question's answer neatly, you subconsciously instill some confidence within yourself to answer the subsequent questions more effectively. You also impress the Examiner a bit, coax him into thinking that the paper he's evaluating has a lot of effort put into it.

Page Margins.

The Answer sheet you are working on usually comes with the default margins, on the top and left corners.
It serves a good purpose if you take some effort in drawing an additional margin to the right and the bottom of the page.
This additional margin you draw adds some more succinctness to your paper, gives it an impression that it contains some information that is worth looking into.
It all comes down to the 'Placebo' effect, a way of coaxing the Examiner into thinking that the paper is that of an exemplary student.

Avoid Overwriting.

An oft committed mistake, this greatly reduces the value of your answers. An overwritten answer gives the impression of Insufficient preparation, Unsure-about-the-answers attitude, an overall detrimental effect on the Examiner to award more grades.
So, its vital that the answers provided are written in a continuous flow with as little overwriting to them as possible.

Underline the Keywords.

After having written the answers, quickly glance through them and underline the keywords and phrases you deem important with relevance to the answer.

Segregate Different Answers

Make sure you don't club all the answers together, leave a substantial amount of space between each and every other answer. Draw a simple line below each answer, to differentiate one answer from the other.

Underline the Headings

The Headings of each paragraph can do with a bit of underlining to them. It serves to accentuate the content of the following paragraph.


Remember, the answers do count a bit, but the impression you cast upon the examiner is also a vital part towards improving the grades obtained.

For, unless you cast the fishing pole into the water, you can't catch the fish right?

Without any effort, there cannot be an outcome.

Without a smart effort, there cannot be an appeasing outcome.

How to plan ahead

Each and every one of us would have invariably been caught in a precarious predicament at one point in our lives. And therein, we ask ourselves a very difficult question.



What lies ahead?

Life is replete with surprises. Surprises are exciting. In two ways : Good and Bad.
The Good way a surprise excites someone is when it turns out to be a pleasant one. Something that heralds better oppurtunity, better financial security, or even something that grants one a passionate love life.

The Bad way a surprise hits on someone is when they're faced with a daunting problem, a major financial crisis, joblessness, emotional turmoil, coping with stress, relationship issues, and various other crises that gloom normal, happy life.

Did you notice one thing?

The list of things that are "counted" as bad are endless. They keep stretching, and they're intertwined. They form a vicious circle.

On the other hand, the list of things that count as "good" are few. Why, pray? Cause Good things are generally never realized that they harbor goodness with them.

You, being the self analyzing, confident, intelligent person that you are, sometimes fail to realize the real crux of the situation that you're in.

Say, lets ponder on a small story below.

Two men are rowing kayaks. The river suddenly turns turbulent. One says to the other, "Hey man, the river seems to be in a bad mood, make sure you maintain your balance on the kayak!"

The other person, a -things-the-way-they-come person, retorts, "Why don't you shush and concentrate on the rowing?"

What happened?

The river was headed into a waterfall. The person who sensed it and prepared himself for the oncoming descent, managed to have a safe fall through the waterfall and down to the calmer water below.

The other person, who failed to realize the impending catastrophe, was swept along with the river in full force and crashed headlong into a rock precipice, hurting himself.

What does this tell us?

To plan ahead, to always keep an eye open for what might traverse us in our lives. No matter how secure/ insecure we feel about it.

How to plan ahead?


The primary step in planning ahead, is to set yourself a target.

Without a target, how can someone accomplish anything?

It's like a car on a friction less road. It keeps traveling, forever. Hypothetically proven.


Set a Goal.

Set yourself an objective. A Goal, a target, something you might feel like working towards to.

Let it be realistic, but by keeping it realistic, you need not restrict the limits to which you set yourself to.

The Goal should be something you will have to put in a lot of work to do it, it should be more or less a challenge.

Remember, if Edison hadn't taken it as a challenge to keep experimenting with the filament for a thousand times, we would never have seen the electric bulb in action!

Prioritize.

Classify your everyday activites into two types. Useful/ Useless.

Useful activities should be those that help you move one step closer to your goal. Useless activities are those that do not relate in any way to your goal, but they might be a casual activity in your daily life. It might be important, but that doesn't matter.
Just fill in the list according to the usefulness of the activity you indulge in.

The importance of this step is to self analyze yourself and to inform You of what you're really upto in each passing day of your life.




Be Confident.

The single most important foundation to achieving whatever your objective is to be sure of yourself that you're capable of doing whatever you set yourself to. This article might help you allay any fears you may have about your potential.

Don't waste the Present.

Remember, the past is finished. It's over, done, that's it. The future is uncertain. Its only the present that you hold in your hands. No matter what befell you in the past, if you make use of your current time usefully, the future will be good right?


Planning Ahead


Take up the list you made containing the activities you indulge in daily. Look at those that pertain towards the completion of your goal. Draw a mental picture of what you have to do in order to further your objective. Think. Think what you'll do to improve upon what you were already doing. Think of the pitfalls you might encounter, but also think how you will equip yourself to face them and succeed.

If at any point, you feel that something might not turn out favourably, convince yourself that it will, indeed turn out for the overall improvement of your current predicament, and whatever turmoil that heralds only serves as experience, a powerful tool with which you can bravely face the future!

Remember, it's not the bad things that pull us down, it's us thinking that things will end up bad that pull us down!

Please feel free to drop a comment on whether you liked the article, or if you have any similar experiences or suggestions. I'll be very glad to read it, Drop a comment below!