Clever Ways to Use Vocabulary Flashcards, Part III:
The Vocab at Home Technique
Flip through your flashcards and find words that describe the rooms of your house and the objects in them. 2-4 words per room is about right (if you have something weird or interesting in your house, feel free to attach words to that, too – my cat was once feral but now is docile, and also is so hirsute that sometimes her shedding makes my house look slovenly). For instance, a kitchen might be a gustatory nexus and a shower, a place for diurnal ablutions. A trash can might be rancid or putrescent. Someone who often sits on the sofa and chats on the phone might consider the sofa to be a place to be garrulous (or verbose, prolix, or loquacious). You can even consider your books and DVDs! Surely some of them are jocular, lachrymose, or banal. (That Will Ferrell – he’s so waggish!)
Then, try one of the following:
- Visualizing: Look at the list for a particular room. Then, close your eyes and visualize the room and imagine the words either describing particular qualities, or even physically located in the room (like written on the wall). Imagine yourself lucubrating, (studying) at your desk. Maybe your bedroom is somnolent, (putting you to sleep) – that would look nice printed on your pillow, wouldn’t it? Visualizing words is a powerful way to remember them.
- Sketching: Draw a diagram or blueprint of your house, labeling rooms and objects with appropriate vocabulary words.
- Sticky Notes: Actually write vocabulary words on sticky notes and place them in appropriate rooms and on appropriate objects. This one might be hard if you live with other people – but it also might be a great conversation starter! Having your roommates, parents, or significant other ask you “Um, why does our fridge say fetid/span>?” is a great way to practice your new lexicon (and/or start a serious rift/span> in your personal life).
Here are some words that are especially well suited to this technique (although it really depends on what’s in your house – for instance, houseplants are verdant and celebrity magazines are lurid):
This material was adapted from Manhattan Prep’s Text Completion and Sentence Equivalence Strategy Guide. Go here to learn more about our other prep materials for the Revised GRE.
Next Flashcards article: Using Social Media To Buttress Your Vocabulary Studies