Why this is not a book to be read; how to learn to pronounce the new words correctly; how the etymological approach works better than any other method for learning words quickly and permanently; how to master nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in five to ten minutes; how to use the psychological principles of learning to sharpen your verbal skills.

Part one Getting off to a good start

1. How to Test Your Present Vocabulary

How vocabulary growth of the average adult compares with that of children; a simple test to show you whether your vocabulary is below average, average, above average, excellent, or superior in range, verbal speed, and responsiveness; important evidence of the close relationship between vocabulary and success.

2. How to Start Building Your Vocabulary

How building your vocabulary will enrich your thinking, increase your self-assurance in speaking and writing, and give you a better understanding of the world and of yourself; why it is necessary to recapture the “powerful urge to learn”; why your age makes little difference; how this book is designed to build a college-size vocabulary in two to three months.

3. How to Talk about Personality Types (Sessions 1-3)

Words that describe all kinds and sorts of people, including terms for self-interest, reactions to the world, attitudes to others, skill and awkwardness, marital states, hatred of man, of woman, and of marriage. How one session of pleasant work can add more words to your vocabulary than the average adult learns in an entire year; why it is necessary to develop a comfortable time schedule and then stick to it.

4. How to Talk About Doctors (Sessions 4-6)

Words that relate to medical specialists and specialties. Terms for experts in disorders of the female organs; childhood diseases; skin ailments; skeletal deformities; heart ailments; disorders of the nerves, mind, and personality. How selfdiscipline and persistence will ultimately lead to complete mastery over words.

5. How to Talk About Various Practitioners (Sessions 7-10)

Words that describe a variety of professions, including those dealing with the human mind; teeth; vision; feet; handwriting; aging; etc. How you are becoming more and more conscious of the new words you meet in your reading.

6. How to Talk About Science and Scientists (Sessions 11-13)

Words that describe students of human development, of the heavens, of the earth, of plant and animal life, of insect forms, of words and language, of social organization. Books on psychology that will add immeasurably both to your store of new words and ideas, and also to your understanding of yourself and of other people.

7. How to Talk About Liars and Lying (Sessions 14-17)

Words that accurately label different types of liars and lying. Terms that relate to fame, artistry, reform, heredity, time, place, suffering, etc. Four lasting benefits you have begun to acquire from your work in vocabulary building.

8. How to Check Your Progress: Comprehensive Test I (Session 18)

A 120-item test of your learning in Part I.

Part two Gaining increased momentum

9. How to Talk About Actions (Sessions 19-23)

Verbs that accurately describe important human activities. Excursions into expressive terms for good and evil, doing, saying, wishing, and pleasing. Further proof that you can learn, in a few weeks or less, more new words than the average adult learns in an entire year.

10. How to Talk About Various Speech Habits (Sessions 24-27)

Words that explore in depth all degrees and kinds of talk and silence. More books that will increase your alertness to new ideas and new words.

11. How to Insult Your Enemies (Sessions 28-31)

Terms for describing a disciplinarian, toady, dabbler, provocative woman, flag- waver, possessor of a one-track mind, freethinker, sufferer from imaginary ailments, etc. Excursions into words relating to father and mother, murder of all sorts, sexual desires, and various manias and phobias. Magazines that will help you build your vocabulary.

12. How to Flatter Your Friends (Sessions 32-37)

Terms for describing friendliness, energy, honesty, mental keenness, bravery, charm, sophistication, etc. Excursions into expressive words that refer to ways of eating and drinking, believing and disbelieving, looking and seeing, facing the present, past, and future, and living in the city and country. How the new words you are learning have begun to influence your thinking.

13. How to Check Your Progress: Comprehensive Test П (Session 38)

A 120-item test of your achievement in Part II.

Part three Finishing with a feeling of complete success

14. How to Talk About Common Phenomena and Occurrences (Sessions 39-41)

Words for poverty and wealth, direct and indirect emotions, not calling a spade a spade, banter and other light talk, animallike contentment, homesickness, meat-eating, and different kinds of secrecy. Excursions into terms expressive of goodness, of hackneyed phraseology, of human similarity to various animals, of kinds of sound, etc. How to react to the new words you meet in your reading.

15. How to Talk About What Goes On (Sessions 42-44)

Verbs that show exhaustion, criticism, selfsacrifice, repetition, mental stagnation, pretense, hinting, soothing, sympathizing, indecision, etc. How you can increase your vocabulary by picking your friends’ brains.

16. How to Talk About a Variety of Personal Characteristics (Sessions 45-46)

Adjectives that describe insincere humility, dissatisfaction, snobbery, courtesy to women, financial embarrassment, sadness, etc. How increasing your vocabulary has begun to change the intellectual climate of your life.

17. How to Check Your Progress: Comprehensive Test Ш (Session 47)

A 120-item test of your achievement in Part III.

18. How to Check Your Standing as an Amateur Etymologist

Answers to Teaser Questions in Chapters 3-7,9-12, and 14-16.

19. How to Keep Building Your Vocabulary

The five simple, but vital, steps to take so that you can keep your vocabulary ever developing, ever increasing. How your vocabulary will continue to grow only if you remain on the search for new ideas. The best means for making this search successful.

Appendix: Some Esoteric Phobias

Brief intermissions

1. Test Your Grammar

A thirty-sentence test of your ability to use words correctly. Is your English average, above average, or nearly perfect? .

2. Random Notes on Modem Usage

Grammatical usage is becoming more liberal every day—is your speech neither affected nor illiterate? Simple rules for fifteen important expressions.

3. How Grammar Changes

Grammar follows the speech habits of educated people—how does your grammar measure up in your use of nine common expressions?

4. How to Avoid Being a Purist

There is no reason for being overprecise in your speech—but do you also avoid barbarisms and illiterate expressions?

5. How to Speak Naturally

Nine more expressions of which you must be careful.

6. Do You Always Use the Proper Word?

A twenty-five sentence check on your increasing linguistic ability.

7. Some Interesting Derivations

How words come from the names of people and places.

8. How to Spell a Word

You can eliminate all your spelling difficulties—provided you know the tricks.

9. Take This Spelling Test

Proof that you are becoming a better speller.

10. Another Check on Your Spelling

Further tests to nail home the correct spellings of common but difficult words.

Word Power Made Easy - Norman Lewis 2014

Contents