Collecting Vocabulary for CP III English
Success in the English classroom (and, indeed, out of it) starts with a good vocabulary. If people are using “big words” that you don’t understand, you just missed out on vital[1] information. You lost that round.
When you try to put a sophisticated and nuanced[2] thought into words, you don’t have the words necessary for the job. Which means you will be saying something other than what you actually mean. (What we have here is a failure to communicate.)
And, needless to say, a well-stocked vocabulary is key to scoring well on the SAT.
This year we will be abandoning the concept of the vocabulary book, as a method of learning both artificial and inefficient. But we will not be foregoing the idea of vocabulary development. We will instead pursue a more naturalistic method. We must be as little children, and learn new words in the context of our lives.
The first and most important place to search out new words will be in the works we encounter in class. If we do not know key words being used by our writers, we will then doubtlessly miss key concepts being studied. So our word-search will help us in classroom performance. And, as these are words employed by learned and intelligent men and women, they will be continually useful down the road of life.
You may also take advantage of your outside-the-classroom reading. This could include other classes (excluding class-specific vocabulary: i.e., no moles, jewels, ergs, or Wobblies), or completely extracurricular reading.
When you come across one of these words that is unfamiliar to you – they don’t have to be totally unknown words; they can be words that you kinda, sorta know, but not entirely – enter it into your “Vocabulary Collection Depot”. Your goal this semester will be to collect a minimum of five words per week, with their concurrent[3] definitions. For some of these words, I will ask you to collect, from the internet (GoogleNews is an excellent source), sample sentences using your words in context.
DAY / WORD/SOURCE / PART OF SPEECH / DEFINITION *F / paradigm / N / V / ADJ / ADV / 2. an example serving as a model; pattern.
“Open Letter”
Sample Sentence ** / By separating the concept of "legal access to music" from the age-old paradigm of "paying the artist for an entire song or album," they've presented us with a whole new set of ethical dilemmas to worry about.
Internet Source: Boulder Weekly /
I will collect these tables each Monday, and they will be given a point total (0-6), which will then be tabulated as a separate grading category, worth 10% of your overall grade.
[1] vi·tal(adjective) – 1. of or pertaining to life: vital processes. 2. having remarkable energy, liveliness, or force of personality: a vital leader. 3. being the seat or source of life: the vital organs. 4. necessary to life: vital fluids.
5. necessary to the existence, continuance, or well-being of something; indispensable; essential: vital for a healthy society
[2]nu-ance (noun) – 1. a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
nuanced (adj.)
[3] con·cur·rent (adj.) – 3. acting in conjunction