Building a Better Vocabulary

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Vocabulary Banks

z A vocabulary bank is a list of high-utility words and phrases that

you create and keep handy while writing—whether for your job or

for pleasure—to remind you of possible word choices.

z For example, if you do a fair amount of informational writing

in your job, you might want to create a vocabulary bank of

summarizing words to ensure that you don’t always rely on the

phrase in conclusion.

ż This bank might include the following words and phrases:

consequently, WDNHQDVDZKROH, in other words, in short, in

summary, in simpler terms, on the whole, and therefore.^2

ż Or you might have a bank of words that signal cause/effect

relationships, such as thus, therefore, as a result, this led to, this

gave rise to, in turn, for this reason, it follows, consequently,

WKHUDPL¿FDWLRQVRI.

z You’re probably familiar with all these words and phrases, but you

may not necessarily be able to bring them to mind when you need

them. A vocabulary bank serves as a repository of important words

for you to keep as a handy reference and can help add precision and

variety to your writing.

1. Solve the following Hink Pinks: a timorous agent provocateur (hink
   pink), a less crooked quisling (hinky pinky), a religious man’s claptrap
   (hink pink), a fomenter experiencing a diminuendo (hinkety pinkety)


2. Practice leveraging context with at least one new word you encounter
   this week.

(^2) Vocabulary-bank suggestions drawn from the work of researchers Jeff Zwiers and
Dianna Townsend.
Review Questions