Tips on expanding your vocabulary and becoming a better communicator

"If your only tool is a hammer, then every problem will look like a nail." That's an old saying, but how true. Likewise when speaking or writing, if you have only a limited vocabulary, it's hard to explain or describe the richness of life or the specificity of an event.

So it's up to us to expand our vocabularies, especially if we want to be improve our communications skills.

I learned a few years ago that the size of a person's vocabulary can often be tied to their socio-economic status. For instance, children growing up in a poor home may not have access to books (and parents reading to them) that children in a middle-class family would have. Stated another way, a single parent raising children may not have the money to buy books or have the energy to read to the children, especially if the mom or dad is working two jobs to make ends meet.

As a child, I had two loving parents along with older brothers and sisters and was surrounded by books and parents and siblings that would read to me. Still I feel the need to learn more words...basically because there are so many words to learn.

So what can I do? The easiest thing would probably be reading Webster's dictionary, but that's not very fun. However, there are lots of dictionaries that are fun to read. One of them I own deals with things that help us understand our social culture, a second gives definitions for euphemisms. Both are lots of fun, and expand your vocabulary and knowledge along the way.

A second tried and true method is to read good literature. For instance, I like westerns. There is a big difference between reading a Louis L'Amour western and a Zane Grey novel, such as "Riders of the Purple Sage." Even though Louie is a native of North Dakota, if you've read one of his novels, you've basically read them all. On the other hand, a Zane Grey western hits all the high notes and paints the most brilliant pictures, especially of the southwest United States.

But I just don't stop with westerns. Another of my favorite authors is Stephen Ambrose. He writes histories and my favorite is "Undaunted Courage", which is about Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery. Mr. Ambrose is now dead, but he used to come to North Dakota and especially Fort Mandan north of Bismarck to speak about Lewis and Clark. If you ever heard him speak, his written prose sound just like him...a little bit staccato and with a certain fierceness and bravado.

However, perhaps my favorite way to learn new words is through crossword puzzles. Every morning before leaving for work, I at least start the crossword puzzle in the Bismarck Tribune. I generally don't give myself enough time to finish the puzzle before I go to work, but sometimes I do finish it, and I consider it a good omen.

Every puzzle offers me a couple of new words or new uses of old words. For instance, the puzzle today contains the word "legumes", which I know as peas. However, the definition is for a "cover crop" -- meaning that legumes can be planted to hold the soil together and provide nutrients to the soil while producing a crop...peas.

Another clue today was "Cochise's tribe". Now I could look this up on the Internet, but it's more fun to have the word appear by answering other clues. First I had found an "a" when I wrote "taro" as a "South Seas edible root." The next letter was a "p" because the clue was a "well known cartel" and the answer was 'OPEC." It wasn't long before "Apache" appeared as the answer.

There's another trick I know, not for expanding your vocabulary, but for becoming a better story teller and writer. The next time you are watching your favorite show, such as "Modern Family" for me, sit with a tablet and pen and look for colorful or witty phrases and write them down. Many TV shows are very well written and by listening to them and paying a little extra attention, we can learn from some mighty clever writers.

I hope you enjoy this blog because it allows me to show off some vocabulary and writing techniques that I've learned by applying these tips.