Vocabulary Basics for Business is intended for adults who wish to improve their English vocabulary. The most common reason for needing to increase or broaden vocabulary is lack of experience with reading. Not surprisingly, thoughtful reading is key to developing a broader vocabulary. Read as much as you possibly can read—anything that interests you, whether magazine or novel, textbook or junk mail, a newspaper or a cereal box, e-mail or Web pages—read.
When you read, watch for unfamiliar words or phrases or words used in unfamiliar ways. Try to determine their meaning by the other information you are given in the sentence or paragraph. Re-read a paragraph and state it in your own words. Start by thinking, "This paragraph says that. . ." or "This probably means . . . ."
Re-read. If you find reading a textbook somewhat difficult, read a few pages and then go back and read them again. Many times your knowledge of the topic will increase as you read further, so that when you re-read earlier material you understand it more easily and clearly.
Using a dictionary to check the meaning of a word is worth the time. Keep a dictionary handy. Look up meanings of words that you come across in your reading and then use that meaning to re-state the information in a way that is clearer to you. Looking up words just for fun is not necessarily a useful exercise because you do not see or hear the terms used in a sentence or paragraph—that is, "in context." Your understanding and your memory are much better when you see a term in a specific context.
One of the important ways that this book will help you increase your vocabulary is to teach you ways to think about what you read and about words and their relationships. In that way, Vocabulary Basics for Business is a tool that supports and facilitates—that is, makes easier—the vocabulary development work you do through your reading.
