Creative Ways to Learn Vocabulary Words 

Robert Harris
Version Date: November 14, 2011

Active Learning

Tom Swifties

In their original form, Tom Swifties involve a statement by Tom followed by an adverb or a verb that puns on the statement:

• "The sign on the fence says, 'Beware of High Voltage,'" said Tom electrically.
• "After such a long trip, I'm just dead, " said Tom posthumously.
• "I just washed the dog," Tom said cleanly.
  
• "I sure like this turkey sandwich," Tom gobbled.
• "Three plus two is five," Tom added.
  

To use  Tom Swifties  for vocabulary development, simply include the word's definition in the statement and the word itself as the adverb. Here are some examples:

• “Now that we’re here let’s look around,” Tom said circumspectly.
• "This dishwasher runs by itself," said Tom automatically.
• "I don't believe that," sad Tom incredulously.
• "This decision is fair to you both," said Tom equitably.
• "I'm in no shape at all," said Tom amorphously.
• "He acts like a know-it-all," Tom said omnisciently.
• "I'm broke again," Tom said impecuniously.
  

Reverse Swifties

• "I will be happy to produce the evidence," Tom said, pulling it out.
• "I've given this contract a cursory look," said Tom, glancing through it.
• "I hope you can disambiguate this passage," Tom said clearly.
• "Your performance was positively incandescent," Tom beamed brightly.
• "That fad for fried popcorn will be ephemeral," Tom said briefly.
  

Dog Pile

A dog pile is a sentence made up of several words using the same root word, prefix, or suffix. Creating dog piles is a good way to learn roots and the meaning of several words at once. Examples:

• The porter reported that he transported the import to the airport. [root: port, to carry]
• Jane induced Tom to produce the exercise that would reduce his waist.  [root: duct, duce: to pull]
• To determine whether the autograph on the lithograph was genuine, James was given a polygraph test.
• The man was dejected that his project was rejected.
• The guard refused to admit the missionary until he got a permit to transmit the missive.
  

Root Canal

A root canal is made by including the meaning of the word's prefix, root, and suffix (if any) in brackets in a sentence. This is a good game to play with flash cards. The sentence goes on one side and the vocabulary word goes on the other. Here are a few examples;

• Jane felt [down+throw] when she didn’t make the cheerleading squad. [dejected]
• The [self+life+writing] of the mountain climber sold a million copies. [autobiography]
  
• The man's [time+measurer] had stopped working at 12 noon. [chronometer]
• The barber was tempted to [against+speak] his customer, but kept quiet. [contradict]
• The computer virus was called a [many+forms] type because it could change as it spread. [polymorphic]
  

Neologisms

A neologism is a [neo + logos] new word, a word you make up yourself. If you make up a word on your own that is unrelated to the classical word roots, prefixes, and suffixes, your hearer or reader will likely not know what you are talking about. For example, if you say, "I have a blint at home," you won't convey much information because no one else knows what you mean by a blint until you tell them. But if you say, "I have an omnispect," then your  hearer or reader (if they know word roots and prefixes) can understand something about your meaning. A few examples:

• "I feel like retroambulating," Jane said.  [walking backwards]
• "I could fax or have my secretary call," Joe said, "but I think I will autolog to my customers today." [talk myself]
• "We've seen an example, but what we need is an antiparison," the professor said. [join against--a nonexample?]