Norman Lewis - Word Power Made Easy: The Complete Handbook for Building a Superior Vocabulary

FIRST ANCHOR EBOOK EDITION, MARCH 2014

Copyright 1949, 1978 by Norman Lewis

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Anchor Books, a division of Random House LLC, New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, Penguin Random House companies. Originally published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House LLC, New York, in 1949. This edition originally published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, in 1979

Anchor and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Extract from Be a Perfect Speller in 30 Minutes, by Norman Lewis, copyright 1946, by Esquire, Inc. Reprinted from February 1946 Coronet.

Extract from How to Spell a Word, by Norman Lewis, copyright 1948, by Esquire, Inc. Reprinted from January 1949 Coronet.

Extract from Mind Over Grammar, by Norman Lewis, copyright 1947, by Fawcett Publications, Inc.

Extract from Can You Catch a Misspelled Word, by Norman Lewis, copyright 1948, by Fawcett Publications, Inc.

Extract from Watch That Word, by Norman Lewis, copyright 1948, by Fawcett Publications, Inc.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-307-81749-5

www.anchorbooks.com

v3.1

TO:

My family and friends, who accepted, without apparent resentment and with barely audible complaint, my complete self-isolation during the many months in which I totally and shamefully neglected them while working on the revision of this book.

Especially: Mary; Margie Baldinger and the kids; Debbie and Allen Hubbert; Milton Lewis; Karen and Bob Kopfstein; Leonard Vogel, one of Americas great painters, and Shirley; gourmet cooks David and Janice Potts; Seymour and Nan Prog; Ruth and Leo; Dave and Jan Hopkins; Carol and Marvin Colter; Bob Finnerty, my chess opponent, who says that winning is all that counts; Doris Garcia; Eleanor and Robert Poitou; Mary El and Dick Gayman

Walter Garcia, Len Grandy, Don Jenkins; Sally Landsburg; Ted and Margaret Snyder; Jean Bryan; Rhoda and Ralph Duenewald; George and Phyllis Juric; Bob and Monica Myers, Tony and Kathy Garcia, Jean Kachaturian; Margie Lopez and Jo Watson

Myrtle and Ace, Donny and Estelle, Helen and Ben, Judy and Bob, Doris and Muriel, Danny and Mary; in memoriam, Max and Frances

Larry Scher, Chuck Nichamin, Sue Sullivan, Rosemary and Debbie Greenman, Alice Hessing, Dave and Lynn Bisset, Danny Hernandez, John Arcadi and Peggy Arcadi, Norm Ashley, Aaron Breitbart

Lorin and Gloria Warner, Marty and Ros Chodos, Mahlon and Gwen Woirhaye, Leon and Kay East, Marijane and Paul Paulsen, Helen and Russ Hurford, Elior and Sally Kinarthy

Carolyn Russell, Rod Sciborski, Vera Laushkin, John Hahn, Liz Johnson, Leonora Davila, Jim Hawley, Jerry Lenington, Jay Loughran, Susan Obler, Marilyn Houseman, Rita Scott, Chris Hamilton, Joan Nay, Mary Lewis, Virginia Sandoval, Hazel Haas

The staff and all my students at Rio Hondo College

My editor at Doubleday, Jean Anne Vincent, who so patiently and cheerfully goaded, prodded, pushed, wheedled, and cajoled me into finishing on time.

Also: I wish to thank Karen Kopfstein and Peggy Chulack for their promptness and care in typing the manuscript.

Whittier, California
January 1978

Why this is not a book to be read; how to learn to pronounce the new words correctly; how the etymological approach works better than any other method for learning words quickly and permanently; how to master nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in five to ten minutes; how to use the psychological principles of learning to sharpen your verbal skills.

How vocabulary growth of the average adult compares with that of children; a simple test to show you whether your vocabulary is below average, average, above average, excellent, or superior in range, verbal speed, and responsiveness; important evidence of the close relationship between vocabulary and success.

How building your vocabulary will enrich your thinking, increase your self-assurance in speaking and writing, and give you a better understanding of the world and of yourself; why it is necessary to recapture the powerful urge to learn; why your age makes little difference; how this book is designed to build a college-size vocabulary in two to three months.

Words that describe all kinds and sorts of people, including terms for self-interest, reactions to the world, attitudes to others, skill and awkwardness, marital states, hatred of man, of woman, and of marriage. How one session of pleasant work can add more words to your vocabulary than the average adult learns in an entire year; why it is necessary to develop a comfortable time schedule and then stick to it.

Words that relate to medical specialists and specialties. Terms for experts in disorders of the female organs; childhood diseases; skin ailments; skeletal deformities; heart ailments; disorders of the nerves, mind, and personality. How self-discipline and persistence will ultimately lead to complete mastery over words.

Words that describe a variety of professions, including those dealing with the human mind; teeth; vision; feet; handwriting; aging; etc. How you are becoming more and more conscious of the new words you meet in your reading.

Words that describe students of human development, of the heavens, of the earth, of plant and animal life, of insect forms, of words and language, of social organization. Books on psychology that will add immeasurably both to your store of new words and ideas, and also to your understanding of yourself and of other people.

Words that accurately label different types of liars and lying. Terms that relate to fame, artistry, reform, heredity, time, place, suffering, etc. Four lasting benefits you have begun to acquire from your work in vocabulary building.

A 120-item test of your learning in Part I.

Verbs that accurately describe important human activities. Excursions into expressive terms for good and evil, doing, saying, wishing, and pleasing. Further proof that you can learn, in a few weeks or less, more new words than the average adult learns in an entire year.

Words that explore in depth all degrees and kinds of talk and silence. More books that will increase your alertness to new ideas and new words.

Terms for describing a disciplinarian, toady, dabbler, provocative woman, flag-waver, possessor of a one-track mind, freethinker, sufferer from imaginary ailments, etc. Excursions into words relating to father and mother, murder of all sorts, sexual desires, and various manias and phobias. Magazines that will help you build your vocabulary.

Terms for describing friendliness, energy, honesty, mental keenness, bravery, charm, sophistication, etc. Excursions into expressive words that refer to ways of eating and drinking, believing and disbelieving, looking and seeing, facing the present, past, and future, and living in the city and country. How the new words you are learning have begun to influence your thinking.

A 120-item test of your achievement in Part II.

Words for poverty and wealth, direct and indirect emotions, not calling a spade a spade, banter and other light talk, animallike contentment, homesickness, meat-eating, and different kinds of secrecy. Excursions into terms expressive of goodness, of hackneyed phraseology, of human similarity to various animals, of kinds of sound, etc. How to react to the new words you meet in your reading.