Awesome Tips to Expand Your Vocabulary and Improve the English Pronunciation

Non-native English speakers often inquire about how to improve the English vocabulary and enunciate words with an American Accent. In this article, we will discuss some easy and fun ways to expand the list of words you use.

An Accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a particular country, region, or social class. Similarly, American Accent is a manner in which English words are pronounced that seems unique in its own way and people can easily make out from which country it belongs.

Once you master the skill of speaking in an American Accent and build a mighty stockpile of English words, it will yield immense benefits.

• You will be able to communicate in a better way
• You will be able to express clearly in a concise manner
• People will understand your talks more easily
• It will also help you to understand the speech of native English speakers.

Prior proceeding to the tips of building good English vocabulary and pronouncing them in an American Accent, let’s check your vocabulary strength through this brief exercise. Fill in the blanks with the following words that you think most appropriate to these sentences (correct answers are given at the end of the article):

TWISTY, CRAMP, POUNDED, SCRUNCHY, GROUCHY, SHIVERS, STIFF, BOBBED, BET

1. After my run, I got a really bad ________ in my right leg.
2. He ________ the punching bag.
3. You look so ________ this morning. What’s wrong?
4. He hobbled home through the ________ hard snow.
5. This part of the song is so amazing. It gives me the ________ every time I hear it.
6. He _________ in agreement at the man’s suggestion to organize a strike.
7. I _________ you will never finish this book while you are on your vacation.
8. What’s wrong with you? Did you see a ghost? You look so _________. Relax.
9. The roller coaster is crazy. Its so ________ and wild!

How to Expand your Vocabulary

1. Read as much as you can
   

Reading Novels, Magazines, Newspapers, Articles etc. is the best way to learn more words. The more you read, the more you will get familiar with new words. Whenever you get stuck with unknown words, consult a dictionary or thesaurus to know the meaning of it. Also, learn to pronounce those words in an American accent as you proceed. You must also practice reading out loud for 30 minutes everyday.

2. Write down the words that are unknown to you

As you go on discovering new words, write it down so that you do not miss out anything. You can also revise it afterwards and get familiar with such words. In a way, it will help you to create your own dictionary. It is seen that when you read new words, you tend to remember it for some days in general. After a certain time passes, there is a chance of forgetting. In order to avoid it, it would be a good idea to list down new words.

3. Consult a Dictionary or Thesaurus

Always keep a handy dictionary or thesaurus with you. It can be a hardcopy, a Smartphone or desktop Application, Online or Audio format. Whenever you come across any new words, do check the meaning of it. To know how these are pronounced, make sure to consult an online or Smartphone tool. If you are also using the thesaurus then find similar words and phrases and their opposites (synonyms and antonyms).

When you look up the word in the dictionary, make sure that you also look at the examples of that word about how it is being used in a sentence. It is known as Collocations. So, for example when you learn any word, it’s important for you to know on what context the word fits most appropriately. 

4. Play some fun Word Games
   

Playing Word Games can prove to be an effective tool to discover new words and their meaning. It will help you to expand your vocabulary to a great extent. Along with it, word games bring lots of other benefits like increase in knowledge, improves spelling, acts as an exercise to your brain, make the brain active, and so on.  

Easy and Fun Tips to Improve your Pronunciation

• Listen to speeches by native English speakers
• Talk to people who have a good grasp of the language
• Listen to News channels and watch Live debates
• Enunciate words in an American accent when you are reading
• Learn how to articulate your tongue while pronouncing the vowels and consonants

To conclude, learning new words and pronouncing in a native accent must go hand in hand. You must practice diligently in putting your new words into your writing and speaking. Doing so, you can actually remember and recollect any word instantly as and when needed.

In order to build a stronghold in English Language and its Pronunciation, join a FREE Accent Training Class with LocalMasters. More than 95% of our participants find our FREE session useful for them to understand the learning path and evaluate their learning needs.

Correct Answers for the above Exercise:
1)CRAMP  2)POUNDED  3)GROUCHY   4)SCRUNCHY   5)SHIVERS   6)BOBBED  7)BET  8)STIFF  9)TWISTY