Тони Бьюзен - Mind Map Handbook

Learn Five New Word Roots Each Year

Give yourself the simple task of learning five new word roots each year. You can do this in concentrated chunks, or spread them out over the seasons. It may not sound like much, but after 10 years you will have acquired 150 new roots, which, themselves, will help you generate thousands of new words .

Look For Onomatopoeic Words and Phrases

Onomatopoeia, as you know, is a word or phrase that sounds like the thing it describes. Two well-known examples are ‘the murmuring of innumerable bees’, and ‘the tintinnabulation of tiny bells’. Onomatopoeic words add power, rhythm and beauty to your growing vocabulary and communication skills.

The ideas in this chapter are summarized in Plate 10.

Word Power Booster Number 3

This Word Power Booster is devoted to words that themselves suggest power and strength. When you use them it will similarly add power and strength to your vocabulary and power and strength to your Verbal Intelligence. Chose the definition you think is closest to the actual meaning of each word.

INTREPID (in- tré -pid)

(a) Terrified

(b) In-between

(c) Strong

(d) Fearless

IMPREGNABLE (im- prég -nabul)

(a) Not pregnant

(b) Cannot be taken

(c) Infertile

(d) Of great magnitude

UNALTERABLE (un- órter -abul)

(a) An argument

(b) Incapable of religious conversion

(c) Unable to be changed

(d) Changeable

PARAMOUNT ( pá -rra-mount)

(a) A film

(b) To ascend a peak

(c) A small mountain

(d) Of chief importance

RIGOROUS ( ríg -or-rus)

(a) Flexible

(b) Exacting

(c) Sickly

(d) Like rope

UNMITIGATED (un- mít -igay-ted)

(a) Unqualified

(b) Unexamined

(c) Unfenced; free

(d) Not met

CLIMACTIC (cly- mák -tic)

(a) Meteorological

(b) To ascend

(c) Reaching the highest point

(d) Equatorial

SACROSANCT ( sák ro-sankt)

(a) Most sacred; inviolable

(b) Sugar-like

(c) A mortuary

(d) Impossible

UNIMPEACHABLE (un-im- péech -abul)

(a) Not allowed to sell fruit

(b) Not pleasant

(c) Unable to be called into question; irreproachable

(d) Extremely pleasant

CLARION ( klár -ion)

(a) A small clarinet

(b) Loud and clear

(c) A household cleaner

(d) A gong

2.4

Word Power II – Prefixes and Suffixes

‘So long as the language lives then the nation lives too.’

Czech proverb

Words are power. Words are wealth. Words are your Intellectual Capital, the currency with which you communicate, relate to those around you, do business, express your full range of feelings from anger to love, create your personal literature, persuade, influence, guide others, and direct your own life.

Case Study – Verbal Intelligence and Academic Success

Dr Wilfred Funk reports on an experiment on vocabulary improvement and academic success, which was carried out in two American school classes. The ages and background of the two groups of students were similar and each contained a similar cross-section of the local community.

One class carried on with its normal studies. The second group of students, the ‘experimental group’, were given extra classes, in which they had special and rigorous training to develop their vocabulary and Verbal Intelligence.

As you might expect, at the end of the study the students who had had Verbal Intelligence training scored higher marks in English tests than did the ‘control group’.

However, far more significant than this was the fact that they scored higher marks in every other subject , including all the sciences and mathematics!

Improving Verbal Intelligence has a dramatic and positive effect on all aspects of academic success.

Case Study – Word Power, Hats and Stockings!

Dr Funk reports two other experiments that demonstrate the power of the word, both involving word power and fashion.

The first experiment involved men and a store’s hat department. Two counters in the department were covered with identical numbers of identical hats, each hat being of the same make, and the styles and colours on each counter being exactly the same.

The only difference between the two counters was that on one there was printed the large word ‘Tyrolean’. The other counter had no sign.

Do you think this single word had any effect on sales and, if so, how much?

The amazing result was that three times as many of the ‘worded’ hats were sold!

The second experiment involved women, fashion and a similar experimental design.

This time, two counters were stocked with identical brands and styles of plain beige stockings.

As with the hat experiment, the two counters were identical, except that on one the stockings were labelled ‘Gala’, and the other had no sign at all. Ten times as many pairs of the Gala stockings were sold!

Store up these experiments in your Verbal Intelligence databanks. Realize how much power your words have to influence others. Realize also how much power words have to influence you!

‘Words are the pegs on which to hang ideas.’

Henry Ward Beecher

A single word or phrase can multiply sales, mend a fractured relationship, inspire a nation, immortalize a name and change history. The otherwise relatively unknown English poet Stevie Smith is known to increasing millions for the brilliant and moving end to one of her poems:

‘I was much too far out all my life

And not waving but drowning.’

John F. Kennedy changed the focus of the American nation, and the perception and direction of the human race, with his immortal statement in 1961 to put an American on the moon within 10 years:

‘I believe that the nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.’

Similarly, the careless use of a phrase can dog an individual for the rest of his life. Many of you reading this book will know who said the phrase: ‘I didn’t inhale.’ This unfortunate choice of words will haunt Bill Clinton for decades.

Word Beginnings and Word Endings

You are now about to embark on another adventure similar to that on which you embarked with Roots. This time you will explore the universe of Prefixes (word beginnings) and Suffixes (word endings) – 12 in all. These are like Roots that exist at the beginning and ends of words. Once again, you will be entertained by the Ancient Romans and Greeks. They will help you on your way to developing a rich and robust vocabulary.

Enjoy the journey!

Case Study – Vocabulary and Standard IQ

The great IQ guru, Professor Lewis M. Turman of Stanford University, posed an interesting question. He wanted to know if vocabulary tests alone would be as accurate an indicator of intelligence as full-blown IQ tests, which would include, in addition, logical and mathematical questions, etc. He found that they did! Turman had discovered that vocabulary alone was an extremely successful indicator of academic and professional success and overall standard intelligence.

Prefix Number 1

con– co–

Meaning: with; together (from the Latin)

‘This prefix will allow you to make good connectionswhen other people who love language congregate.’

Example words