Vocabulary Books

Essential Words for the GRE (Barron's Essential Words)

Philip Geer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A real lifesaver 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 16 people found this review helpful.

I was having so much trouble learning vocabulary before the GRE but this helped so much. I learned the words quickly thanks to how this book was set up and the next time I took the GRE I rocked the vocab section. This book is a must.

Good to have for the test 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I'm an international student and this book helps me a lot. I remember all the word and understand how to use it. Even you don't take the test, it is good to know these words for graduate level. Thanks Barron.

Editorial Review:

Test takers preparing to take the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) must command a high-level vocabulary to achieve a high score. This book is designed to teach the definitions of 800 words often appearing on the GRE while also familiarizing test takers with how the words are generally used in context. The book opens with a pretest that serves as a diagnostic, then presents the word list with extensive sentence-completion exercises. A following chapter discusses and analyzes essential word roots. The book concludes with a detailed post-test. Answers are given for all exercises and for all questions in the post-test.

365 New Words-A-Year Page-A-Day Calendar 2009 (Original Page a Day Calendars)

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Editorial Review:

365 New Words is the best and bestselling word calendar and the essential desk accessory for word buffs, language enthusiasts, and people on a quest for the ne plus ultra of vocabularies. Here are sophisticated words (soigné: well-groomed, sleek), fun-to-say words (catawampus: askew, awry, catercorner), scientific words (extremophile: an organism that lives under extreme conditions), and more, all selected by the editors of Americas most respected dictionary, Merriam-Webster. Each entry includes a definition, pronunciation, sample sentence, and fascinating word history and lineage. Size: 6" w x 5.5" h.

Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction (4th Edition) (Words Their Way Series)

Donald R. Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane R. Templeton, Francine Johnston

Amazon Price: $37.19 List Price: $41.33 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $32.89

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Spelling and Reading 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

It's been shown that spelling provides a window to one's reading. This book explains the developmental stages children go through K- adult. The database software on one of the CDs that allows one to analyze the spelling inventories and sort the results is very easy to use. Classroom teachers appreciate the data I have been able to give them on their students. The word games and short videos on the 2nd CD are very helpful. The analytical phonics approach is very kid-friendly right up through high school. This is a very thorough resource that every ELA, SpEd, and Title I teacher should use.

Editorial Review:

With more than 15 years of extensive observations and experiences in real classrooms, the authors bring keen insight to this activity-based book. They advocate basing student learning on the appropriate developmental level. This philosophy is supported with more than 250 ready-to-use word study, spelling, vocabulary, and phonics activities presented in developmental sequence, from the Emergent through the Derivational Relation stage. For educators and school administrators.

Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction

Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, Linda Kucan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Valuable Vocabulary Strategies 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Bringing Words to Life is an essential book for any classroom. It offers valuable insights and strategies for teaching vocabulary in all classrooms, elementary through high school. It's written so that it's easy to understand and each chapter ends with activities for the reader to better understand the content of the chapter. There is also an easy reference appendix for books to use with vocabulary instruction. If you're looking to enhance the vocabulary of your students, this book has everything you need!

Editorial Review:

Exciting and engaging vocabulary instruction can set students on the path to a lifelong fascination with words. This book provides a research-based framework and practical strategies for vocabulary development with children from the earliest grades through high school. The authors emphasize instruction that offers rich information about words and their uses and enhances students' language comprehension and production. Teachers are guided in selecting words for instruction; developing student-friendly explanations of new words; creating meaningful learning activities; and getting students involved in thinking about, using, and noticing new words both within and outside the classroom. Many concrete examples, sample classroom dialogues, and exercises for teachers bring the material to life. Helpful appendices include suggestions for trade books that help children enlarge their vocabulary and/or have fun with different aspects of words.

Elements of Style, The (4th Edition)

William Strunk, E. B. White

Amazon Price: $10.85 List Price: $15.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Longman Amazon Marketplace: 88 new & used starting at $7.16

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 369 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Reference 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE is a great little pocket reference for all writers (creative, essay, or nonfiction).

What is most amazing is how it consolidates a wealth of information into accessible, bite-size chapters that are easy to search on and then easy to comprehend.

The sections that I have found the most helpful are:
1) Verb Subject Agreement for the exceptions, "one of" and "each and every".
2) Why using the Active Voice is better through exhibition and not b/c it's the general rule.
3) Putting statements into positive form (something I had not considered).
4) And the entire section on "Approach to Style".

I think that for the price, you can not go wrong with this one. I have GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT by Stilman and SOLUTIONS FOR WRITERS by Stein, both of which I recommend, but if you had to choose the order in which to buy: ELEMENTS OF STYLE, SOLUTIONS FOR WRITERS (as it's not just about writing but the craft of story telling), and then GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT.

Editorial Review:

A masterpiece in the art of clear and concise writing, and an exemplar of the principles it explains.

Word Power Made Easy

Norman Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Its not this easy 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Why do you want to increase the size of your vocabulary? If you want just want to show off then this may be a book for you. However, if you want to be able to formulate your thoughts more precisely stay away from it. The method that the author proposes gives you a rough idea of the meaning of a word. That's it. After working through the book you may be able to say the same thing in six different ways, but you will not be able to tell the subtle differences in implication. That the author likewise lacks this level of sophistication becomes abundantly clear, e.g., when he claims that a palace and a castle are 'the same'. In order to really extend your vocabulary I would rather recommend to read book by Joyce, Hemmingway or Dickens -- they also make a more enjoyable read.

Editorial Review:

• Do You Always Use the Right Word?
• Can You Pronounce It -- and Spell It -- Correctly?
• Do You Know How to Avoid Illiterate Expressions?
• Do You Speak Grammatically, Without Embarrassing Mistakes?

If the answer to any of these questions is NO, you ought to read Word Power Made Easy. Now thoroughly revised to eliminate outmoded references and to to reflect current idioms, it remains the best and quickest means to a better vocabulary in the English language.

Each chapter ends with review. Each section ends with a progressive check. Numerous tests will help you increase and retain the knowledge you acquired. Word Power Made Easy does more than just ass words to you vocabulary. It teaches ideas and a method of broadening knowledge as an integral part of the vocabulary building process.

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary (Practice Makes Perfect)

Dorothy Richmond

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Muchas palabras y muchas historias 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is excellent. I have gone thru it from A to Z and find virtually no faults with it. There are well over 10,000 words presented, and they are words that are commonly used in every day language. There are plenty of exercises to test your learning abilities. Also there are short stories using the words you have just learned and some you have learned in previous sections. For example, after presenting some legal terms, the author presents a discussion of the "Trial of the Century" - a discussion of the O.J. Simpson trial using some of the legal words you just learned. She discusses weights and measures, then gets into a discussion (in spanish of course) on the history and how make a Harvey Wallbanger. The book is full of many catagories of words and followed up with exercises and stories. She does not try to overwhelm you with spanish grammer, as the entire book concentrates on vocabulary and not verb tenses/grammer, and she does this by keeping the whole book in the Present Tense. Even though many of the stories happened in the past, she keeps them simple by writing them in the present, but concentrating on the words just covered. This way you concentrate on vocabluary and not so much on grammer. Over 10,000 words is a lot to learn, but she presents them is such a way that retention is enhanced. Give it a try, its a great book!!

Editorial Review:

Polish your Spanish vocabulary skills

Building on the success of her prior book, Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses, author Dorothy Devney Richmond helps you attain a strong working vocabulary, no matter if you are an absolute beginner or an intermediate student of the language.

She combines her proven instruction techniques and clear explanations with a plethora of engaging exercises, so you are motivated and hardly notice that you are absorbing so much Spanish. Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Vocabulary also includes basic grammar and structures of the language to complement your newly acquired words. "Vocabulary Builders" help you add to your Spanish repertoire by using cognates, roots, suffixes, prefixes, and other "word-building" tools.

Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder

Mary W. Cornog

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An Easy Vocabulary Builder 5 out of 5 stars.
21 of 21 people found this review helpful.

An Easy Vocabulary Builder

A Review of "Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder"

by Mary Wood Cornog

ISBN 0-87779-910-5

Copyright 1998

This book 558 pages and is organized into twenty-five study units.

Each of the twenty five-study unit is composed of a series of classical roots. Each root has an explanation.

Following each root/explanation is a list of words based on the classical root. Each modern word has a pronunciation key, followed by a simplified definition and an example. The definitions are good and the examples are well thought-out. Frequent quizzes ensure comprehension.

This book is a good vocabulary builder and is easy to read and use as a self-study guide.

See also:

Merriam-Webster's Everyday Language Reference Set: Vocabulary Builder/Thesaurus/Dictionary


I recommend "Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder" because it is so easy to read. It is a first-class, uncomplicated self-study text.

Editorial Review:

The Merriam-Webster Vocabulary Builder allows you to enjoy informative and entertaining discussions of English words derived from Greek and Latin roots--and expand your working vocabulary at the same time. Words that share the same root are grouped for easy study. Quizzes let you test how much you've learned.

Vocabulary Cartoons II: SAT Word Power

Sam Burchers, Bryan E. Burchers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Phenomenal classroom tool! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book has been one of my most valuable resources in my classroom. Each of my students owns a copy, and through class activities that incorporate the vocabulary into various literature lessons, I have seen results. One student recently took the SATs for the second time and reported a 210-point increase in his verbal score--an increase that he ascribes to this book. I highly recommend this resource to any literature teacher and college-bound student.

fun to use 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

this book was a simple, fun way to review vocab for SAT

Excellent summer fun! No, seriously. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is a delight! Both this and it's sister version (Vocabulary Cartoons 2) are wonderful vocabulary builder starters before you drift off into harder works like "The Wizard of Oz Vocabulary Builder." That book sounds easy enough, but it's actually geared towards 12th graders and beyond.

These books are wonderful for visual learners, although, others might get something out of them. Building your vocabulary is a process, but the time spent will be well rewarded. A strong vocabulary helps everything, including foreign language and math skills. As you delve into harder works, you'll be learning Latin and Greek roots which build excellent decoding skills for standardized tests.

These books are perfect for summer education. You want your kids to enjoy themselves, however, it doesn't hurt to move ahead academically either. These materials -- and ones like them -- are fun summer pleasure readers. And they'll learn something along the way. Adults will likely enjoy them too!

No one cares about your education more than you do. Fortunately, we live in the day and age where materials just keep getting better and better. So supplement, supplement, supplement. Have no fear: it can actually be fun. A+

The Only Grammar Book You'll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment

Susan Thurman, Larry Shea

Amazon Price: $7.95 List Price: $7.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Adams Media Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $3.91

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need is the ideal resource for everyone who wants to produce writing that is clear, concise, and grammatically excellent. Whether you’re creating perfect professional documents, spectacular school papers, or effective personal letters, you’ll find this handbook indispensable. From word choice to punctuation to organization, English teacher Susan Thurman guides you through getting your thoughts on paper with polish.

Using dozens of examples, The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need provides guidelines for:

·Understanding the parts of speech and elements of a sentence
·Avoiding the most common grammar and punctuation mistakes
·Using correct punctuating in every sentence
·Writing clearly and directly
·Approaching writing projects, whether big or small

Easy to follow and authoritative, The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need provides all the necessary tools to make you successful with every type of written expression.