How to Use a Thesaurus Skills Workbook

Thesaurus skills workbooks help build your written and verbal vocabulary skills

Thesaurus workbooks help you sharpen your vocabulary skills and can assist you when preparing for exams that have reading comprehension questions on them. For example, if you did a few practice exercises in the workbook and you come across some of the words you learned in your exam, you'll be better prepared to answer the exam questions. You can find thesaurus workbooks at local school supply stores, Amazon.com and sometimes thrift stores.

Instructions

1. Look for context clues. For example, if you're doing an exercise that asks you to fill in the correct word for the sentence "Louis is a ____ person who rarely likes to ask for help when he needs it," choose the word "proud" because a characteristic of pride is refusing to seek help.

2. Create your own paragraph with the words from the book. For example, if you're studying a group of words that relate to the word "lukewarm" and the books list related words such as "half-hearted" and "lackadaisical," write a small story about a fictional character who possesses a personality that reflects those words.

3. Look up words that you don't normally use in conversations. For example, if you're looking for more diverse ways to describe someone you know who has good character, look in your workbook for words that relate to character, write them down then search for the meanings in a dictionary.

References

• St. Cloud State University: How to Use a Thesaurus
• Building a Better Vocabulary