Fiske WordPower: The Most Effective System for Building a Vocabulary That Gets Results Fast

by Edward B Fiske, Jane Mallison, Margery Mandell

Overview

The Exclusive Method You Can Use to Learn—Not Just Memorize—Essential Words

A powerful vocabulary expands your world of opportunity. Building your word power will help you write more effectively, communicate clearly, score higher on standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, or GRE, and be more confident and persuasive in everything you do.

Using the exclusive Fiske method, you will not just memorize words, but truly learn their meanings and how to use them correctly. This knowledge will stay with you longer and be easier to recall—and it doesn't take any longer than less-effective memorization.

How does it work? This book uses a simple three-part system:

1. Patterns: Words aren't arranged randomly or alphabetically, but in similar groups based on meaning and origin that make words easier to remember over time.

2. Deeper Meanings, More Examples: Full explanations—not just brief definitions—of what the words mean, plus multiple examples of the words in sentences.

3. Quick Activities: Frequent short quizzes help you test how much you've learned, while helping your brain internalize their meanings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492650744
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	07/03/2018
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Edward B. Fiske is the founder and editor of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. A former Education Editor of the New York Times, Fiske is known around the world for his award-winning writing on topics ranging from trends in American higher education to school reform in Southeast Asia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The guide was established in 1982 when, covering higher education for the Times, Fiske sensed the need for a publication that would help students and parents navigate the increasingly complex college admissions scene. The guide, an annual publication, immediately became a standard part of college admissions literature and it is now the country’s best-selling college guide.

Fiske has teamed up with his wife, Helen F. Ladd, a professor at Duke University, on several major international research projects regarding the development of education in various countries. Together, they are co-editors of the Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy, the official handbook of the American Education Finance Association. Fiske’s journalistic travels have taken him to more than 60 countries on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development, UNESCO and the Asia Society.

Born in Philadelphia, Fiske graduated from Wesleyan University summa cum laude, and received master’s degrees in theology from Princeton Theological Seminary and in political science from Columbia University. He is a regular contributor to the International Herald-Tribune. In addition to the New York Times, his articles and book reviews have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Chronicle of Higher Education, Los Angeles Times, and other national publications.

A resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Fiske serves on a number of boards of non-profit organizations working for access to college and international understanding. He is also a founding member of the board of the Central Park School for Children, a charter school in Durham.

Jane Mallison has taught for more than twenty years and has served on the College Board SAT Committee.

Margery Mandell has an MA in English from Columbia and is the coauthor of Million Dollar Words.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

Make a Match 12

1 Short Words 12

2 Even Shorter Words 18

3 Down from Mount Olympus 21

Make a Match #1 24

4 Give and Take 25

5 The Menagerie 28

6 Talking about Talking 30

Make a Match #2 33

7 What's In? Who's Out? 34

8 Something's Coming 37

9 The Art of Losing 40

Make a Match #3 42

Practice, Practice, Practice #1 43

10 What's Cookin'? 45

11 Fortune's Fool 48

12 Stubborn as a Mule 51

Make a Match #4 53

13 Miss Manners 54

14 Be Bloody, Bold, and Resolute 57

15 Oddballs 60

Make a Match #5 63

16 Work Ethic 64

17 Words for the Ages 67

18 True Believers 70

Make a Match #6 72

Practice, Practice, Practice #2 73

19 Enemies, Adversaries, and Antagonists 75

20 Comrades, Cohorts, and Companions 78

21 Sounds Like, Smells Like 81

Make a Match #7 83

22 Them Thar's Fightin' Words 84

23 I'm Against That-Or Am I Next to It? 87

24 Splendor in the Grass 90

Make a Match #8 92

25 Farrago 93

26 I Beg of You 96

27 Me, Myself, and I 99

Make a Match #9 102

Practice, Practice, Practice #3 102

28 I Just Don't Understand You 104

29 What a Relief 107

30 Bad Guys 110

Make a Match #10 112

31 Not-Quite-Naughty Words 113

32 "The Stream I Go A-Fishing In" 116

33 Confound It! 119

Make a Match #11 122

34 Earth, Air, Fire, Water 123

35 Lighten Up! 126

36 Don't Yell at Me! 129

Make a Match #12 132

Practice, Practice, Practice #4 132

37 Speech Therapy 134

38 How Deep Is the Ocean, How High Is the Sky? 137

39 Sycophants Galore 140

Make a Match #13 142

40 Down with Everybody 143

41 Oh, What a Tangled Web 146

42 The Words of War 149

Make a Match #14 151

43 Bored and Lazy 152

44 See What I Mean? 155

45 In Sickness and Health 158

Make a Match #15 160

Practice, Practice, Practice #5 161

46 Mad as a Hatter 163

47 Play It Again, Sam 166

48 What a Mess! 169

Make a Match #16 171

49 Keep It Clean 172

50 Flow Divine! 175

51 Godliness Redux 178

Make a Match #17 181

52 Hodgepodge 182

53 Too Much 185

54 Not Enough 188

Make a Match #18 191

Practice, Practice, Practice #6 191

55 Send in the Clowns 193

56 Dionysian or Apollonian? 196

57 All in the Family 199

Make a Match #19 201

58 Yield…Or Don't Yield 202

59 Let There Be Light 205

60 Darkness, My Old Friend 208

Make a Match #20 210

61 Do It in Style 211

62 Scary Things 214

63 No End in Sight 217

Make a Match #21 219

Practice, Practice, Practice #7 220

64 Om 222

65 Oy 225

66 Chalk Talk 228

Make a Match #22 231

67 Over the Rainbow 232

68 How Sweet It Is 234

69 Sourpuss 237

Make a Match #23 239

70 The Wonderful World of "O" 240

71 The Play's the Thing 243

72 Not Fully Defined 246

Make a Match #24 249

Practice, Practice, Practice #8 249

73 The Blues… and Other Unpleasant States of Mind 251

74 Get Happy 254

75 Eponyms 257

Make a Match #25 260

76 Gallimaufry 261

77 Bright Lights! Loud Music! 264

78 Crime and Punishment 267

Make a Match #26 269

79 Words, for a Change 270

80 High Finance 273

81 What's My Line? 276

Make a Match #27 278

Practice, Practice, Practice #9 278

82 The Body and Beyond 280

83 Off and On 283

84 Who's the Boss? 286

Make a Match #28 289

85 Man Is a Political Animal 290

86 Quarantine Ward 293

87 Bottoms Up! 296

Make a Match #29 299

88 Home Furnishings 300

89 Country Yokel or City Slicker? 303

90 How Interesting 306

Make a Match#30 309

Practice, Practice, Practice #10 309

91 Carpe Diem 311

92 Parlez-Vous Anglais? 314

93 Achtung! 317

Make a Match #31 320

94 Weighty Words 321

95 What's in a Name? 324

96 Am I Timid? Or Are Yon Intimidating? 327

Make a Match #32 329

97 Have Mercy! 330

98 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 333

99 Potpourri 336

100 Bits and Pieces 339

Make a Match #33 342

Practice, Practice, Practice #11 342

101 On the Road 344

102 In a Manner of Speaking 347

103 Together/Apart 350

104 Body and Soul 353

105 We're Outta Here 356

Make a Match #34 359

Practice, Practice, Practice #12 360

Enjoy Your New Vocabulary! 362

Postscript 369

Answer Key 373

About the Authors 383