Build your Vocabulary - Series (3)

Here's content from a book you must read. "Word Power made Easy" by Norman Lewis.


Words on Talking, Talking and Talking

Loquacious people love to talk. this adjective is not necessarily a put-down, but the implication, when you so characterize such people, is that you wish they would pause for breath once in a while so that you can get your licks in. The noun is loquacity or loquaciousness.

The word derives from loquor, which means 'to speak', from Latin.

1. Soliloquy - a speech to oneself or etymologically, a speech when alone. 

We often talk to ourselves, but usually silently, the words going through our minds but not actually passing our lips. The term soliloquy is commonly applied to utterances made in a play by characters who are speaking their thoughts aloud so the audience won't have to guess. The soliloquist may be alone; or other members of the cast may be present on stage, but of course they don't hear what's being said, because they're not supposed to know. Eugene O'Neill made novel uses of soliloquies in Mourning Becomes Electra - the characters made honest disclosures of their feelings and thoughts to the audience, but kept the other players in the dark.

The verb is to soliloquize. 

2. A ventriloquist is one who can throw his voice. A listener thinks the sound is coming from some source other than the person speaking. The combining root is Latin venier, ventris; belly; etymologically ventriloquism is the art of "speaking from the belly." The adjective is ventriloquistic. Can you figure out how the verb will end?

3. Colloquial combines loquor, to speak, with the prefix con-. (Con- is spelled col- before a root starting with l; cor- before a root starting with r; com- before a root starting with m, p or b.) When people speak together they are engaging in Conversation and their language is usually more informal and less rigidly grammatical than what you might expect in writing or in public addresses. Colloquial patterns are perfectly correct -- they are simply informal, and suitable to everyday conversation.

A colloquialism, therefore is a conversation-style expression, like "He hasn't got any" or "Who are you going with?" as contrasted to the formal or literary "He has none" or "With whom are you going?" Colloquial English is the English you and I talk on everyday occasions - it is not slangy, vulgar or illiterate.

4. A circumlocuation is, etymologically, a "talk around" (circum-, around). Any way of expressing an idea that is roundabout or, indirect is circumlocutory -- you are now familiar with the common adjective suffix -ory.

Everyone preparing for their G.R.E. and any examination which requires improving vocabulary ought to read "Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis -- before you start using flashcards, as the fundamentals behind words and how to understand them is taught effectively.