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I use online dictionaries to supplement this book. It gives you 5 words a day, uses them all in a paragraph, lists the pronunciations, has you complete 5 sentences with the words, and then finishes with a multiple choice quiz, which matches the words to the definitions. This is a good book overall. I do this book's exercises to get a general meaning of the word, and to see how they are used, and then I check the online dictionaries to get the full definition. Unfortunately, the definitions are frequently overly simplified. The definitions listed are great if you want a minimal and general meaning of the word, but for many words the definitions are inadequate if you want the full meaning of the words. I prefer merriam-webster.com and thefreedictionary.com. They are both excellent sites to use in addition to the book.
I most read this book during tea breaks, during quiet period of business in shop, during babysitting. I bought this book a few years ago. I highly recommend it to anyone. My review on this book: I rate it as one of the very BEST. That's how much I love the book. As I'm a late learner in my forties, I would say this book has much augmented my vocabulary.
Blank spaces around text allows me to pencil down my notes, mostly examples of usages. It's still a great book. It has all the key answers to questions, articles with examples of usage, etc. Moreover, I've bought nearly ALL the vocabulary books from this website. I have SAT vocabulary books as well, all great too. Every page has my pencilled notes.
I ordered this book. After one week I received an email from this seller, saying that he did not have this book and he cancelled my order.
reliable seller. the book came in the condition that it was promised in and it was in my hands faster than i thought it would be.
-There are plenty of review activities at the end of each week of study, in addition to a cumulative review at the end.-Some of the daily paragraphs are linked together throughout the week of study, forming fascinating multi-part mini-stories.-Overall, I recommend the book. Because the authors were trying so hard to include repeated exposure to the words, a flaw in the writing emerges midway through the book: the paragraphs stop being interesting and readable, and they become so bogged down in flashy words that it's torturous to read them. Pros:-The structure of the daily lessons is conducive to learning. Cons:-While it's a difficult task indeed to create an interesting paragraph for students to read that includes five chosen new vocabulary words, I sometimes got the impression that the authors just weren't trying hard enough to make the words smoothly integrate into the paragraphs. The sentences become ridiculous, and it is my hope that no student would imitate those sentences in speech or writing. It's easy to use, and most of the daily paragraphs are interesting. Some of the paragraphs remind me of something a young student might write if he were given five completely new words and a shaky understanding of them.-We all know that the only effective vocabulary programs include plenty of repeat exposure over time to the vocabulary words.
Even worse, it's possible that impressionable students may start imitating this grossly affected style of writing. Only five words are learned per day, first by exposure to the words in the natural context of a short paragraph, then by filling the words into cloze sentences, and finally by matching the words to their abbreviated definitions. I'm an English teacher, so I was able to muddle through these turgid paragraphs, but I wouldn't ask a student to read them. I might use this book for my students, but I'd use it cautiously, as some sections of the book are quite a bit better than others. Many of the paragraphs are sullied by short, choppy sentences with awkward uses of vocabulary words. Take, for example, a sentence from the paragraph on page 176: "The paramount objectives of the studies are to eradicate anything that will impede the discovery of creative talent and to exploit this talent to the limit." Sure, the sentence makes sense, but I'd hate to see it in one of my student's essays.-The book does a fairly good job of teaching slangy idioms, which I could see as effective for students who are learning English as a foreign language, but the example sentences given for these idioms become overloaded with previously introduced idioms. Here's an example from page 262: "The modus operandi was leading up a blind alley and they were barking up the wrong tree." Even to a native English speaker, that sentence doesn't make much sense.
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