BROADEN THE VOCABULARY
Edward Harlan Webster gives this excellent advice on how to broaden the vocabulary:
Practice is the first aid. Actually get hold of new words and then use them. You will perceive that you will not startle others so much as yourself. Gradually the words will begin to assume a standing in your vocabulary, and before long, they will seem like old friends.
To obtain these words, various practical methods are possible. Here are a few:
1. Find synonyms for words which you have a tendency to overuse.
2. Record words with which you are familiar but you never use—and then "work" them.
3. Make a list of important, unfamiliar words which you hear, or discover in your reading.
4. Listen carefully to the conversations or addresses of educated people.
5. If possible, try to translate from a foreign language. In this way a fine perception of shades of meaning, almost unattainable by any other method, is acquired.
6. Get interested in the dictionary, where you can trace the life history of words.