I'm aiming for a near-perfect verbal score and am beginning to work through the essential flash cards. I'm finding that I can easily memorize the definition for a single word, but the related words are a little more disconcerting. For instance, sycophant means: servile flatterer, parasitic person who fawns in order to get ahead. Easy enough, but there's more! In addition to the definition, there are a handful of synonyms or related words to connect: lackey, toady, myrmidon, fawn, obsequious, truckle, kowtow. This one definition now has seven related words attached to it. Multiply that by the 20 per day I need to memorize and suddenly, my head is swimming in synonyms.
My better sense tells me that I'm going overboard and all these synonyms will sort themselves out. How much attention should I pay to the related words when memorizing definitions?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Lindsey
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- lrt
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- tommywallach
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Re: Flashcards - mastering all those synonyms
Hey Lindsey,
Great question, and I like that you're thinking about it (it's a good sign). Don't worry so much about memorizing the related words as part of the original card. It's more that, as you learn more words, you'll start to feel the networks connecting them (if that makes sense). So just learn the primary definition, and don't worry so much about the related words. They'll come later, on their own cards! : )
-t
Great question, and I like that you're thinking about it (it's a good sign). Don't worry so much about memorizing the related words as part of the original card. It's more that, as you learn more words, you'll start to feel the networks connecting them (if that makes sense). So just learn the primary definition, and don't worry so much about the related words. They'll come later, on their own cards! : )
-t
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