| I used to do crosswords periodically, and spent a couple of years doing them often, mainly from the Washington Post, and occasionally those magazines with easy- intermediate- difficult levels. But the main thing is reading a lot, I think At a certain level of difficulty, many words that are not common in ordinary conversation are repeated. I should say, though, that I pretty much speak as I write. The trick is, when you are talking about common things, you use a commonplace vocabulary, and when you are discussing things that are more challenging, you use the vocabulary that seems appropriate to the topic. Even so, I try to avoid the most obscure words, or mere jargon. Also, it helps to have a wife who has an extensive vocabulary, so that the person one speaks to most can easily follow regardless of what you say........ |
