Use vocabulary cartoons to boost students' reading, writing, and test-taking skills.

A quick method of building a better vocabulary through the use of mnemonic cartoons.

Make learning essential vocabulary words a favorite daily routine! Students will look forward to each day's new vocabulary cartoon, which identifies the word's part of speech, provides a simple definition, and uses the word in a sentence that is supported in context by the cartoon. The visual cues and humor of these cartoons work hand in hand to make new words fun to learn and easy to remember! For use with Grades 2-3.

2015 version published on 12/29/14. Need a good way to remember that the word "prodigal" means "wasteful"? Just think ofprada gal - a girl who spends all of her money on designer clothes. Brian McElroy (Harvard, '02) and Vince Kotchian (Boston College, '97), two of San Diego's most sought after test-prep tutors, provide a series of clever, unconventional, and funny memory devices aimed toward helping you to improve your vocabulary and remember words long-term so that you don't ever forget their meanings. Brian and Vince, combined, have been tutoring the test for over 20 years. They have analyzed all available official GRE tests to select the words that appear in this book. The vocabulary words in this book are best suited for students at a 9th-grade level or above. The words in this edition are specifically targeted toward the GRE exam, but they are also helpful for students who are preparing for other standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, GMAT, LSAT or MCAT, or anyone at any age who simply wants to improve his/her knowledge of English vocabulary. Disclaimer: a few of our mnemonics might not be appropriate for kids – some contain adult language or situations. Over 950 of the words in this book appear in our other mnemonics book,SAT Vocab Capacity. So if you're easily offended, the SAT version might be a better choice. Why This Book Is Different If you're studying for the GRE, SAT, or for any other standardized test that measures your vocabulary, you may be feeling a little bit anxious – especially if you've taken a practice test and encountered words you didn't know (or maybe never even saw before)! Whether you have seven days or seven months to prepare for the test, you're going to want to boost your vocabulary. But it's not that simple – you've got to remember the words you learn. And on many GRE text completion and sentence equivalence questions, getting the right answer comes down to knowing the precise definition of the words. You could make vocabulary flashcards. You could look up words you don't know. You could read a book with lots of big words. But unless you give your brain a way to hold on to the words you learn, it will probably have a harder time remembering them when they appear on the test. That's the problem with most vocabulary books: the definitions and sentences in the books aren't especially memorable. That's where this book is different. We've not only clearly defined the words but we've also created sentences designed to help you remember the words through a variety of associations - using mnemonics. Mnemonic Examples A mnemonic is just a memory device. It works by creating a link in your brain to something else, so that recall of one thing helps recall of the other. This can be done in many ways – but the strongest links are through senses, emotions, rhymes, and patterns. Consider this example: Quash (verb): to completely stop from happening. Think: squash. The best way to quash an invasion of ants in your kitchen is simple: squash them. Now your brain has a link from the word quash (which it may not have known) to the word squash (which it probably knows). Both words sound and look the same, so it's easy to create a visual and aural link. If you picture someone squashing ants (and maybe get grossed out), you also have another visual link and an emotional link. Here's another example: Eschew (verb): to avoid. Think: ah-choo! Eschew people who say "ah-choo!" unless you want to catch their colds. The word eschew sounds similar to a sneeze (ah-choo!), so your brain will now link the two sounds. If you picture yourself avoiding someone who is about to sneeze in your face, even better! Again, the more connections you make in your brain to the new word, th

Expanding students’ word power for higher SAT scores has just become more fun—and more effective! This brand new book uses cartoon-style illustrations that present visual puns, augmented with verbal mnemonics and sample sentences. All examples are designed to help students learn words and meanings, then retain them in their memories when the time comes to take that important college entrance exam. A total of 300 words frequently encountered on the SAT I are presented, each with its own illustration, definition, and set of memory aids. A review is presented at the end of every 12-word group with an amusing written passage to reinforce the words and meanings within a narrative context.

Collects cartoons and rhyming phrases designed to improve vocabulary.

NEW! Vocabulary Cartoon-a-Day 2013 Calendar By Martha Gradisher • Martha Gradisher has won many awards for her comic illustration, Web gaming, and Web site design. • Her cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker, The Funny Times, Barons, Reader’s Digest, and Playboy. Award-winning cartoonist Martha Gradisher has come up with a fun way to help you expand your vocabulary without having to memorize stuffy definitions. On each page of theVocabulary Cartoon-a-Day 2013 Calendar, she presents a word, its pronunciation, and its definition; but to make them easy to remember, she's created a cleverly illustrated cartoon and a witty caption that put the word in context. Amusing and effective, this is the perfect tool for painlessly improving your word knowledge.