The Power of Verbal Intelligence: 10 ways to tap into your verbal genius

The Power of

Verbal Intelligence

Tony Buzan

Copyright

Thorsons

An Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London, SE1 9GF

The website address is: www.harpercollins.co.uk

and Thorsons are registered trademarks of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

First published 2002

© Tony Buzan 2002

Tony Buzan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Mind Maps® is a registered trade mark of The Buzan Group

Original Mind Map concept © Tony Buzan

Plate section illustrations by Alan Burton

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN 9780722540497

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2018 ISBN: 9780007386055

Version: 2018-11-05

Dedication

The Power of Verbal Intelligence is dedicated to my dear Mum, Jean Buzan, who guided me to a love of words and to a deep understanding of their beauty and power; to ‘Master Mind Mapper’, and phenomenal friend, Vanda North, for her dedication to communicating the message of Mind Mapping; and to Dr Wilfred Funk, whose books on developing word power and his regular column in the Reader’s Digest inspired me to develop my own Verbal Intelligence.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

List of Mind Maps®

Summary Mind Maps®

The Last, Last Word

Recommended Reading – Tony Buzan’s ‘Top 10’

Answers

Acknowledgements

Other Books By

Keep Reading

About the Publisher

List of Mind Maps®

Summary Mind Map® of Chapter 2 – Learning a Language – children’s verbal learning tricks – mimicking; play; making mistakes; persistence and curiosity.

Summary Mind Map® of Chapter 3 – Word Power (Roots, Prefixes, Suffixes) power of words; opportunities R,P,S give to expand Verbal IQ; using dictionaries and thesaurus.

Summary Mind Map® of Chapter 4 – Writing an Essay – more prefixes, suffixes; expanding vocabulary.

Summary Mind Map® of Chapter 5 – Improving Your Vocabulary – memory and recall; left and right brains and multi-ordinate nature of words.

Summary Mind Map® of Chapter 6 – Body Language – posture and demeanour; gesturing and memory; voice tone and strength.

Summary Mind Map® of Chapters 7 and 9 – Preparing for a Job Interview – speaking in public; speaking so people remember; giving directions and animal communications.

Summary Mind Map® of Chapter 8 – Reading – best approaches to texts; reading faster and knowledge files.

Summary Mind Map® of Chapter 10 – Verbal and other intelligences

– how they interact – creative, spatial; social and physical.

Fore-word! Your Journey to Verbal Power Begins

Chapter One

‘“The pen is mightier than the sword” only if the brain behind it knows how to wield the word!’

Tony Buzan

what is ‘verbal intelligence’?

Verbal Intelligence is the ability to ‘juggle’ with the alphabet of letters: to combine them into words and sentences. Your Verbal IQ tends to be measured by the size and range of your vocabulary, and by your ability to see relationships between words.

why does verbal intelligence matter?

At the beginning of the 20th century, psychologists observed that there was a direct correlation between vocabulary size and strength, and life-success. In other words, the bigger and better your vocabulary and your Verbal Intelligence, the more successful and confident you will be in your life in general – in your work, in your social and personal life, and in your studies.

Words have tremendous power. Those people who harness the strength of words give themselves the power to persuade, to inspire, to mesmerize, and to influence in all manner of ways the human brain. It is not surprising, then, that words and their power have become one of the most important currencies in the ‘Knowledge Revolution’ of the 21st century.

how will the power of verbal intelligence help me?

The really good news is that it is easy to improve and expand your verbal skills, and to increase immeasurably your Verbal IQ, and this book will show you how. Barry McGuigan, whom you can read about in Chapter 7, deliberately set about raising his Verbal IQ when he turned to TV commentating after his retirement from the boxing ring, and has since become as adept mentally as he was physically as a fighter.

The Power of Verbal Intelligence is about to take you on one of the most exciting journeys of your life. It is a journey on which you will:

 discover and explore new worlds

 feast your imagination on new concepts and ideas

 learn more about your amazing brain and how to use it

 learn the basic building blocks of word power, enabling you, at a stroke, to expand your current vocabulary by thousands of words

 learn how to use your body to communicate effectively

 rediscover the joy of playing around with words and their meanings

 learn the basic secrets of reading faster and comprehending more

 learn how to mesmerize and entrance others with the power and beauty of your conversation and most importantly, The Power of Verbal Intelligence has been designed to make sure that you have fun while you increase your Word Power.

Most importantly, The Power of Verbal Intelligence has been designed to make sure that you have fun while you increase your Word Power.

an overview of the power of verbal intelligence

The Power of Verbal Intelligence is divided into 10 chapters, each one of which guides you into new areas for improving and expanding your verbal powers.

In this opening chapter I introduce you to the overall structure of the book, so that you can get a clear ‘picture’ and ‘map’ of the exciting territory you are about to explore.

You will learn about the history of the development of IQ, and will discover why it is that so many people think they are far less intelligent than they really are. The rest of this chapter will be devoted to your first Verbal Workout, in which you will discover new words, play games, be given the first boosts to your Verbal Intelligence and, hopefully, have fun!

Chapter 2: Child’s Wordplay – Proof that You are a Natural Verbal Genius

In Chapter 2 I will introduce you to a master of Verbal Intelligence – a total genius in this field who, by example, will show you the secret formulas for improving on all levels your verbal powers.

Who is this paragon of Verbal Intelligence?

The human baby! I will introduce you to the special tools a baby uses to master any language and all verbal situations. A baby learns thousands of new words and hundreds of new verbal skills every year. Using the same approach, you can do the same.

And, if you think about it, you used to be a baby.

You have already done it once!

With the right help, you can do it again!

Chapter 3: Word Power I – Roots: How to Improve Your Vocabulary, Creativity, Memory and IQ!

Words, like all other structures, are made up of their basic parts. When you know the parts, it is easier to construct the whole. For example, realizing that there are only 26 letters that make up all the words in the English language, makes spelling and word recognition considerably easier than if you had thousands of different letters to learn!

It is exactly the same with word parts – their ‘Roots’, ‘Prefixes’ and ‘Suffixes’.

In this chapter I will introduce you to 25 key Roots.

As there are only 25 to learn and remember, the task will be a very easy one. It will also be immensely rewarding, for each Root is like a magic key, which will open up meaning to many tens and often hundreds of new words.

With these keys in your possession, you will be well on your way to the mastery of the English language.

Chapter 4: Word Power II – Prefixes and Suffixes

Chapter 4 is very similar to Chapter 3, concentrating on those common basic building blocks to words, the beginnings and ends: Prefixes and Suffixes.

Using the same approach as you used for Roots, you will once again massively multiply the number of words at your command.

Chapter 5: Brain Word – Using Your Brain Power to Develop Your Word Power

How do the following vitally important aspects of your own brain and its functioning relate to the development of your Verbal Intelligence:

 Your memory while it is taking in information?

 Your memory after it has taken in information?

 The right and left brain?

 Study techniques?

 Mind Maps?

 The multi-ordinate meaning of words?

Read this chapter and find out!

Chapter 6: Body Talk – Body Language and How to Improve It

Your Verbal Intelligence has a giant servant – a ‘silent helper’ – who has phenomenal powers to increase the already phenomenal power of your words.

Your body!

In this chapter I will introduce you to the huge part your body can play in your Verbal Intelligence. You will discover how the way in which you think affects both your body and the way your language is used with your body.

I will also introduce you to that magical musical instrument – your voice – showing you how to ‘play’ it in ways that will increase your Verbal Intelligence as well as your confidence and popularity.

Chapter 7: Present Yourself – How to Become a Successful Speaker

One of the greatest fears we humans have is that of being seen as a boring conversationalist and a dull speaker. One of our greatest dreams is the opposite: to be a fascinating, witty and enthralling conversationalist, and a mesmerizing presenter.

Happily the fear is unfounded and the dream attainable. In this chapter I will show you how to speak and express yourself with confidence and in a manner that will make you more respected and popular.

Chapter 8: Read On! How to Improve Your Speed, Comprehension and Recall

One of the best indicators of a high Verbal IQ is the ability to read a wide range of materials at a faster speed than average and with greater comprehension.

There are simple ways of achieving these skill levels.

In this chapter I will introduce you to them, showing you how to get a quick grasp of the overall meaning of what you are reading, giving you easy-to-learn-techniques for accelerating your speed, and setting you on the path to lifelong learning and development of your Verbal Intelligence.

In this chapter you will also discover the secrets of the ‘Magic Eye’.

Chapter 9: Communication Power – Using Your Verbal Intelligence to Gain Control of Your Life

The ability to communicate clearly and powerfully with words is one of the greatest signs of Verbal Intelligence, and one of the greatest guarantees of lifelong success.

In Chapter 9 you will learn how to become a master of communication. You will learn how to link with and understand others, how to use a Mind Map® as a tool for communicating by telephone, letter, etc., and how to give directions that people both understand and are successful in using. You will also discover some of the secrets of animal communication.

In this chapter I will also introduce you to the Self-audit, in which you will learn how to be your own ‘Verbal Doctor’, guaranteeing you a long and glowingly healthy verbal life!

Chapter 10: Last Words – Using Your Verbal Intelligence to Increase Your Other Multiple Intelligences

By the time you reach this final chapter, you will already possess a Verbal Intelligence that is considerably more powerful than when you started the book, and will have the tools to ensure it continues to grow.

In ‘Last Words’ I will introduce you to ways in which the power of your newly empowered Verbal Intelligence can strengthen your overall intelligence.

As I will show, you actually have 10, multiple intelligences, of which Verbal Intelligence is just one. Each of these intelligences strengthens and supports the others, and this Multiplier Effect means that your overall effectiveness and intelligence, not to mention success, can multiply by hundreds of times!

* * *

Features

To assist you in all this, each chapter contains a Verbal Workout, to exercise and strengthen your verbal muscles. These workouts will take the form of exercises and games designed to stretch and stimulate your Word Power. In each Workout there will be specific mental muscle-building verbal games:

 Word Puzzles – half of these games consist of four scrambled words, which you have to unscramble into meaningful words. Selected letters from the answer-words, will, when they themselves are unscrambled, form another one- or two-word answer to a clue that you will have been given. The rest of the puzzles are of a type typically given in standard IQ tests. Give yourself a maximum of five minutes for each one. The answers are on here. If you score more than five out of ten, you will be doing well!

 Verbal Intelligence Tips – after each of the Word Puzzles, I will give you an insight on how to help your brain solve these verbal games more easily and efficiently. These special insights will build up into a complete Verbal Intelligence Brain Kit, which will help you in future with any similar puzzles, as well as in the wider context of taking any thinking or IQ-type tests.

 Word Power Boosters – at the end of each Verbal Workout, you will be introduced to 10 new words, which will add depth and richness to your existing vocabulary. By the time you have finished The Power of Verbal Intelligence you will have accumulated 100 such Power Words!

Although these games are fun and enjoyable entertainment, they are also extremely important tools in developing your Verbal Intelligence. It is ‘games’ like these that form a significant part of standard IQ tests. Improve your ability with these ‘practice’ games, and you will raise your IQ.

Throughout the book there are also apposite quotes, case studies to give you insights into how your brain works, and examples of the wonderful thought-enhancing tool I invented especially for the purpose of increasing my own memory and intelligence – the Mind Map®.

a brief history of IQ tests

As has already been mentioned, at the beginning of the 20th century, psychologists observed that there was a correlation between someone’s vocabulary size and strength and their success in life. This naturally gave rise to a desire to define a person’s mental strength, and so the first basic intelligence tests were devised.

These tests measured people’s powers of vocabulary, their ability to see relationships between words and between numbers, and logical abilities. Average scores were calculated for different age groups. If your score was average for your age, you scored 100; if your score was slightly below average, your score was determined to be between 90 and 100; and if slightly above average, between 100 and 110. Someone whose scores were measured between 120 and 130 was deemed to be of high intelligence, and a score of 140 or more conferred the status of genius.

These tests became properly known as Intelligence Quotient Tests, or IQ Tests. However, there were two problems with them. First, it was assumed that your IQ score could not and would not change. This, we now know, is completely untrue – you can significantly change and improve your standard IQ score.

The second problem lay in the assumption that what the tests were measuring was intelligence, and was all there was to intelligence.

Because of these beliefs, education systems around the world became predominantly verbal and mathematical, and being intelligent or smart meant, generally, ‘having a way with words’!

However, we are now beginning to realize that Verbal Intelligence is but one of 10 different intelligences – along with Creative, Social, Spatial, Numerical, Spiritual, Personal, Sensory, Sexual and Physical – and that each of the intelligences benefits by the development of the nine others. Thus, as you continue to develop your Verbal Intelligence, you will be simultaneously working on the other nine too!

It is time for your first Verbal Workout!

verbal workout

Word Puzzle Number 1

See the answers here

Welcome to your first Verbal Intelligence Word Puzzle. You will be given four scrambled words. Your first Verbal Intelligence task is to rearrange the letters so that they form a meaningful word. When you have discovered what the word is, place it in the space provided. When you have done this, you will notice that between one and four of the letters in each word are highlighted. These letters take you on to the next stage of the puzzle. Underneath the four words you have unscrambled you will find a clue and a number of blank spaces. The clue will guide you to a one- or two-word answer, found by arranging the ‘selected’ letters from the first phase of the game into a word or words that satisfy the clue.

This is the first of many such games. In each chapter you will find a similar game, played in the same way. Answers to all the games are in the Answer section, here.

Clue: Having a ball – or more! __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

Verbal Intelligence Tip

 Whenever you have such Verbal Intelligence questions, always scan the entire question first.

Why?

First, because scanning gives your brain the ‘whole picture’, which means that it can grasp the whole territory and therefore feel in control. Second, if you have scanned all the puzzles/questions, they are ‘in’ your brain. This means that as your conscious brain works on one of the puzzles/questions, your para-conscious brain (that 99 per cent-plus powerhouse of your brain that works without you consciously having to control it), will be working on the remaining questions. This makes it much easier to find the correct answer when your conscious attention focuses on the next puzzle/question. In the psychological idiom, you are allowing your brain to incubate (sit on, as a bird, for the purpose of hatching) your ideas.

You will know in your daily life that often when you ‘can’t get’ a word, if you allow your brain to ‘sleep on it’ the word will often pop up into your consciousness. Here, you are simply using this natural process to help raise your Verbal Intelligence.

Word Puzzle Number 2

See the answers here

There is a three-letter word in brackets. When you add, successively, the seven-word beginnings to the three-letter word, each one makes a different meaningful word. What is the word in the brackets?

L

M

P

GL (__ __ __)

GR

BR

B

How Verbally Intelligent Are You?

Now that you are becoming familiar with your Verbal IQ, how Verbally Intelligent do you think you are, and more importantly, how Verbally Intelligent do you want to be?

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being tongue-tied and not at all Verbally Intelligent, and 10 being eloquent, witty and very Verbally Intelligent, how would you rank your Verbal Intelligence at the present time?

Now do the same exercise, but this time indicating on your 1 to 10 scale, how Verbally Intelligent you would like to be when you finish this book.

When you have completed these two tasks, start working on converting the real into the ideal.

Get Into Crosswords

Crosswords, Scrabble® and other word games such as word searches and code crackers, are all fantastic ways of stimulating and increasing your Verbal Intelligence. More and more magazines of crosswords and word puzzles are published each month, and they are a great way to try your hand at a variety of different word games.