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‘“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 2.7, 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 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.

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

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 at the end of this book.

1. giclo	X __ X __ __
2. nafgymi	__ __ X __ X __ __
3. tonij	X __ __ X __
4. goleyu	__ X __ __ X __

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

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.

Check Your Work-word Level

Each different profession has its own specialized vocabulary and expressions. Remember that your Verbal Intelligence has a direct correlation with your success at work. The most successful people in their chosen fields have a vocabulary that ranks in the top 10 per cent for that field. Begin to keep a list of words that is special to your own profession, and make sure that you aim for that top 10 per cent!

One way to get your mind set for this new vocabularian accomplishment is to pretend that you already are in that top 10 per cent. Act out the role, especially using the kind of vocabulary that is used by people who are successful in your field. If you keep persisting, you soon won’t have to act the role – you will be living it!

Set Vocabulary Targets for Other Areas of Your Life

Choose two or three other areas of your life, such as hobbies, social activities, your children’s interests/studies, etc., and set yourself goals similar to those you set above for your profession. By doing this you will be following the example of a body-builder who trains a wide range of muscles, rather than simply one. You will therefore develop a well-balanced body of vocabulary skills.

Listen for New Words

Listen out for new and unusual words as you go about your daily life – on the TV or radio, at the local shops or a meeting at work. Adding this new focus of attention will not only make you a better vocabularian; it will make you a better listener, and therefore more popular and successful with others. Keep a notepad or some form of recorder always with you so that you can jot down new words of special interest, meaning or beauty. At regular intervals, either at the end of the day or week, transfer your new words to a master list. When you come across such words, try to use them in sentences at least five times in a day – this will help you remember them.

Look for New Words

Do exactly the same with your eyes as you did with your ears, checking newspapers, magazines, books and screens for new and exciting words. Transfer them to your lists. When you are doing both these listening and looking exercises, be on the look-out for words that reflect or relate to your senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and movement. This will both improve your vocabulary and widen its range, making you a better, more confident communicator.

Make a Mind Map

Build a mini Mind Map on all the advantages an improved vocabulary and increased Verbal Intelligence will give you. Here is a little image which summarizes Verbal Intelligence. Branching from it are 10 main branches, and from each of these, three sub-branches. Copy the Mind Map onto a large sheet of paper. On the main branches print, clearly, the first 10 key ideas that come to your mind when you think of the ways in which an increased Verbal Intelligence would improve your life and your chances of success. When you have completed the first 10 ideas, think of three more ideas that branch from each of those main 10 and, in the same way, print them neatly on the lines provided. When you have completed the exercise, place your Mind Map somewhere where you will constantly be reminded of just how valuable an increased Verbal Intelligence is to your entire life.

Invest in a Good Dictionary!

Make sure you get a good dictionary. A good dictionary is the ultimate guide and support for anyone wishing to improve their Verbal Intelligence.

Word Power Booster Number 1

As this is your first Word Power Booster, it is introductory! Below each word are four different definitions. Choose the one you think is closest to the correct meaning.

1 INTRODUCE (in-tro-jóos)

2 (a) To stick a needle into

3 (b) To become a Duke

4 (c) To bring in or present

5 (d) To do first

6 INTROFLEX (ín-tro-flex)

7 (a) To bend outward

8 (b) To bend inward

9 (c) To build muscle

10 (d) To look strong

11 INTROCEPTIVE (in-tro-sép-tif)

12 (a) Capable of receiving into itself

13 (b) The beginning of a reception

14 (c) A method of preparing food

15 (d) Able to perceive the inside of things

16 INTROGRESSION (in-tro-gré-shon)

17 (a) The act of going in; entering

18 (b) Falling behind

19 (c) Thinking about things

20 (d) Becoming aggressive

21 INTROJECT (in-tro-jékt)

22 (a) To inject

23 (b) To ask

24 (c) To discard

25 (d) To throw into

26 INTROMIT (in-tro-mít)

27 (a) To lay on hands

28 (b) To stop

29 (c) To allow to enter; insert

30 (d) To jump across

31 INTROSPECT (in-tro-spékt)

32 (a) To look for glasses

33 (b) To inspect

34 (c) To look outward

35 (d) To look within

36 INTROMISSION (in-tro-mí-shon)

37 (a) To start a break

38 (b) To insert

39 (c) The beginning of a project

40 (d) To start religious conversion

41 INTROVERT (in-tro-vért) (noun)

42 (a) One who turns inward

43 (b) Something upside down

44 (c) Dressed in green

45 (d) One who stands vertically; good poise

46 INTROPRESSION (in-tro-pré-shon)

47 (a) To introduce the media

48 (b) Pressure within

49 (c) To make heavy

50 (d) To press upon