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PREFACES
Kaffir Boy
Miriam's Song
African Women
Love in Black & White
Deadly Memory
The Last Liberal

FIRST CHAPTERS
Kaffir Boy
Ubuntu
Kaffir Boy in America
Miriam's Song
African Women
Love in Black & White
Deadly Memory
The Last Liberal

DUST-JACKET & REVIEWS
Kaffir Boy
Kaffir Boy in America
African Women
Love in Black & White

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VOCABULARY BUILDER

A good English vocabulary is a must if you want to succeed in life. Words give you power. They enable you to communicate your ideas, thoughts, feelings. hopes and dreams effectively to others. A good vocabulary is a plus in just about every setting: when you're being interviewed for a job, when you're applying to college, and when you're conversing to others in a social setting.

People understand you and make judgments about you based mostly on what you say. When I was a youngster trapped in a South African ghetto, my limited vocabulary was a severe handicap. It led people who did not know me to pin all types of stereotypes on me. Some thought I was dumb; others thought I had no ambition; still others thought that I was not as human as they were. I soon realized that the only way I could dispel those stereotypes was to improve my vocabulary. So I set myself the goal of learning at least one new word a day. I would then look for opportunities to use the word so as to make it a part of my active vocabulary.

It's amazing what a difference a good vocabulary made in my life. It gave me confidence, and it enabled me to broaden my store of ideas. And whenever I spoke to people, I was now had the words to convey to them what I felt, thought, and believed. And in turn, they understood me better. It's no exaggeration to say that modest goal came to mean the difference between mental bondage and freedom.

This page is designed to help you improve your vocabulary -- one word at a time. That may sound like an insignificant number, but it is not. At the end of the year, if you're diligent, your vocabulary would have grown by more than 300 new words. The words are taken from a variety of sources, including The Random House Unabridged Dictionary, The Readers Digest Family Word Finder, The Synonym Finder and Shakespeare.

Take time to learn the words and to fully understand their meaning in all their subtleties. And remember, make every effort to use the words you learn. It doesn't make sense to have a dead vocabulary. Words are meant to be used when we talk and when we write.

Launder (verb) comes from Latin Lavare, to wash

- to clean, cleanse, scour, wash, to disguise the source of (illegal or secret funds or profits) to remove embarrassing or unpleasant characteristics or elements from in order to make more acceptable.
He'll have to launder his image if he wants to run for office.

Lavish (adj) comes from Old French lavasse, a downpour (of rain)

- profuse, extravagant, free, without limit, lush, immoderate, unsparing, munificent bounteous

The prince lavished money on show girls.

Rhyming words:

Monsoon - A trade wind of the Indian Ocean
Soon - before long; shortly
Bassoon-A bass musical wind-instrument with a reed
Spitoon- A vessel to spit in
Pontoon- A flat-bottomed boat
Lampoon-A personal or bitter satire

Words with mean to Hit, Strike, Beat, Whip

bang- beat or strike with a loud noise
bash - bash with a smashing blow
baste - hit; beat;
bastinado - beat with a stick
bunt - hit with the head lowered, as does a goat

Commit - to do, to perpetrate

1. Under what color he commits this ill?
2. What ignorant sin have I commited?

to entrust, to surrender, to give up

1.And so I commit you to the tuition of God.
2. Her gentle spirit commits itself to yours.

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