Master of Memory: Accelerated learning, education, memorization - MMem 0460: Memorizing transitions for English writing using a mental “toolbox”

Episode Date: December 11, 2015

Jason is working on English writing and wants to work on memorizing transitions such as “however” and “therefore”. I give some suggestions for creating a mental toolbox of words and phrases that can be recalled easily in writing and in conversation. What do you want to learn? Leave your question at http://MasterOfMemory.com/. Music credit: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet, […]

Master of Memory 460. Welcome to Master of Memory. I'm Timothy, and I'm here to answer your accelerated learning questions every day and to inspire and empower you to learn anything you want to learn faster than ever. Jason submitted a written question at masterofmemory.com slash question. Jason says, I'm new to memory palaces. I was wondering, how do you remember transitions for English writing? Jason is writing essays, and he wants to be able to use transitions effectively,

but not in a boring way, using a variety of transitions. So for me, Jason, I would say this is a great topic for talking about using mnemonics to expand your expressiveness in your own language, and not just in writing, but also in conversation. So the fact is that in English, whether you're a native English speaker or not, there are lots of words that we know, but we can't necessarily come up with them in the moment to make the English more interesting. In many cases, it's easy to think of the fact that you're introducing a contrast, like you're trying to say however, but you don't always want

to say it as however. You want to be able to shake it up and say more interesting things that don't just sound boring and trite, but actually make people want to keep listening to you or to keep reading you because of the interesting way that you write, maybe the amusing way that you write even. So what I would do is I would create a memory palace organized by types of transition. So for, let's say, the contrast type of adverbs or transitions, you might place them all in one room with different phrases represented around the room. And then for, let's say, something that's more like an additionally on top of that type of transition, you might place that in a different room. And one of the quickest wins that you can get, more for conversation than for writing, but it's a great one that you're going

to use all the time in almost every conversation, is the transition or the get the train back on the tracks that is the word anyway. Because we all, you know, get off of the topic when we're talking about anything. I get off the topic when I'm recording these episodes and I have to get back on track. And I say things like, at any rate, or, you know, at the end of the day, or one way or another. And you can stir all of these phrases in a palace so that you don't just keep saying one of them. I say, at any rate, a lot. And I say, anyway, a lot. But anyway, getting back to the subject. But if you, every time that you were going to use that, actually went to a memory palace room and just selected something else each time, then your speech would be much more interesting. You say neither here nor there and get back to the subject, the subject, or you say, but at the end of the day, and you get back to the main point. So that's a really quick win.

You can use that pretty immediately. Just make sure to store these words. Even just writing them down is a great way to think actively about them and make sure that you are thinking about these things instead of just speaking mindlessly and using the same words over and over. Another one that you might consider doing is, as I mentioned earlier, the phrase however, where you're introducing a contrast. And some of the synonyms for that that you might store in your memory palace are nevertheless, regardless, at the same time, which in Spanish would be igual, or in spite of that, or the word yet, or the phrase even so.

These all basically accomplish the same function, although they have a slightly different nuance to them. And it's good to be able to shake it up a little bit. Then, of course, for additionally, you also have on top of that, or even as if that wasn't enough. So these are all handy things that you can use in conversations or in essays. And they're transitions that you can store in your memory palace. Of course, there are more categories, and there are more options within those categories that you'll want to store. But just start. And I would encourage everyone to try this out. Just choose one thing that you say all the time and think of a few different ways you might say it.

You don't think about this very much, probably, if you're a normal human being. But it's a fun and easy way to be a more interesting person and to express yourself in a wider variety of ways. Thanks for the question, Jason. And for everyone listening, please go to masterofmemory.com slash Mandarin to check out our latest Kickstarter project. This project, our Mandarin course, is not just to create a free course for learning Mandarin,

which is something that's fairly lacking online, but it's also a way to get the ball rolling for further projects at Master of Memory so that we can create more and more free courses for history, geography, our poetry memorization course, and our biblical Greek course. Getting the word out about the Mandarin project and getting it funded by Friday, December 18 is the best way that we can get the ball rolling quickly on these other projects. And so just go to masterofmemory.com slash mandarin to find out about that. Meanwhile, what do you want to learn?

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