Reading to rapid reading

Rapid reading skills are essential for a successful speaker. The environment that surrounds you is very important. You won't get anywhere if you sit somewhere with loads of distractions.

Some good places are your bedroom, a library, a quiet coffee shop etc... A library is particularly useful as you have access to many other books which can help you with your reading.

Having a dictionary at hand to help you with any tricky vocabulary will help you understand the text more fully and improve your overall reading skills in the long-term also.

Rapid reading simply involves scanning through the text, picking out important and relevant words. First of all, decide what you are looking for in the text you're reading.

As you skim through the book, don't focus on every word, but group words together. Don't move your lips or read the text aloud when you're reading.

If you do this, then you'll be reading every word, which means you probably won't be reading fast! Practise reading for only a few minutes at a time and gradually increase your time, especially if you find it difficult to concentrate when reading.

Small Talk:
Narrow down your search !

Varun I can't believe how many cars are for sale -- eight pages of classifieds. Where should I start ?

Vineel Narrow down your search. Were you planning to buy a new car, or a pre-owned car ?

Varun Maybe new, to be risk-free.

Vineel Personally, I think buying a new car is a waste of money.
Varun A waste of money ?

Vineel As soon as you drive it home, it loses a lot of its value and worth.

Notes: Narrow down - to make a number or list of things smaller and clearer, by removing the things that are least important, necessary or
suitable

Example: We narrowed the list of candidates down from fifteen to five.

Dr Vangeepuram Sreenathachary