Every new word you learn is another tool in the box. It’s hard to build anything with only a hammer.

A small vocabulary forces every situation into the same few shapes. With one tool, everything gets treated like the job that tool does, and precision disappears: fine ends up covering relief and exhaustion and indifference alike. More words mean finer distinctions, and finer distinctions mean you can say what you actually meant. The thinking sharpens along with the speech.

Add words the way you would add tools, one at a time and because you met a job you could not do. When you cannot describe something, go find the word for it. Use it the same week or it will not stay.