By the end of the day on most Fridays, I have this habit of watching a new film, predominantly from Hollywood. The choice of the movie and its genre depends upon my mood, prevailing at that time. I always look for movies possessing seamless narrations. At the same time, I pay special attention to moments, which provide some serious lessons that are essential to life, in the movies. For instance, I would define the 2006 American biographical drama film, ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ a repository of highly valuable life lessons. Besides the movie rendering illustrations for aspects like determination, killer instinct, upbringing and forbearance, a sequence in the film provides a brief lesson on vocabulary. The sequence features the conversation between the father-son duo, Chris Gardner (the character of a dad, played by Will Smith) and Christopher Jr. (the role of a soon-to-be five-year-old son, enacted by Jaden Smith) during the course of their walk to meet a potential client of the former. Prior to the sequence, Chris Gardner conveys Christopher Jr. that possibly he would take him to the football game after the meetup with the prospect.
The interaction between the two during the walk transpires as follows
Christopher Jr.: Are you bringing it (referring the bone density scanner, which Chris Gardner is carrying) to the game?
Chris Gardner: Yeah, I don’t wanna leave it. And maybe we’re going to the game.
Christopher Jr.: Where are we going now?
Chris Gardner: To see someone about my job.
Christopher Jr.: I don’t understand
Chris Gardner: You don’t understand what?
Christopher Jr.: Are we going to the game?
Chris Gardner: I said possibly we’re going to the game. You know what “possibly” means?
Christopher Jr.: Like probably.
Chris Gardner: No, “probably” means there’s a good chance that we’re going. “Possibly” means we might, we might not. What does “probably” mean?
Christopher Jr.: It means we have a good chance.
Chris Gardner: And what does “possibly” mean?
Christopher Jr.: I know what it means.
Chris Gardner: What does it mean?
Christopher Jr.: It means that we’re not going to the game. 😊
Whenever I come across the usage of the words, “possibly” and “probably”, I just recall the aforementioned conversation and get myself clarified. This brief lesson suggested me a valuable tip on vocabulary. The tip is to note down informative and appealing dialogues like the above mentioned, as and when I notice them.
So, what makes the dialogue appealing? As the convo has been written out in such a way that a father describes about the difference between two words to his soon-to-be five-year-old son, the explanation has been rendered in a simpler form. Also, if something like a thought, idea, or a concept is explained with a relatable example then there is a high probability for individuals, who are able to relate with the instance, to have a lasting remembrance of the concerned topic’s meaning or context.
Hope you found my tip on vocabulary to be useful and practicable. Now, head to the comments and let me know your ways to improve vocabulary. And feel free to share a link to your blog post, which is relevant to this article so that I can check it out as well!