Yellow Belt

Expressing yourself in new and interesting ways goes beyond simply acquiring new words. In fact, you can upgrade your verbal acumen without learning any new words at all. You simply package what words you have in different ways, i.e., come up with new phrases that feature the old words.

So your first challenge is to find new uses for words that are typically only used in a particular phrase. 

For example, yank the word chagrin out of the old, worn-out phrase "much to my chagrin" and try using it in a refreshing, new way. To do that, you have to go find out what chagrin really means and think hard about how it can be used. Normally, I would suggest that you look to see how others use it, but, as is the case with all the words in this challenge, it's not often used in any other way.

After you've whooped chagrin,* try liberating the underlined words from these overworked phrases:

• assuage your fears

• cast aspersions

• beyond reproach

• daunting task

• regale you with a story/song

• rue the day

• with much aplomb

• run amok

• hate monger

• redress a grievance

• rank amateur

__________