WORD CHOICE
Use precise words – words that directly relate to your topic
Ex: if your topic is the environment:
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nature (the outdoors)
biodiversity (lots of different species)
rock outcrop (bunch of rocks)
prairie (flat land)
habitat (a place where animals live)
summit (top of the mountain)
Use descriptive words – words that provide original
descriptions and sensory details to help the reader visualize
the subject (remember: show, don’t tell!)
 shimmering blaze of the Northern Lights (colorful
Northern Lights)
 moist river mud dimpled by fresh wolf tracks (the mud
had wolf tracks)
 a tangle of driftwood (tons of driftwood)
 trackless forests (forests with hardly any people)
 largest congregation of grizzly bears (biggest group of
grizzly bears)
 mysterious little canyons that lead nowhere (little
canyons that we didn’t know where they went to)
Replace over-used verbs – find new ways to convey the
action
 a storm brewed (a storm was coming)
 traces of the wilderness linger today (there is still some
wilderness left)
 cottonwoods rattled in the wind (the wind blew the
cottonwoods)
 clouds concealed the sun (clouds moved over the sun)
 a dry, sunny bank harbored a ledge of snow (there was
snow on the ledge)
 the weather urged me on (I moved fast because the
weather was bad)
Remove any unnecessary modifiers
 It’s super important to really respect our wilderness areas
and keep them totally pristine.
 The tiny, fuzzy, white snowshoe rabbit leapt across the
cold, frozen ice on its huge, flat, padded paws.
Watch out for the over-use of linking verbs such as: is, was,
did, has, have, are
 The waterfall seemed immense to me. (The waterfall was
immense to me.)
 The Grand Canyon stretches through Arizona. (The Grand
Canyon is in Arizona.)
Add in figurative language in the form of metaphor or simile
if it fits your topic
 The hawk was a Stealth bomber over the high canyon
walls, soaring secretly over the creatures below.
 The salmon’s scales were as rosy as a young girl’s cheeks.
Check a thesaurus for additional words you can use to
enhance your writing. Don’t use slang, text-messaging
abbreviations or words like stuff, things, a lot, or tons.