Why Word Choice is Important
Ideas are rarely new. So when you write, there’s a good chance
that what you are presenting has been said before. In order not
to bore your audience, you have to make your writing
unique and original. But how does one accomplish this?
Write with style.
Quality word choice is significant improving a to a writer’s style.
Clever phrases, powerful verbs, just-right nouns . . . these lead to
a voice all your own, one you will enjoy using and one that will
keep your audience reading.
Using Powerful Verbs
Verbs come in two types: state of being verbs and action
verbs.
State of being verbs are most often variations on the “to
be” verb: is, was, are, were, has been . . .
Most other verbs are action verbs, showing someone or
something doing. These are the ones you can have fun
with: blast, tip-toe, wrench, guzzle, fling, mutate,
project, wink, plop, flutter, cascade, sink, yelp and snooze.
Using Powerful Verbs
First of all, look for ways to use action verbs over state of
being verbs whenever possible.
Original: The teacher is at her desk while the kindergarteners are
all over the room.
Rewrite: The teacher cowers at her desk while the kindergarteners
sprint all over the room.
Using Powerful Verbs
Some action verbs are very common and over used.
Replace boring action verbs with ones that are not only
snappy, but precise. Consider this sentence:
“No,” she said and walked out of the room.
The verbs are actions verbs, but not very exciting ones.
How about this instead:
“No,” she murmured and shuffled out of the room.
Using Precise Nouns
The man walked into the room.
The nouns in the sentence above are vague, general
and unexciting.
The priest walked into the courtroom.
Isn’t that better? Strive to use interesting, precise nouns to
describe objects and people.
Using Precise Nouns
Here’s another example:
Original: A dog bounded across the yard, scaring the
group half to death.
Rewrite 1: A Doberman Pincher bounded across the estate,
scaring the vandals half to death.
Rewrite 2: A toy poodle bounded across the Astroturf, scaring the
trick-o-treaters half to death.
Using Adjectives
Use adjectives with caution. One mistake of beginning
writers trying to improve their word choice is to go into
“adjective overload.”
Here’s an example of what NOT to do:
The lovely, fluffy, wonderful pillow helped me get a
peaceful, relaxing and great night’s sleep.
Boomer, our hyper, crazy, big, furry dog, licked my
little cousin’s small pink hand until she gave him a treat.
Using Adjectives
“Adjective overload” doesn’t just happen when long strings
of adjectives get thrown into a sentence. Some writers will only use
one adjective per noun, but the problem is when they use an
adjective for EVERY noun.
Another example of what NOT to do:
My fantastic friend gave me a wonderful present for my very
special day. It was an awesome poster of a cute kitten and an
adorable puppy playing. It sure made up for the terrible name she
called me on that awful school day last week.
Using Adjectives
If you were gagging on that last example, you tuned into the
fact that many commonly used adjectives are just that –
common and overused – and a bit sickening when used too
heavily.
Avoid adjectives such as wonderful, pretty, lovely, great,
awful, terrible and the like. These words “tell” rather
than “show” and make for boring reading. How was the
day beautiful? Describe it!
Using Adjectives
So what DO we do?
Use strong, descriptive adjectives only when they really add
to an idea. Consider lively adjectives such as these:
blistered sun-kissed raspy
saturated silken
papery
bejeweled
turbid
willful
eerie
gritty
catastrophic acrid
tattered
haunting
crystalline redundant
soulless variegated cynical
sinuous
unruly
sluggish vacuous
bitter
discombobulated scaly brazen polished lucid
Using Adjectives
Those listed on the last slide are just a few examples of
hundreds of adjective possibilities. Here are a few in use:
• We followed the sinuous path of the river through the
forest.
• Cortez’s bitter conquest of the Mayans was the beginning
Western rule in the Americas.
• Grace’s haunting voice lilted over the airwaves.
• The sluggish clerk scanned our items, grabbing each with
scaly hands, which made me reach for the travel-sized
bottle of hand lotion displayed in the checkout line.
Using Adverbs
Whereas an adjective describes a noun, an ADVERB
describes, who would have guessed it, a verb. Most adverbs
are “ly” words.
Again, you want to avoid over using adverbs, but let’s take a
look at a few good examples in action:
• The thief stealthy crept down the museum hallway.
• Tirelessly trudging through the mud, the oxen harnessed
to the plow continued their thankless job.
• Superman intuitively sensed the danger.
Creative Phrasing
Phrasing is probably the area where you can have the most
creative fun in writing. Creative phrasing is taking
ordinary words and phrasing them together in a unique,
pleasing manner.
Look at these words to describe a desert scene: cactus, sand,
windy, hills, arid, sun-baked, blue sky, expansive,
tumbleweed, harsh, unforgiving, sparse, rocky, rigid
Use these some of these words creatively to create a
descriptive picture of a desert scene (#10 on your notes).
Creative Phrasing
Here are some of the combinations I came up with:
• cactus-ridden, sun-baked hills of sand
• Expansive tracts of gritty sand gave home to sedentary cactus and
racing tumbleweed
• the sharps winds of the desert lifted sand into the expansive sky
• spikes of cactus rose up into the unerring blue
• a palace of harsh, wind-driven sands and sun-baked rocks
• a arid canvas of sand carpets and cactus and topsy-turvy
tumbleweed
• thirsty waves of sand
• the fat dollop of a barrel cactus
Creative Phrasing
Many times, this just take a little rearranging of words you
already have.
Original: As I drove along the highway, I could see the summit of
Pasachoa off to my left. Having hiked on it, I know it’s green, and
all of its contours make it look like some grabbed it and twisted it,
but today I couldn’t see much because the windows were fogged up.
Rewrite: The green, twisted summit of Pasachoa slid by to
my left, but I could see little more than a dark splotch
through the veil of fog resting on the windows.
Creative Phrasing
Here are a few examples from my own writing. These are
from an essay about Christmas lights:
electric holiday frenzy
icicle merriment
psychedelic in-your-face festiveness
From an essay about traveling in Peru:
a flurry of confused activity
mountains draped in noble robes of snow
a makeshift woolen cocoon
a dark sequined mantle (to describe the night sky)
Use “Dense” Words
Once a month is monthly.
Something new is novel.
People they don’t know are strangers.
Something impossible to imagine is inconceivable.
To think about for a long time is to ponder.
Throughout the whole year is periodically.
Over and over again is redundant or incessant.
Something that doesn’t last long is fleeting.
Refusing to follow directions is obstinate.
Use “Dense” Words
The previous slide just gives a few examples of how
you can reduce wordiness and improve the flow of
your sentences.
A big vocabulary helps, but is not necessary. Just pay
attention to the words you use and ask yourself if
anything better is available.
Remaining attentive to your writing is the key
to improving it!
Words to Avoid
Avoid “like” as a modifier.
NO: I was, like, horrified by the situation.
YES! I was horrified by the situation.
Avoid “like” as a replacement for said or synonyms.
NO: Layla was like, “No way!”
YES! Layla shrieked, “No way!”
Words to Avoid (or use in serious
moderation)
run
went
nice
get
thing
said
sucks
well
stuff
pretty
mad
so
good
ugly
sad
bad
awful
happy
Avoiding Clichés
A cliché is an overused expression. Many clichés are
similes, such as “smokes like a chimney” or “like a
bump on a log.”
While clichés are often colorful, they are also
unoriginal and tired. Any writer can throw one in,
and far too many do, degrading the quality and art of
the writing.
Avoiding Clichés
More examples:
Couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag
Everything is coming up roses
Let the cat out of the bag
Raining cats and dogs
Safe and sound
Snug as a bug
Kicked the bucket
Live and learn
No guts, no glory
First and foremost
Avoiding Clichés
There are hundreds more clichés than the ones just listed.
How do you spot one in your writing so that you know to
replace it?
Ask yourself if you’ve heard that before, more than
just once or twice.
If so, it’s probably a cliché.
Avoiding Clichés
How do you replace a cliché?
Be creative! Use description.
Look at the difference between these two sentences:
Cliché: The weather was awful! It was raining cats and dogs!
Creative: Thick rain drops pounded the pavement with force,
sending pedestrians running for cover.
Notice how the second sentence is much more interesting
and descriptive? Challenge yourself to, as the joke goes,
avoid clichés like the plague. Har, har, har.
Using the Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a lot like a can of paint: it has the potential to
help you or cause a lot of harm.
Many writers new to the thesaurus make the mistake of
choosing big, academic-sounding words that they really don’t
know. While synonyms are similar, they are nuanced enough
that the word you choose has the potential to throw off your
reader and make you look silly. Plus, many words have more
than one meaning. If you choose a synonym for an alternate
meaning to the one you are using, it makes your sentence sound
quite strange.
Using the Thesaurus
The best use of a thesaurus is to find word you know, but
just hadn’t thought of at the moment. For example, let’s
say you want to describe something a soft – a voice, hair, the
flowers of a petal, skin or music.
“Soft” replacements: silky, downy, velvety, supple
The words mellifluous and faint can also replace soft, but
only for sounds. Diffused and dim work for only for light or
color.
Chances are you know most of these words, you just might not
Using the Thesaurus
I even used the MSWord thesaurus in writing this Power
Point presentation. To remedy my over-use of the word
interesting, I looked it up and found many alternatives –
words I know, but just hadn't thought of at that moment.
appealing, attractive, motivating, exciting,
fascinating, attention-grabbing, remarkable, noteworthy, catchy
Interesting:
Obviously, not all of these words will work for all
occasions, so choose your words carefully!
Last Word
Good word choice does take time and thought, although it
comes easier the more you practice. Slow down, consider
your words when you write and revise, and you will begin to
see a dramatic improvement in the quality of your writing.
Reading is another great way to help improve your word
choice. Nothing builds a strong vocabulary bank like
reading books!