In every kind of writing, it is important to choose the correct for exactly what you wish to say. This is how you are able to express your complete, specific meaning instead of simply giving the reader a general impression. You can use the four questions below to help yourself choose words well.
Is the word I am using specific enough?
A general word could mean many different things to different people, while a specific word will mean one, or just a few, very clear things. For instance, because the word “animal” could mean any of a million different creatures – from ants to elephants – it is a very general term. However, “fish” is more specific, and “shark” is even more specific.
By choosing specific words, you create fewer different ways the readers could understand what you are telling. This will given them a much clearer understanding of your ideas, and it will help to avoid misunderstanding.
Does this word have connotations that I do not mean?
Every word in English has its literal meaning (called denotation), which is the words very basic definition. However, words also have implied meaning (called connotation), which can give the word a positive or negative feeling. For example the words “silent” and “peaceful” have almost the same literal meaning, but the connotations are different. “Silent” is not positive or negative, it simply describes a condition of no sound. However, “peaceful” has a very positive connotation. If we call a scene “peaceful” in our writing, we not only describe the way it sounds, but also describe the feeling that goes with it.
Learning to use connotation when you are writing helps you control the feeling of what you write and not just the information. Look at the very different effects of these two sentences whose literal meanings are mostly the same:
* She sat in a private area of the park and relaxed.
* She sat in a lonely area of the park and did nothing.
Either of these could be an effective topic sentence for a descriptive paragraph, but which one we chose would depend on whether we wanted the reader to feel that it was a pleasant scene or a rather sad one.
Will my reader understand this word in the same way I do?
We already know that thinking about your audience helps you become a better writer. One way to do this is to make sure that reader’s understanding of a word is going to be the same as your understanding. This is especially important when someone is writing in a second language, where the writer’s understanding of a word may not be the same as the native-speaking reader, such as these two rather common examples:
dormitory(dorm) vs. dorm room open/close vs. turn on/turn off
Put yourself in the reader’s place and look back at what you have written. What words might be unfamiliar? Can you find better ones? If not, should you take a sentence or two to define them? Are any words ambiguous (could mean more than one thing)?
Is this word or phrase used too much?
The words and expressions we hear and read most often become part of the way we express ourselves, and many of them find their way into our writing. This is fine, unless a word or expression has been used too often. If your readers have seen a phrase too much, it will start to lose its interest and meaning for them. This could be a word that you have personally used many times in your writing, or it could be a phrase that is has been used too often by other writers or in daily life. We often call these phrases “clichés.” An example of a cliché would be:
The nurse was as gentle as a lamb. (The phrase “gentle as a lamb” has been very common for many, many years.)
It may be better to write:
The nurse was as gentle as a soft breeze.
Video
Watch the video below for a more in-depth discussion of how word choice makes your writing better. Unfortunately, I cannot overwrite this code. I tried. Apparently, the propriety platform is not making a proper communication with a propriety Kaltura platform. You will have to click to ugly link to watch the video.
Worksheet
Now that you have a better understand of how your word choice affects the entire essay, complete the worksheet below.
