BY, JENNIFER DUKE

Word Choice

When you use the same words over and over again in your writing,

you create a world that doesn’t have much

variety.

Why not use exciting words to spice up your paper or beautiful words to make your paper nice? Here’s how….choose different

words that are synonyms for the plain words that you

are already using.

HungryRavenousVeraciousStarving Famished

Eager

SleepyTired

DrowsyLethargic

Heavy-eyedSluggish

All the houses on our street are very ugly. Mrs. Gibbons lives in a big, ugly house down the street. The Fitzgeralds live in an ugly house too. We live in a big, ugly house.

WOW!Seems UGLY!

UglyUsing a variety of words creates a more vivid and interesting picture. Instead of ugly you could use:

Hideous RevoltingRepulsive

First Imagine what makes something ugly.

Is it an ugly color?What color is it?Is it an ugly shape?What shape is it?Does it remind you of something ugly?

What does it remind you of?

Specific words are more interesting than general

words.dog>hound

dessert>Jell-Ocar>station wagon

The dog leapt on me.The toy poodle leapt on

me.The Great Dane leapt on

me.

When you use a general word like dog, you leave your writing to interpretation. Sometimes that’s ok, but you really want to make your writing more specific so that your story makes sense.

General Words / Specific Words

Chair-----------------------------ArmchairCat--------------------------------SiameseTree-------------------------------OakDog--------------------------------Chihuahua

Specific words remind readers of things that they have seen, touched, tasted, heard, or felt.

Verbs can be specific too!

I went over to Jenny’s.I drove over to Jenny’s.

I walked over to Jenny’s.I skipped over to Jenny’s.I stomped over to Jenny’s.

Ron was a big man with brown eyes.

What type of big?Was he fat?Tall?Muscled? Did he look like he could hold his own in a

fight?Ron was a hulking man with brown eyes.

Take out a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil and re-write the following paragraph.

Our pet is big. He likes to eat food, and he walks around looking for stuff. When we take him on walks, he goes around. People always say that he is nice.