INTERESTING WORDS AND ALTERNATIVE PHRASES

In our writing, there are many words and phrases we use over and over again. These ‘tired’ words and phrases are guilty of making our compositions boring. If many different pupils in a class use the same words in their compositions, then you would have to use interesting alternative words and phrases to help lift your composition above the mundane.

Why you should use alternative words and phrases:

1. Showcase your vocabulary Over the years, you have picked up and learnt thousands of words and phrases. Put them to use in your writing!

2. Lend maturity to your writing Good writers do not use the same words or phrases over and over again in their writing. As the saying goes ‘variety is the spice of life’, so add ‘spice’ to your writing with a variety of words!

3. Describe different degrees of the same action. Some words such as ‘walk’ and ‘trudge’ may refer to the same action. However, they have a slight difference in meaning. ‘walk’ – generic word for moving from place to place ‘trudge’ – walk in a slow, tired or reluctant manner Since the characters in your story are all different, it is important to use different words and phrases to describe them.

Make your writing VIVID!

By using specific words, you can create clear and colourful word pictures for your reader.
Choose specific nouns: Some nouns are general (car, jacket, animal) and give the reader a vague, uninteresting picture. Other nouns are specific (Mercedes, aviator’s jacket, raccoon) and give the reader a much clearer, more detailed picture.

In the chart that follows, the first word in each row is a general noun. The second word is more specific. Finally, each word at the bottom row of the chart is clearly a specific noun. These last nouns are the types that make your writing clear and colourful.

General to specific nouns

PERSON : Woman,     Writer,                   J.K. Rowling
PLACE :    park,          theme park,            Escape Theme Park,
THING :    drink,          nutritious drink,      vegetable juice
IDEA   :     Pain,           Headache,             Migraine

1) Use vivid verbs: Like nouns, verbs can be too general to create a vivid word picture. For eg. The verb ‘looked’ does not say the same thing as ‘stared, glared, glanced, peeked or inspected’.

2) Whenever possible, use a verb that is strong enough to stand alone without the help of an adverb. Verb and adverb - Jerry sat down on the couch. Vivid verb - Jerry plopped on the couch.

3) Avoid overusing the ‘to be’ verbs (is, are, was, were…). Also avoid overusing ‘would, could or should’. Often a better verb can be made from another word in the same sentence. A ‘to be’ verb – Ashley is someone who plans for the future. A stronger verb – Ashley plans for the future.

4) Use active rather than passive verbs. Passive verb – Another strong pass was launched by Mary Kate. Active verb - Mary Kate launched another strong pass.

5) Use verbs that show rather than tell. A verb that tells – Iverson is very tall. A verb that shows – Iverson towers over his teammates.

Select specific adjectives:

Use precise, colourful adjectives to describe the nouns in your writing. Strong adjectives can help make the nouns you choose even more interesting and clear to the reader. For example, when describing your uncle’s new car as a “sleek, red convertible”, you are using adjectives to give the reader a clearer picture of the car.

1) Avoid using adjectives that carry little meaning:

neat, big, pretty, small, cute, fun, bad, nice, good, dumb, great, funny…

Overused adjective – The old house on the square belongs to an architect.
Specific adjective -    The dilapidated house on the square belongs to an architect.

2) Use adjectives selectively.

If your writing contains too many adjectives, they will simply get in the way and lose their effectiveness. Too many adjectives – A tall, shocking column of thick, yellow smoke marked the exact spot where the unexpected explosion had occurred. Revised - A column of thick, yellow smoke marked the spot where the unexpected explosion had occurred.

3) Include specific adverbs:

Use adverbs when you think they can help the action in a sentence. For eg. the sentence ‘SpongeBob reluctantly agreed to meet Patrick’ is more specific than ‘SpongeBob agreed to meet Patrick’. However, don’t use a verb and an adverb when a single vivid verb would be better.

Use the ‘right’ words:

The words in your writing should not only be specific and colourful, but they should also have the right feeling, or connotation. The connotation of a word is what it suggests or implies beyond its literal meaning.

Notice how the underlined words in the following passage connote positive, almost magical feelings about the subject, the writer’s hometown: TAHOE WAS A LAZY TOWN, STRETCHED OUT ON ITS HILLS AND ITS FLAT STREETS IN A SUMMER SUN. IT WAS A DREAMY PLACE, ALWAYS GREEN AND LUSH EXCEPT FOR FOUR COLD MONTHS AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF EACH YEAR. IT WAS HEAVY WITH LEAFY SMELLS, AND IN SPRINGTIME THERE WAS A PERFUME IN THE AIR THAT MADE YOU DIZZY IF YOU INHALED TOO MUCH.