Be a Better Writer--WORD CHOICE
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 10:06 pm
This week’s lesson is an extension of one of the pieces of writing advice that I listed last week: Be sparing with the thesaurus. This advice sparked a bit of good-natured discussion, and I thought I’d expand it in another direction.
When I’m editing, I often come across a sentence that’s perfectly correct grammatically, but because the writer has chosen a word without regard to its connotation, the sentence doesn’t really work.
The connotation of a word is the additional meaning that is given to it beyond its simple dictionary definition. The additional meaning could be a cultural construct, or it could be additional emotional meaning that’s attached to the word (either positive or negative).
Here are a few examples to show you what I mean:
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, smiling.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, grinning.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, smirking.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, sneering.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, beaming.
Each of those final words—smiling, grinning, smirking, sneering, and beaming—indicates a similar facial expression, but the emotional content for each of the words is considerably different. If Ben is smiling, grinning, or beaming, he’s probably happy (to varying degrees) about what’s in the box. If Ben is smirking or sneering, something much less pleasant is going on with that box.
That’s just one example from myriad synonyms (or near-synonyms) in our wonderfully rich English language. If you’re writing and you find yourself using a word that you’re overly fond of, you may decide to consult the thesaurus—just be sure you know the connotation of the word you choose. If you choose a word with a connotation that you’re not aware of, your sentence could have a totally different meaning from the one you intended.
I’ve got a few pairs of sentences below. In each pair, one sentence contains a word with a positive connotation, and one contains a word with a negative connotation. See if you can pick out which is which.
1. Jan thought the new teacher seemed very youthful.
2. Jan thought the new teacher seemed very immature.
3. Henry is frugal with his money.
4. Henry is miserly with his money.
5. Sally drives a cheap car.
6. Sally drives an affordable car.
7. The protestors marched down the street.
8. The demonstrators marched down the street.
Even though each pair of different words used above might be found in the same thesaurus entry, they don’t mean exactly the same thing, and in each pair, one of them (youthful, frugal, affordable, demonstrators) has a clearly more positive connotation than the other (immature, miserly, cheap, protestors).
If you use your thesaurus, please be sure you’re aware of any positive or negative connotation of the word that you choose.
***
Another issue that occurs every day as I’m editing is that of people simply choosing an incorrect word. The word they choose may be similar to another either in spelling or in pronunciation or both, or the writer may simply think a word means something different than it really means. For example, as I look back through current editing jobs (none of these are people on FaithWriters, so I won’t be publically calling out anyone who’s likely to see this lesson), I find errors like these:
He clamored up the stairs. (The word she meant was clambered.)
“My furor!” the soldier said, when Hitler entered the room. (The word should be Führer.)
There was a cacophony outside; the neighbor was yelling at his dog. (A cacophony isn’t just any loud noise; it’s a mixture of many terrible-sounding noises or voices.)
She was hoping that the government would give her a little aide. (While a little aide would be nice, the word the writer meant was aid.)
We walked through the bizarre. (It wasn’t that strange; it was a bazaar.)
There’s not really a handy tip for avoiding mistakes like this—after all, no one can master every spelling and every meaning of every English word; there are over a million of them. I have two suggestions, though:
1. If you’re at all in doubt about whether you’ve used a correct word, look it up or ask someone. Way too often, I hear this excuse—Oh, I was in a rush, I knew it wasn’t that great, but I just wanted to get something on paper. Is that attitude consistent with Colossians 3:23 (ISV)? “Whatever you do, work at it wholeheartedly as though you were doing it for the Lord and not merely for people.”
2. Get an editor. Get an editor. Get. An. Editor. If you’re looking to publish, this is essential. If you’re just writing for the challenge, get a buddy to proofread for you, to catch this sort of error.
Check out the Wikipedia entry on "Eggcorn" for some fascinating and related material.
***
Finally, and still on the topic of word choice, look at this quote from Mark Twain: The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
I want my writing to have far more lightning (not lightening, by the way) than lightning bugs, don’t you? One way to do that is to improve your vocabulary.
1. Read, read, read, read. Note interesting words as you read, and work them into your vocabulary.
2. Sign up for http://www.vocabulary.com It’s free, and it’s a fun way to do a few quick vocabulary exercises every day.
3. Go to Amazon.com and type ‘vocabulary’ into the search box. You’ll find thousands of results, and surely one of them will be the sort of thing that works for you: flash cards, a workbook, even books of vocabulary cartoons.
4. Go to your library and look at past issues of Reader’s Digest. They have a vocabulary quiz in every issue.
5. You can get vocabulary apps for your smart phone for just a few dollars.
6. My favorite vocabulary exercise is freerice.com. You can go to this website and take a quick multiple choice vocabulary quiz (or a quiz in several other subjects). For every answer you get correct, the website will donate ten grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger. I’ve checked it out—it’s totally legitimate. What a wonderful way to increase your vocabulary and to help eradicate world hunger at the same time!
When I’m editing, I often come across a sentence that’s perfectly correct grammatically, but because the writer has chosen a word without regard to its connotation, the sentence doesn’t really work.
The connotation of a word is the additional meaning that is given to it beyond its simple dictionary definition. The additional meaning could be a cultural construct, or it could be additional emotional meaning that’s attached to the word (either positive or negative).
Here are a few examples to show you what I mean:
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, smiling.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, grinning.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, smirking.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, sneering.
Ben was silent for a moment when he opened the box, and then he looked at me, beaming.
Each of those final words—smiling, grinning, smirking, sneering, and beaming—indicates a similar facial expression, but the emotional content for each of the words is considerably different. If Ben is smiling, grinning, or beaming, he’s probably happy (to varying degrees) about what’s in the box. If Ben is smirking or sneering, something much less pleasant is going on with that box.
That’s just one example from myriad synonyms (or near-synonyms) in our wonderfully rich English language. If you’re writing and you find yourself using a word that you’re overly fond of, you may decide to consult the thesaurus—just be sure you know the connotation of the word you choose. If you choose a word with a connotation that you’re not aware of, your sentence could have a totally different meaning from the one you intended.
I’ve got a few pairs of sentences below. In each pair, one sentence contains a word with a positive connotation, and one contains a word with a negative connotation. See if you can pick out which is which.
1. Jan thought the new teacher seemed very youthful.
2. Jan thought the new teacher seemed very immature.
3. Henry is frugal with his money.
4. Henry is miserly with his money.
5. Sally drives a cheap car.
6. Sally drives an affordable car.
7. The protestors marched down the street.
8. The demonstrators marched down the street.
Even though each pair of different words used above might be found in the same thesaurus entry, they don’t mean exactly the same thing, and in each pair, one of them (youthful, frugal, affordable, demonstrators) has a clearly more positive connotation than the other (immature, miserly, cheap, protestors).
If you use your thesaurus, please be sure you’re aware of any positive or negative connotation of the word that you choose.
***
Another issue that occurs every day as I’m editing is that of people simply choosing an incorrect word. The word they choose may be similar to another either in spelling or in pronunciation or both, or the writer may simply think a word means something different than it really means. For example, as I look back through current editing jobs (none of these are people on FaithWriters, so I won’t be publically calling out anyone who’s likely to see this lesson), I find errors like these:
He clamored up the stairs. (The word she meant was clambered.)
“My furor!” the soldier said, when Hitler entered the room. (The word should be Führer.)
There was a cacophony outside; the neighbor was yelling at his dog. (A cacophony isn’t just any loud noise; it’s a mixture of many terrible-sounding noises or voices.)
She was hoping that the government would give her a little aide. (While a little aide would be nice, the word the writer meant was aid.)
We walked through the bizarre. (It wasn’t that strange; it was a bazaar.)
There’s not really a handy tip for avoiding mistakes like this—after all, no one can master every spelling and every meaning of every English word; there are over a million of them. I have two suggestions, though:
1. If you’re at all in doubt about whether you’ve used a correct word, look it up or ask someone. Way too often, I hear this excuse—Oh, I was in a rush, I knew it wasn’t that great, but I just wanted to get something on paper. Is that attitude consistent with Colossians 3:23 (ISV)? “Whatever you do, work at it wholeheartedly as though you were doing it for the Lord and not merely for people.”
2. Get an editor. Get an editor. Get. An. Editor. If you’re looking to publish, this is essential. If you’re just writing for the challenge, get a buddy to proofread for you, to catch this sort of error.
Check out the Wikipedia entry on "Eggcorn" for some fascinating and related material.
***
Finally, and still on the topic of word choice, look at this quote from Mark Twain: The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
I want my writing to have far more lightning (not lightening, by the way) than lightning bugs, don’t you? One way to do that is to improve your vocabulary.
1. Read, read, read, read. Note interesting words as you read, and work them into your vocabulary.
2. Sign up for http://www.vocabulary.com It’s free, and it’s a fun way to do a few quick vocabulary exercises every day.
3. Go to Amazon.com and type ‘vocabulary’ into the search box. You’ll find thousands of results, and surely one of them will be the sort of thing that works for you: flash cards, a workbook, even books of vocabulary cartoons.
4. Go to your library and look at past issues of Reader’s Digest. They have a vocabulary quiz in every issue.
5. You can get vocabulary apps for your smart phone for just a few dollars.
6. My favorite vocabulary exercise is freerice.com. You can go to this website and take a quick multiple choice vocabulary quiz (or a quiz in several other subjects). For every answer you get correct, the website will donate ten grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger. I’ve checked it out—it’s totally legitimate. What a wonderful way to increase your vocabulary and to help eradicate world hunger at the same time!