Section 29

I want you to get an appreciation for what words can actually do to your brain Read the following to yourself

Avoid improprieties when writing or speaking Improprieties are standard words used incorrectly For example: They were mighty proud of their trophy. Mighty is an adj used as an adv—the word should be especially The blockers defensed well on that last play. Defensed is a noun used as a verb—the word should be defended The mayor met with some members of the city counsel. Counsel is the wrong word—it should be council Improprieties often occur when a word is confused with another word similar to it

Here are some words often confused for each other: Advice, advise Altar, alter Alumnus, alumna Alumni, alumnae Capital, capitol Cite, site Compliment, complement Dyeing, dying Emigrate, immigrate Hoard, horde Illusion, allusion Imminent, eminent Loose, lose Principal, principle Role, roll

The denotation of a word is its strict dictionary definition The connotation of a word goes beyond its strict meaning to the feelings and images the word suggests For example: Think of the word democracy, socialism, communism, Christian, Pentecostal, etc. Properly using the connotations of a word can have a powerful effect on your audience However, be careful that you don’t used words with undesirable connotations Mr. Parks is a timid man. Mr. Parks is a pusillanimous man.

Choose exact and vivid verbs and nouns to make your writing interesting and forceful Choose verbs with action and color to create mental pictures in the reader’s mind For example: The stream flowed. The verb flowed doesn’t show specific action. Observe how the mental images change with different, more exact verbs The stream gushed. The stream swirled. The stream splashed. The stream gurgled. The stream meandered. The stream trickled.

Whenever possible, use exact and vivid verbs instead of verb- adverb combinations For example: The dog lay carelessly on the floor. (v-adv combo) The dog sprawled on the floor. (exact and vivid verb) How about these: He ran quickly from the room. It’s a verb-adverb combination He dashed from the room. It now contains an exact and vivid verb

Learn how to select specific nouns rather than general nouns Notice the progression from general to specific in the following: Food, meat, beef, sirloin Lumber, hardwood, tropical hardwood, mahogany School, private school, Lighthouse Christian Academy The thesaurus is your friend Learn to look up synonyms for nouns Make sure the synonym expresses your meaning exactly Don’t write haze if you mean smog, dream if you mean nightmare, etc.

Use exact and vivid modifiers to enhance the nouns and verbs you have chosen Carefully select the exact adjective needed to express your idea Synonyms generally have slightly differing meanings Make good use of participles…they make colorful adjectives Ex: the sound of the crackling fire and the smell of the bubbling stew lifted the spirits of the cold and weary hunters. But, be sparing in the use of adjectives because too many makes for poor sentences We listened with delight to the sweet, pleasant, agreeable tones of the harp. (poor) We listened with delight to the dulcet tones of the harp. (better)

Use the most vivid adverbs you can find Adverbs that end in –ly are usually the most vivid Foolishly, benignly, menacingly, agilely, fastidiously, jealously, etc. Carefully select the exfact adverb needed to express your idea For example: Slowly is a general word. Notice the following synonyms that express the idea more exactly: Leisurely, deliberately, gradually, reluctantly, hesitantly, sluggishly The adverbs very and really are greatly overused As often as possible, substitute such with the following: Decidedly, extremely, exceedingly, incomparably, indeed, actually, especially, actually, particularly, notably, strikingly…