We have talked about writing with VOICE.

Remember?

VOICE is what makes your paper YOURS!

VOICE is accomplished through many strategies... vocabulary/lexicon/word choice that is special to the author a unique point of view the emotion the author evokes (causes the reader to feel)

Today we are going to look at how word choice (AKA lexicon or vocabulary) affects the VOICE in your writing.

“So, how does vocabulary make a difference in the VOICE of my paper?”

“Words are just words, right? BIG DEAL!”

Exactly! BIG DEAL. The words a writer chooses make the difference between a student who is just writing because the teacher assigned the paper and the student who writes to affect his/her reader.

Believe it or not, there are actually some words that we say TOO MUCH! Can you think of any?

I can! We are going to make a list that we’ll call the Extinct List.

We are going to start with one of the most OVERUSED action verbs: WENT

is just the past tense of the verb go. WENT Base FormPresent Participle PastPast Participle go[is] goingwent[have] gone

“Went” is Gone!

“Went” just tells us that someone/ something moved from one place to another.

“Went” doesn’t tell us how they got there.

An author that writes with VOICE paints a picture for the reader.

You, as an author, want to SHOW the reader, instead of just TELLING them.

SHOW the reader! Don’t TELL them

Consider this! On the following slide, you will see three sentences. How do they paint a different picture?

1. She went to the store. 2. She walked to the store. 3. She scurried to the store.

2. She walked to the store. Now we know how she got to the store. She must not have been in a hurry.

3. She scurried to the store. This time we know she was in a hurry to get to the store!

If we classify the words on our list, it will help you to know when to use them. What are some categories that the words could be split into?

1. She went to the store. All we know is that she went to the store.

Now you have come up with some alternatives for WENT.

Be sure you use words from your list to show how they went when you write.

Choose one group member with nice writing to record your words.

You will have 3 minutes to list as many words as possible.

Then, choose one person to come to the front to present your words.

Here are a few to start with: like good bad sure very mean nice there thing cool