Tired of using the same ole locutions? Well then, a thesaurus is for you. Every good writer has one. I still have a hard copy, but you can always bookmark Thesaurus.com. Writing styles can get into a rut when you find you are using the same words over and over again. If you are bored with your writing, you can guess how your readers are going to feel. I like reading challenges. I like finding words I don’t know, looking them up and perhaps, using them myself. My book Eliza Jane was written in nineteenth century English. Many words from that era are long gone and therefore, would be difficult to look up, so I added a reference page for those particular words.
As we learned in grammar school, a thesaurus is a book arranged much like a dictionary, alphabetically, containing synonyms and antonyms. It not only helps you enrich your vocabulary, but also gives you ideas to enrich your writing. Here are two sentences, both with the same meaning. Nothing is wrong with either one of them, but one offers a visual richness.
The sun was bright and he took time to enjoy nature’s beauty..
The sun shone brightly, giving him pause to behold nature’s beauty.
Switching up words improves your writing skills.
Funny story: I always have had difficulty saying the word synonym and usually it comes out cinnamon. Last week I was substitute teaching a first grade class learning about synonyms. I asked if anyone knew what a synonym is. One girl raised her hand and said, “it's like a spice” and it was then I realized I had said cinnamon. My aid started laughing and so did I. Even teachers can get it wrong sometimes. LOL
Next week: Spare characters
Until next time…
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