Fresh Vocabulary

English teachers are always harping on vocabulary.  They want you to avoid casual, stale, boring words. But you only know the words you know, you know?  How do you find bigger, fresher words to use in your essay?

Simple--synonyms.

Synonyms are words that mean roughly the same thing as another word.  The word "eat," for example, has many synonyms: devour, dine, ingest, munch, etc.  It can be effective in your writing to go through your essay draft and look up synonyms for words you already have written.  Replace the simple words for the fancier synonyms and voila!  Fresh vocabulary.

It's easiest to do this in Microsoft Word:

Simply right click the word you'd like to replace, select "synonyms" and feast your eyes on all your options. 

If you're using a word processor that doesn't have this feature, such as Google Docs, you can go to https://www.thesaurus.com and search for synonyms until the cows come home.

Now let's see this synonym magic in action.  First, I'll write a short paragraph with not-so-stellar vocabulary:

• A cool thing about bacon is that it comes from a pig's belly.  Bacon is really good and that's why people eat it.  Bacon is usually a breakfast food, but it's also good with other meals. 

Next, I'll freshen up the vocabulary a little, making the paragraph sound more scholarly and impressive.  Check it out:

• An interesting fact about bacon is that it originates from a pig's belly. Bacon is delicious which is why people consume it.  Bacon is typically a breakfast dish, but it's also excellent with other meals.  

See what I mean?  Fresh as heck.  This is a quick and easy way to up your vocabulary game, but be careful not to overdo it...you don't want to come across as a snob.

Until next time,

Your Online Writing Tutor