writers.com newsletter

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Writers on the Net
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Vol. 7, No. 3
March 2004

IN THIS ISSUE:

THE RIGHT WORD by Paula Guran
~~CLASS SCHEDULE~~ [to current class schedule page]
TIPS: Some Usually Useless Words and Phrases to Weed Out of Your Writing
ROOTS: "Ides of March"
~~NEWSLINKS~~

THE RIGHT WORD

The English language offers _____ word choices.

Choose one:
abundant, ample, bounteous, copious, countless, divers, gobs of, oodles of, heaps of, immeasurable, infinite, innumerable, lots of, manifold, many, multitudinous, myriad, numberless, numerous, plentiful, plenteous, (a) plethora of, profuse, scads of, (a) slew of, (a) surfeit of, umpteen

Made your choice?

How do we chose the right word? How can we best convey the meaning of what we write to our audience? Unless we intentionally wish to confuse people, we must be careful the message we wish send is the same message the reader receives. Writers do more than send messages, however, they also manipulate and influence the reader. Word choice is one of our primary writing tools.

Context is our first determinative when choosing the best word. Vivid, exciting language may be great for a novel, but a report to a Board of Directors is usually intentionally staid. There are instances when we wish to be precise and other times when we'd prefer to convey a general idea or be intentionally vague. We may want high-flown and flowery phrasing for a poetic paean.

Although entries in thesauri may include synonyms, the words are provided as guides. Use them to help select which word works best. When you look up a word in a thesaurus, it does not give you the meanings of words. To make further distinctions and compare representational meanings, check dictionaries. "The American Heritage Dictionary," for example, considers the adjectives _plentiful, abundant, ample, copious,_ and _plenteous_ (all from our list above) to mean "being fully as much as one needs or desires." That's certainly a different meaning than _countless, immeasurable, infinite_, and innumerable_ more or less share: "being greater than can be calculated or reckoned." _Numerous_ means "consisting of a great number," while _multitudinous_ means "very numerous; existing in great number," and _manifold_ means "numerous and varied." A _surfeit_ is "an excessive amount."

Some of choices the thesaurus offered did not make our example list. Words like _crowded, legion, populous_, and _prevalent_ just did not "fit" with any meaning we wanted to convey. Others -- like _teeming_ -- might have worked if we had altered the sentence to accommodate them.

Depending on the context, we might want to avoid the less formal terms on our list: _gobs of, oodles of, heaps of, umpteen, scads of, (a) slew of_. (Other slang terms like _lousy with_, _beaucoup_, and _mega_ didn't make the list to start with.) The everyday term "lots of" is commonly used in speech and informal writing, but are frowned upon as colloquial, "inexact" or "too vague" for formal writing.

Words make impressions in other ways, too. A word's specific "dictionary" definition is referred to as *denotation*. Beyond that literal meaning, a word has further implications or *connotations*. These emotional, psychological, or social overtones are often what distinguish the meanings of similar words. A good dictionary helps, but seldom does a complete job. Would you describe a savvy purchase as cheap, a bargain car, inexpensive? *You* may feel these words have different connotations, but your dictionary may not. Consider these two sentences:

* Behind the ancient manse its terrace abounded with lush vegetation.

* The old house's backyard was overgrown with thick weeds.

The denotative meanings are very similar, but there their effect on the reader is not.

The way we "hear" a word in our "mind's ear" also influences meaning. Sometimes we choose worlds for the rhythm they help provide in a word or phrase. Sometimes we just want to avoid using the same word again and provide variety. We usually associate devices such as alliteration (repetition of initial consonant sounds), consonance (repetition of internal consonant sounds), assonance (repetition of vowel sounds), and onomatopoeia (use of words which imitate sound) with poetry, we employ them -- or try to avoid them -- in prose and this also affects word choice.

Words that come from Old English (before 1066) tend to be Germanic in origin. _Hot_ and _cold_ come from Old English words. They are short, simple, and definite. Words that English acquired later on from the Latin-based Romance languages may mean about the same thing, but they "sound" different to us: _torrid_ and _frigid_, for example, are synonymous with _hot_ and _cold_, but they "sound" different when we read them.

Some connotations, like sexual ones, are obviously to be avoided unless we intend to make the connection. "Winifred is frigid" and "Winifred is physically uncomfortable due to low temperature" are not synonymous when we consider the sexual meaning.

Cultural connotations may not be as obvious. Depending on the context we might avoid using the adjective _manifold_ (from our example list), even though its dictionary definitions are appropriate. To many readers, (1) its noun form means a certain sort of pipe fitting or a fitting on an internal combustion engine; (2) it is also a "preacher" word (used in the King James version of the Bible), and turns up in phrases such as "manifold blessings" and "manifold grace of God"; (3) it is a mathematical term; (4) in an earlier era, it was most commonly used to mean "written copies," "to make copies," or "the type of paper on which the copies were made."

Learning to identify these nuances is not always easy. We can't be expected to check every single word in several different ways -- we'd never get anything written. We can, though, put ourselves in the reader's place and read what we've written, identifying what might be unfamiliar, awkward, misunderstood, or ambiguous. We can make sure that when we are using words in an unusual manner we, somehow, explain ourselves. In situations where our only aim is to be clear, we can make sure we are simple and concise.

But beyond clarity, how do we discover the secrets of well-chosen words? Some folks seem to have an innate talent, even a genius for language, but we can all gain from experience; reading widely, broadly, and constantly; learning more about language; practice; and by being aware that every word can tell a different story.

WRITING TIP:
*Some Usually Useless Words and Phrases to Weed Out of Your Writing*

actually
all of (replace with "all")
along the lines of (replace with "like")
apparently
as it were
as to whether (replace with "whether")
as you know
at an early date (replace with "soon")
at the present time or this time or this point in time (replace with "now")
at the same time as (replace with "while")
basically
be in a position to (replace with "can")
being as or being that (replace with "since" or "because")
completely
despite the fact that (replace with "despite")
due to the fact that (replace with "because")
during such time that (replace with "while")
during the time that
essentially
extremely
first of all (replace with "first")
for all intents and purposes
for the purpose of (replace with "for")
generally
had an effect upon (replace with "influenced")
in all cases or in this case
in or with respect to (replace with "regarding" or "about")
in order to (replace with "to")
in point of fact
in relation to (replace with "about" or "for" or "with")
in some ways
in spite of the fact that (replace with "despite)"
in terms of
in the neighborhood of
in the amount of (replace with "for")
in the event of/that
in view of
it can be seen that
it has been indicated that
it is important that (replace with "must")
it is anticipated that
it is imperative that
it is interesting that
it is significant that
it should be noted that
it should be remembered that
make contact with (replace with "contact")
moreover
necessitate (replace with "require")
quite
really
totally
until such time as (replace with "until")
various
very
virtually
with reference to
with the possible exception of (replace with "except")

ROOTS
*The Ides of March**The Ides of March*

Caesar: The Ides of March are come.
Soothsayer: Ay, Caesar; but not gone.
-- Julius Caesar. Act 2. Sc. 1 (William Shakespeare)

If you know your history, or your drama, you know Julie the C was offed on the Ides of March, 44 BCE (that was 710 ab urbe condita to the Romans.) It may have been a bad day for Julius Caesar, but for everyone else in the Roman world, the Ides was the day -- good or bad -- that came every month of the year. The word "Ides" comes from the Latin word _idus_, probably from an earlier Etruscan word meaning "division" of a month.

Both the first Roman calendar and the Julian calendar (established by J.C. in 45 BCE 709 ab urbe condita) organized its months around three named days that served as reference points from which to count the other days. The first day of the month was Kalends. Nones was the 7th day of March, May, July, and October and the 5th day of other months). Ides was the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; and the 13th in the other months. The rest of the days of the month did not have individual names, but were identified by counting backwards from the three named days. March 3 would be V Nones-five days before the Nones (the Roman method of counting days was inclusive; the Nones would be counted as one of the five days). March 13 would be III Ides.

QUOTATION: "I do not choose the right word. I get rid of the wrong one." -- A.E. Houseman (1859 to 1936)

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