{"id":1225,"date":"2020-03-25T15:34:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T15:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab\/chapter\/revising-for-style-word-choice\/"},"modified":"2024-04-24T22:17:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T22:17:03","slug":"revising-for-style-word-choice","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/chapter\/revising-for-style-word-choice\/","title":{"raw":"Revising for Style: Word Choice","rendered":"Revising for Style: Word Choice"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Identify strategies for revising for style<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Evaluate strategies for revising for style<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nGood writers are concise and precise, weeding out unnecessary words and choosing the exact word to convey meaning. Precise words\u2014active verbs, concrete nouns, specific adjectives\u2014help the reader visualize the sentence. Good writers use adjectives sparingly and adverbs rarely, letting their nouns and verbs do the work.\r\n\r\nFollow these principles to be sure that your word choice is appropriate.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Avoid slang.<\/strong> Find alternatives to lit, bougie, and low key.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Avoid language that is overly casual.<\/strong> Write about \u201cmen and women\u201d rather than \u201cgirls and guys\u201d unless you are trying to create a specific effect. A formal tone calls for formal language.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Avoid clich\u00e9s.<\/strong> Overused expressions such as outside the box, back in the day, feeling blue, and similar expressions are empty of meaning and may not appeal to your audience.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Be careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meanings.<\/strong> Some common examples are affect\/effect, there\/they\u2019re\/their, and idea\/ideal. When in doubt, check a dictionary.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Choose words with the connotations you want.<\/strong> Choosing a word for its connotations is as important in formal essay writing as it is in all kinds of writing. Compare the positive connotations of the word proud and the negative connotations of arrogant and conceited.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Use specific words rather than overly general words.<\/strong> Find synonyms for vague words like thing, people, nice, good, bad, and interesting. Or, use specific details to make your exact meaning clear.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>practice<\/h3>\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1292200762140624668\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" aria-label=\"Revising for Style: Word Choice\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Identify strategies for revising for style<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate strategies for revising for style<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Good writers are concise and precise, weeding out unnecessary words and choosing the exact word to convey meaning. Precise words\u2014active verbs, concrete nouns, specific adjectives\u2014help the reader visualize the sentence. Good writers use adjectives sparingly and adverbs rarely, letting their nouns and verbs do the work.<\/p>\n<p>Follow these principles to be sure that your word choice is appropriate.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Avoid slang.<\/strong> Find alternatives to lit, bougie, and low key.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Avoid language that is overly casual.<\/strong> Write about \u201cmen and women\u201d rather than \u201cgirls and guys\u201d unless you are trying to create a specific effect. A formal tone calls for formal language.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Avoid clich\u00e9s.<\/strong> Overused expressions such as outside the box, back in the day, feeling blue, and similar expressions are empty of meaning and may not appeal to your audience.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Be careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meanings.<\/strong> Some common examples are affect\/effect, there\/they\u2019re\/their, and idea\/ideal. When in doubt, check a dictionary.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Choose words with the connotations you want.<\/strong> Choosing a word for its connotations is as important in formal essay writing as it is in all kinds of writing. Compare the positive connotations of the word proud and the negative connotations of arrogant and conceited.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Use specific words rather than overly general words.<\/strong> Find synonyms for vague words like thing, people, nice, good, bad, and interesting. Or, use specific details to make your exact meaning clear.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>practice<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1292200762140624668\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" aria-label=\"Revising for Style: Word Choice\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1225\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Revising for Style: Word Choice. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Alison Hitch. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: University of Mississippi. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":161083,"menu_order":14,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Revising for Style: Word Choice\",\"author\":\"Alison Hitch\",\"organization\":\"University of Mississippi\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"8419efd2-80c1-48b3-95f8-71d9a6798fac, c6818041-f91a-4ca7-b1ec-3887b3827ea5, 09dcee92-a9ef-4fa4-b147-10459689ad24","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1225","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":1211,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161083"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1618,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1225\/revisions\/1618"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1211"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1225\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1225"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1225"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-writingskillslab-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}