![]() Now that we know all the perils of choosing the wrong words, let’s talk about choosing the right words for your writing. Follow your editor’s guidance when you find the right words to swap into your piece and if you’re ever unsure of what they meant by a specific comment, just ask. If another person edits or proofreads your work, you might get it back with comments like “awk,” “cliché,” and “vague” next to specific words. Grammarly, on the other hand, does catch weak words and provides feedback on why they’re not the ideal choices for the sentences where they’re detected. Keep in mind this is only for words that are objectively incorrect and not for words that are technically correct, but weak choices. Lots of word processors will underline a word that appears to be incorrect in its context and provide suggestions for the right word. So the sentence with better word choice here would be: “I can’t believe I won a prize!” How do I know I chose the wrong word? To get even more honed with our word choice: because you won the gift, the word “prize” is more accurate. In the second sentence, “free” is redundant because every gift is free. A more concise way to write this sentence would be “Every Wednesday, we have our weekly 10 a.m. In the first sentence, we get all the information we need about the meeting twice. Every Wednesday at 10 in the morning, we have our midweek 10 a.m.Here are a couple of examples of redundant sentences: Being redundantĪnd then there’s the issue of redundancy. Do they make your writing seem uncreative and lazy? In many cases, yes. ![]() Consider reading through to catch any common clichés, such as:Īre they technically wrong? No. You also run the risk of being cliché when you’re not mindful about word choice. Think about the difference between writing “It was an overcast day” and “It was a gray day.” Both words accurately describe a cloudy sky, but one does so in a factual way and the other illuminates the scene in more of a metaphorical way that paints a very different picture in the reader’s mind. The wrong word can also cast the wrong tone over your writing. In the second, they support and enhance each other’s roles. In the first sentence, Ryan and Nicky sing each other’s praises. Ryan and Nicky complement each other at work.Ryan and Nicky compliment each other at work.Sometimes, the wrong word completely changes its sentence’s meaning. Confusing readersīeyond undermining your credibility, you can confuse readers when you use the wrong words in your writing. To avoid this mishap, familiarize yourself with 30 of the most commonly confused words in English. Didn’t proofread your work before submitting it.It’s very easy to do this when you use the wrong word, like using “affect” when you mean “effect,” because it makes you look like you either: When you undermine your credibility, you weaken the point you’re making in your writing. When you use the wrong word to communicate your intended point, you weaken your writing. ![]() Problems when you choose the wrong wordīefore we get into how you can up your skills in picking the right words, first let’s talk about why word choice is so vital. Read on and we’ll explain how you can make word choice your writing superpower. So how can you know which word is the right word to use when you’re writing? And how can you get good at it-maybe even excel at it? Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly So while you might say “I remember I went to the library last Thursday,” you wouldn’t necessarily say “I reminisce about going to the library last Thursday,” unless it was a particularly special experience. For example, reminisce and remember are synonyms, but reminisce has an additional nuanced, specific meaning of fondly remembering times far in the past. To make word choice even more challenging, there are words that sound the same, but communicate different ideas (like “affect” and “effect”), words that mean the exact same thing, but have different spellings in British English and American English (like “grey” and “gray” ), and perhaps the most confusing: words that are almost identical and communicate similar yet distinct ideas (like “historic” and “historical”).Īnd then there are words that are technically interchangeable but have different connotations. There are more than 171,000 words in the English language, according to the BBC. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about every writer struggles with word choice from time to time. When you’re writing, picking the right word can sometimes be rigid.
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