Strong Writing - Find a more Effective Word

One way you can make your writing stronger is to choose a powerful, interesting word, rather than a weak or overused one. Yesterday we looked at how we can improve our writing by choosing our verbs carefully. Today we're going to see how we can use a thesaurus to find just the right adjective.

A thesaurus is a book, rather like a dictionary, which helps you find words which have similar meanings. I'm currently using the big Collins Thesaurus A-Z which has a RRP of £25, but was on sale in WH Smith recently for £6.25. Let's use it to find alternative words for strong.

Under strong, we find fifteen basic meanings listed: powerful, fit, self-confident, durable, forceful, extreme, decisive, persuasive, pungent, highly-flavoured, keen, intense, staunch, distinct, and bright. The Collins Thesaurus lists several alternative words for each of these definitions of strong, and also includes opposites for several of them.

In this posting, I'm using strong to describe writing, so the best synonym, or equivalent word, from that list of basic meanings is forceful. Its given alternatives are powerful, intense, vigorous. So instead of saying,

You can use a thesaurus to make your writing stronger.

I could write,

You can use a thesaurus to make your writing more vigorous.

But if I was describing after-shave instead of writing, I might want to use a word that is listed under the pungent option, as these are more appropriate for smells and liquids: powerful, concentrated, pure, undiluted.

If, on the other hand, I wanted to describe a person who had a strong character, I might look at the self-confident option, where I would find determined, tough, brave, aggressive, courageous, high-powered, forceful, resilient, feisty, resolute, resourceful, tenacious, plucky, hard-nosed, steadfast, unyielding, hard as nails, self-assertive, stouthearted, firm in spirit.

So you can see that by looking up just one simple word, you can find numerous others which may give you the exact nuance you are looking for. Using more telling words (another one I found in the Thesaurus) will also make your writing more engaging and memorable.

My New Writing Tool - a Beautiful Thesaurus

I was just talking the other day in one of my blogs about using a Thesaurus to extend the range of words you use in your writing. I mentioned Roget's Thesaurus and I got my copy off the shelf to find an example to talk about.

I was looking at it and thinking, 'This smells of old libraries'. Then I thought I'd check and see when it was published - 1972! I've had it more than thirty years!

I decided it would be a good idea to get myself one that was a bit more up-to-date and a bit less smelly, and - lo and behold! - when I was in WH Smith's today I spotted a beautiful, big hardback book called Collins Thesaurus A-Z. And what's more, it was reduced from £25 to £6.25.

I had a look at the book there and then and instantly fell in love with it. It's so clear and easy to use with all the words being in alphabetical order - I felt with Roget you needed a Ph.D. just to figure out how to find the word you were after.

The Collins version also has loads of extra articles full of fascinating information. It's the sort of book I could quite happily sit down and read for a week. For example, the page I'm looking at now has a list which covers two-thirds of the page of different types of mania. You've probably heard of one or two: kleptomanai - a mania for stealing; nymphomania - a mania for sex.

But did you know that timbromania is a mania for stamps? Or that cremnomania is a mania for cliffs? Or that ichthyomania is a mania for fish?

It has lists of characters from literature and from mythology, swords and other weapons with blades, and fifty-seven words for different shades of brown. I'd have been hard-pressed to come up with more than half a dozen by myself.

You can also find many hints about correct ways of using English grammar, very neatly and clearly explained.

All in all, an extremely useful and comprehensive book which is bound to add richness to your writing.

If you don't want to stretch to £6.25, they are also selling smaller paperback versions of it for less than a pound and Collins dictionaries, also for under a quid. So this could be a timely moment to start building up a little collection of reference books for yourself.

I'd better go. I've just spotted a handy list of different types of gas.....