Hello, fellow procrastinators! I’ve decided that I’m going to designate Tuesday, which is arguably the most underappreciated day of the week, as Tip Tuesday, where I share advice about writing and give out some tricks that I use when I encounter some common problems, like writer’s block.
(Disclaimer: These tips probably won’t be good for everyone, but they’re at least worth a shot, right?)
Today’s tip is about word usage and expanding your vocabulary.
Have you ever noticed that when you’re writing, you end up using the same word multiple times?
“You know the guy that I told you that I thought was cute?” I said to Mary Sue. She nodded eagerly, urging me to go on. “Well, I saw him in the hallway. He had on a tie, and it made him look really cute. And he got a haircut, and he looks even cuter. Gosh, I think he may be the cutest guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, and he only gets cuter every time I see him. Cute cute cute cute CUTE.”
This is easily solved by running to a thesaurus, of course, but sometimes all of the words in the thesaurus are either unfamiliar or awkward to use.
“You know the guy that I told you that I thought was dainty?” I said to Mary Sue. She nodded eagerly, urging me to go on. “Well, I saw him in the hallway. He had on a tie, and it made him look really pleasant. And he got a haircut, and he looks even more adorable. Gosh, I think he may be the most delightful guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, and he only gets more beautiful every time I see him.”
See what I mean?
(Shout out to thesaurus.com for all the delightful synonyms.)
And besides, who wants to stop writing to look up something in the thesaurus every five minutes? Less thesaurus-ing, more writing!
Expanding your repertoire of vocabulary can save you time and effort trying to replace overused words. And even if you can’t think of a synonym for something, you can always use other words you know to work around what you’re trying to say.
So how do you expand your vocabulary? Here’s what I have done in the past (I used to do spelling bees) and continue to do now for both English and Spanish class:
-I keep a Spanish word notebook, where I write down any strange words and their definitions that I hear or read. That way, I can go back to review it and commit it to memory later.
-I have a word of the day in both English and Spanish sent to my email account daily, so that when I wake up, I read the email and learn a new word. Bam.
-I look up words I don’t know in the dictionary-like, a physical dictionary. I’ve found that this helps me remember it better than looking it up online.
-I watch this kid’s show called WordGirl before school sometimes. (I can feel the judgment coming over here in droves, but it’s a great cartoon. You should try it.) That show has a surprisingly high level vocabulary, and it’s entertaining at the same time. I’m sure you can find others like it if WordGirl doesn’t suit your fancy.
Different things work for different people. For example, looking something up in a dictionary vs. online might not make a difference for you. But whatever you do, expanding your vocabulary can help you go from the first example to this:
“You know the guy that I told you that I thought was cute?” I said to Mary Sue. She nodded eagerly, urging me to go on. “Well, I saw him in the hallway. He had on a tie, and it made him look really nice. And he got a haircut, and he looks even more attractive. Gosh, I think he may be the best-looking guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, and he only gets more handsome every time I see him.”
What do you do to expand your vocabulary? Comment below!
Until then, time to cram for a Spanish quiz. Who doesn’t love vocab?
T
#tuesdayappreciationmonth
(Disclaimer: These tips probably won’t be good for everyone, but they’re at least worth a shot, right?)
Today’s tip is about word usage and expanding your vocabulary.
Have you ever noticed that when you’re writing, you end up using the same word multiple times?
“You know the guy that I told you that I thought was cute?” I said to Mary Sue. She nodded eagerly, urging me to go on. “Well, I saw him in the hallway. He had on a tie, and it made him look really cute. And he got a haircut, and he looks even cuter. Gosh, I think he may be the cutest guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, and he only gets cuter every time I see him. Cute cute cute cute CUTE.”
This is easily solved by running to a thesaurus, of course, but sometimes all of the words in the thesaurus are either unfamiliar or awkward to use.
“You know the guy that I told you that I thought was dainty?” I said to Mary Sue. She nodded eagerly, urging me to go on. “Well, I saw him in the hallway. He had on a tie, and it made him look really pleasant. And he got a haircut, and he looks even more adorable. Gosh, I think he may be the most delightful guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, and he only gets more beautiful every time I see him.”
See what I mean?
(Shout out to thesaurus.com for all the delightful synonyms.)
And besides, who wants to stop writing to look up something in the thesaurus every five minutes? Less thesaurus-ing, more writing!
Expanding your repertoire of vocabulary can save you time and effort trying to replace overused words. And even if you can’t think of a synonym for something, you can always use other words you know to work around what you’re trying to say.
So how do you expand your vocabulary? Here’s what I have done in the past (I used to do spelling bees) and continue to do now for both English and Spanish class:
-I keep a Spanish word notebook, where I write down any strange words and their definitions that I hear or read. That way, I can go back to review it and commit it to memory later.
-I have a word of the day in both English and Spanish sent to my email account daily, so that when I wake up, I read the email and learn a new word. Bam.
-I look up words I don’t know in the dictionary-like, a physical dictionary. I’ve found that this helps me remember it better than looking it up online.
-I watch this kid’s show called WordGirl before school sometimes. (I can feel the judgment coming over here in droves, but it’s a great cartoon. You should try it.) That show has a surprisingly high level vocabulary, and it’s entertaining at the same time. I’m sure you can find others like it if WordGirl doesn’t suit your fancy.
Different things work for different people. For example, looking something up in a dictionary vs. online might not make a difference for you. But whatever you do, expanding your vocabulary can help you go from the first example to this:
“You know the guy that I told you that I thought was cute?” I said to Mary Sue. She nodded eagerly, urging me to go on. “Well, I saw him in the hallway. He had on a tie, and it made him look really nice. And he got a haircut, and he looks even more attractive. Gosh, I think he may be the best-looking guy I’ve ever laid eyes on, and he only gets more handsome every time I see him.”
What do you do to expand your vocabulary? Comment below!
Until then, time to cram for a Spanish quiz. Who doesn’t love vocab?
T
#tuesdayappreciationmonth