Word%20Choice

1
Word Choice
2
Specific

• An average writer will use general words like
  shoes and equipment.
• A better writer will use cleats and catchers
  mitt.
• An average writer will use common verbs like
  said, came, and had.
• A better writer will use stammered, arrived,
  and owned.

3
Vivid

• Use words that appeal to the senses.
• gleaming instead of very shiny.
• earsplitting instead of noisy.
• bitter instead of bad tasting.

4
Varied

• Use a variety of words and use synonyms for
  overused words.
• Instead of smart use talented, ingenious,
  resourceful, shrewd.
• Instead of angry use irate, fuming,
  raging, indignant, furious.

5
Use strong, energetic verbs

• Like a big, ugly monster, the train bellowed and
  roared, as it thundered through the mountain.
  Frantically, it dove in and out of the mountains
  caverns, hurling me against the side of my seat.
  I could feel the icy air whip and bite at my
  cheeks, and tears peeked out from my eyes because
  of thisthey, too wanted to witness what was
  happening. A howling scream that no man could
  create penetrated my ears. At one point, an
  immense white-furred creature with fiery eyes
  leaped out into the trains path.

6

• Use active voice
• Avoid overusing to be verbs
• No qualifiers kind of, perhaps, seems like, sort
  of, could be
• No absolutes always, everybody, nobody, never
• No empty expressions basically, obviously,
  surely, certainly, very.

7
Sentence Structure

• Any run ons or fragments lower your score to a 3
  or lower, unless they are used with a purpose.
• Vary your sentence lengths.
• Vary your sentence beginnings.
• Use semi-colons, colons, and dashes to develop
  more sophisticated syntax.

8
Use all four types of sentences

• Simple consists of one independent clause.
• I walked to the store.
• Compound consists of two of more independent
  clauses connected with a conjunction or
  semi-colon.
• I walked to the store, and my cat followed
  me.
• Complex consists of one independent clause and
  one or more dependent clauses.
• Whenever I walk to the store, my cat follows
  me.
• Compound\complex consists of two or more
  independent clauses and one or more dependent
  clauses.
• Whenever I walk to the store, my cat follows
  me, and I have to carry him home.

9

• To earn a 5 you need to use structure to enhance
  the meaning and purpose of your writing.
  Purposeful use of sentence lengths and fragments
  are ways to do this
• You could also do this through effective use of
  parallelism, a technique used to show that two or
  more ideas are equally important by stating them
  in grammatically parallel form.
• I came I saw I conquered. Julius Caesar
• We must indeed all hang together, or most
  assuredly we shall all hang separately. Ben
  Franklin

10

• He stood with the body in his arms in the
  silent room and cold facts battered him like
  waves sweeping in from the sea she was dead she
  was white she was a woman he had killed her he
  was black he might be caught he did not want to
  be caught if he were they would kill him.
• -James Baldwin
• Native Son