Sunday, November 22, 2009

Improve Your Relationship with Language

Good writing is about the readers. In writing, our primary goal is to make it as simple as it is for the readers to see our points.

Words are a set of tools. They have the power to improve our circumstances by improving our interaction with other people. Good choice of words helps us to express our meaning clearly and insightfully. We don't have to carry around a dictionary wherever we go. However, we can all expand our vocabulary on a regular basis.

If we commit to learning just one new word a day and using that word each day for a week, we will be expanding our relationship to language. In time to come, writing and expressing ourselves will be a cinch.

For the coming Toastmasters' meeting, I will be doing speech evaluation. Below are some words which my fellow toastmasters have shared with me. Hmm, maybe I will just select one new word to use in my evaluation.

Enjoy!

Stretch your evaluation vocabulary

Try substituting the words in bold for the examples given:
great
able, absolute, aces, adept, admirable, adroit, bad, best, brutal, cold, complete, consummate, crack, downright, dynamite, egregious, exceptional, excellent, expert, fantastic, fine, first-rate, heavy, marvelous, masterly, number one, out-and-out, perfect, positive, proficient, skilled, skillful, super dupa, surpassing, terrific, total, tough, transcendent, tremendous, unmitigated, unqualified, utter, wonderful

excellent
accomplished, admirable, attractive, capital, certified, champion, choice, choicest, desirable, distinctive, distinguished, estimable, exceptional, exemplary, exquisite, fine, finest, first, first-class, first-rate, high, incomparable, invaluable, magnificent, meritorious, notable, noted, outstanding, peerless, premium, priceless, prime, select, skillful, sterling, striking, superb, superior, superlative, superlative, supreme, tiptop, top-notch, transcendent, wonderful

good
acceptable, ace, admirable, agreeable, bad, bully, capital, choice, commendable, congenial, crack, deluxe, excellent, exceptional, favorable, first-class, first-rate, gnarly, gratifying, great, honorable, marvelous, nice, pleasing, pleasant, positive, precious, prime, reputable, satisfactory, satisfying, select, shipshape, sound, spanking, splendid, sterling, stupendous, super, superb, supereminent, superexcellent, superior, tip-top, valuable, welcome, wonderful, worthy

effective
able, active, adequate, capable, cogent, compelling, competent, convincing, direct, effectual, efficacious, efficient, emphatic, energetic, forceful, forcible, impressive, live, moving, operative, persuasive, play hardball, potent, powerful, powerhouse, practical, producing, productive, resultant, serviceable, serving, sound, striking, sufficient, telling, trenchant, useful, valid, virtuous, wicked, yielding

able
adept, adequate, adroit, alert, bright, capable, cleft, competent, cunning, dexterous, easy, effortless, endowed, equipped, facile, fitted, intelligent, knowing, powerful, ready, smart, strong, worthy, qualified

satisfactory
A-OK, adequate, all right, ample, average, cogent, comfortable, competent, cool, decent, enough, fair, fulfilling, gratifying, groovy, hunky-dory, passable, peachy, pleasing, satisfying, solid, sound, sufficient, suitable, tolerable, unexceptional, valid

brilliant
accomplished, acute, astute, brainy, bright, celebrated, clever, discerning, egghead, eminent, excellent, exceptional, expert, genius, gifted, glorious, illustrious, ingenious, intellectual, inventive, knowing, knowledgeable, magnificent, masterly, outstanding, penetrating, profound, quick, quick-witted, sharp, smart, splendid, superb, talented, whiz

improve
advance, ameliorate, amend, augment, better, boost, civilize, convalesce, correct, cultivate, develop, doctor up, edit, elevate, emend, enhance, gain ground, gain strength, grow better, help, increase, lift, look up, make strides, meliorate, mend, perk up, pick up, polish, progress, promote, purify, raise, rally, recover, rectify, recuperate, refine, reform, revamp, revise, shape up, sharpen, straighten out, take off, touch up, update, upgrade

bad
abominable, amiss, atrocious, awful, bad news, beastly, blah, bottom out, bummer, careless, cheap, cheesy, crappy, cruddy, crummy, defective, deficient, diddly, dissatisfactory, downer, dreadful, erroneous, fallacious, faulty, garbage, godawful, gross, grungy, icky, imperfect, inadequate, inadequate, incorrect, inferior, junky, lousy, not good, off, poor, raunchy, rough, sad, scuzzy, sleazeball, sleazy, slipshod, stinking, substandard, synthetic, the pits, unacceptable, unsatisfactory

poor
base, below par, common, contemptible, crude, diminutive, dwarfed, exiguous, faulty, feeble, humble, imperfect, inadequate, incomplete, inferior, insignificant, insufficient, lacking, low-grade, lowly, meager, mean, mediocre, miserable, modest, niggardly, ordinary, paltry, paltry, pitiable, pitiful, plain, reduced, rotten, scanty, second-rate, shabby, shoddy, skimpy, slight, sorry, sparse, subnormal, subpar, substandard, trifling, trivial, unsatisfactory, valueless, weak, worth

develop
actualize, advance, amplify, augment, beautify, broaden, build up, cultivate, deepen, dilate, elaborate, enlarge, enrich, evolve, exploit, extend, finish, heighten, improve, intensify, lengthen, magnify, materialize, perfect, polish, promote, realize, refine, spread, strengthen, stretch, unfold, widen, work out

elaborate
add detail, amplify, bedeck, clarify, comment, complicate, decorate, develop, devise, discuss, embellish, enhance, enlarge, evolve, expatiate, explain, expound, flesh out, garnish, interpret, ornament, particularize, polish, produce, refine, specify, work out

correct
alter, amend, better, change, clean up, cure, debug, do over, doctor, edit, fiddle with, fix up, go over, help, improve, launder, make over, make right, make right, mend, pay dues, pick up, polish, reclaim, reconstruct, rectify, redress, reform, regulate, remedy, remodel, reorganize, repair, retouch, review, revise, right, scrub, set right, set straight, shape up, shape up, straighten out, touch up, turn around, upgrade

change
accommodate, adapt, adjust, alter, alternate, commute, convert, diminish, diverge, diversify, evolve, fluctuate, make innovations, make over, merge, metamorphose, moderate, modify, modulate, mutate, naturalize, recondition, redo, reduce, reform, regenerate, remake, remodel, renovate, reorganize, replace, resolve, restyle, revolutionize, shape, shift, substitute, tamper with, temper, transfigure, transform, translate, transmute, transpose, turn, vacillate, vary, veer, warp

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