“Unique” is a word that has been used to death. Every single product page employs the adjective. Every resume has unique skills. Every travel article promises unique experiences on every page, and when you use the same word everywhere, it loses its impact. The solution isn’t to find a random substitute. “Unique” has multiple meanings,…
Read back through something you’ve written recently and count how many times you used the word ‘small’, and where you used it. A small room, a small budget, a small mistake, a small town. The word is doing several different jobs, but none of them very well. The good news is that English has a…
“Interesting” is one of the most flexible words in English. You can use it for a documentary, a job offer, a neighbor’s haircut, or a scientific finding. That flexibility is also its weakness. The word says something held your attention, but not why or how. Choosing a better word is mostly a matter of asking…
Read back through something you wrote last week and count how many times you used the word ‘thing’ or ‘stuff ‘; most people are surprised by the number. The problem is that these words are incredibly useful, as they can act as placeholders for almost anything, which means that they are also dangerously close to…
Try changing the word “like” into one of its synonyms at a time, and you will soon reach a dead end. “I like pizza,” “It looks like rain,” and “She was, like, totally shocked” all use the same word, but it serves three different jobs. A word that will work in the first will seem…
Most of us reach for “very” out of habit. It’s short, it’s familiar, and it slots into almost any sentence without friction. But that convenience comes at a cost: “very” is a vague intensifier that tells the reader you wanted to say more without actually saying more. “Very tired” and “very smart” are fine in…
A writer who has previously read a paragraph full of “however” words will quickly find that this word is one of the most overused transition words in the English language. In fact, it is so common for people to use “however” in a paper that its use in academic writing has become somewhat of a…
You are writing an email, a caption, a story, or a message to a friend, and you type excited for the third time. The word is fine; it just doesn’t say much anymore. Excited is an adjective that’s used for a variety of emotions; maybe for a child before a birthday party, a runner at…
“Strong” is one of the most versatile adjectives in the English language. Your friend can be strong, and so can your coffee. A password, an opinion, a marriage, and a brand can also be strong. A good grip is strong, but so is a poor grip. And the flexibility of the adjective is both a…
“Shows” is one of the most versatile words in the English language. You’ll find it in scientific research, product descriptions, resumés, academic essays, and even casual instant messaging. Each time, it has a subtly different meaning. This versatility is also the word’s curse: A text that uses five different definitions of the same word sounds…