Word choice

As you begin to read the poems in this section, it is important to understand who is speaking in the poem. (The speaker may not be the poet.) Once you can identify the narrator, you should be able to get an idea of the narrator s attitude toward the subject, and this is easily discovered by the author s word choice. Through the images that the words make, you should be able to answer the questions correctly. 

It s true that poems often have two levels—one literal, one figurative. The next poem, also by Emily Dickinson, is full of images from nature. In exploring the second level of meaning, consider the speaker s attitude, revealed especially through surprising and jarring word choices. 

The feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates in addressing a given subject. Tone is created through word choices, information that is included, information that is omitted, and so on. Some tones include ... 

Section Four Examines the importance of word choice. You will learn how to correctly use the most confused and misused words, and how to avoid alienating or baffling your reader through improper word choices. 

Rachel Klein, a college counselor at Milton Academy in Mil-ton, Massachusetts, advises her students to keep journals to help with essay writing because they can "give them back their own words." Journals, Klein says, are like "your mind coming out on paper." When you are writing your essay, you can use the journal as a reference for tone and word choices that convey your authentic voice. 

Word choice is important when trying to make a point clearly. In Section Two, you learned to use details to add clarity and originality. Powerful adverbs and adjectives (modifiers) perform a similar function They can convey your ideas with greater style and more shades of meaning. 

GOOF-PROOF EXAMPLE WORD CHOICES FOR CONCISE WRITING... 

Another way to lose your reader, or simply waste time, is to state an idea or piece of information more than once. Writers repeat themselves unnecessarily because they are not sure that they have been clear, or they are not attentive to the need to be concise. Repetition in your personal statement can take two forms word choice and content. 

Word choice refers to the use of unnecessary words and phrases that simply repeat information already given. 

Keep the content of your essay fresh and inventive, telling your readers something they couldn t have learned from the rest of your application. Then, be certain your word choices aren t repetitive. Goof-Proof it by saying it quickly and clearly the first time. 

Connotation involves emotions, cultural assumptions, and suggestions. Some dictionaries offer usage notes that help to explain connotative meanings, but they alone can t be relied on when trying to avoid offensive or incorrect word choices. 

Editing takes a closer look at your writing, through a stronger lens that highlights words and sentences. Are your word choices appropriate and fresh Are there any repetitive or awkward sentences or phrases ... 

Imagine you ve just had an amazing experience You were able to save someone s life by performing CPR. You want to share the experience with three people your father, your best friend, and the admissions officer at your first-choice college. How will you describe what happened Will that description be the same for each person Probably not. Although the subject remains a constant, each person is a different audience, requiring different word choices, levels of formality, and tone. 

Were your word choices and sentence structure effective and varied ... 

There is a clear point of view, and the writer has obviously studied not only the painting, but the language of art criticism as well. Examples are well chosen and numerous. Word choice is varied and sophisticated, and there are very few errors in grammar and mechanics. If the essay were better organized, and the writer had followed the five-paragraph form, it could have received a score of 5. 

Which of the following sentences has the most effective word choice ... 

Word Choice Precise and careful word choice avoids jargon and pretentious language. Most words are exact and appropriate an occasionally ineffective word choice. Mix of general and specific words some pretentious language or jargon. Mostly general inexact words word choice sometimes inappropriate. Word choice often ineffective or inappropriate. 

You could keep the exact same information, but just change your word choice so that the paragraph sounds more authoritative and reads like this ... 

Again, both writing samples contain emotion and conviction, but the second one conveys emotion through strong word choices. It does not appeal to the reader s emotions only. 

In contrast, the term word choice refers to choosing among several conventionally accepted words and phrases for a particular audience. 

Examples of formatting, word choice, and word usage that are both appropriate and inappropriate in chemistry-specihc writing genres... 

Recall from table 1.1 that audience and purpose are communicated through four subcomponents (conciseness, level of detail, level of formality, and word choice). The first of these, conciseness, is a hallmark of writing in chemistry. Chemistry readers (experts and nonexperts alike) want crisp, clean sentences that say what needs to be said and no more. They do not want to be bogged down in words that fail to advance or, worse, confuse meaning. Because concise writing is... 

In examining Results sections move by move, we looked at how authors refer to hgures and tables, how they use compound labeling, and how they highlight trends in the data. We examined how to report values below detection limits and how to use R to consolidate reactions in a synthesis paper. In this part of the chapter, we analyze a few writing conventions that are characteristic of the entire Results section, including verb tense, voice, and word choice. 

As mentioned above, a Results section is descriptive, not interpretive. At times, the difference between description and interpretation can be subtle this difference is often a matter of word choice. One way to keep your Results section descriptive is to use precise language. By avoiding overly positive or negative words that are not particularly precise, such as excellent, very good, or poor, and using more neutral terms instead, such as high or low, you can maintain a descriptive tone in your Results section. Even better, you can replace qualitative terms with more precise, quantitative values. Consider the following examples ... 

Here, we examine writing conventions that are common throughout the Discussion section. We focus on tense and voice in addition to two word-choice issues, the use of we and hedging words. 

Revise and edit the entire section, paying careful attention to audience (e.g., level of detail, word choice), organization, writing conventions (e.g., verb tenses, voice, personal pronouns, formatting of lists, and citations), and grammar and mechanics (e.g., parallelism, punctuation). Revise the Goals and Importance section so that the individual parts work... 

---