English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

English EssentialsEnglish Essentials

John LanganJohn LanganBeth JohnsonBeth Johnson

Chapter Twenty-One

Word ChoiceWord Choice

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2 Word Choice

WordinessUsing more words than necessary in your writing often results in wordiness. In general, it is better to be brief and to the point when writing.

Wordy: To my mind, athletes are given far too much money.

Simple: I think athletes make too much money.

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3 Word Choice

Slang

• Slang is usually out of place in formal writing.

• Some drawbacks to using slang expressions:– They go out-of-date quickly.They go out-of-date quickly.– They become tiresome if used They become tiresome if used

excessively.excessively.– They may communicate clearly to They may communicate clearly to

some readers but not to others.some readers but not to others.

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

4 Word Choice

Slang

Someone Someone ripped offripped off Ken’s new Ken’s new Adidas.Adidas.

After the game, we After the game, we stuffed our facesstuffed our faces at the dinner.at the dinner.

I finally told my parents to I finally told my parents to get off get off my case.my case.

English Essentials ©2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

5 Word Choice

At a loss

for

words

Word to the wise

Clichés

A clichécliché is an expression that has been worn out through constant use.

Short but

sweet

Sigh of reliefSaw the

light

Work like

a dog