English is a hard language to learn. At its most basic it is a Germanic language using a Latin rule set. What saves the language is all the wonderful words it embraces.
Those words come from so many places. A large number are based on Latin. Anglo Saxon words take over for many basic names.
Then words come from all over the world, moving into the vocabulary. People make up words that become popular. Words like laser, sonar, snafu form from initials.
Writers Mine English Vocabulary
I suppose not all writers go looking for that perfect word, the one that describes a situation more perfectly than the common word. For me that is a waste of the treasure trove of wonderful words at my disposal.
Start with a color word like red. If you read the word red, what do you picture? Every reader can picture a different red which may not matter. If it does, red is not the right word. Perhaps auburn, crimson, brick, fire engine, rusty, blood or others would be better choices, make the reader see what the author sees.
Words Have Sounds
It’s snowing. It better not in August, but perhaps the book is set in December. I know snow comes in many forms and each has its own sound. Icy snow falling at low temperatures has a swishing, sharp sound. Warmer temperatures bring a soft, sibilant sounding snow. Close to freezing temperatures brings a snow that plops.
Alliteration is fun too both for writing, reading and speaking. Goats gallop gaily. Saanens step softly. The eight wait.
For Love of Goats
I love the sounds of all those wonderful words. I grew up saying tongue twisters. That is the basis of this book about some of the lighter sides of goats.
Each letter of the alphabet has a page of alliteration, tongue twisters or homonyms. Each will enlarge your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation.
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