Comment on YSK - a very comprehensive guide on how to avoid "very"
throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
I very much, very dislike, this post, because I very much prefer to be inclusive and use very basic language as much as possible to ensure that the very very very uneducated people can understand, with very good accuracy, the words that I utter.
Perhaps, that’s why I’m a very very very terrible writer 😅
But seriously tho, unless you are writing a novel, just use simple language for everyday speech. No need to look up a thesaurus for every post you make. Or for everytime someone use a fancy word. 😉
But even with novels, in dialogues, you cant be using fancy words all the time when characters talk. Most people don’t talk like that, and writing characters that talk unrealistically is so weird.
Like: “I went to the deafening party last night, it was so excrutiating. I prefer the serene museum because I enjoy the archaic stuff they have on display, it’s very lavish.”
Like, who talks like that? 🤣
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
This is an ad for a proofreading service, so nominally it’s meant for you to use in formal writing. Moreover, only a small proportion of these words are “fancy”.
That said, a thesaurus is best used for remembering words you already know, i.e. not this. Careful use of a thesaurus to find new words provided you research them first – e.g. look them up on Wiktionary (bang
!wton DuckDuckGo) to see example sentences, etymologies, pronunciations, possible other meanings, usage context (e.g. if it’s field-specific jargon), whether it’s appropriate (e.g. slang, archaic), etc. – can work, but if you’re already writing something, just stick to what you know unless it’s dire. You should make an effort to learn words over time as they come up in appropriate contexts rather than memorizing them replacements for other words; this infographic offers a shortcut that’s probably harder and less accurate than actually learning.A one-night stand with a word you found in the thesaurus is going to alienate people who don’t know what it means and probably make you look like a jackass to those who do.
fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 13 hours ago
Proofreading for who, though? Most writing is 8th grade reading level for accessibility, both for the uneducated and for nonnative speakers.
hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 hours ago
For writers.