Word Choice and Usage

Word Choice

Painting With Words

Lie~
noun
1. a false
statement
verb
2. to put one’s
body
horizontally

Denotation

Connotation

~strong word ~bad ~hurtful
~worse than a fib or tall tale

+10
0

-10

Thesaurus
Synonyms: fib, falsehood,
tall tale, whopper, obloquy
Antonyms: truth, honesty,
openness

Multiple Choice

Which tool would you use to look up the definition of a word?

• thesaurus

• dictionary

• your brain

Answer:

Which resource would you use to look
up the definition of an unknown word?

a. Dictionary.com
b. Thesaurus.com
c. Your Brain

ANSWER

Multiple Choice

Which tool would you use to come up with different words for "things" and "stuff"?

• thesaurus

• dictionary

• your brain

Multiple Choice

Which tool would you use to find synonyms for a word?

• thesaurus

• dictionary

• your brain

Multiple Choice

Which tool would you use to replace the underlined word?

Brady grabbed it from his teacher.

• thesaurus

• dictionary

• your brain

Answer:

Which resource would you use to make
the underlined word more specific?
The teacher grabbed it from the student.

a. Dictionary.com
b. Thesaurus.com
c. Your Brain
Only you (the writer) know what “it” is

Answer :

Which resource would you use to make
the underlined word more specific?
The teacher grabbed it from the student.

a. Dictionary.com
b. Thesaurus.com
c. Your Brain

Multiple Choice

Which denotation # best matches the use of "flat" in the sentence below?

Alisha wore flats to work because they were comfortable.

• #1

• #2

• #31

• #32

Multiple Choice

Which denotation # best matches the use of "flat" in the sentence below?

The housekeeper made sure the bed sheets were flat and without wrinkles.

• #1

• #2

• #31

• #32

Thesaurus Tips:

1. Don’t pick a word you don’t know
She told a lie→She told an obloquy 😖

2. Don’t pick a word that is too informal
She told a lie→She told a whopper 😖

3. The thesaurus doesn’t know connotations or your

sentence! Only pick a word if it is an improvement.

Multiple Choice

A dictionary or a thesaurus are organized...

• by length of the word

• by alphabetical order

• by how old the word is

• by how popular the word is

Drag and Drop

Match the following

evoke -

Placeholder

emotion -

Placeholder

positive -

Placeholder

negative -

Placeholder

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

evoke

emotion

positive

negative

to cause or bring about an emotion or feeling

the feeling or mood a person has or is in

hoped for, approved, or wanted; a good thing

bad or undesirable; not good

neither good nor bad

Multiple Choice

Look at the image. It is the thesaurus.com page for the word "jump". What would be a better word choice than "jump" in the sentence below?

I jumped over the rock and down the hill.

• danced

• hurdled

• jerked

• lurched

Multiple Choice

What is a better word chioce to replace "things" in the sentence below?

My mother told me to pack my things for our trip to the swimming pool.

• stuff

• ipad and headphones

• swimsuit and towel

• candy and cake