Mark Twain wrote, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”



Finding the exact word to describe something, add tension, express joy or communicate sadness can take effort. If you write, “He walked down the stairs”, it conveys a very different image from, “He flew down the stairs.”



The right word can eliminate the need for adverbs, which can make a sentence passive. “He quickly ate the pie,” could be better written as “He devoured the pie.” One word conveys the sense of haste and possession.



You can develop a command of vocabulary by reading. Still, there are times when the exact word eludes us. Then, a thesaurus becomes our friend.



A thesaurus is a collection of related words and phrases, each with subtle differences. You can find on-line thesauruses that give a few dozen examples. More complete guides with greater choices can be found in books, such as Roget’s International Thesaurus. This suggests hundreds of choices to express precisely what you intend.