Listen to the author reading this blog post:
I recently wrote a post on expressions that we use to convey that there is enough of something. Today I’m looking at the opposite – the way we talk about too little or too few of something. Continue reading “Scarce, scant and sparse (Ways of saying ‘not enough’)”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
by Liz Walter
Today’s post looks at ways of talking about the speed at which people, vehicles, or other things move. Many of the items in this post can also be used figuratively, for instance to describe the speed of change or progress. Continue reading “Flat out or at a snail’s pace? Talking about speed”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
by Liz Walter
My last post looked at replacing the common verb ‘say’ with more interesting verbs that can convey information about a speaker’s emotions or personality. This post continues that theme, this time concentrating on verbs that are used for animal noises. Continue reading “Growling, hissing and croaking: using animal noises to show human emotions”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
by Liz Walter
This post looks at ways of conveying personality or emotions by choosing a more interesting verb than ‘say’ when you report someone’s speech. Anyone who has been on a creative writing course will be familiar with the maxim ‘Show, don’t tell,’ and choosing a specific synonym for ‘say’ can help you to do this. Continue reading “Spluttering, cackling and drawling: verbs to use instead of ‘say’”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
by Liz Walter
One way to improve your English is to find more interesting vocabulary to use instead of very common words. This post looks at five verbs you can use instead of ‘get’. Regular readers of my posts will know that I often talk about collocation, or words that commonly go together. I’ll be focusing on this particularly today because although the words I’m covering are basically synonyms, some of them tend to collocate strongly with particular groups of nouns. Note that they are all a little more formal than ‘get’ but still commonly used, especially in writing. Continue reading “Obtaining information and deriving satisfaction: 5 different ways of saying ‘get’”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
by Liz Walter
My last post was on the topic of bravery, so by way of a contrast, this one looks at words and phrases connected with the opposite. The most common word for someone who isn’t brave is coward. The related adjective is cowardly (one of those rare adjectives that ends in -ly) and the noun is cowardice: Continue reading “Wimps and scaredy-cats: talking about people who are not brave”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
A friend recently told me that she needed a new sofa. Her current one, she said, ‘had seen better days’, meaning that it was clearly old and damaged. This nice idiom (‘have seen better days’) got me thinking about the many ways we describe the condition of objects, both good and bad. This post, in two parts and covering both single words and phrases, is the result of this. Continue reading “On its last legs (Describing the condition of objects, Part 1)”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
This post is for anyone who feels they use the words ‘surprised’ and ‘shocked’ too much and is looking for more interesting alternatives. It will include both single words and phrases. Continue reading “Stunned and thunderstruck (Words for being surprised or shocked)”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
by Liz Walter
Everyone has times when they have to do things that scare them, and there are lots of different ways to talk about this. Continue reading “Plucking up courage: talking about being brave”
Listen to the author reading this blog post:
Today, I’m looking at the various words that we use to describe things that are unusual or in some way different. As usual, I’ll be looking at the subtle differences in meaning between this group of near-synonyms. Continue reading “Quirky and novel: ways of saying that something is unusual (1)”