Explanation
A synonym is a word which has the same (or almost the same) meaning as
another word. It is very useful to have a good knowledge of synonyms. If you use
the same words throughout your assignments, your writing will seem monotonous
and unsophisticated. For example, if you were writing a report about the
introduction of a government policy, your reader would find it rather boring if
you kept using the words introduce, government and policy.
To make your writing more interesting, (where appropriate) you should use words
which have the same or similar meanings. Here are some examples of words that
you might use in the report about government policy.
The government
introduced
the policy
in 1992.
The administration
implemented
the scheme
in the early 1990s.
The authorities
initiated
the plan
more than ten years ago.
The Education Department
adopted
the strategy
over a decade ago.
The Director of Education
launched
the initiative
on 12 January 1992.
If you want to find synonyms for key words in your assignments, you should
consult a thesaurus. This is a reference book which lists words with similar
meanings. You can also check the thesaurus on your word processing programme;
e.g. in Microsoft Word, highlight a word and press Shift and F7. However, you
need to be careful when using a thesaurus because no two words or expressions
are identical in meaning (as the examples above indicate). If a thesaurus states
that two words are synonymous (e.g. start and commence), it does not necessarily
mean that they are interchangeable in every context. In the case of start
and commence, the former tends to be used in everyday communication
whereas the latter tends to be restricted to formal contexts.
Exercise:
Choose the correct word to go in
each sentence:
Last updated on: Monday, March 26, 2012 Hits: 21067 visited
|
