Did you ever notice your speech or writing has too many words like ‘think’, ‘good’ or ‘very’? You probably did, but some might find admitting this way too difficult. It’s hard to blame a person for using the words above – they are an integral part of any talk or text. Learn these fresh synonyms for dulls words that you probably use in your everyday life.
Learn this short list of practical, dull synonyms for most used words to make your speech better. With almost no effort on your side you will get much better score for your Speaking and Writing exams.
Overused word | Synonyms (f –formal, i –informal, blank if neutral) |
Like | Enjoy, be fond of (f), love, adore (f), be crazy about (i) |
Have | Possess (f), own |
Think | Believe, hold that (f), feel that |
Good | Great, excellent, spectacular (f), awesome (i), superb (f) |
Very | Quite (f)1, extremely (f), totally, really, absolutely (f) |
Try | Give a shot/give a go (i), attempt (f), endeavour (f) |
See | Watch, notice, look at (all are context-sensitive) |
Go | Head, set for, move, travel |
Many | Number of, plenty, large amount of |
(Quite in AmE means “very”, in BrE – “somewhat, sort of”)
Just memorise this short list to saturate your speech with words that are less common but are fresh and more importantly, easily understood by everyone. You will also boost your speaking and writing by using other synonyms instead of the word “very” or by discovering formal or informal counterpart words.
That said, there is nothing wrong about using the words in left column. It is that learners tend to forget a more appropriate synonym or variant of a word so they have to resort to yet another “good” or “like”. It often happens under stress one usually has during exams. To avoid such embarrassing situations try making some example sentences beforehand. This will help you to memorise words and set expressions more easily.
Hope this has been helpful for you!
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